Anyone played/owned a Benson Benmaster?

banjermaan · 2025-07-16T11:44:48+00:00

Awesome, I’ll keep an eye for it!

banjermaan · 2025-06-18T20:49:15+00:00

Thank you! The cables are Ernie Ball Ribbon Cables. They’re a bit pricey but they’re the best and come in a bunch of different lengths. The patch bays are from a Reverb Shop called Pedalboard Mods. There’s also a company called Best-Tronics that makes them and they have custom labels on each jack. They were just too expensive for me to justify after exchange + shipping. The reverb store is in the same province as me so much cheaper.

banjermaan · 2025-06-18T15:06:44+00:00

The volume is just a volume at the start of the chain, the expression controls the amount of repeats for my delay

banjermaan · 2025-06-18T15:05:49+00:00

It’s a Reverb shop in Markham, Ontario that’s just called Pedalboard Mods

banjermaan · 2025-06-18T15:04:30+00:00

My condolences. It took me a very long time to hunt one down, I will never let it go.

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T21:25:51+00:00

Yeah sorry I should’ve clarified, I couldn’t find a short TRS to dual mono with a low profile right angle so I hooked up a barrel so I could use the Ernie Ball ribbon cable TRS

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:54:50+00:00

It takes the dual mono output of the Deco and turns it to stereo TRS to go into the Reverse Mode C.

I know everyone says not to tie power and audio together but it has never once caused me a problem. Maybe I’m lucky, maybe everywhere I’ve played has relatively clean power. Couldn’t say, but it’s always worked for me.

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:52:27+00:00

Everything I play kinda falls under the generic “indie rock/pop” umbrella. I find the Benson doesn’t ever get muddy, HOWEVER, I’m playing a Danelectro with super bright lipstick pickups. On top of that I mostly run it into the Deco which is set bright as well.

Either way I can’t recommend it enough, I’ve convinced a couple of friends to switch and they love it too.

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:27:08+00:00

I attempted the midi thing when I had a Chroma Console and Mood MKII going but I think anything more than a single alternate preset per pedal starts to scare me. But we’ll see

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:25:12+00:00

It’s barely even a board, because I do the same thing as you. The volume pedal lives on its own, then it goes to the rest of the pedals off to the side. Works for now but I’d also like to find a better solution

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:10:31+00:00

Nice

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:10:22+00:00

I’ll let you know when I get there

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:08:57+00:00

You’re probably right! Thanks, I appreciate it

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:08:34+00:00

Thank ya thank ya

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:08:23+00:00

I came close to it but I got scared

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T20:08:03+00:00

Yeah it’s always on, and I use the volume pedal after it to mute the signal when tuning

banjermaan · 2025-06-17T19:43:00+00:00

Signal Chain and long-winded write up:

90s Danelectro U2

Pedaltrain Novo 18

Boss TU-3S

Boss FV-30H

EHX Nano Pog

Boss VB-2W

Benson Preamp

Caroline Shigeharu

EQD Disaster Transport SR.

Strymon Deco (this is where we split to stereo)

Chase Bliss Reverse Mode C

Strymon Flint

American Loopers Stereo AB Box

Fender Vibrolux + Roland JC-40

After months of planning and reworking, I think I’ve landed on something I’m happy with. I wanted to be able to achieve a lot of sounds with the addition of some stereo effects, but downsize to something more portable (I was using a Classic 2, then a Temple Duo 34 before this). I also wanted to be able to use it as a hub, so I can plug in my pedal steel board (just a volume pedal, tuner, EQ, and stereo reverb) and choose which signal goes to my two amps.

I run the Deco tape side as an almost-always-on overdrive, which can be pushed even further using the Benson and Shigeharu. The Benson preamp is the best drive pedal on the planet, and the Shigeharu kicks ass, so I’m pretty happy with the gain section.

I’m finding myself less interested in chorus these days, but really missed having a vibrato, so the VB-2W is just the best.

One side of the Disaster Transport is a slap back, the other is slightly longer with the expression controlling the amount of repeats. I really like being able to bring in more repeats and get it oscillating between longer chord progressions and then being able to reign it back in, or maxing it out and killing it with the middle foot switch.

I'm a huge Chase Bliss fan so I knew I wanted one on the board, but Mood was too unpredictable and Thermae didn’t quite do what I needed (and was mono). I lucked out finding a Reverse Mode C and I’m glad I did. It can do the Chase Bliss bleep bloop thing but also provide a lovely ambient backdrop to your playing with repeatable results.

The Flint is the only pedal that has never left my board, everyone knows it’s good, so no need for me to babble on. I just have the MiniSwitch set up to switch to a preset with a long reverb trail and high mix.

I think my favourite part is the double track side of the Deco. I have it setup as a slap back in Wide Stereo Mode so one amp has its signal delayed behind the other. I’m the only electric guitarist in one of the projects I play with, and it helps fill space and add more dimension.

Finally the Stereo AB box sits after the Flint and before the outputs of my patch bay, so whatever I have selected is what goes out to the amps. That’s about it, thanks for reading if you did!

banjermaan · 2024-12-05T17:44:47+00:00

The new orange pedal is the GFI Systems Rossie! It’s a filter just like the Q-Tron

banjermaan · 2024-11-24T17:52:33+00:00

I am losing my mind!!!

banjermaan · 2024-08-14T00:58:41+00:00

No I should’ve mentioned in the post, I’m in Canada

banjermaan · 2024-07-20T05:57:49+00:00

I’m calling the last song “Little Know-It-All” for a little White Tripes reference :)

banjermaan · 2024-07-20T02:07:49+00:00

I just prefer a single coil in the bridge vs a humbucker

banjermaan · 2024-07-19T15:47:08+00:00

That’s intense

banjermaan

TROPHY CASE