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Steve's Guitar Garage
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 13 ม.ค. 2022
Can the new flagship Harley Benton ST Modern Plus compete against a Fender American Standard?
A few of you have asked to see how well the new flagship Harley Benton ST Modern fares against high end competition... in this case my 2005 American Standard Strat....
Gear used. Hughes and Kettner Ampman classic plugged into a 1x12 cab loaded with a Celestion Alnico Gold speaker. Shure SM57 mic. All sounds are deliberately un processed to give a true sound. A marshall reflector reverb pedal plus a MXR carbon copy for mild delay was used on the track to add a little space.
Gear used. Hughes and Kettner Ampman classic plugged into a 1x12 cab loaded with a Celestion Alnico Gold speaker. Shure SM57 mic. All sounds are deliberately un processed to give a true sound. A marshall reflector reverb pedal plus a MXR carbon copy for mild delay was used on the track to add a little space.
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Harley Benton ST Modern HSS
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My thoughts on the new ST Modern Plus from Harley Benton
Orange Micro Dark. Can this micro amp replace your heavy tube amp?
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The Orange Micro Dark has been around for a few years now. Is this amp still relevant in 2024? Can it replace your big heavy valve amp and take this pocketable amp to your gig. I think so, what about you?
Turn your idea into a song using GarageBand in less than 10 minutes. Beginner tutorial
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Ever had a great song idea come into your head and you need to get it down quickly before you forget it? This beginner friendly tutorial will show you how to turn your idea into to a song. This tutorial is based using a simple guitar part and building in a basic drum and bass pattern, but if you have a mic you could record your voice or add any combination of software instruments. Get your idea...
Greco EGC 600 68-60 Les Paul Custom Replica lead tone
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1989 Greco EGC 600 68-60 law suit era Les Paul Custom Replica. Tonerider Alnico II Paf pickups. Bluguitar Amp1 silver edition. Song is a homage to American guitarist Pat Thrall... If you know, you know! Great guitar in great shape for being 35 yrs old
Les Paul shootout. Chibson vs Gibson vs Greco Crunch tone test
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Fun test to see which LP guitar sounds best for crunch rhythm. Closer than I thought it would be! Amp used BluGuitar Amp1 on Vintage channel with low gain dialed in. No effects. Bare bones sound you would hear. Guitars used: Chibson Jimmy Page Les Paul Standard with Tonerider Alnico IV pickups and upgraded tuners Gibson Les Paul Standard - Completely stock Greco EGC 600 Les Paul Replica. All st...
Chibson Les Paul
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Gibson Les Paul copy ive had a while. This is mainly a test to try out a new camera for youtube for my other channels, but want to kick start this channel as its been on the back burner for ever. If i get enough interest, i will plug it in and compare it against my REAL Les Paul Standard in a new video. Before I get a load of hate.. I do not condone the behaviour of counterfeiting gutairs, and ...
I’ve owned many fenders over the last decade and one thing I can definitely say is- quality control has gone out the window. And on instruments still built to 1950s spec that they’re charging 1500e for, quality control is everything. Some of their guitars in that price actually come with a plastic nut when a classic vibe Squier comes with bone. 700e will get you a Yamaha Pacifica with graphtech all over it, locking tuners, impeccable build quality. For this reason I’d take a less costly instrument which is well built any day of the week and shove some fender pups in it, which in my humble opinion are the best part of fender guitars.
Thanks for making and uploading this video. 😀👍 Did if come with the gold bridge or was that an upgrade ?
Yeah it came with the gold coloured hardware. I think it is a jimmy page copy lp. It’s had a pick-up upgrade and I replaced the machine heads. Everything else is stock. It’s actually a pretty good LP and has a fabulous neck. It’s a bit of a gamble though. QC is a lottery and some factories turn out great copies and others not so… I think I’ve been lucky with this one.
Oh hey! The same crack in the neck pocket I also had on my Fender Stratocaster 70's re-issue MiM - and now the laquer has all flaked off and it's raw wood underneath. I think that is something Fender struggles with. Not that it has anything to do with the playability, but it's not nice to look at. -Mine is a 2005 model. -It's modded with DG20 Pickups and Super-Vee locking tremolo ... :) Nice video btw. -tnx! -KK
HB is a much better value guitar, like that humbucker. He seems a bit overly sentimental on the Fender.
I hope you don't play that horrific sound to the audience. The Hb sounds better . Your strat needs a set up .
Your fender is sharp on the cowboy chords and you make it sound terrible .. the Hb is way better
Thanks for the really useful content Steve. Subd.
thank you
That is only a paint crack....common on white strats for some reason ?
Resale value. That's why I like used and ex-shop display Gibson Fenders. They're a relatively safe investment, so long as you don't pay too much.
@@JibbarJabbar totally agree. I own quite a few fenders and Gibson’s, all previously owned, for the same reasons. Enjoy a quality instrument for as long as you want and move it on if needed without much (if any) hit when selling on.
Thanks for the honest review, fair points :)
Hey thanks. Great guitar but please lose the luminous dots on newer production models 😊
@@stevesguitargarage1802 I’m afraid that won’t happen, because many people like them, especially for playing in darker places 🤔
@@HarleyBentonOfficial good! They stay! <3
Simply put, the Harley Benton sounds fuller, rounder with a more concise attack!
I’m always confused why guitar companies think that sticking a humbucker in the bridge is somehow ‘modern’. Many brands do it, with varying quality of humbucker.
It’s more to do with the compound radius neck and other appointments that make it a “modern”. The HB more closely follows the suhr recipe than the fender strat, but I don’t have one of those sadly to compare it against. I’d need to sell a kidney to get one of those 😂
@@stevesguitargarage1802 thanks for the reply. I have 3 HBs, none with humbuckers in them, fantastic bang for the Buck. Only needed a minimal amount of set-up.
oops - I disagree. Until a few weeks ago I would have agreed 100%. Then I bought a Soloking with twin neodymium humbuckers and really importantly: single tone AND single volume control The voices of Soloking are incredibly versatile. The neck is a bit "fuller" and I am comfortable with that. But the main thing is that it has encouraged me to get out of the rut with guitar practice. I kept a Fender MIM Hendrix tribute a Squier and Soloing and debunked a lot of the old stuff. I cannot ... well you know ... compared to say 20 years ago? 10 years ago? Where I do agree 100% is preference. Go with what you want. The big guys are profit printers and not so sympathetic to its customer base (still dreaming about a Fender acoustasonic I tried boyz-o-boyz
What about the Fret sprout?
Great review! Keep it up! Fender Strats will always be something special. But for someone Who is starting to play, the HB is an affordable great option!
With the tech today ...dialing your tone is simple. Getting a guitar you want to play and feels great isn't hard to find these days and Harley Benton is lifting that bar. Sadly with all high Mass production meaning supply is lower than demand you will find the QC lacking perfection. The great thing is I would buy the returns and fix myself from Harley benton. They are just that good. I have the fusion T HH FNt. Incredible. But now i want a strat style like this. I have a MIM black strat and a 3 tone SB 60s Classic Vibe made from Rosewood spec thin over maple rolled edges and alder body. It's amazing really. I'm tempted to get that re fretted to SS frets one day. Then give is a nice humbucker in bridge. Done. These modern HB guitars are killer. I mean it's incredible the price. If fender made such a spec, it would be above the ultra line on price.
@@robertclarkguitar thanks for comments. Yeah too right, Harley Benton make great guitars with good bones ripe for modding if you are so inclined. The fact it got close to my American strat is a great testament to how good these new Harley Benton’s are. When I compare it to the rubbish guitars we all learnt on, new players have it made. I’ve heard good things about jet guitars also and might check out one of those too.
like most guitars - they sound fine - its how it feels in the hand!
First time I hear Elixir strings are awful…
I got the black one...The flame is unbelievable .. Obviously I had some luck with that because some are more flamed and some nearly visible.. It's a nice guitar.. BUT I recently got the HB Te90 blast for 100euros in the 70th sale...I mean cmon..100euros? You don't even get two s. duncan pickups for that anymore .. The guitar is really amazing..felt like stole it xd.. I even like the pickups although I never like roswell pus and always changed them,,,but here I love them!
SNOB!! 😜 It seems that great Steve's think alike 🤓👍 I have the white one with the maple board, and have the same conclusions re the side dots. The visibility might be worse on the maple. Where the flame is on the lighter parts, there could be a side dot hiding inbetween. At least with the rosewood, half of each dot is contrasted against the Laurel. I actually struggle to see them in normal light conditions, but to be fair I do really need to go to specsavers 🤓 Also agree Re the strat necks I have a 2004 Usa strat and a Jet JS400 (Same neck profiles) and i way prefer those to the HB. C shape 9.5" radius vs D shape 12-16" compound - The former is always the most comfortable for me too 😁👍 Great stuff mate! Keep em coming! 😀
I’m glad I’m not the only one regarding the side dots! Same with the neck shape, it will of course suit some. It does appear that people named steve share very similar opinions on this guitar 😂. Your video on the st was bang on
@@stevesguitargarage1802 As was yours Steve! 😂👌
Great job mate! Great vid - great points well made too sir!😀👍 I prefer 9's too, I think putting these out with high quality expensive strings is a bit of a waste, looks good on a spec sheet, but that money could have been saved and used elsewhere on the guitar. Keep em coming mate! 😀👍 Subbed!
Thanks steve. Love your channel btw. You have the best glasses of any TH-camr 😂
@@stevesguitargarage1802 Ha! thank ya mate - I think I might need to get some lenses put in them tho 🤓🙈
@@stevecassidyguitar😂😂
Yes, they sound slightly different but I wouldnt say the Fender sounds better, I have found with my Harley Benton Tele copies I can get very close to the Fender Telecasters sound by adjusting my EQ pedal, I prefer to use its own sound though I do make some slight adjustments though, I like to have a different sound on the HB, but still have the classic Tele Twang. The luminous side dots need to be charged with ordinary light for at least a couple of hours before playing and then they will light for about 70 mins, this was my experience on an Ibanez I once had, I used to have it on a stand in my bedroom and it received sunlight in the day and artificial light in the evening, I could see the dots lit most of the night when the lights were off.
I love the Harley Benton ST-Modern Plus and own one. Damned, we're speaking bout 450 bucks❤
I returned the ST Modern from H.B. as just so many dead frets. Action was just so high to make it playable. High E string snapped on day 2, the frets were super scratchy. Also crack in the neck pocket. I bought a Fenix strat from 89, it was 120 euro cheaper than the H.B. and so much nicer to play.
Sad to hear you got a bad one. you would have thought the QC would be better on the flagship models. Maybe I got lucky with mine. I did have to change the rubbish Elixer strings as the high E snapped after 2 hours of play and also sort out the high action. No issues with the frets though. Interestingly my one is dated November 2023, so must be a very early 1st run production model considering they didnt come on sale until June 2024!
The scratchy frets are caused by humidity changes, you will find this with a lot of frets that get dressed in a very humid country and are then transported and subjected to a less humid environment, just a rub with a cloth can solve it though. I have been lucky with the frets on the HB guitars I have bought, I just got the odd fret that was slightly high and a knock with the nylon hammer fixed it, Stainless Steel frets are much harder to file and if any of mine came so bad that they buzzed when I had set the action, I would send it back also, I don't mind fret levelling with nickle frets, I have only levelled Stainless Steel frets once and I don't fancy doing it again!
thanks for your vid an opinion on the HB. I will also take my 27 year old and playd in Strat over this, periode!
I would agree the HB is a very nice guitar an i think it has a smooth and perfect Character. Its ab bit clearer than an Fender, but the dynamics are not as pronaounced than a good set of Fender SC Pickups. Thats my experienc with this HB (have the same color ;-)). A Fretleveling would improve the HB. The pickups are okay for me.
thankyou. Yes 100% this. The HB is a great guitar for the money and it is astonishing how good it is, it can hold its head up pretty high. But yeah... the fender every day of the week and quite rightly considering the price points.
Great review, thanks. Harley Benton would be good for gigging.
HB has asuperb looking neck thats all
Yes I agree.. it is a thing of beauty for sure
Good honest review, keep up the videos.
Thank you very much 🙂
It's frightening how close the HB is to the Fender. I don't care about tone, Fender has more mids and it's warmer, I want clarity and in that area, HB sounds better.
Wobbly bridge pup? Seriously... 🤷♂ This is typical for any pick guard mounted humbucker. The use of mounting screws and springs often result in the Humbucker not sitting parallel to the face of the guitar either. You didn't specify during the 'tear down' but the Harley Benton appears to use rubber bushings rather than springs.. The push/pull Tone pot splits the Bridge Humbucker and may have a resistor fitted to 'adjust' the taper
Hi, What colour is it? Seems to be a pale blue that isn't on Thomann. Wondering is it the pale green but looking blue in video.
It’s seafoam green
Overall looks nice, but I'm baffled they went with a bridge that you can't palm mute the same way you do every other S-style guitar on the market. How many interested guitarists are going to pass on this and buy a Pacifica because they don't want to change the way they play for one picky guitar? Does Harley Benton not test these guitars as they develop them? Does the guy that tests them only play surf rock? Not an enormous issue, but just baffles me to make a mistake like that when designing a superstrat. Annoying too because I live in the US, and while without this issue the guitar would be a no-brainer, now I don't know if I'll like playing it or not, since I palm mute quite a bit, so is it worth the international shipment cost and increased likelihood of having to hassle with an international return. I wonder what other guitars use this bridge, that maybe I could find in a music store here and try out. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for your response. Yes i do agree with you. I didn't focus too much on the bridge, but may do a follow up video in a few days now I have also "lived" with it a while. As I said in the video, I have not found it to be an issue for me personally... but every guitarist is different. I do palm mute (like most guitarists) and it is a slight adjustment which does come intuitive very quickly. My main gripe with the guitar (now i've owned it for a while) is the luminous side dots. Its a gimmick. They are totally invisible on a dark stage unless you shine some UV light at them every 15 mins or so. You would be surprised how much you actually do refer to side dots when you cant see them!!
..or they'll just swap outthe bridge for a different style..
well, there already are fusions and amaroks, and those are solid (although limited to HSH and HH). Mb they've deliberately made this one different so that it won't overlap with other series.
@@stevesguitargarage1802 "Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day, can you?" I have Ibanez (at least twice more expensive then this hb) with glowing dots and they behave similarly. Yes, they glow for some time with greenish light, but only for a couple minutes after being exposed to some light source. Looks like they all use same glowing stuff that is used in wrist watches and kid toys and those star stickers for bedroom.
@@namesurname5409 yeah I just don’t like them. In theory it’s a great idea, but in practice it doesn’t work. Some simple white dots would have been better. I’ve had a bit more of a moan about them on the follow up video I did this week. It’s my only real complaint with the guitar tho.
I'd like someone to take apart a Suhr or PRS and nitpick a justification for them being 3-6,000 dollars as opposed to complaining about strings for a 300 dollar guitar.
100% bro
Go watch Gibson guitar factory tour on the andertons channel. Or fender. That's knowledge explains a lot . Open them up yourself to. You should probably replace a few things once received
It sounds like a cheap toy from Walmart.
Fender is that you?
@@ntomatas1😅😂
@@ntomatas1 Nope.
Every Vid needs a Bot!
Guess what Einstein, there’s a lot in the recording chain beyond the guitar, there’s amp, mics, pedals, etc, this guy has just dialled in a pretty awful sound. Check out other videos and you will hear it sounding very different.
Jet Strats are outstanding
I'd be interested in an a b between a US strat and this
Andertons TH-cam channels fender factory tour is fantastic vid. You see where the money goes honestly
Glad to hear the bridge is not a real issue after a little adjustment time. I guess it wouldn't be made if it were. The real concern is the fretwork. No one likes to do levelling on stainless steel.
On my copy the fretwork is immaculate. No sprouting or unevenness. I needed to make a minor adjustment to the truss rod and lower the string height for my liking. I do have one negative thing to say about the guitar after taking it to a gig (and after recording this video).. those luminous fret markers are a gimmick! Unless you’re prepared to show it some uv light between each song, they are completely invisible… I never realised how much I actually refer to the side dots when playing standing up! They need to ditch them
Plim, plam, plom?Does it chug man.Does it fucking chug...
😂 c’mon man, you know it can.. well as long you adjust your palm muting technique on that bridge of course. 😂😂😂
Thanks for the Video. I have one in the same color, and i can confirm your opinion to this Guitar. Great value fpr the Monney cause of the amazing Fretjob an the quality of the Hardware. I play with the Idea of changing the neck singlecoil to an Fender Fat 50, cause i hav the laying around, but on the other hand the Pickups are realy balanced and good sounding, so we will see. If the Pickguard came with the exact same hole Alignement as a Standard Fender this would be a great plattform for mods, witch it is it anyways, but it involves some Driling i think. Cheers from Germany.
Thank you. Also noted that the cavities inside the guitar are routed for a full size humbucker in the neck if you so desired. Not that I personally would, because I love a single coil in the neck position, but it’s designed for modding if you so wish. I used to have a set of fat 50s in a highway1 strat that sounded fantastic.
Nice video. i would like to see an A/B against your Fender Stratocaster.
Hey thanks very much. Yeah I’m interested myself to see how the hb fares. May not be a fair apples to apples test, but I’m intrigued to see if it can get close. Both feel great in the hand
@@stevesguitargarage1802 do you think that the neck pickup being farther from the neck has a negative impact on tone?
@@Andrea-qg5yk its a valid point and something i didnt pick up on at the time of making the video. But you are correct, as the positioning is further back towards the bridge than a tradiitional strat. I wouldnt say that it has a negative impact, but it certainly changes the character of the expected neck pickup sound which may not be to everyones taste. Good spot
Hows the neck feel
Yeah feels good. A bit chunkier than I’m used to on a strat style guitar. I’ve gotta get used to the flatter radius on the neck. It’s a personal thing really. It’s flawless though
Hi Steve Nice video Simple and concise I look forward to seeing how your channel progresses
Thanks Malcolm. Got lots of ideas I want to turn into videos, if enough people are interested of course.
I guess I am your only subscriber. Your video is very good. Thanks for getting right down to the good stuff.I am quite enthusiastic about the music creation I can do with Garage Band. I am in a garage band called Ted Narcotic and The Dopioids. Check out our latest..I Like Donald Trump in prison th-cam.com/video/QS2YcQUzAQU/w-d-xo.html
Thanks buddy. It’s a brand new channel so it’s gonna take some time to build it up, which is always frustrating to start up. I’ll check your channel out 😊