The ValveTrain Bennington is about as "USA" as and amp can be these days, and every effort is made to use high quality USA made components. The Bennington features:
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Class AB 20 watt fixed bias design (which actually means the bias is adjustable)
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Two JJ 6V6 Power tubes
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JJ 12AX7 Preamp, Reverb driver, and Phase Inverter tubes
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Hand wired eyelet board fabrication (no PC boards)
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Custom wound USA transformers
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Heavy gage Aluminum Chassis (critical for low noise and TONE)
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Ceramic chassis-mounted tube sockets
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True Full Length Spring Reverb with footswitch
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Volume, Treble, Bass and Reverb controls
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Bright Switch
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Eminence Wizard 12" Speaker
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4 and 8 ohm speaker output jacks
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Baltic Birch Cabinet
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20H x 22W x 11D
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40 pounds
We gave this amp a spin with traditional single coils, P90's, a G&L ASAT Special, and played it both as a 1x12 and with a 1x12 extension cabinet.
As compared to the ValveTrain Trenton -- which is based on a Cathode Bias tweed inspired design -- the ValveTrain Bennington is a fixed bias design more in line with the Blackface era. The fixed bias design means that the Bennington will produce more clean headroom and the front end can take higher input loads. In practical terms this means that the Bennington can play pretty loud before it breaks up, making it well suited as a lightweight club amp that can keep up with a drummer. It also means that it works great with pedals. Overdrive pedals will not easily overload the front end of the amp; so you'll get the sound of your pedal and the sound of the amp without the whole thing turning to mush.
The Bennington has a clear detailed high end that to me is less edgy than the typical vintage Blackface, and especially newer Hot Rod series amps. There is still plenty of attack but it's a slightly warmer overall sound and it's just perfect for single coils. However, with the available bright switch it is still easy to get that extra sparkle and twang without drilling a hole in your head. The ValveTrain amps also produce very good bass response, and with the extra headroom of this design you can really dig in and get nice round, bouncy bass notes that don't fall flat or lose definition. Bass response was a weak point with many of the old Blackface amps but ValveTrain has licked that. With single coils the onset of breakup begins with the volume above "6" but it's more of what I would call "character" than distortion. It's that not-quite-clean sound that is hard to describe but addictive once you find it. Lastly, the spring reverb has a good working range from adding just a little ambiance all the way to "Surf's Up" and the included footswitch is handy to remind you of how good the amplifier sounds with no reverb (greats amps really don't need reverb).
If you've ever wondered what all the hubub is about with vintage Blackface amplifiers, the ValveTrain Bennington will help you understand. The Bennington is an awesomely good amplifier, and at $1599 is one of the real bargains of the amp world. Clean or cranked, with pedals or without, the Bennington has all the tone, feel, and transparency you could want at the price of a production line amp.
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