MY NEW FAVORITE GUITAR - The Harley Benton Junior Review
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- I take an in depth look at another stunning affordable guitar from Harley Benton. This one could be my new favorite...more than my Gibson Custom???
Harley Benton Junior:
www.thomann.de...
#harleybenton #thomann #hbjunior
I use this guitar more than my fender strat and tele.
There is something about these guitars. I got a bit of a bonus from work and I picked up a couple. The Junior was one that I was really on the fence about, but I am blown away at how much you can do with this guitar. I agree with everything you explained here. Great demo BTW. If this was your first P90, it's a great one. I've heard others that aren't quite as good. I got the double cut version, but I so want to get a black single cut. Gibson better look out though. These are great little guitars for not a lot of money, and they sound unreal!
Nice sounds from this very affordable guitar! Unfortunately this color is currently not available. Nice job Jack!
I recently bought Harley Benton TE-52 Vintage series. Amazing guitar for the price!
I have 3 HBs at this point, and I love them. I'll likely have a 4th before summer.
How are you getting that fuzz on Cherub Rock , that pumpkins fuzz , are you using a Big Muff pedal or ?
The typical Pumpkins tone is a JCM 800 with just a bit of grit so that it can clean up when rolling back the volume on the guitar, and then for the full fuzz I use a Big Muff. But there is also the OpAmp pedal from ElectroHarmonix which is more or less Billy Corgan in a box. Try that out.
I also bought the exact same model in black/tortoiseshell and am thrilled with it. A great value from the factory, and a Gibson killer for < $400 with a Wolfetone Meaner P90, Gotoh tuners and upgraded components - I kept NONE of the Harley Benton electronics, not even the wiring. Bridge seems like a keeper even tho I can't quite get the G intonation perfect with the screws all the way in. I just need to figure out the size and get a couple screws that are 1 mm or 2 mm longer. My Gibson LP Jr is for sale because I prefer the modified Harley Benton - no lie!
There are many high profile youtube channels where the player is much worse than you. Not that I don’t appreciate some Pete Thorn... but don’t sweat it... your fine.
Thanks Bill. I appreciate that. I like me some Pete Thorn too 😉
The first thing I thought was I love the way dude plays. Perfect guitar player for my band
Here here, I've said the same and more on a couple of the Basement Gas reviews. Some people need to get out of their own back sides!
That is a fantastic guitar. HB continues to put out better and better guitars. Thanks
Seriously. Right now there is no better bang for your buck. Than this guitar. I love mine. You just pick it up and PLAY. No messing around with set ups and ideal tone. Its got it all there already.
And you get on with the business of becoming a better player.
Your fingerboard looks really clean! How did you clean and condition yours? Mine was filthy! I used about 10 cotton balls and lemon oil and finally I just gave up, the dirt kept coming, black stuff! My intonation was really sharp took some work but now it’s pretty close! I saw another guys video and you could see he had a big gap between the bridge post and the bridge.
Get the Dunlop cleaning kit. That's all you need. You need to clean it up with some alcohol first. The lemon oil will not get the grime off
If you like your Tube Screamer, give Harley Bentons "Vintage Drive" it's even green with yellow knobs!
I am so incredibly impressed with the tone on this. Better than the new Epiphone LP Jr. in my opinion. Sounds amazing!
Love all of my bentons. They serve me well.
I have served, I will be of service
Waiting on my first one too ship...
Big fan of HBs. I have 4, all sweet. 3 of them set up only needed. One, my first HB an HB35+, was ok down to 5 or 6 /64ths but I did a fret levelling and got it down to G spec. They sit alongside a few more costly instruments and they can hold their own there.
KozmykJ I’ve currently got 2, the original HB35 which is much closer to a Gibson 335 in looks which has a modified headstock and better pots and caps! Just about to install a pair of Used Seymour Duncan 59’s!
I also have the Prince Tele, TE80 I think! That has also been modified with CTS pots stainless steel bridge saddles and Seymour Duncan pickups!
Both amazing guitars for the money and plenty good enough for upgrading!
Harley Benton DC Roswell P90 pickup.Hi. Does it have noise? Does it have a real humbucker?
I love mine, exact same model and colour... It just slices through my mixes like a hot knife through butter 🤘
It arrived perfect, everything from set-up to paint job.
I just ordered the DC Jr in faded brown to go with it about 5mins ago 🤘😁🤘
I just bought one and im changing the pickup to a Vintage P90 from 56' cause I can, stupid yes but why not.
Hi Johan.
I am thinking of buying one of those HB juniors .
What do think of it now when you have hade it fore a couple of months?
I would change the volume and tone knobs for silver color to match the bridge.
I think those gold knobs go well with the pickguard but that's just my taste. Silver would probably look pretty rad too
William Molina I would fit black Gibson “Top Hat/Bell knobs” as would be fitted to a genuine Junior.
Less is more!
I changed mine to silver 80's HiFi retro knobs and put sparkly silver vinyl over the pick guard, looks amazing.
All you need to do is play it through a Marshall. Skip the other stuff.
Might give this another look
Great review , do you still
have engouh space to screw donw the bridge a little bit to go to lower action bit more ? thanks
this guitar is very similar to the originial. i ordered this one because of the naughty old scool likeness. it must be a fun for the HB-Workers to copy the idol and make some things different to avoid judicial problems. the roswell pickup sounds really sharp and this guitar is made for rocksounds. even it is made for bottle neck - therefore it is really predestinated.
I have one of these, can't believe the build quality, amazing for the price.
Just wanted to say, really enjoy your channel and reviews - especially the Harley Benton's. I recently got the Harley Benton TE-90 with Filtertron style pick-ups from Roswell and I absolutely love it and those pick-ups! So, if you're wondering what your next bit of GAS might be, I'd like to recommend it to you. I'd love to see you review it and see your breakdown of the construction and set up. Keep the good stuff coming! Cheers!
21:00 I have a HB Tubescreamer clone (vintage overdrive), cost £27 and it sounds AMAZING
Great looking and sounding guitar.
Dang I don't need another guitar, I dont need another guitar, I dont need another guitar,, lol tempting!
You need another guitar!😁
I feel your pain
“Serenity Now... Insanity Later.”
Whoa dude, love that Lagwagon hat.
really cool hat but what is the demonstration of an electric axe good for did ya got some Money from thomanns House Brand? or did ya have no gigs what´s that good for ? wouldt ya show how bad or good your guitar playing is ?
@@Krawum1 Not entirely sure what your question is
It's a set neck, not a through
Thanks for the thorough review. That guitar sounds great.
I watched your last video on the other Harley Benton. I'm enjoying your videos. Keep it up.
Btw don't worry about the wilkinson thing. You can't be expected to know every single brand out there. And don't let negative comments deter you from continuing to make videos. I've been enjoying your videos. There isn't anything wrong with your playing either. People are dicks when they can be anonymous in a comments section.
The guitar sounded pretty damn good. P90's may be my favorite pickup.
I've been itching for a 2 pickup jr style guitar and the Gibson tribute special doublecut got a price cut so I scooped one up from a American retailer online. They were 999 new and I got it for 599 with 12 payments and no interest so it was a no brainer. What a piece of garbage. I wish I bought a Harley Benton. My goodness it was one of the worst guitars I've ever played. A bunch of the problems could be addressed by a proper setup and some fretwork but the fretboard isn't as wide as the neck so there is a ridge on both sides where the fretboard sits on top of the neck. Almost like the wood shrank 1-2 mm on each side. Which it must have because the fret sprout was like a cheese grater on both sides of the neck. Worst fret sprout I've ever felt and I've owned some garbage in my day. The setup is all over the place too. So if anyone is reading this and on the fence about one of the Gibsons run away from it. I may have just gotten a really bad one but I've heard other people mention the fretboard ridge which makes me think they used wood that wasn't cured properly on this run and maybe that's why they got discounted idk. I have a satin s2 Prs singlecut and that is the same price as the Gibson at full value and its CRAZY how much better the Prs is.
Anyway, good video and keep them coming!! Later man.
Why the hell didn't you return it? "It's a no brainer" .
Great - now I want one!
what? mercedes Benz?oh Lord would`t you buy me.....
You just raise the screws with a screwdriver rather than the whole pick-up, nothing wrong with the wraptail bridge. As for the neck it just looks like the colour of the wood to me. For somebody with so many guitars you don't seem very clued up on them, sorry.That's a great guitar stop trying to find fault with it.
Hello and thanks for a great review. I have just bought this model now in 20230115. It have been under my radar since I started to learn to “play” (old guy, 53 soon 54) I’m a huge fan of HB affordability. Have several of them and this is my first with P90,s. I’m also about to buy the HB CST-24 P90 model. Have a nice day 👍
I have the DC version and I can tell you the build quality (unlike some HB guitars) is top level. Like you it is easily my go to guitar for the past year. My only gripe is I wish they made a DC in your color spec!
That would be sweet. What color is your DC?
@@BasementGAS That's the only downer, I purchased the original mustard color as it was the only choice. I actually want a black one which they at present have not made yet.
I had one and returned it. The p 90 was milessssssss away from the strings and sounded weak.
Couldn't you have raised the pick-up?
@@robmontier639 well yes if I’d put in a shim, but also the nut was cut badly and there was gaps filled in with gobs of glue I didn’t like. I’m sticking to prs se models as I feel the quality is more what I’m after. Tbh. I think Harley Bentons are good for some people to mod but at the end of the day you’ve still got a Harley Benton guitar and it’s not worth much more than 1/2 the price you payed for it whereas my Prs Mira Se was 545.00 does not need mods and is total quality.
When a German supergiant company, hires everybody at Dunder-Mifflin to get the job done"
If I read you right your post implies some sort of massive clown like incompetence associated with Thomann. I have bought a lot of stuff from Thomann and they seem far from incompetent to me.
@@ResoBridge I'm not saying they're incompetent they build guitars that are incredible for the price I have a couple. But the last time I orderedit took them close to three months to get me my guitar and it was in stock when I ordered it. To be totally honest as far as their guitars go Harley Benton makes great guitars for the price. My last order because it took so long was a bit exasperating and was really trying my patience.but I would never say anything bad about Harley Benton instruments themselves.I haven't seen many other places where you can get such good quality guitars for such a cheap price.I am one of those people that will get on my soapbox and preach about how great Harley Benton instruments are.whoever they had working in the shipping department when I ordered my last guitar was incompetent. But when I got the guitar,itwas still a great guitar.It just took forever.
Howe thick is the neck on this guitar.??
Sounds and looks great.👍👍😎
So, picture it. Years (decades) from now, people will be trying to scoop up these vintage Harley Benton guitars because they were "built so good back then". Buy 'em up now people. I now have 2. They are the real deal.
Stew Mac carries Golden Age low profile wraparound bridges for $65 which are a great upgrade!
Ts9 right? :D my firts(15y) and still most cherished one! thank you for the review!
Hi and congratulations for your videos. I just found you out. I'm really considering on buying a HB SC-500 (wh vintage) or a J&D LC300, maybe leaning on the HB a little. Can you give me any insights on these? If it's not to much to ask. Keep up the good work!! (loved the gold HB video)
Just heard the 'boy scout round the camp' fire comment!! Can I just say thank you for not reviewing the guitars, like others, just by spending the time shredding. Drives me crazy! 'Replace all your guitars with Harley Benton's'............I would be quite happy to build a collection of just Harley Bentons, especially the way they've been going of late.
These look nice but you can’t try em? I like Ltd brand for this price range! Top notch quality and playability.
Are you sure the discoloration isn't just the grain color changing? most fretboard woods have streaks in them. nice video. thorough
The reviews for this particular guitar are excellent on many good youtube channels. And the tuners are fine.
Bought one, great guitar but get rid of the bridge, I had a spare brass bridge from a slick guitar swapped it around much better sustain.
I like the red spot on your fretboard. Got the same guitar - mine is the red double cut version. Great instrument.
It looks like the neck stain was smeared onto the side of the fretboard. I have that exact thing going on with my Gibson Les Paul tribute. No kidding.
bought the aka mustard and the cherry Red FAT neck model. Bought shims from internet to raise both the pickups. They are miles away from the strings. The sound greatly improved raising the pick ups. Both are really easy to play considering their cost. But .....weak point is the pickups. No where near as fat and rounded as a Gibson Dog ear. But heh ho .....
I fully agree. If there was only one thing I could change on this guitar it would be the pickup. Otherwise a solid guitar for the price.
Thomann / Harleybenton have increased their prices yesterday by 35%
Luckily I purchased a cst24 for 121 pounds in black a day before.
Are you serious ?
Enjoyed the video and the camp fire playing,,,lol cheers!
You have the best review online! You could shorten your sound demo but overall you cover it all!
Play the same line and chords for 5 seconds then move to next setting.
I was thinking of doing youtube reviews by just doing a complete fret rockering in a video. Nothing else...they can get sound files elsewhere. No one else does it. Of everything, frets leveling shows the companies attitude towards it's customers.
If the frets are not level then it's garbage unless you can level your own frets..... it's stupid to pay someone to acquire a fret job. Please rocker all the frets online and mic it! We want to see if they're making them level at the factory! A good example of companies dropping the ball is epiphone. Almost all their guitars have terrible frets. I believe they do this to compete with chinese type guitars....it's got to stop! 700.00 for a LP custom and the frets suck.
No review is worth anything if the frets aren't addressed. You at least attempted to show a rockering.
Rockering the frets is the most important thing....everything else can be upgraded at a decent price.
Wilkinson has some decent stuff but a lot of it is made in china. (bridge is probably made in china along with tuners and such...just because the guitar is put together in indonesia doesn't mean the parts are made there.) I just bought a wilkinson type roller bridge.....same bridge you can get on aliexpress.com. It is the only chinese les paul bridge I can recommend. 10 bucks on aliexpress....20 dollars at Wilkinson....same bridge. Don't over torque screws....it is pot metal. Roller bridge can be individually shimmed. Moral of the story....a few of the chinese parts are okay. Not all of them!
Level frets are essential for well set up guitar that plays well, but I suspect that frets move over time. I don't know if this is due to the frets shifting in their slots, or local swelling / shrinking in the fretboard wood. I regularly see new guitars from reputable companies that were obviously fret levelled at the factory, but a few months later, after passing through the supply chain, have several high frets. It is perhaps the same problem with criticising sharp fret ends, it only takes a the fret board to shrink by a tiny amount to expose the ends of the frets.
errr..thats a junior? i just bought a HB st-junior for my 5 yr old grandson and its only 81cm total length, with a 495mm scale?...that looks like full size guitar? maybe i missed the plot a bit...but that is too big for a junior in my opinion no offense lol :)
probs the camera angle :D
I have the Gretsch 5230T and the HB ST-20HSS....but that is way too big for the junior size that i have lol :D
EDIT: ahhhh my upmost apologies...that junior SC guitar has a 628mm scale...but why do HB have juniors at 628mm scale and the 495mm scale (st-junior total length 810mm, 495mm scale) also the st-mini (875mm total length, scale at 578mm) ??
that is so confusing for peeps wanting to buy a guitar for a child? when the mini is bigger than the junior? :(
surely mini should be for a child 4-7yrs, junior for 7-10yrs?
good job i took the time to size them up :D
Good thing you did size them up. A 'Junior' has nothing to do with the size i.e. it is not a child's guitar or a shorter-scale guitar. It is pretty much just the pickup and electronics config. It was something Gibson did back in 1954 as an affordable entry-level guitar.
@@BasementGAS ahh did not realise that..thanks 👍😁
Re. the pickup height... If it sounds good, it is good!
Exactly true - Its pure personnal preference - pickups will sound weak when too low - Or too loud & Bassy / punchy when too high due too string vibration hitting polepieces , Adjusting pickup height by experimenting with two washers or placing spacers under the p90 screws can make a huge difference - sound improvement . Adjusting polepieces is an option too .
I put 2 washers under the screws to lift it about 3 mm as I thought the PUP was not loud enough. This fixed it.
With double cutaway it sounds with less sounds body?
i bought a d120ce nt last weekend, and since it got to me on tuesday i cant stop playing it. the chords just sound so nice.
and it came set up perfectly and almost in tune.
P90s Rock.
My first P90 guitar and I'm loving the sound of the pickups.
Lagwagon hat, nice :)
Great review. Love your channel!
I'm not a fan of Harley Benton guitars at all.But I do like the finish that was put on your guitar. Clean sounds are good,but I'm not sure about using distortion. The dirty sound on a Harley Benton isn't as good as a Fender.But that is my point of view.If your happy with your new guitar,keep playing it.
That is just a matter of changing the pickup
Alles schön und gut -- aber: Man bendet doch nicht den Grundton! Mir kringeln sich die Fußnägel hoch!
So ein Verbrecher!
@@f.kleuser2847 genau Kunscht ebendt - ebendtdt das lamm Hurtz
Nice cap bruv.
awesome review and demo!!!!
Where does the channel name come from?
My studio is my basement and G.A.S stands for Gear Acquisition Syndrome
Great review. Thank you!
You're very welcome 😊
Do you keep the HB guitars or send it back/ sell it?
At that price tag I keep them. But the Gold Top and ST Style I'm loaning out to a friend and my nephew respectably. Plus they are so much guitar for that money it's definitely worth holding on to them. It's obviously not a long term investment instrument like a Gibson or Fender custom etc. but you don't have to worry if you're gigging or touring with them.
@@BasementGAS That sounds quite reasonable.
I have to say the overall Guitar Tone of the ones you presented in your videos is really great.
But I don't know if it is just me but it always sounds like it cannot hold a tune and just wiggles out of the pitch and that throws me off.
199€ STILL to much for only one pickup guitar the dc version has at least correct gib shaped body but even so STILL to much €
No_mods Iwantguitarstock So what is your take on the price of a genuine Gibson Les Paul Junior?
You get what you pay for!
Sounds like you would be happier with a Firefly, good luck!
You are kidding right?!
well technically viruses can be transmitted by any item but on solid materials like the guitar paint, it will only be around for about 9days for COVID specifically.... but yea guitars spent months in between packaging at the factory and the customers getting it.. unless its a custom made guitar ..
I bought one here in Australia from a young guy selling it I was interested but shipping and duties in Australia are a total rip off so I got lucky I got the tobacco Sunburst one and have to say after my preferred set up this will be a very versatile guitar indeed I also bought the Epiphone special for an awesome price new in tv olive 😁🤣 so I guess on this level Gibson lost out for the price Gibson ain't even in the ball park and I own and have owned them all shipping and duties is always the big negative
Could be that Harley Benton is the Gibson & Fender Killer.
No
I don't think so, but there are lot of us that are perfectly fine with harley Bentons...myself included
@@BrljoMrljo They are really good guitars.
No, simple as that
Epi killer maybe