Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII vs Wampler Tumnus Deluxe
The Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII and the Wampler Tumnus Deluxe are both pedals sharing edge of breakup, high headroom, bright. The Benson Amps Portable Distortion 424 MKII leans saturated and harmonically rich. The Wampler Tumnus Deluxe leans mid-forward and dynamic. Current prices: $199 vs $183.08.
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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.35% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- edge of breakup
- high headroom
- bright
- transparent
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$199via Reverb
$183.08via Reverb
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.
The Wampler Tumnus Deluxe expands the compact Tumnus into a fuller-featured Klon-style overdrive with a three-band EQ and a switch that spans nearly transparent boost to serious overdrive. It keeps the string-to-string clarity, high-headroom output, and amp-like breakup of the Klon voicing, staying transparent as a boost and warm and organic in its crunch, with natural compression and breakup that feels like an amp rather than a pedal. The added Bass, Mid, and Treble controls work as cut and boost to tailor the pedal to any amp, with warm lows, an identifiable midrange, and the right amount of top-end sparkle. It preserves the guitar's natural tone and dynamics, cleaning up with the volume knob, and suits blues, rock, and country. Its only quirk is that pushing the mids past about two o'clock can produce a cocked-wah character.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Electronic
- Experimental
- Indie
- Indie Rock
- Blues
- Blues Rock
- Country
- Rock
- saturated
- harmonically rich
- fuzzy
- mid-forward
- dynamic