IS THE "JIM ROOT" HARLEY BENTON GUITAR ANY GOOD?
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- #harleybenton #harleybentonguitars #jimroot
In this video, we check out the "Jim Root" inspired Harley Benton Guitar!
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This is not just a guitar review, this is a perfect example that if someone knows how to play and mostly knows how to record, they really do not need expensive equipment to make awesome sounding music.
Wow thank you so much for the kind words!
truth
I think it's simply shows how an expensive interface or amp can pretty much make anything sound good
@@beefnacos6258 I don't really know much about these software amp sims, but he said he's using something that's also budget friendly, and not plugging it into a crazy expensive rig
Stay Xander Ray
That sounds good
I didn’t realize his name was Ray Charles. That’s the most metal thing about Ray.
That System of a Down riff unlocked a core memory I had forgotten. Such a banger
Dude, you always crush it, but I love how you *GET* it, why play a budget guitar through a rig that no beginner could ever afford? You're a legend.
Ahh thanks so much! I truly appreciate you always taking the time to comment and hangout with me
The thinking process is usually that if the guitar is the weakest link, you know it's its fault if it doesn't sound good. This is a situation where I can see both sides and don't really have a horse in that race.
That being said - with the quality of today's amp sims, is it THAT far off?
Your playing always blows me away, man, you always seem to get better and better with each video and I love it. Take care, man, and happy holidays from Canada
Was not expecting the Mariana's Trench riff, you earned a sub! haven't quite pulled the trigger on one of the HBs yet but this review certainly helped me come closer to a decision.
Its nice to see that its not all about metal anymore its fun to see how much you've grown over the years
Dude u have some of the sickest riffs!! Love the channel!!
I've been around the HB store for a couple of months and this guitar not been removed from my wish list since, great playing! 🤘
You should get one of the EX-84 Modern, those are METAL AF.
Not sure what the implications of ordering from outside of Europe are (both shipping and returning), but as someone that lives in Austria (next to Germany) I can say that the free shipping and the fact that you can just send it back if it wasn’t what you expected, makes this brand the best budget choice out there (again, from my pov)
Hi Ray. Great review on the Harley Benton. Since you’re on the topic of reviewing “budget” guitars, I hope you can make a review on the Squier Contemporary Telecaster RH. It would really help people who are planning to get their first guitar or someone who cannot afford to purchase high-end guitars. Thanks Ray! More power to your channel! And Happy Holidays!
Maaan. Glad to see you discovered HB guitars.I got my first one about 5 years ago and haven't looked back. I have 6 of them now, 4 guitars and 2 basses, and it'll be hard to not buy HB because of the budget factor.
Dude...your playing is constantly going next level. I'm really digging your voice that you've curated on the instrument. I'm pretty hyped on the posssibility another instrumental album under your real name. At the very least an ep. Big ups on ya. Whatever you're doing keep it up. It's working for ya.
Ahh thank you so much. I ironically started writing as soon as I did the rebrand. It was such a weight of my shoulders and I immediately starting feeling creative again!
It’s time my friend to celebrate your an inspiration. I love your playing . Bro you have almost63 thousands of subs your amazing I love you ….❤🤘🏻⚜️🍺👊🏻🤪
Great work dude! I've been eyeing up one of these on top of the Fusion III.
Cool vid dude. I’ve got a lot of guitars but I am tempted by HB. Love the stripped back aesthetic. They just really really need to tighten the QC as a matter of importance!
Keep doing what you did with the Mesa. Not enough youtubers do it that way. Most of the demos are over produced and you can't really hear what the guitar or amp really sounds like. Keep up the great work Ray
Awesome jam song bud! Can't stop the headband! 🤘
Having watched Glen Fricker's video on the Harley Benton SBK range that were giving the noise problems it was the black paint on all the hardware that was preventing the grounding & causing the issues. Simply removing the paint from specific areas or swapping the black screws for chrome/gold was able to fix the problem.
Hey man, love your content. I bought a Harley Benton JC66 (Fender Jazzmaster copy) for $165 and I absolutely love it. The quality control is amazing, trapezoid inlays and my frets meld into the binding on the neck perfectly. The guitar please beautifully, the tone sounds just like a Jazzmaster and it has p90 pickups too. Harley Benton makes copies of already existing guitars. They do not make student level guitars, most guitars you buy from HP are going to be very good. And if you spend over $350, you are going to the next level of guitars and they are going to be even better. How you been gets a bad rap mostly from people who don't own Harley bentons. I have three at my house right now and my dad and my brothers both play them as well. It's not my only guitar, but I play it a lot. And to top it off it came out of the box set up and ready to go. I didn't have to adjust the neck or the string height or anything. That was a very pleasant surprise.. well, enjoy your guitar, it sounds great. You are getting better and better every time I watch your videos, it's noticeable.
Would love to see you do a mod project with this and hear your thoughts after doing pick ups, tuners and probably upgrading the nut. I know you don't typically do that. But to see what you would do personally would be cool.
I did exactly what I did with the Harley Benton SC-1000 Progressive with the same active pickups. A gorgeous white guitar! I gutted the whole thing except the bridge and tailpiece, built a wiring harness, added Entwisle neodymium pickups and replaced the tuners.
I got the same guitar back in March. So far I upgraded it with Seymour Duncan Nazgûl/ sentient set and Grover tuners. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use Fishman fluence sets because there wasn’t enough room for the wiring. Also fender pick guards don’t fit/line well on the guitar. But overall I’m happy with it going to upgrade the bridge and nut.
@@UNTroy56With the Fluence set, there's minimal wiring, much like the EMG sets out there. You can use the single volume push-pull pot for voicings, and it would control both pickups. If you're in the New England area, I'd be happy to take a look at it for you, if you ever wanted to make the switch.
This is awesome!! Wish I knew about this before Christmas haha
nice review. I also bought my hb as a b-stock for 109 euros and it arrived perfectly processed. the fretwork is better than my fender player strat. the pu are not emg, but they shoot and all for the price! no matter if tube or transistor, mine is quiet and looks damn cool.
The noise issue on these guitars was traced to the earth (ground) wire not making electrical contact to the hardware because of the anodized coating.
If you get a noisy guitar, you may have to take the bridge off and sand off some of the coating underneath, so it makes good contact with the metal.
If the strings (which act like antennas) aren't grounded properly, you will get noise with a gate absent no matter what you plug into. The V and Jazzmster clones had a string grounding issue that was due to a painted bridge, blocking conduction.
GREAT DEAL for about $100, loved the clean intro-ish jam you did at the 12:59 mark man. You should check out the Sawtooth ES series (Michael Angelo Batio brand), gifted my bud one for XMAS. Came right out of the box completely and perfectly set up. I was skeptical at 1st but it's a great guitar, so much so I'll be getting my self one of the higher end models soon.
Awesome riffs man 🤘🏻
Stay bro!! Greetings from Spain!!!
This mans playing an ABR riff.
Subscribed.
Good idea on the title. The first one didn’t get me hooked but this one did ;)
Few days ago i got Harley Benton JA60CC Seafoam Green, it is 50$ more than this guitar and frets, neck and whole setup in general was amazing, better than on 600-800$ guitars i tried in stores, i know my guitar is not really for metal i just wanted you all to know what you get for 50$ more haha. I hope we get those EMG J masters soon so i can put them in this guitar and btw love your channel Ray!
The grounding issue is due to powder coat where the ground goes to the threaded inserts of the bridge. You just need to pull the insert and scrape off the powder coat. The ground must reach the string saddles so need to remove the coating so there is continuity from the strings back to this ground wire.
I have the same one and its amazing! no grounding issues for me either
I've got some new string that closely match Jim's set so I can have it as a dedicated slipknot/downturned guitar
love it! I would def consider this for a cheap studio guitar. Would just need a proper set up and new pick ups and its ready to rock!
Sounded meeetttaaallll as great playing dude
Common Ray W, yet another good video
That noise issue is quite interesting because just this thursday is played a school gig where one of the guitarists played this exact model and there was a huuuuuuuge static noise and our mixers had to mute him every second he didn't play. Could be just that specific guitar but I would keep that in mind. And I can say for sure that it wasn't the amp because we had another guitar going to that amp during the gig.
I think SpectreSoundStudios made a video about that issue. czcams.com/video/MzZJyXQXOfo/video.html
Guitar models aren't a monolith. That guitarist might have got a bad egg where the wiring wasn't done well, while the one in this video had correct wiring.
Quality control is one of the first things to go with budget brands like HB so the inconsistencies make sense.
The good news is that bad wiring can be fixed in literally seconds if you know how to use a soldering iron. Personally, I'd take bad wiring over fret/neck issues any day when it comes to cheaper brands.
@@INeverWanted2010 I agree with this but I know for a fact that he was a beginner and many guitars in this price range are meant for beginners who most certainly are not able to fix a bad wiring ext. And that would be another trip to a guitar store to get it fixed and so on. But yeah bad wiring is always better than like a twisted neck or something like that
Spectre sound studios did a video on it and how to fix it
@@INeverWanted2010 all of these models are having this problem.. theres been wiring issues at the hb factory. same is happening with the new V. its not a 1 off thing
Hey Ray. I bought a tele-style Harley Benton guitar about a month ago. Same matte black finish as yours. It was my first HB and honestly, it’s not bad at all. I paid $84 plus shipping for it. And for $84, it was amazing. I did have to set it up though. Like yours, action was way high, intonation was way off, crappy tuners, etc. So, I set it up, replaced the tuners with some locking ones, and it was totally playable. I do not care for the pickups, at least the bridge one. So I did order a humbucker to replace it with. I have a feeling that will make a huge difference. Anyway, just thought id offer up my experience with HB. Peace!
Cool looking guitar, great playing....the intonation being so far out of wack could be from the lower turning.... if it was set up for E standard that drop C might have something to do with it.
Just a thought.....keep up the killer videos man!!
Nice glad they got that grounding issues down or could just be a hit or miss but that’s awesome
Digging the purple vibe!
Thats awesome, ill have one when they're back in stock
you won't be disappointed!
Your mix in the beginning is sick! Do you share your tabs somewhere (like Patreon)?
Cheers from Germany and Merry Xmas!
Great video Ray. HB doesn't get enough credit. I own a fusion Tele and I always say if you get a HB ....change the pickups to have an elite tier guitar ( if you go for a higher end model that is) regardless their cheaper offerings are not dogshit as many think. They're really good guitars especially in the hands of the right player.
Hey! Thanks for another great video! Question - this HB Strat vs Squier JR Tele - what is better?
Part of the noise problem could be bad grounding from the black paint on the hardware, preventing the strings from reaching ground. SpectreSoundStudios did a vid on it and how to fix it :)
Hey Ray. Thanks for checking the grounding. I'm not likely going g to ever own one of these guitars. It just shows that you care and listen to your fan base.
That being said, I wonder if HB has already fixed the issue on all the models they ship out or if you got lucky and got a good one. Or did this particular model never have the problem. We've all seen Glenn's video with the V. And there was adrew baenas video but I do not remember which model he had. But both of those were in fact quite noisy guitars.
AFAIK only the Victory and JA active had that issue, both of which were recent models. This ST model uses the same hipshot-style bridge than the JA but is an older model so at some point they changed that particular part and perhaps ST-20HH actives that were manufactured together with the JA active faulty models "could" have the same grounding issue, but if were part of an older batch then likely won't.
i was gonna buy one of these and decided to mod an old squire of mine and plan on callin it HBK... all jokes aside some 85 87s in that would be a pretty cool active strat
The source of the issue in those SBK models is the paint used in the bridge pieces, not the pickups, electronics or the amp. Models released before they added the JA and Victory active SBKs (such as that guitar you got there) didn't have the issue, but batches of guitars that were built around the same date as those models do seem to have the same grounding issues with the paint acting as an electric insulator. Unfortunately unless Thomann goes through every single unit from those faulty batches and either remove them from stock or correct the flaw, there are gonna be more consumers with the noise woes.
I built a guitar almost exactly like this one!!!! But I put Dimarzio pickups on mine.....I plan to upgrade by installing 2 small switches for single coil action on the pickups.
If you want a Harley Benton guitar that is amazing for the money you need to grab the new guitar max signature guitar. This thing is not only beautiful to look at it shreds. The Tesla pickups in this thing are way better than I thought they'd be. I had planned on swapping them out for something else but definitely no need . It's basically a fusion III with a reverse headstock and Tesla pickups.
Ngl, my harley benton ex-84 came with a pretty bad setup. Action was a mile high, fret board was very dry and frets were scratchy. That being said what really helped was tightening the truss rod and straightening the neck a little more, as well as lemon oil and fret polishers, plays like a dream now.
Hey man. I'm pretty sure there's another strat and tele style with EMGs with roasted maple necks. I hope one day you can get those to demo :)
I have 2 HB’s an ex-84 that came with emg’s plays like a beast!! Love it and then I have their take on the LP junior I use it for punkrock stuff and I can beat the shit out of that thing. Did I i have to fight the setup? Yes on the junior the ex (explorer) it perfect
Harley Benton blew me away with their stuff. I picked up the SC-1000 progressive and holy crap its a monster. Although I'm pretty sure I have some grounding issues because when I plug into my interface I can faintly hear a near by radio station lmao
That's not a grounding issue but shielding issue. Use some shielding paint in the pickup cavities or foil.
thinking of picking one up because it’s so affordable and it comes in a lefty set up which is always a pain in the ass to find. Thinking of using it to build on maybe 🤷🏻♂️ at the price why not right.
This guitar sounds very “bitey” with those pickups, good for like a 90s guitar tone imo,
Think I’ll pick one of these for a mod project in the future,
Finally, someone talking my language. Some of my worries with these were confirmed only by you.
At 9:34 That sounds like it could be a riff off of Breaking Benjamin's "Dear Agony" Record. Love BB BTW so that's definitely a compliment. I can just hear Ben's voice over that.
Man I'm rly curious about this thing with some higher end pickups and maybe locking tuners? Future mod job?
So the stratocaster is actually good, but the other 2 (the v and the jazzmaster) is bad when it comes to the noise problem. But you can fix that problem with those other 2 models.
With you being an EMG artist, are you going to swap out the pickup's. It sounds good now, but with EMG's it will sound alot better. I love your channel. Waiting on new music man.
I think the fretboard material is called rose-acer, it is like cooked maple or something like that.
Yeah I think it's dark roasted maple made to look more like rosewood or ebony. Acer refers to the genus of maple trees
If you like finding guitars and guitar brands, have you tried SX? I used to have one of their LP shapes when I first was getting started (I forget what they called it) and it was pretty decent given the price.
Great Video!
Not gonna lie man. You make every guitar sound killer. Since you getting more into floyd guitars i really recommend getting an ibanez rg. Or an rgd. An rgd is made for droptuning. They have longer scale length maybe something for you??
they might have resolve the noise issue, those matte black guitars, 2-3weeks ago was a problem with Glenn Fricker
Killer demo jam. Personally I have fun working on guitars as long as it’s not wood working. I can dress the frets and dial in my preferred set up. I love upgrading as well. HB is very much my cup of tea.
That opening jam was pretty catchy.
I wonder if the simple addition of a tone pot would allow you to tame the high end without spending extra money on pickups. Maybe an experiment?
I could imagine you invited Jim root on the channel to review the guitar 😂 and modding it with one of his strats, next Jim root says perfect ! 😂
Your hair looks great bro! Much better than shaving it
It’s a fuzzy sound, but not bad at all. As a complementary guitar to add character to a recording if you’re quad tracking, it’s perfect. You just record two L and R tracks with a better guitar then the same with this Harley Benton and get them X panned…some interesting results for sure.
I would have thought the TE style guitar would be been closer, if only because of the shape.
A blessing they sell it lefty as well
Edit: didn't realise how recent this video was and Jim sig has changed.
S9unds wicked dude was thinking about picking one up myself
Thanks for the in depth review! You definitely answered a lot of my questions. Looks like a decent base to mod or try things on. Any idea if a set of locking Fender tuners would drop in?
Nope - I’ve had HBs and you will almost assuredly need a dremel to widen the holes if you’re trying to drop Fender parts in.
@@jburdsinfuse Thanks for the info, that’s what I kind of figured.
@@jburdsinfuse That, plus Fender tuners have positioning pins. So you'll have to drill the holes for those too.
@@raytorvalds3699 I don’t know if this is the right or wrong way, but I didn’t drill for those. Once the hole fit, I pressed firmly into the wood and then when I tightened down the tuners, they set fine. The pins are so tiny, it didn’t seem like it would matter as long as they were flush on the headstock.
@@jburdsinfuse I would say it's not ideal. You could potentially crack the wood with that method. But hey, it worked for you.
I use part of your method. I tighten them until the pin makes a slight impression and then I drill it, using the impression.
Yo Glen Fricker at SMG made a video about this series and showed how to fix the noise issue. It has something to do with the color
thomman could have seen all the videos for the noise issues and had quality control fix the grounding issues. thats good.
I have this guitar it is great. Bit of a set up and locking tuners and it’s a killer guitar for price. Mine has no sound issues either. It actually plays better than some more expensive guitars I have owed after a set up,
string change and fret polish. Wish I had this stuff around when
I started playing.
Great playing btw
I am SO glad you reviewed this! I've been thinking about picking one up because I didnt want to shell out the money for the ACTUAL JR signature model. I feel like it would be worth the work that needs to be done for that price.
My reworked and upholstered in fabric (to cover original finish), carboot-sale-Rockburn, with 21 quid split coil G&B pups from ebay, is (when finished), my equally favourite to grab among my Jackson 7 string multiscale and Fender MIM Tele. All mods and guitar was £72 in total. Frets were already well levelled. You can't go wrong on cheap cnc made guitar if you assume you have to put some love in it. In this H-B you might need improve grounding, rest is rather ok as I watch reviews.
For sure. I got this guitar, put in a set of DiMarzio D Activators, better electronics, Graphtech nut, Hipshot bridge (had to redrill) and Schaller locking tuners.
It came out at around 600 euro, which is still way cheaper than the actual JR signature.
I think the HB even looks better than the JR signature. I don't like the oversized 70s unpainted headstock on the JR signature.
Teto of course.
That shirt is fire 🔥
Everyone talks about HB and their affordable price but when they talk price no one mentions the $80 plush shipping.
If I think about what we could get back in the early 90’s for that amount! We could get cheap and really bad guitars man. If I had got that guitar i 92 when I pick up a guitar for the first time I would have been stoked
You, sir are awesome.
would be interesting to hear it with a good pickup in it.
Hey Ray! My minds shooting a blank here and can’t think of the song your playing at 7:59 any chance you could help me out??
I got the same guitar the same day I saw this video, same problems here, scratchy frets that need a polish, bad setup, some scratches on the body and and tool marks on the neck, a grounding issue witch was fixed by me. I lowered the action, the neck is now straight, it plays and sounds so good and it looks awesome.
I have only one issue now, it is impossible for me to get a 3 step bend, even a half step bend is really hard to do, it takes a lot of bending of the string to even get to the next half step. Does anyone now how to fix this issue? I have light strings and the tension is good when I play normally (10 - 52 string in drop D) and it's not a technique issue, I can easily bend 3 steps on my other guitar.
Mine has custom wound HBZ pickups as standard. I assume this is an upgrade since the original version.
Literally just ordered one of these thanks to you. With shipping to Arizona, it cost $197.40.
It was never about a tube amplifier. It was about the amount of gain, no gate. I own the jazzmaster version, it had that particular issue, had to sand the paint down and I remedied it.
Did you need to file the nut to fit the thicker gauge of strings?
I have two Harley Benton guitar's, a SC 450 Plus that is the split coiling humbuckers. Great guitar,but did have to do some work to it. But for 200 bucks with shipping and a hard case..who cares it's a great player....then I bought the Fusion III HSH with roasted Maple Neck..out of the Box it a great player,and the neck is like silk!!!! paid 500 something with shipping and a hard case..that is to Michigan..now that was in 2018..soo shipping might be more now...will I buy more from Harley Benton...Hell Yes..for the price,even with buy upgrade pickups,you are still below 600 bucks..they are a great platform for up grades for a great player that can get beat up if you gig.
I liked the SMR name better but cool I like those leads you played here. Freestyle?
I don’t know what that first jam was but…whoa.😳
Hey man, quick question:
How should we address you after your rebranding?
Is Ray still an acceptable nickname or was that just a nickname online?
Great video btw.
I totally agree with your findings on the cheaper Harley Benton guitars. I bought a cheap one, like, 6 years ago and that thing was close to unuseable.
But by now the quality is on a different level. I have an Amarok and that thing plays faaar above its pricepoint
Hey I appreciate your question! At this point I’m fine with whatever anyone wants to call me. Raymond used to be my first name and Charles was my middle name so I gave myself Xander. I feel what would be that most logical thing would be to call me Xander as that is now my first name, but like I said I’m fine with whatever. Thanks again for your question and thanks again for your time. I’m thinking about getting an Amarok down the line!
@@xanderraymondcharles Amaroks are great guitars, at least the one I have is
Go with X-ray or The Real Ray Charles
Now did you change string gauge or it can tune down to c ... Out the box...
how does the neck and playability feel on this
Can you straight swap for emgs or not?
I’ve got some extra EMGs. This may be a great vehicle for them.
Won’t be long before they do a Dime Model imo
Pretty sure you got a different model than the one that has the issue. Might want to double check and recheck.
Harley Benton JA-20HH Active SBK is the one with issues. The V version as well.
Good to know the problem is NOT with the Model version you are holding:)