What are your four ‘must-have’ pedals? That is what we ask our guests to share with you in our Four On the Floor podcast segment.
Chris Benson builds some outstanding amplifiers so he knows tone. He is also a fan of unique pedals, and playing them with his bare feet-size 10 1/12 to be exact. If you are not familiar with Benson Amps do yourself a favor and check them out. He gave us a fantastic interview too! You can hear the episode for yourself right here. Check out Chris’s choices for his Four On The Floor.
1. Caroline Guitar Company – Kilobyte Lo-Fi Delay
“It sounds analog, but it’s digital. The cool thing about this is that it has the footswitch called Havoc and it has the delay time right in front of it. So what is nice is that you can step on the Havoc switch with the ball of your foot and get some controlled feedback going in the delay and then use your toe to move the time knob so you can get some cool spaceship sounds! (note: this works best if you are barefoot with size 10 1/2 feet or have Vibram 5-Finger shoes on. Don’t try this without a net).” Check out the Caroline Guitar Company – Kilobyte Lo-Fi Delay
2. Benson – JFET Preamp Drive – (Available soon!)
“(This technically qualifies for FOTF since it’s only a prototype) Based on the Benson Monarch and Chimera amplifiers. It has the preamp but instead of tubes, it’s using JFET transistors. This will be the first Benson pedal. I’m picky about overdrive sounds. I’ve been using it for the last for months, and it sounds awesome. I can’t imagine using another drive pedal now. It is based on the amps that I have spent a long time perfecting so I knew what I wanted the filters to do and how I wanted the signal to transition into distortion.” Check out the Benson – JFET Preamp Drive (Available Soon)
3. Electro-Harmonix / Sovtek – “Green Russian” Big Muff Pi
“Classic pedal, I think it sounds completely different from the modern Muffs.” Check out the Electro-Harmonix / Sovtek – “Green Russian” Big Muff Pi
4. Mathews Effects – The Astronomer Reverb
“I feel like the reason I like this pedal so much is that it fits well in a mix. not necessarily going to WOW if you are playing it by itself, I mean yeah you can dial it in to get impressive sounds. But using it subtly, it does a really interesting thing with the midranges. It also has the dual setting so you can have a super shimmery reverb and toggle between a very subtle setting. It’s so good for blending stuff together in a mix. I just can’t seem to get it off my board!” Check out the Mathews Effects – The Astronomer Reverb
Huge thanks to Chris for being a guest on our show and please check out Benson Amps. We wish him continued success!