Benson Amps 300-H Late 60's

Doesn't power up, been sitting in storage for yrs, info from a past listing on it.

Please do NOT confuse these with the modern Benson Amps. These were around some 40 years prior. The two just happen to share a last name, but there is absolutely NO association. 

There is not a whole lot of info available on these short of a now-defunct Facebook page ran by a fan/historian. So I'll supply what information has been given there...

"Benson Amplifiers were the idea and creation of Ron Benson, a studio musician in Hollywood. Ron was a friend and admirer of Howard Roberts and wanted to build an amp like HR's Gibson GA-50, but one that was louder, stronger and more dependable. HR told him when he was ready he should build two and he (Roberts) would use the other. They colaborated for a time and began building these amps in Ron's garage. Eventually many studio players liked the sound and began using them as well.

The amplifier Howard Roberts used frequently was a Benson 300H. There are two seperate channels in this amp but unlike most tube amplifiers, the left side (Channel I) is a transistor amp while the right side (Channel II) is tube driven - 2 x EL-34s, 3 x ax-7s. The tube channel also features a Fuzz setting, Reverb and a very heavy Tremolo. besides this, there is a modular unit which plugs into the amp's back side that controls equalization. The knob which controls this feature is called "Stress". The EQ feature has its uses and after playing through it a bit, one can hear certain nuances that Howard Roberts was famous for.

The company grew larger (and neighbors complained that a business was being run from a garage) and with an investor of HR's, Dr. Henry L. Richter, they moved the opperation to his electronic business in Monrovia, California. Eventually, after loosing a large contract, this whole opperation was closed down and the amps stopped production.