Harley Benton

[JeSuisSkeleton]

Seen these about on thomann.de and am curious. Obviously a £120 head isn't going to be fantastic, but is their gear enough for me to get to make do until I can afford a decent rig?

This is the kind of thing I mean: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ba250h.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ba250h.htm[/url]

[url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_kxb200hr.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_kxb200hr.htm[/url]

Edited February 1, 2011 by JeSuisSkeleton

[GarethFlatlands]

A lot of Harley Benton stuff seems to be made in the same places as other name gear, eg their GA5 guitar head is the same as an Epiphone Valve Junior but notably cheaper. I'm not sure what this is based on though and a quick google search didn't bring up anything. Maybe someone more knoweldgable might be able to help out with this one?

[Musky]

Someone mentioned the 500w version of this amp a little while ago, which appeared to be based on the Ibanez Promethean.

[dan670844]

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' post='1109891' date='Jan 31 2011, 07:20 PM']A lot of Harley Benton stuff seems to be made in the same places as other name gear, eg their GA5 guitar head is the same as an Epiphone Valve Junior but notably cheaper. I'm not sure what this is based on though and a quick google search didn't bring up anything. Maybe someone more knoweldgable might be able to help out with this one?[/quote]

Yes thats true, I have played around with the HB GA5 and the Epiphone VJ the VJ is a very hummy valve amp the GA5 is even worse! The circuit design is good but the actually components used are sh*te.

My advice would be if you have only £200 to spend on a head, forget this stuff its really is a load of junk. I would just but an old Trace Elliot head for that sort of money there are loads of them around, even if it carps it you can get it fixed for not a lot of money, they are plenty loud enough series 6 the best bet, even the 130SM is well loud enough for gigging if you have the stack that they came with. I still have all my trace heads a Mark V, series 6 and smx they are donkeys years old and i use then all the time.

[derrenleepoole]

For 200 quid you could buy a new [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_de300_hd_head.htm"]Kustom DE300[/url] hybrid solid state head with valve preamp, a bit like the Orange Terror! But not orange, and nowhere near as loud, but significantly cheaper!

I think these are brand new, so there's little user reviews about them on the web to date. It would be interesting to see how these fair.

[JeSuisSkeleton]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='1110220' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:41 PM']For 200 quid you could buy a new [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_de300_hd_head.htm"]Kustom DE300[/url] hybrid solid state head with valve preamp, a bit like the Orange Terror! But not orange, and nowhere near as loud, but significantly cheaper!

I think these are brand new, so there's little user reviews about them on the web to date. It would be interesting to see how these fair.[/quote]

Ah nice! What would be an acceptable (cheap!) cab to go with that?

[GarethFlatlands]

[quote name='dan670844' post='1110174' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:21 PM']Yes thats true, I have played around with the HB GA5 and the Epiphone VJ the VJ is a very hummy valve amp the GA5 is even worse! The circuit design is good but the actually components used are sh*te.[/quote]

I got my GA5 second hand and the previous owner had modded it to remove the hum and replaced a lot of the parts. I swapped the tubes out for a JJ (power) and EHX (pre). It's now really nice sounding and quiet, although it's now super high gain.

From what you've said about their stock amps, I'd give the bass head a miss and look for something 2nd hand as suggested.

[derrenleepoole]

[quote name='JeSuisSkeleton' post='1110243' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:51 PM']Ah nice! What would be an acceptable (cheap!) cab to go with that?[/quote]

Now you're asking

Check out Thomann, as they do a range of deals of mixing and matching heads with cabs. It's worth noting that they do a [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_kxb200h.htm"]Kustom 200[/url] watt solid state head for £130 as well! That's not to mention the combo versions they do of the head for just over £220! Not sure what you fully require, but the prices seem right. Especially if you factor in the fact that the gear will be covered by a warranty.

I have no idea if it's any good mind, but the youtube demo videos have some positive comments about them. Maybe someone on here has some user experience?

[JeSuisSkeleton]

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='1110271' date='Jan 31 2011, 10:05 PM']Now you're asking

Check out Thomann, as they do a range of deals of mixing and matching heads with cabs. It's worth noting that they do a [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_kxb200h.htm"]Kustom 200[/url] watt solid state head for £130 as well! That's not to mention the combo versions they do of the head for just over £220! Not sure what you fully require, but the prices seem right. Especially if you factor in the fact that the gear will be covered by a warranty.

I have no idea if it's any good mind, but the youtube demo videos have some positive comments about them. Maybe someone on here has some user experience?[/quote]


Well, I don't [b]need[/b] anything right now, but I'll hopefully be getting some function gigs in the near future so I'd need something that can handle small and medium rooms.

[icastle]

[quote name='dan670844' post='1110174' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:21 PM']Yes thats true, I have played around with the HB GA5 and the Epiphone VJ the VJ is a very hummy valve amp the GA5 is even worse! The circuit design is good but the actually components used are sh*te.[/quote]

+1

HB stuff is just house branded kit built to match a price instead of being built to deliver quality.
Far better off looking at good SH kit IMHO.

[JeSuisSkeleton]

[quote name='icastle' post='1110556' date='Feb 1 2011, 06:39 AM']Far better off looking at good SH kit IMHO.[/quote]

Aye, that's what I'm trying to do at the moment, but I can't seem to find anything that isn't either really expensive, really huge and un-transportable (I don't have a car), or both.

[Ghost_Bass]

How much can you spend on the entire amp (head+cab or combo)? It will give us a better perspective on what kind of gear we can recomend.

[krispn]

gumtree glasgow has the HB5 and cab for £80 - for the cost of a few caps, tubes and a bit of a re solder you could have a nice practice recording rig for very little money

[ShergoldSnickers]

According to a techie I use - cheaper* amps often use a series of low cost off-the-shelf 20 Watt op amps to build up their power output, rather than designing completely from scratch. The power supplies are often very weak, and the stated output sometimes woefully optimistic – some of the op amps she's come across measuring as little as 6 watts against a stated 20. A quick count of the op amps, even if they produced the full stated output, often produces interesting results. She ought to know as she repairs them.

* And some not so cheap.

[icastle]

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='1110885' date='Feb 1 2011, 12:38 PM']The power supplies are often very weak, and the stated output sometimes woefully optimistic[/quote]

I'm damn sure that some of these companies decide what they want to quote as an output and then fiddle around with different ways of expressing output power until they hit a figure they like the look of...

[dan670844]

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' post='1110251' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:54 PM']I got my GA5 second hand and the previous owner had modded it to remove the hum and replaced a lot of the parts. I swapped the tubes out for a JJ (power) and EHX (pre). It's now really nice sounding and quiet, although it's now super high gain.

From what you've said about their stock amps, I'd give the bass head a miss and look for something 2nd hand as suggested.[/quote]

Ditto even using China as I manufacturing base, yes cheaper at the moment but, with a 50% retail mark up, shipping import duty etc the only way they are going it get a decent return is use the cheapest components they can get their hands on. With all this cheap stuff they basically have a decent circuit design (usually copied) and then use cheap components so the values of caps, resistors etc are not quite as good as they should, you might get a good one if you are very lucky. But because of the cheap components the durability is not as good as it should be, but more importantly the sound varies a lot . I would not bother.
I have a real problem with cheap chinese gear, I would say all top quality european / us made stuff can be repaired, this cheap stuff is a total waste of resources as most often its not worth it / can't be repaired.

I played around with a Harley benton GA5 and a Epi valve jnr, got them sounding great, (The RAT moddded ones are very nice). Its was fun but really in reality if you want a good fender champ clone, go buy a laney cub 8 all the filtering mods are already done! for £70 more, they sound great, have good valves and speakers and are very quiet. Since then I have built an Ampmaker WF55 kit and this one is the dogs as it uses quality components (UK made transformers) , no pcb's, it is silent and very touch sensitive and as much gain as you want, (we have modded the pants off it) i would say better than an original. Its quieter, cost me £110 to build! about the same price as a valve jnr, and there is a big difference in sound quality. Just started a mini 10 watt valve bass amp project now for studio use!

Edited February 1, 2011 by dan670844

[umph]

[quote name='dan670844' post='1110174' date='Jan 31 2011, 09:21 PM']Yes thats true, I have played around with the HB GA5 and the Epiphone VJ the VJ is a very hummy valve amp the GA5 is even worse! The circuit design is good but the actually components used are sh*te.

My advice would be if you have only £200 to spend on a head, forget this stuff its really is a load of junk. I would just but an old Trace Elliot head for that sort of money there are loads of them around, even if it carps it you can get it fixed for not a lot of money, they are plenty loud enough series 6 the best bet, even the 130SM is well loud enough for gigging if you have the stack that they came with. I still have all my trace heads a Mark V, series 6 and smx they are donkeys years old and i use then all the time.[/quote]

was pleased with my ga-5 would say circuit design was poor and quality of components were as good as you'd expect from mesa / marshall.

[tauzero]

[quote name='icastle' post='1110896' date='Feb 1 2011, 12:50 PM']I'm damn sure that some of these companies decide what they want to quote as an output and then fiddle around with different ways of expressing output power until they hit a figure they like the look of... [/quote]
If you can't find a way of expressing it by messing with p-p vs RMS and transient vs constant, then make up your own system. Check out PC speakers on That Ebay - they've invented a whole new definition of the watt by using "PMPO", which allows you to have 860W of speakerage driven from your USB port (power available: 5V at 500mA for USB2.0 or 900mA for USB3.0).