Ben Verellen is a vital part of Seattle’s music scene. Although hes an incredibly talented musician (currently playing in Helms Alee) its his local business that brought me to feature him in this series. After graduating college, Ben used his knowledge of circuitry and electronics to eventually start his own business making tube amplifiers & more recently, guitar pedals.
This town has always had band’s that require quality gear that gets LOUD. Verellen Amp’s are quickly becoming some of the most desired in and outside of Seattle. Their website features a customer section with photos of them & their amps which boasts some impressive bands who rely on the signature Verellen sound (Minus the Bear, Akimbo, Botch, The Pharmacy, Against Me, Elder Mason, Etc..)
Aesthetically the amp’s are gorgeous. Using Northwest Wood and other distinct materials, Ben has created a signature look that greatly adds to the desirability and quality of these amp’s. While they do have their flagship products, I love that they are happy to do custom orders to fit the needs of whoever will be playing the amp. I originally met Ben to shoot his portrait for a story on his new business for The Stranger. It’s been great seeing his business taking off since then and Verellen Amplifiers expanding outside of his house to now being a full on shop/storefront in the Fremont Neighborhood of Seattle.
Ben and his company were featured on this past week’s Seattle Channel ART Zone television show. Check out the video below at 3:00 in. I’m also attaching a live video of Ben and his band Helms Alee. I think hearing the Amp live is the best way to experience it but hopefully this will give you a peek at the sound these things are capable of.
Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up
Writer Andrew Matson asked Ben the following 3 questions as part of the Portraits of Seattle Project:
1. Why tube amps? (Devil’s advocate: I can get every amp sound from software.)
Although there’s a lot of software out there that does a really good job of simulating all kind of amps, there’s something about a tube amp driving a real speaker into a microphone that I don’t believe will ever be captured properly with 1’s and 0’s. It’s the “failures” of vacuum tubes that give them a special character that is so familiar to our ears, and that’s what’s hard to wrap up in software code.
2. Are you often at concerts thinking, “This would sound a lot better if you were playing through one of my amps”?
Most of the time, I assume people are after a specific thing that they’ve charted out with whatever gear they’ve chosen, and there are definitely lots of sonic approaches that we haven’t delved into with our designs. So I’m happy to accept those for what they are, and a lot of the times, I like it. But the thought does sometimes cross my mind that, “man, that would be a lot cooler sounding through a meatsmoke”, or whatever.
3. Is Seattle an “amp town,” or do you do business mostly outside the city limits?
Completely a mixed bag. Lots of our customers are in or around Seattle, just because there’s more awareness here than elsewhere, but we sell amps all over the country, and we’ve shipped to as far as New Zealand, Finland, France, Czech Republic, and Vietnam. So word seems to be getting out there.
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am quite pleased...got. Ben Verellen makes excellent...for...
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play guitar. hot shit.
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Good People finding success.
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