well as your relationship with Chris Benson.
[Michael] I met Chris Benson years ago
through Casey Marvin, of Veritas Guitars.
They’re both up in the Portland, OR area. Chris
had this little, 15-watt amp, his Monarch model.
That was the only amp he had at the time. I
played it, and at the time, if it didn’t have 30
watts or more, I knew I wasn’t going to be into
it. That was just the time of life I was in, and
my tastes at the time. But I was blown away
and really impressed with this 15-watt amp. We
left that hang-out experience with the intention
of doing an amp together. Something that
would fit into Chris’ line and expand on what
he was doing, as well as something that would
fit into my rig. I told him the feature set that I
wanted. I wanted 30 watts, and I wanted it to
do everything that an AC30 doesn’t, as far as
tone. I was thinking more of an American thing
at that point. It would have no master volume,
and instead of a single tone knob, have bass
and treble. So, it would just have an ‘on’ switch,
with volume, bass, and treble. Mine is a little
different, not in terms of circuitry, but I have a
“dark” switch, which I don’t really use live. It
was more of a studio thing. We both thought it
would be cool, if you have a Humbucker guitar
and then switch to a Single Coil guitar and
things are way too bright and thin, to just flip
a switch and have a darker tone. That switch
didn’t make it on the final production model,
just to keep things simple. And if you notice,
my amp says “Cardinal,” because that was our
original name for it, but I think he had a friend
who was coming out with another product
using the Cardinal name, so he changed it to
Chimera.
We worked on that amp together, but the circuit
is completely his design. I just suggested some
of the feature set in it, and he made the most
incredible amp. I love it! I wish I could tour with
this one, because it sounds so good, but it’s
never left the studio. I’m always recording with
it. It’s such a great sounding amp.
Chris is the kindest, nicest dude. It makes
me super happy to see his company take off
June 2018
WorshipMusician.com
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