Benson Amps Monarch Reverb + 2025 - Night Moves
“The Monarch was my first design, and largely what my other amps are based on. When I worked at Verellen Amps in the late 2000s, several amps would come in for repair every week….high powered vintage monsters all the way to low powered newer boutique amps. Here’s an annoying thing I did….instead of working hard like I should have, I took them apart and studied their circuit designs. If I liked a particular aspect of an amp I would try to figure out what it was. This eventually grew into an understanding of how harmonics are built up, how a circuit is filtered and gain staged, what components sound like, what engineers were trying to achieve, and how they succeeded and failed. It was also an education in what fails on the road and how to make something that is easily repairable.
I had a donor metal chassis sitting under my bench at the time….an old Bogen PA head….that I would incrementally build snippets of circuits I was particularly interested in…it probably went through hundreds of permutations. Often I would tack solder circuits together, often while it was powered up, (Which I don’t recommend). One day all the pieces fell into place, and I got a euphonic clean tone that transitioned into an aggressive harmonic distortion and I about fell over. I showed it to my bandmate and we freaked out.. That design became the Monarch” -Chris
The Monarch Reverb Plus is just like the Monarch Reverb except….we’ve given it the full Chimera tone stack instead of the voice switch (basically makng the switch variable) AND we have incorporated into the design a novel tube driven power scaling circuit powered by a 6L6 power tube (set up like a voltage regulator). This approach allows plate resistance to still exist in the power supply (despite the lack of a tube rectifier) which leads to sag and harmonic richness at any volume. The maximum wattage setting (15 watts) bypasses the 6L6 in order to create an option for pure solid state rectification if desired. The power ranges from 1/2 a watt to 15 watts making this an incredibly versatile amplifier for studio or stage!
2 x JJ 6V6 power tubes, 2 x JJ 12AX7 preamp tubes, JJ 12DW7 reverb driver and a JJ 6L6GC set up as a voltage regulator for power scaling.
Speaker outputs: 1 x 8 ohm
Foot switchable reverb
Build
Point to point construction on terminal strips - no circuit, eyelet or turret board
Custom Soursound transfomers
Mallory 150M capacitors
Dovetailed pine cabinet
Benson Custom Ceramic Speaker
Dimensions/weight
23.5”W 17.5”H 10”D 39 lbs
Footswitchable tube-driven, Tall Bird-style reverb
(Only Monarch Reverb+ Included In Sale)***
South Shore Guitar Boutique
Items purchased must be paid within 24hr.
We offer free shipping on selected products within the continental U.S. Please contact us before purchasing if you have any questions. Our primary shipping vendor is Fedex ground with insurance. For small accessories, P.O. boxes, or non-continental US customers, we may use the United States Postal Service. Expedited Orders We will upgrade the shipping delivery method to 2-day, or overnight (if applicable) upon request (charges will apply). Consignment Items Consignment Items do not qualify for free shipping, Shipping will be calculated at checkout. Sales Tax 8.625% sales tax will be added to all orders within New York State.
Returns on New items are accepted (unless noted in the description), and must occur within 4 days from when you receive the item. (buyer must notify us that they will be returning the item within 4 days of receiving the item, or return will be void) Buyer pays for shipping cost , Buyer is responsible for returning the item undamaged, we can provide return label which cost will be deducted from the refund owned to the buyer. A 10% restocking fee will also be assessed upon return of the item. We reserve the right to refuse refund if item is not returned in the same condition it was originally shipped to the buyer. Returns on Used items are accepted (unless noted in the description), and must occur within 2 days after receiving the item. (buyer must notify us within 72 hours of receiving the item if they plan to return the item or return will be void. Buyer pays for return shipping , Buyer is responsible for returning the item undamaged. We can provide return label which cost will be deducted from the refund owned to the buyer. A 10% restocking fee will also be assessed upon return of the item. Used effects pedals and accessories are not returnable. All items must be complete including all original packaging, accessories and documentation. With the exception of defective and/or “damaged during shipping” items, all shipping charges will be charged to the customer, even if the order was shipped free. Items will be inspected before issuing a credit. S.S.G.B. reserves the right to refuse items that were not returned to us in the same condition as when they were delivered to the customer. Certain items are non-returnable (effect pedals, tubes, strings etc.). Consignment Items are not returnable.