ToneQuest Report: October 2024 – Vol. 25, No. 12

What's Inside This Issue:

Chris Benson Amps – Some Mighty Fine Amplifiers From The City Of Roses – At the ol’ ToneQuest Report, we just can’t get enough of tube amplifiers, new and old. We imagine that many of you feel the same. There’s just something about the lore, the legacy and tradition, the aesthetic, the heat, and the warm tubes that cast that purple hue…. Speaking of which, there are many variations, such as violet and amethyst, depending on the proportions of the two primary colors. Purple has the balance of red’s stimulation and blue’s calming properties. What color purple do your EL34s glow? This month our quest for tone again finds us swimming in the waters where small amp builders craft their way, and this time it’s alongside Chris Benson of Portland, Oregon. If there is a challenge with Benson Amps, it’s keeping up with market demand, a testament to how highly sought after his amps are. There is a wait list, as Chris and his amazing staff are “just trying to make a really good product, carrying out the vision of uncompromising sound or build quality.” — Scott Ulrichs

Zappa Plays Benson – Dweezil Zappa – Zappa. The name conjures an immediate reaction and for many a reverence for the prolific writer/composer/performer who, to this day, was as unique an artist as they come. For others, there are myriad potential responses, many drawing from a place of miscomprehension. In an era where music that captures top-40 charts is often a manufactured product consisting of formulaic cheese, there stands the late Frank Zappa and his son Dweezil, who continues to carry the torch. When we explored with Chris Benson the idea that perhaps a chat with his relatively new customer about his experience with the Monarch Reverb+ would be of interest, the response was quick and affirmative. Like Frank, Dweezil is a tone and sounds junkie, and given the task to recreate a vast spectrum of sound, we were excited to connect before the 2024 tour, dubbed Rox(Postroph)y started.— Scott Ulrichs

The Benson Monarch Reverb+ – Time And A Word – A glance towards the pedalboard immediately yields a response that says, “No, grab a Tele and the Evidence Lyric HG cable, and plug in,” knowing in our soul that this is the intention of the amplifier design that David Wilson, TQ’s The Author of Tone Emeritus routinely spoke about and how this amp wants to shine. Power tube distortion with gobs of touch sensitivity and a beautiful voice– “We don’t need no stinkin’ pedals, just a little dimension from the onboard reverb.” There’s a reason these amps are a buzz. Sure, there’s flavor of the day and momentum that carries hot amplifier brands, but start looking at pro stages, which are still largely dominated in a big way by Fender black-panels and Marshalls. Yes, by default they’re the most standard of backline offerings, but beyond that there sure are a good number of Bensons out there, too: the true test in the heat of battle. — Scott Ulrichs

Feature Interview:  John Paice And Celestion Speakers – Celebrating 100 Years 1924-2024 – Simply the last in line. The final say with what is delivered to our ears and mics. Often spoken about as the contributor to 50% of the tone produced by any given amp. The speaker is that critical, and yet for many it’s still an often-overlooked experiment in favor of a different amp or a guitar or pickup change. Find yourself a way to do an A/B comparison of speakers and cabinets and you’ll be enlightened by the experience. Discovering those magical amp/speaker combinations that work is like a quantum photon entanglement image, and when it’s wrong you’ll know. Fortune came our way when we were able to spend some time with the relatively new Celestion 100, a reverent aesthetic and sonic nod to the speakers from the late ’50s and a time when players demanded more volume from their amps. The speakers had to hang. We caught up with Celestion’s John Paice for a conversation and some enlightenment on the motivations behind the Celestion 100 and the beautiful accompanying book, A Century of Sound: The Story of Celestion. — Scott Ulrichs

Celestion 100 Impressions – A Nod To History – Hammered gray metal with the old-time label no doubt has a vibe, and it’s on display in rich tradition with the Celestion 100. Who cares about what a speaker looks like, some ask? Well, we imagine that you, like us, love tilting back a combo or open-back cabinet that is new to our eyes and ears as perhaps we inadvertently hold our breath in anticipation of what will be revealed. As a first reference for us with the Celestion 100 and as mentioned in the conversation with John Paice, we swapped the G12H Anni with the 100 and immediately found a noticeable difference in the speaker’s frequency response and feel. The 100 seems to pay the legacy of Celestion its due and a beautiful-sounding and -responding speaker. It’s a looker, packaged with thought that should garner your attention as your speaker quest takes center stage. — Scott Ulrichs

Book Review: A Century Of Sound: The Story Of Celestion – British-sounding speakers. They’ve got to be Celestion. That’s where our heads go. It’s an equal partner to an amplifier and 180 degrees from American-sounding drivers which, by default, scream Jensen. If you’re a fan of Tom Wheeler’s books, a lofty example being The Soul of Tone, Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps, then it’s highly likely that A Century Of Sound: The Story Of Celestion, a collaborative project managed by John Paice, will find its way into your collection. The heavy stock and plentiful photographs are bound in a nice, dark, 226-page hard-covered book that, when cracked open, will help you avoid the fritter and waste of hours spent scrolling through Instagram. It’s exceedingly well-written, beginning with Brian May’s Foreword, which starts with his eloquent musings on his first Celestion experience. It was originally penned in 1993 and amended for this release. — Scott Ulrichs

Salsa Verde ATG 828 Overdrive – Analog Pedals – We once had eight vintage Tube Screamers here in Texas that we wrote about for TQR. Were we very impressed with them, considering the bucks they cost? Nope. We like a cranked amp, although they have their place. When Jeff Bolin sent us his take on things, we were game to fire it up. His ATG 828 is fresh off the presses. Some fellow with a long beard named Reverend Billy F Gibbons immediately bought four of them when he played the prototype. That says plenty. Our friend Mark Selby, a TQR cover feature from years back (February 2008), one rainy night wrote the hit song “Blue On Black” with his wife Tia Sellers. The solo Kenny Wayne Shepherd plays on the song reminds us of this ATG 828. If you dig that, especially with an Octavia thrown in the chain, considering how little green dough this sweet green pedal is and how much it nails those ’80s tones, it’s highly recommended. And to further drop the mic, we all know a great vintage Fender black-panel amp and this pedal is a couple hundred grand cheaper than a Dumble. — Riverhorse