Benson Amps

Benson Amps was founded by Christopher Benson in Portland, Oregon. Benson started by repairing broken amps, apprenticed at Verellen Amps in Seattle, and eventually founded his own company to build instruments he felt were missing from the market. The flagship designs — the Monarch and Chimera — are original circuits rather than derivatives of vintage templates, built by a small team of working musicians in a Portland shop that does its own woodworking, chassis work, and covering in-house.

The connection to this collection starts with a photograph: a PAX-AM studio promo shot of Ryan Adams, his Rickenbacker, and a substantial wall of Benson amplifiers. Adams was one of Benson's most prominent early collaborators — the two connected at a trade show in 2016, and the collaboration eventually produced the Sorcerer, a signature amp debuted at NAMM 2018. Benson severed ties with Adams in early 2019 following abuse allegations, and the signature model was never completed. The Sorcerer remains an interesting footnote — a well-regarded amp design that exists in limited form, and a reminder that the gear outlasts the circumstances around it.

Regardless of that history - Benson’s are carefully built, original-design tube amplifiers that suit the natural character of a Rickenbacker well.