Airis Effects -Nemesis Preamp vs Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII
The Airis Effects -Nemesis Preamp and the Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII are both pedals sharing transparent, bright, tight. The Airis Effects -Nemesis Preamp leans mid-forward. The Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII leans saturated and edge of breakup. Current prices: $187.61 vs $199.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.37% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- transparent
- bright
- tight
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$187.61via Reverb
$199via Reverb
The Airis Effects Nemesis Preamp is a boutique high-gain guitar preamp and distortion pedal by Canadian builder Airis Effects featuring Gain, Volume, and a three-band amp-style tonestack with Bass, Middle, and Treble controls. Designed to deliver a full preamp channel in pedal format it runs into the front end of a clean amplifier or directly into an effects loop or PA system. At high Gain settings it maintains clarity and note articulation without muddiness. Now discontinued and replaced by the simplified Nemesis Boost.
The Benson Amps 424 MKII is a preamp and distortion pedal designed to recreate the saturation and harmonic character of the input stage of the Tascam Portastudio 424 MkII cassette four-track recorder. The circuit captures the non-linear behavior of cassette-era input electronics, spanning from subtle coloration and clean boost through compressed broadband distortion and unstable breakup. A switchable front-end buffer fundamentally alters the gain structure: engaged, it presents a high-impedance guitar input with tighter low end and increased headroom; bypassed, the circuit returns to a darker, fuzzier low-impedance cassette response. Four controls -- gain, trim, bass, treble -- cover a wide EQ range. Internal 18V operation provides increased headroom. Made by Benson Amps in Portland, Oregon.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Metal
- Hard Rock
- Electronic
- Experimental
- Indie
- Indie Rock
- mid-forward
- saturated
- edge of breakup
- fuzzy