Benson Amps Stonk Box Fuzz

After the wild success of their Germanium Fuzz pedal a few years ago, Chris and the crew at Benson Amps decided to take the genre one more step further. Building off of the classic Tone Bender MkI circuit, the Stonk Box attempts to take a classic 1960’s fuzz design, and bring the sound into the modern world, without bringing any along the flaws and inconsistencies of the original. This one’s a beast, let’s get right to it!

The Stonk Box Fuzz keeps the original MkI controls (Filter and Volume), and adds Tone and Trim controls to expand the palette of sounds available. It is buffer and pedal order friendly, but with no pickup simulation, as Benson had to tweak the output circuit this time). The original circuit is considered one of the hardest of the classic fuzzes to get right because of the difficulty in transistor selection…but with Benson’s patented technology, it can be achieved easily and consistently…for the first time ever!

The bias of the transistors in this pedal is automatically regulated by a circuit that gently warms the Germanium transistors (2N404 OR 2N527) to a preset operating point using analog components, and ensures a consistent sound, no matter the external temperature. When the LED is amber, the transistors are warming up to increase their hFE (transistor gain) and to shift the bias point to the correct voltage. When the LED turns green, the warmer is off because the correct bias and hFE have been set. Expect the LED to toggle back and forth every so often while the pedal is on…that is how you know it’s working.

In our demo video below, we dive into the controls, explore some suggested settings and really explore the wide range of tones available in the Stonk Box. You’d expect that a company that makes gorgeous amplifiers would create wonderful pedals as well, and there’s not a better example of this than with Benson Amps. Check out the demo, head to their website for more info and enjoy everything about this vintage/modern sonic amalgamation, ’cause it absolutely rips!! Cheers!!

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