Harley Benton amps

Blackhorse Slim

I play a strat through a Marshall 50w JCM800 valve combo(late 1980's), I play mostly blues and blues-rock, and I love the sound I'm getting. However, the amp has been playing up lately, and I've decided I need a cheap backup amp for emergencies. I'm looking at a 65w Harley Benton solid state amp, from Thomann.de, it looks to have plenty of poke for the price (a dirt-cheap €133). Anyone have any experience with these amps? I know they are made in China specifically for Thomann, it looks pretty basic but I really don't want to spend much on a backup, I just need to have something that will work when the Marshall doesn't.

It wasn't me!

Yeah, my own '83 JCM800 combo is proving a bitch to keep running. I think I'm going to trade up to be honest. Might be as well to get yours working perfectly, sell it for a decent price and buy something else to do the job consistently, rather than buy a crappy backup for a troublesome amp?

fish-head

I'm pretty positive that the HB will be a total piece of arse.

feylya

Used to have the HB. While it wasn't a completely useless amp, it wasn't great. I upgraded to a Fender FM212R which was much better. Used to run a ME-50 through it.

Blackhorse Slim

Yeah, I had thought of that. The 'crappy backup' is always good to have, I haven't found an amp yet that I couldn't get a reasonable sound out of with a bit of patience. As long as it works.

I'm getting the Marshall overhauled this week and I might look at selling it at that stage. The trouble is, when it works, there's nothing better. I'm thinking that valve amps are always gonna be relatively high-maintenance, I love the Marshall valve sound and stacks are just too big and awkward.

If I go for a new one, do you know whether amps like the DSL401 have a comparable sound to the older ones?

david

It wasn't me! wrote:

Yeah, my own '83 JCM800 combo is proving a bitch to keep running. I think I'm going to trade up to be honest. Might be as well to get yours working perfectly, sell it for a decent price and buy something else to do the job consistently, rather than buy a crappy backup for a troublesome amp?

Whats the problem with the 800?

Voodu Child

Trying to keep an old valve amp runnng in this country is ridiculously expensive alright.

Ive dealt with one of the main guys, and 'crook' is a word id use (not lightly).

Itwasntme's advice makes sense tbh.

I can't speak for the harleybenton, but i'd imagine you'd need to run a modeller of some sort with it to get sounds you could live with.

Blackhorse Slim

Thanks for the advice, you've given me something to think about. I'll hold off on the HB and see how the Marshall runs after the overhaul. Are the newer valve amps any more reliable?

It wasn't me!

freakonaleashx wrote:

Whats the problem with the 800?

Ah, it's just old and riddled with a quarter of a century's worth of wear and tear. Fan-feckin'-tastic sound, but half the time it doesn't make the sound. Too much toruble to hold onto methinks. Grand for around the house or a studio, it'd be fine then, but if you wanted to take it around to gigs or practices, it's not going to survive. Currently, just got it back after having a speaker blow, and methinks the overdrive stage has gone a bit bleh, the gain pot wasn't working, then it experienced a massive volume drop, now the gain seems to be having an effect, but the sound has gone to ****, and the power tubes are now glowing red on the plates as well as the filament, which is something they didn't do before, and is annoying and worrying.

It wasn't me!

Blackhorse Slim wrote:

Thanks for the advice, you've given me something to think about. I'll hold off on the HB and see how the Marshall runs after the overhaul. Are the newer valve amps any more reliable?

In general, yeah, but they don't sound the same. Even the reissues of the classics don't have the same strength in them. I'd see could you get an ENGL Screamerr combo if I were you, it could well be what you need.

punchdrunk

i think the newer ones are as good TBH,they don't use the same grade of parts,corners cut etc...

keep that old one running!

Voodu Child

Blackhorse Slim wrote:

Thanks for the advice, you've given me something to think about. I'll hold off on the HB and see how the Marshall runs after the overhaul. Are the newer valve amps any more reliable?

Thats a whole thread in itself. Old valve amps shouldnt be unreliable per se. THe problem is the guys in this country havent a clue what they're doing, and charge a fortune for whatever it is they do.

Everybody is going to recommend ENGL, and I have to agree. A nice ENGL combo will sound great and wont give you any trouble for donkeys years. I wouldnt bother with the DSL40, or any newer marshalls at all. They don't sound great, and are a b*tch to service.

It wasn't me!

Yeah, I think a Screamer would be right up his alley judging by what he wants.

Blackhorse Slim: You can try them out in Instrumental on the quays, I think you'll like it.

Blackhorse Slim

Yeah, from what I've read the ENGL screamer looks like a decent replacement, but I'll see how the JCM800 runs - and how much it costs to fix! You've got me worried about the price of repairs now, I'll have to talk to my amp guy...

It wasn't me!

It's not the price of a single repair. They're overpriced and all, but it's the constant repairs required to keep them going that makes them expensive to keep.

Voodu Child

Blackhorse Slim wrote:

Yeah, from what I've read the ENGL screamer looks like a decent replacement, but I'll see how the JCM800 runs - and how much it costs to fix! You've got me worried about the price of repairs now, I'll have to talk to my amp guy...

I know one of the main guys charges 50 euro an hour labour, and i've got an invoice (not mine, the previous owner left it in with all the manuals etc) with parts charge of E30 for a single 12AX7. I'd be sh1ttin myself if one of my amps started to give real trouble.

Voodu Child

It wasn't me! wrote:

It's not the price of a single repair. They're overpriced and all, but it's the constant repairs required to keep them going that makes them expensive to keep.

Unless the amp itself is inherently unreliable (i know some are), they shouldnt need constant repairs. A proper 'service' should consist of gutting all perishable components (electrolytic caps etc have a pretty short shelf life), but the guys over here just don't do that. They genuinely don't have a clue.

For the price of the average 'service' over here, a US tech would completely gut the entire amp, replace everything, wiring, caps, resistors, pots, tubes..

It wasn't me!

I'd love to get my amp running properly, but I don't have time to learn this stuff myself and it doesn't seem guys here are cutting the mustard with it. I've just had a run of trouble with mine I guess, but thinking a Fireball shall be in my future at some point.

Paladin

In terms of having a backup just for gigs my personal choice is the PA.

It helps that I have a GT8, but even without that its a much easier option than buying and hauling around another amp that you dont really want to use...