Benson Preamp Teardown! See what's inside!

[@pooshNchums]

Love this kind of circuit walkthrough. Thanks! Would love to see your take on the boss dc-2

[@DougMayer]

For anyone trying to build the Son of Ben board (sounds great!) and looking for the hard-to-get parts: - J201s I got SMDs pre-soldered to a mini-board from AionFX. Available from others too. - B2M pot I got a weird solder-lug Alpha jawn from mouser, had the right shaft diam. but different construction than the typical 16mm. Was the only option I could source at the time but it works.

[@satellitesv03]

Same. J201s I got from Aion sounded great

[@rob011]

Just found this channel - love this teardown, stoked to watch more!

[@mooseymoose]

The profit margins must be insane.

[@fireworx_925]

Isn’t that true for all OD/DS/Fuzzes??? 😂

[@WayneMemphisMojo]

Always enjoy the pedal breakdown videos, thanks Joe.

[@graybenchelec]

Thanks !

[@WayneMemphisMojo]

@@graybenchelec just bought it ... your video & others sold me on it.

[@graybenchelec]

@@WayneMemphisMojo glad to hear, I'll have to message benson for my commission 🤣

[@riglerdaniel]

Very good video as usual. Thanks!

[@graybenchelec]

Thank you!

[@karstenbrooks1224]

Awesome vid, exactly what I was looking for. I’m trying to understand the internal trim pots a bit more, can you explain the ‘drainage’ some? If you set the voltage higher does that mean more distortion or more head room? Thanks in advance

[@graybenchelec]

Check out this article: www.runoffgroove.com/fetzervalve.html

[@karstenbrooks1224]

@@graybenchelec so if I’m reading it right, which, I am no engineer, just a guy, setting the drains just works to achieve optimal distortion? Not about head room, just setting the drain in relation to the input voltage (9v) so 4v is the optimal setting to get the desired effect. More or less?

[@THE_kopfkino]

Great video as always 👍🏽

[@Stu66orn]

Very nice video! I've built pedalpcb clone you get smaller pedal than original and throughhole components are somewhat possible to fix without too much trouble. Original is bulky with oversized board=/ J201 thoughole is still available in some shops in EU

[@graybenchelec]

Thank you, yeah the PCB is pretty empty isn't it? :)

[@Stu66orn]

@@graybenchelec Yes pedal could have been x2 smaller with x2 larger components.

[@johnott193]

The Son of Ben is my loudest “popping” pedal when switched. Have you experienced this issue?

[@omnaraiya]

Thanks for the great content.

[@graybenchelec]

Thank you!

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

I just found you and I only understand a little of this. I just wanted to see what your opinion of this was. I'm trying to find an analogue preamp for a pedal board amp.. something with high gain, and I heard this and wasn't all that impressed for what I play, although at low gain I thought it sounded ok, but I was watching a video of it being played in a way I would never choose to play, so I may be being harsh on it.. Thanks so much for this though. Very cool. I subscribed.. Thanks again. Tim

[@graybenchelec]

On of my favorite boost/preamp/overdrive pedals is the deuce coupe from jack deville. So many uses and clever features, and usually very affordable. For higher gain, although not my forte, I've heard good things about the keeley filaments.

[@snörre23]

Probably costs them less than 30 in parts, maybe less.

[@brianwendt9818]

Could you explain to me how to set the 3rd trim pot to 2k. Do I adjust the trim pot with a multimeter before I install it? Probably a noob question. Love your channel

[@graybenchelec]

If you have a multimeter, you want to read ~4V at the drain on Q3. Your trimpot may not be exactly 2K ohms, but the drain voltage is more important.

[@brianwendt9818]

Could I just put in a 12k resistor and omit the 2k trim pot

[@graybenchelec]

@@brianwendt9818 Yes and no. JFET manufacturing tolerance is pretty wide, so while the benson preamp I tested had the trimpot set to 12K, you may need a difference resistance to achieve that 4V at the drain. Once you figure out that resistance however, you could definitely replace it with a fixed resistor.

[@alexandrvetelkin5196]

Wampler Plexi Drive + Bass ??? )))

[@graybenchelec]

The bones are the same, they're both pedals modelled after tube amps.

[@sinister4lyf]

That’s why I stopped buying pedals sinced 2014 and started building my own. Smd’s are so cheap !

[@rocknrollboise]

Why on earth is his stuff so goddam expensive?! He's not doing anything groundbreaking whatsoever... all of his stuff could have been released 60+ years ago. I don't get it. Either way, I appreciate you doing this!

[@nayaleezy]

I figured there was more meat inside these things...