Reason Amplifier Company
Reason Amplifier Company was an American manufacturer of high-end, boutique guitar amplifiers and speaker cabinets based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded by amp designer Obeid Khan and cabinet builder Anthony Bonadio, the company was known for its "StackMode" technology, which allowed two independent amplifier channels to be played in series.
History
Reason Amplifiers was formed when Obeid Khan, an electrical engineer and amp designer, approached Anthony Bonadio, a veteran cabinet maker, to build a housing for a new amplifier prototype. Khan had previously gained industry prominence for his work at St. Louis Music, where he designed the Ampeg Vintage Club series and the Crate Blue Voodoo and Vintage Series. Bonadio brought experience in high-end speaker enclosure design and manufacturing for other boutique brands.The company name was derived from the founders' philosophy that a new amplifier company should only exist if there was a "reason" to create a design that offered a distinct functional advantage over existing paradigms.
Technical Innovation: StackMode
The hallmark of the Reason amplifier line was a proprietary circuit design coined "StackMode" by Obeid Khan. While most multi-channel amplifiers operate in an "A/B" fashion, StackMode allowed the user to run the "Normal" and "Bright" channels in series. In this mode, the signal from the first channel flows into the second, allowing the gain and EQ of the first stage to shape the behavior of the second.The company produced a range of matching cabinets, designed by Bonadio with specific internal dimensions to complement the frequency response of the StackMode circuitry.