Benson Amps releases PT2399-based Delay pedal at $279

October 12, 2023 · 2 sources

Benson Amps announced the Delay on October 12, 2023, a pedal built around a digital PT2399 chip with what Guitar World describes as an analog wrapping¹. It is available now for $279¹. MusicRadar gives the same US price².

The pedal has two footswitches, one for bypass and one for tap tempo, and five knobs controlling LFO Speed, LFO Depth, Feedback, Tape and Mix¹. Holding Bypass and tapping Tap opens a menu for selecting Sine, Square or Random waveforms and Quarter, Dotted Eighth or Eighth note divisions¹. Holding the Tap footswitch engages a self-oscillating feedback effect for holding out notes¹. The delay range runs from 30ms to 1250ms¹.

MusicRadar reports that Chris Benson began work on the pedal in 2019². He told the site he placed the PT2399 where the bucket brigade chips would have gone so the associated circuitry stayed the same, and that he could get 1200 milliseconds of delay time out of it, relatively clean². Benson's own description of the design goal, as quoted by Guitar World:

Guitar World reports the company claims the pedal has "the most accurate tap tempo ever applied to the PT2399"¹. MusicRadar describes the tap tempo as "mathematically perfect"². JHS Pedals' Josh Scott, in a demo cited by Guitar World, said of the chip: "I've never heard it sound this good, ever"¹.

Guitar World notes that Benson teased a sibling pedal, the bucket brigade V3205 Delay, in June last year¹.