Verellen Amps Customer Service

[THEBEERHAMMER]

Im noticing a trend lately among small builders, particularly those that service the extreme music community, towards shitty customer service.... This is disconcerting especially because alot of people seem to have the impression that small shops with specialized products usually run that way because they are artists and cant hire secretaries or whatever. I want to share my experience with ben verellen from verellen amps as proof that it doesnt always have to be that way.....

Ive wanted a meat smoke since pretty much the exact second i heard about them. Im a fan of high wattage amps and a gigantic harkonnen fan so they seemed like a no brainer. At the time i first noticed them the pricing was a bit lower than it is these days however i didnt have the scratch anyway. As some of you know at the end of the year verellen had a sale that put the price of the meatsmoke at nearly what it is when i started gassing so i called verellen the day after christmas. Ben picked up and we hammered out what i was going to order, basically a standard meatsmoke with a switch to change to a bedroom-level 100 watts. Ben agreed to a payment plan, quoted me about three months, i made a downer and he got started. He called me a month later asking what color headshell I wanted, then about a month and ahalf later he let me know my head was done. I payed and he shipped my head out today. The entire experience has been great, every time i needed to talk to someone Ben was the first one to answer the phone. Any time i had a question he got back to me the same day if not the day after. He and the staff at Verellen have been total pros and made me feel great about patronizing their business. This is the way it should go every single time. It a business runs any other way there is honestly a problem.

[skullservant]

Ben is the best duder ever!! I've had nothing but good experiences with him

[Holy Schnikes]

I've been pretty lucky with smaller builders thus far, no bad experiences to bitch about yet. Ben definitely kept that streak goin thus far, dude is hella solid, just incredibly nice to deal with. I fucking HATE that I passed up the Year End Sale but regardless of missed savings opportunities, I still couldn't shake the Verellen GAS no matter how hard I fought it.

Then I received a fatty tax return. Then I saw THEBEERHAMMER's white Meat Smoke shell and it looked so sick. Then I saw that custom Meat Hammer (Skyhammer pre with Meat Smoke power section) posted here and there and I could barely take the awesomeness. The final blow came when I went to see Young Widows again last Wednesday whereupon my head was nearly blown apart by the greatness of Evan Patterson's Loucks. I've seen him devastate with that amp before but this time I finally caved.

Hit Ben up a couple days later to discuss, wanted a Loucks for it's incredibly full, chimey cleans and perfect low gain dirt but he's gonna mod it for tighter gain when you really start pushing it into that thick fuzzy territory. Gonna be kind of a Loucks/Skyhammer hybrid in the end. He was very patient with me, haha, kinda brainstorming ideas via email and he sorted through it all my requests and we got the details all squared away. Excited!

I sent my down payment earlier today. Now, I wait.

Ben picked up and we hammered out what i was going to order, basically a standard meatsmoke with a switch to change to a bedroom-level 100 watts.

This is the best part of your entire post.

[theavondon]

Good feels abound.

[univalve]

I hit the kickstarter for the Meatsmoke preamp pedal. Pedal arrived broken (tranny died) but Ben took care of me and send out a new tranny: viewtopic.php?f=149&t=11555&p=545997#p545997
So pretty good experience with them and would always buy sth. of the Verellen brand again.

[THEBEERHAMMER]

I've been pretty lucky with smaller builders thus far, no bad experiences to bitch about yet. Ben definitely kept that streak goin thus far, dude is hella solid, just incredibly nice to deal with. I fucking HATE that I passed up the Year End Sale but regardless of missed savings opportunities, I still couldn't shake the Verellen GAS no matter how hard I fought it.

Then I received a fatty tax return. Then I saw THEBEERHAMMER's white Meat Smoke shell and it looked so sick. Then I saw that custom Meat Hammer (Skyhammer pre with Meat Smoke power section) posted here and there and I could barely take the awesomeness. The final blow came when I went to see Young Widows again last Wednesday whereupon my head was nearly blown apart by the greatness of Evan Patterson's Loucks. I've seen him devastate with that amp before but this time I finally caved.

Hit Ben up a couple days later to discuss, wanted a Loucks for it's incredibly full, chimey cleans and perfect low gain dirt but he's gonna mod it for tighter gain when you really start pushing it into that thick fuzzy territory. Gonna be kind of a Loucks/Skyhammer hybrid in the end. He was very patient with me, haha, kinda brainstorming ideas via email and he sorted through it all my requests and we got the details all squared away. Excited!

I sent my down payment earlier today. Now, I wait.

Ben picked up and we hammered out what i was going to order, basically a standard meatsmoke with a switch to change to a bedroom-level 100 watts.

This is the best part of your entire post.

YEEEEEESSSSS YES. HAS THE HOVERCRAFT ARRIVED????

[Ancient Astronaught]

I must concur that Ben has amazing customer service. I picked up one of the kickstarter SkyHammer pre's second hand over the weekend and the dude gave me a hell of a price because the power switch had broken off in the on position. I hit up Ben yesterday and within 4 hours he had a new switch in the mail to me (free of charge too), and he even had my info on file and remembered that I fixed my DOA big spider when his assistant wired the 9v jack backwards. Top notch dude who definitely cares about his customers and his product.

[Holy Schnikes]

YEEEEEESSSSS YES. HAS THE HOVERCRAFT ARRIVED????

Yeah, the Hovercraft is here and it's so badass, love that little amp! Good looking out.

It's like med-high gain Model T in the lower gain settings moving on to super thick and HUGE Orange OR/Matamp vibe in the higher gain settings, just incredible. I've never heard a 20W amp that sounded anywhere near as HUGE as that Dwarvenaut, no shit, just a monster of an amp. It loves being pushed too, Black Forest, Hoof, Revelation Superbass, etc, etc, loves it all. I have an Orange OR15 as well and the Hovercraft dominates in most every way.

Those 15 and 20 watt options are great and all but the Loucks is the big boy amp I've been after to pair with my Dunwich. Not quite Meat Smoke status but it'll have to do.

[pelliott]

Yeahhh I decided in the last week that I want to save up for a Loucks reaaaaally bad. I figured the Meat Smoke is good for pedals but am I correct in figuring the Loucks is great for setting gritty and then smacking it in the dick with a fuzz/dirt pedal?

[Holy Schnikes]

Yeahhh I decided in the last week that I want to save up for a Loucks reaaaaally bad. I figured the Meat Smoke is good for pedals but am I correct in figuring the Loucks is great for setting gritty and then smacking it in the dick with a fuzz/dirt pedal?

This is correct.

The Loucks can cover a shitload of ground from full, chimey, cleans to low-med gain grit (perfect for juicing with fuzz or boost like you mentioned) all the way up to thick, fuzzy, stoner rock goodness. The gritty medium gain tones are some of the best I've heard and it handles delay and verb like a champ in those settings. Comes with an OD boost switch also to go from low to high gain in one stomp.

Further, you can get it tweaked to perfection, just mention to Ben exactly what you're after and he'll accommodate.

[pelliott]

Hnnnggggggggggggg

[Quiet Things]

When I decided I wanted a new amp and started shopping around Verellen immediately grabbed my interest. I'd heard the Meatsmoke live seeing Russian Circles, plus, I always like to support local companies whenever possible. I had some questions about the amp and sent an email off to Ben and got almost an immediate response that pretty succinctly answered all my questions. It's always great to be able to have a real conversation with the person on the other end. Sometimes when I email people for gear related stuff I feel like I'm talking to a greasy used car salesman, trying to oil me up, and with Ben I just felt like I was talking to a cool dude with a mutual interest. Awesome guy. Now I've just gotta get the fucking money saved up for the Meatsmoke...

[Holy Schnikes]

Ben mentioned doing a 200W Meat Smoke if you're looking to save some bucks and won't realistically use 300W. Could slap a 1/2 power switch on there and have a pretty versatile and manageable monster amp.

I love companies that have an awesome standard product line but have no issues mixing and matching aspects of those products or going fully custom. Emperor, EGC, and Verellen (to list only a few) have all jumped at the chance to make me one-offs inspired by their current offerings.

[transients]

Ben is awesome. I have a 100 watt stereo amplifier I got from him a little over a year ago and I've never had a single problem with it. Back then, I emailed him ready to order a custom built amp and it turned out that he had just finished this 100 watt stereo amp that he was going to use for himself on tour with Helms Alee (how can he be so badass at customer service AND have a regularly touring band?!). He sent me that amp and built a new headshell for it in my specified color so I only had to wait a few weeks. That's the most top notch customer service I've ever had from any company. Much love for verellen!

[Ancient Astronaught]

Ben is awesome. I have a 100 watt stereo amplifier I got from him a little over a year ago and I've never had a single problem with it. Back then, I emailed him ready to order a custom built amp and it turned out that he had just finished this 100 watt stereo amp that he was going to use for himself on tour with Helms Alee (how can he be so badass at customer service AND have a regularly touring band?!). He sent me that amp and built a new headshell for it in my specified color so I only had to wait a few weeks. That's the most top notch customer service I've ever had from any company. Much love for verellen!

pics?