Harley Benton HB-35 and HB-35Plus - Review
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- The two Hollowbody guitars are unbelievably good for the price.
If you don't believe me, just watch this. If you still don't like what you hear, they might just not be for you. At those prices, they are simply without competition.
Here are the links to Thomann...
HB-35 VB
www.thomann.de...
HB-35Plus Lemon
www.thomann.de...
Gear from this video at Sweetwater:
Here is tons of stuff I use in my videos...
imp.i114863.ne...
Current LIMITED TIME deals:
imp.i114863.ne...
Sticker can usually be removed easily by using a hairdryer. But I’m not sure if you have one, ha ha
Please, stop nagging the poor bald guy... ;D
Blöder föhn witz ;-)
Ahahahhahah
HOGANNNNN!"
"Now THAT is some funny shit right there!! I dont care WHOOO ya are!!"😂🤣😂
Who said Germans had no sense of humour? This guy is funny, informative and totally honest, which makes the video highly entertaining! Great stuff, thoroughly enjoyed it, thank you. Definitely considering the ‘plus’...
Les Shrubb nobody who’s been to Germany. They are a proper laugh. This is a Brit
They have sense of humour
They just don’t laugh
@@guanweihe7614 They have a sense of humur but they don't think it's Funny
@@jamesbarker4322 hahaha,is ja n ding!?
Actually no one said that!
1st time seeing this guy, and I instantly love his attitude and descriptions! Thanks for the jam, comparison, and great humor!
Thanks for playing some jazz! Getting tired of every other reviewer just playing blues/rock and 'clean' tones being more like dirty. Great job!
Its nice to hear some clean guitar !!! Not overdrive from start to the end ....
Wow, they’ve changed all the stuff. The plus has no more bad stickers and has fretboard block inlays! That guitar is just too good to pass up...
After looking at the Thoman site (2019), it looks as though they listened to your comments! Pick guard has been changed, no stickers, and changed dots to block inlays!.
I guess to clarify the block inlays come on the plus model.
I received mine about a week and a half ago. I considered the sunburst, but chose the cherry red H35 Plus. The finish is flawless, as is the fretwork. |t has Roswell pickups rather than Wilkerson's. The intonation is fine, but the action is a bit high for me. So,, | am very pleased with this guitar.
@@garywells9478 Congrats! That's what I'm tossed about, whether to get the burst or the cherry!
Update 09/02/20: I got the Cherry, beautiful guitar!
@@garywells9478 btw... How are the machine heads?
@@jrtmanmd I think the guitar costing a tad more than a great set of tuners you can expect they are junk. Ive orderd a guitar from Wolf and the guitar (a tele style) like this was gorgeous and an amazing deal..but as with most of these guitars built in China they need tuners, pick ups and wiring/pots if you want it to sound as nice as it looks. As long as the frets are decent and the body and neck are good you would be way ahead to invest the $ in it.. Unless your one of those head badge weinnies which do not watch vids on Bentons so Im guessing you are one that could be very happy with a Benton built up to a really good all around guitar.
I ordered the HB-35 Plus in Lemon Drop. Great review!
Take the knob off first. Carefully remove the sticker. Use white spirit (probably) to remove the glue residue.
The HB35+ for sure, you can always swap out the pickups later if they sound bad. Love that lemonburst finish!
I recieved my HB-35 Plus Lemon Drop yesterday & I love it, pickguard & stickers removed before it was plugged in! You didn't point out the Plus has Wilkinson pickups & the other one has no name.
I was going to point this out too. The Wilkinsons sound much better to my ears.
Same idea here. Wilkinson instead of no name.
Newer plus models come with Roswell pickups now.
Can the Rosewell and get a great set of pick ups for it, S.D. Antiquities or equal to.. you cant go wrong.. Yea..$$$ but you get what you pay for.. Tuners, nut, wiring/ pots and pickups are always the least visable corners cut to make these affordable and the nice thing is upgrade as you can.. Its a stunning guitar and has potential to be a great guitar. If you like this style, its a great choice to start off with.
I've owned the E35 and HB35... Fun guitars that are silly deals. I do have both pick guards still in my junk drawer. They are all AWFUL.
That HB35 plus is intriguing... and gorgeous. Great video as always man.
Hi Nick, I was wandering if anyone tried to reshape the HB crap pick guards. Might be worth a try.
I can answer that. I ordered an AllParts 5 ply pick guard for a 335. It was a little too wide so I cut it down slightly on the pickups side. I also had to do some very light sanding to get it to fit around the pickups but we're talking 20 min worth of fitting. I'm very pleased with the results. It's the Allparts short 5 ply pick guard for ES-335 (B/W/B/W/B). Here's a link to a pic of it on the guitar. Also changed out the knobs to match better. drive.google.com/file/d/0B-IdHr1cYpBiOHV1eFZrNzZQTWs/view?usp=sharing
can I have my pick guard lol
gfeeeup
Just a quick note on the HB-35plus sticker issue: just got my new guitar, and it came with simple cardboard signs now around the pots - easy to remove!
And: absolutely no dust or whatever inside the hollowbody. Apparently your complaints (and/or that of others) had an impact. Thumbs up!
Just ordered the 35-plus in lemon drop along with a Vox VT40X, I’m just starting to learn the guitar and I’m Hoping this guitar helps me stay passionate. Thanks Henning, Glenn says F#%k off 🤣🤣
You play very well! I could listen to that style of jazz picking all day.
best review, always great playing, love the personality and the honesty. I bought a Harley benton te-70 and I can say that its a good brand just required new strings and some setup.
When your guitar stands cost 3 times what the guitars hanging on them do... #henningproblems
I have HB-35 cherry red and it's my second Benton(i have 450plus lp). Can't believe that, it stays in tune very well and sounds nice too. So cheap guitar but does things better than like Epiphone. I also liked these vintage type pickups more than Roswell ones that you get with plus version.
Well to be honest I have never been into Hollowbody guitars but for me there is something well good about both of these models from HB that is even tempting me to go out and buy one. To be honest I actually prefer the cheaper one of the two here, but both are exceedingly good and personally for my ears far more impressive than your D’Angelico's Henning. For starters they are both way more cleaner in sound with their pickips than those D’Angelico's you have. Please bare in mind that I am going from the sound I hear in my headphones here at home and not being in the same room and actually playing the puppies. So for me to say these Harleys are actually better is a completely different thing. But the difference between 200 bucks and 1400 bucks is a large margin and at the 200 bucks here for these Harleys personally I do not think you can go wrong in getting one. They really do look and sound amazing for that price range. Totally fell in love with this range in the HB range and will deffo want one for Christmas.
Thoman can thank you...we are a lot that bought HB guitars because of your vids..thks!
They look more like a Gibson Midtown than an ES-335.
You won't name us all except me, Karl in Ireland 🇮🇪 & Nick in the states 🇺🇸
Thanks for the shout out👍🏼
I purchased a HB 450 plus in December 2019 and although it had the rings around the pick-up switches - they were not stuck down. They were however too tough to tear so I had to carefully use some round point scissors to remove them. I totally agree that HB should make them easy to remove as the owner knows they are pull/push switches so the labels are sulfurous. Interesting videos by the way.
16:00 couldn't he just pull of the knob to remove the sticker easier?
This vid sold me on the HB-35+. It's all your fault Henning!!!
Went for the Vintage Sunburst in the end.
I took my pickguard off on day one, now I've "re profiled" it and it's more 339/335 shaped and has a proper radius on the fat end.
Mine had some high frets too which had to be stoned down a little.
Fitted some Marvel strap locks. Low profile, not too pointy.
I'm very happy with it.
Them people at HB needs to open a dozen of thomann shops here in India.
I'll look after one for them for free if they'll let me play as much as I want of their guitars.
The plus model sounds noticeably better and top design is very nicely done. Informative review from Henning as usual. 👍
Just a gorgeous guitar ! If the pickups are not too your liking,,,, well, it would be more than worth switching them to your own personal taste,,,, I become a huge fan of HB ,,, they can not be beat as far as cost ! It can not even be argued !. 😁🖒✌
They changed the pickguard on both of them!!! Thank u Thomann
yes! ive requested this for so Long. Gibson 335s have run up so much in price its insane. As you say it tends to be lacking that chunk in the middleposition.
anyhow as a drummer i need to be careful not to buy one of these......
I have the old style HB-35 in black and the pick guards were far better than these new models ...however the HB 35 plus is now on my list of must haves...along with a bigger friggin house.
The generic pickups on the basic model sound great.
Just found you. I can say I enjoyed this video thoroughly. No one does a review like you. Kind of remind me of Mike Myers doing sprockets on Saturday Night Live.
This is potentially the best guitar review I've seen on youtube.
Fucken subscribed and I'll be sharing this around my musician friends.
Why the fucken ?
Great review. You just saved me $1800 . Spent $315 USA with a hard shell case for an HB-35Plus . No stickers! And better tuners were installed.. Love your honest review. Fucking funny. My new favorite saying"Crapfuck" will now be passed around Pennsylvania. Replaces "It's a fuck story"
Jeez! Man I love you and your chanel ;) You have an excellent sense of humor! I like watching your rewiews. Thanks for it!
Was considering one of these and found you. Excellent review. Subscribed.
Taking that pick guard off made it look so much better. Like a rock-a-billy PRS. Lol. Looks great now
I bought the SC550PAF partly because of your review, and bought the HB-35Plus a while ago (before this review). Obviously they're different guitars, but I'd rate them both very highly - very usable guitars, unbelievably cheap.
Thomann must have listened to you :) . The coil splitting stickers are not on the Plus in the pictures on their website any more
The coil splits are still there in the description.
The Power of Henning
My HB-35plus has arrived today and I eventually chose it because of this review, vielen Dank an Dich! (: (btw die Coil-Tapping-Hinweise sind nicht mehr aufgeklebt, woohoo)
Great video as always Henning. Had my eye on one of these for a while. May pull the trigger on the coil tapped one soon.
Something to bear in mind whenever considering buying a Washburn semi-hollow is that their lower bouts are about 1/2 inch wider than the Gibson/Epis. that means they will not fit in the ubiquitous 335 cases available all over the place. You hve to get a Washburn case, which will run around $160.
Man, I wish Saein made a full hollow body without pickup cutouts, with a floating pickup & an internal mic or piezzo. I'd buy that Harley Benton in a heartbeat!
With the HB-35, it's not the "cheapidity" of the guitar, it's the pickups. I got this model in red & found the pickups way too bright. That, the crappy switch and the "just ok" tuners were my only complaints. I wasn't bonding with the guitar & upgraded the shit out of it, & now it's awesome! New pups, tuners, caps, pots, wiring, switch, Jack & knobs. Nut, bridge & tailpiece are fine. It didn't "need" all that stuff and I actually did gig with it before the upgrades. Now it is my go to axe & is a serious players machine! I think you sold it a little short by just playing blues Jazz & a bit of indie rock...because of the sustain block, this thing can handle high gain very well without feeding back. With my new pups I can play full on metal with it...although it looks silly doing so. Not a better semi hollow for the price anywhere!
When I buy a guitar the parts that can be unscrewed don't bother me as much as the fixed ones. You can always upgrade the pickups and sell the old ones, but if you don't like the color or the wood is shit you need to buy a new one.
What brand parts did you use ?
Peter XXX Wilkinson deluxe tuners $22, Guitarheads Alnico Supreme pickups $60, CTS 500k pots $8, Sprague Orange Drop caps $7, Guitarheads metal top hat knobs with pearl tops, $14, 50s style braided cloth wiring ?, Switchcraft switch & Jack $25. With a good setup, now the guitar
Is amazing! Prolly $225 parts & work, but so worth it!
Squazzoo68 Did you do the upgrades yourself or did you really pay someone to do it? And why did you upgrade cheap components with slightly less but still cheap components? In a year you'll want to have better tuners and pickups again.
George Hypotenuse and the Triangles this question isn't even worth an answer, but here goes...I replaced the cheap components with MUCH better parts. Wilkinson and Guitarheads make very good parts. Just because they don't cost as much as the big names doesn't mean they aren't great. I've used them for years on several guitars and they hold up just fine. Why would I want to replace them in a year? What could possibly happen? Are they going to "wear out"? Haha I don't think so. Go on and buy the "expensive" brand parts if you want to. Your guitars aren't going to play better, sound better or last longer than mine. But that's what wanna be cork sniffers like you do, just so you can brag about how much you overspent on the "best" parts. And yes, I REALLY paid someone to do the work, but I have luthier friends who work for cheap. Or should I just hire the most expensive and well known luthiers? ;p
Brilliant review and nice playing, as always :-)
Btw, the horrible stickers should say coil SPLIT, coil TAP is totally another ball game and never done on humbuckers. Don't mean to be a Besserwisser, just a little note...
Thanks, now I have to buy one of these.
Henning, I am seriously in love! These are so sweet, except the pick guard and the stickers on the plus. I am putting the plus on my wish list. The lemon drop on the plus looks stunning. These look a lot like some I've seen on Ali Express, (not sure about the spelling). I like the dot inlays on this and the fact that the colors are a little different than we usually see on 335's.
Methylated spirits, rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol will remove the glue residue from most stickers without harm to the finish - a little on a cloth will do it - don't flood the area.
Happy New Year Henning, i've noticed that the stickers aren't on the Thomann site photos
Great vid !! Henning is hilarious! I am getting one of these. Wish it had a satin finish on the neck...
I finally grabbed one of the HB-35 Plus guitars (Yes, I like the Lemon Drop color the best of their offerings...) and no "stickers"! on the newer ones along with a better shaped pick guard (That I still removed!). I like the option of having that coil split, & like the split neck combined with the full humbucker bridge quite a bit for some rhythm stuff. I like that coil split and the Flamed Maple top. Makes it well worth the extra price bump to me.....and I think the pickups are a little nicer sounding than the less expensive HB-35. THX!
They DID pay attention to the nut on pickup selector..please remeber that it is a VINTAGE model not the PLUS which is not vintage..so actually they get points for their "shop nut".. I am not into and dont get this "relic" trend.. I would like a new guitar to look new..not old and beat.. But here in America you have that freedom and happy for those being able to choose what they want. Great video..thanks..Im ordering a 🍋. Looks and sounds great overalll..
Thanks so much for this video, I'm going to buy the one without the pick-gard. It looks and sounds so nice! I play semi-acoustic and just want to mess around with an electric guitar to try it. Not ready to buy something expensive yet. So this video really helps.
Looks like they changed them a bit,
on the website it shows them with triangle pick guards and the plus version has block inlays,
They have a great left handed range as well.
Has the sunburst finish changed in the intervening years? The 35 seems to have a nice red/violet finish but the newer models on the site seem to have a blacker less red finish. Great review!
My HB-35 arrived today!
The good news is that they have changed the pickguard to be more like a Les Paul, it was nicely finished too.
The bad news is, the action was really high yet buzzed all over the fretboard and no amount of adjusting the truss-rod and bridge fixed it. Also there was no output from the bridge pickup. Also the neck pickup was pure mud, it sounded nothing like it does here, so the Roswells are not as good as the Wilkinsons IMO. So I had no choice but to return it, which they thankfully made hassle free.
Just hope the replacement is a not complete dog. Gotta wait even longer now...grrrr.
Curious as to how your replacement was/is???
Any follow up on how the replacement was?
At last a demo that uses the neck pick up while playing with fingers to show the warmer jazzy tones . Ps are you drinking Guinness ?
I just got mine delivered today. HB-35Plus VB. Looks and sounds good, but tailpiece is seriously off centered, so I'm returning it. I have yet to decide between try and buy another one or learning 200€ is too cheap to be true and pass on this one.
What is the main difference to the CST-24HB? Maybe too obvious for me to see? ;)
I belive you are kidding? In case; its their take on Costum 24 PRS😁👋🏼
Cst has a bigger scale length, more tight sounding
That 35plus sounded pretty nice
Geiler Stoff, Digga! Humorvoll und informativ. Danke für den Stream! Ich habe mich für die Harley Benton ES 35+ entschieden gegen die Epiphone 335. Der Preisunterschied ist ausschlaggebend. Beide Made in China, aber der qualiative Unterschied scheint mir weder im Klang noch im Finish gerechtfertigt. Und für die Gibson 335 reicht das Budget nicht. :-)
Had 2 HB-35 Plus guitars send to me, but returned both: dents / damage in the fretwork, sharp frets, sloppy bindings, damage in the paint job, twisted neck, loose pots, seeiing wires through the holes, strings not in the center of the fretboard etc. etc. Guess you get what you pay for. Or just bad luck. New examples have block inlays, available again in december 2016....tempting still, maybe i'll get lucky this time.....:o)
Guinness FTW!
BTW.. best Irish coffee in the world is served in the Riverside Hotel in Killarney. Handshaken cream - no machine can beat that!
A really good review. The expression on your face when strumming the lemon burst HB plus said everything I need to know - better than a thousand words. Excellent. It looked like you were sucking a lemon while playing a lemon in sunburst lemon finish . Funny but very informative . Thanks Ps . The cheaper guitar sounded better when you played it finger style
Just pulled the trigger and bought one HB35 with the coil splinter function.. Better late than never, now the wait ,
I am not seeing any reference to coil tapping on the current 2018 models of the 35 Plus Guess instead of removing the stickers they removed the whole coil tapping itself??
Hi tnx a lot for these wonderful reviews and videos you are doing... Will it be possible to compare the HB35 plus with the Epiphone Casino coupe... The Epiphone seems to sound better for me but I'd like to have your idea about this before buying one of them (Epi or Harley). Many tnx and please keep uploading... Or yeah you studio tour was a great video. I realy love your studio. :-). Hope I will have a chance to see it one day if I come to germany and ofcourse if you would like to show it. :-)
Great Demo, totally agree with you on those stickers. Epiphones with coil tap have a split paper collar that just slips off from around the shaft of the pot. The higher priced "Plus" one sounds damn nice. Can they be ordered direct and shipped to the states? Again great demo love your jazz up style its fun to listen to man.
love the guy in the back playing bass for the Doggo
Mine came with a nicer pick guard I took it off anyway but it’s more triangular than the pick guard shown here… the 35 plus is an awesome guitar… I’ve been playing for 30 years professionally ( for a living) and this guitar is just awesome without breaking the bank… the Epiphone 335 is $650 now… this is perfect!
Can you see the screw hole if the guard isnt on mine is the triangle shape too
Theyre paper now lol
You can call me crazy but I love the sound of that guitar!
in an older video you said you can't play jazz. does not sound like that in this video! ;)
I think the reason why it sound kind of too bright and ,,cheap,, is that both pickup in single coil mode are still going through 500K volume and tone pots instead of 250K like on normal single coil pickups.
That crossed my mind..would you get better tones by turning down the guitar and letting the amp do more of the work because of this??
Yes, you lose a bit of high end by turning down the guitar volume. I prefer the Strat for single coil sound but it's nice to have the option on the 35+ all the same.
11:13 That's "Stairway to Heaven". Very famous song.
Very nice Henning!
Beautiful guitars, especially the Plus! Thomann says: sold out until Nov. 1st... 😥
really hard to take off the coil tap stickers without ruining the paint job. on my HB 450 Plus it has hard not to fuck up my new guitar, your right it shold be just a warning paper sticker
In single coil/split mode you have to roll back the tone knob and turn up the volume on the amp. But then the humbucker mode does not sound so good. I do prefer the single coil option though...
If you were changing the pickups ...what would you recommend
Hi Henning, I'm looking to buy an affordable semi-hollow of a smaller size (NOT a 335-shape). Which Harley Benton would you go with, the Tele-style TE-90QM (either P90 or HB) or the PRS-style CST-24 (fixed bridge)?
am6tool I have the TE-90QM and love it. The red one with P90’s. Finished great.
Those middle positions with the various splits at around 20: I'm not hearing a lot of difference... Anyone else?
Just bought the plus model. Gr8 review Henning. Danke schøne meine freunde . Cheers🙏
You re the best reviewer on YT. I want to go the pub with you
Is it the amp or the pickups actually sounds twangy I'd prefer the parallel / series instead of the split coil option push pull tone knob
Has anyone experience with reliability on this guitar? The video is three years old. How does this model stand time?
Still getting support from the links? I'm going to be ordering one of these and would actually prefer the Plus model in VB finish. If it requires a separate link, please post. Thanks, man. Always enjoy your demos...😀
use any link and then find your product! Thanks!
another very fine and informative review thanks man
You do the best reviews. I have bought 3 HB guitars based on your demos. keep up the good work, man.
Great review! I have the newer violin burst with block inlays! I love it!!
Henning, you say that these guitars should have block inlays.... but is HB not trying to mimmic the G/Epi 355 DOT style guitar?
And i agree... big f***ing deal if its a dot or block, or whatever....
When looking at your video, i got the impression that some dots were not entered nicely, like the dots in the binding...
Is this true? are some off centre, or is that just the camera angle messing up the image a bit?
Great video's as always! Keep up the good work... (you already made me buy a DC-custom in black :| )
Alex
Comparing the Craptitude of the black pickguards they put on the sunburst and the cherry, I could live with that cream one. It doesn't look half as bad.
You need the tool that luthiers use to remove knobs. Then, if necessary take off the nut and more easily remove the spacer,
Hennings,little trick use lighter fuel .need to dampen to get to the glue on back you peel drop a little between sticky side and body keep going till off will also clean glue off.ok
0:35 - Weird... in the product description, it says coil _split_ whereas on the guitar, it says coil *_tap._* Maybe too many people lump these two together..? A *tap* just reduces the number of windings and thus, the impedance and thus, the output level - but only a coil *split* gives you single coil from a humbucker. ua-cam.com/video/yj5HVAcVKg8/v-deo.html
I'll have to check as soon as my HB35plus arrives in the mail. 4 weeks of delivery time projected - let's see if that works out...
At least they changed the erroneous "coil tap" stickers to non-sticky labels that you can simply pull off. Try rubbing alcohol to remove the residue. That won't corrode the paintjob.
Would you say the HB-35 plus is slightly bigger than the HB-35? It looked like it to my eyes but I couldn't tell for certain. Brilliant review ;D
They are SEMI, not Hollow-body. The HB-35 Plus looked and sounded interesting !!
The best reviews hands down thanks for helping me wit my next axe....frickn hilarious
Great review and great playing, thanks!
I am going to buy HB-35+ lemon soon. I agree with the pickguard removal advice totally and I don't know what to do with these black knob stickers. If they are attached so hard, is it possible at all to remove them without finish defects? Did you continue your experiment with their removal?
I also thinking of the pickups replacement: I have a pair of Gibson 57 classic/57 classic + zebra 4 conductor pickups which could be a good fit to the lemon body with the coil split. Any thoughts on the pickups replacement idea?
Great review, very practical - many thanks. I tried HB35 yesterday, and it has a great playability, low action, nice sound, so HB35+ should be even more interesting.
I like your comments...Man, you're funny !
Man great playing nice guitars