Harley Benton G212 Vintage

[Nuno Filipe]

There are a quite a lot of people here with this cab isnt it?

Short long story: I bought 3 guitar processors in less than a year and none was better than what I have know. What is a bit weird because I bought a digitech gsp 1101 and for the reviews should be awesome, after quite some time trying to get a great tone besides my actual processor, I began being suspicious about my power amp, I thought he wasnt good at all, it´s a very old rocktron velocity, so I bought a new poweramp that have great reviews, the electro harmonix magnum 44, for my suprise the sound it´s almost identical, magnum 44 it´s slightly better in the high frequencies but nothing that a guy could hear playing loud with a band.

Moving on, I drop the idea that the fault was of the poweramp, so days ago I bought a AMT P1, and for everything I heard, I thought it was great, especially having in mind that is only a pedal. Now, when I plug this shit into to my harley benton, it sounded like shit, especially if I use the direct output, when I use the cab sim output is much better but far from great. So, I began thinking that speakers would have some kind of defect, a blown speaker or something because I wasnt believing the shitty sound I was having with the AMP P1.
Yesterday I began hearing some videos on youtube just to conlcude that this harley benton cab isnt good as people say, well might be but not for me and for my taste. This is shit is fizzy as fuck, it´s hard as fuck to contain certain high frequencies with certains ampsims, like the case of Digitech gsp 1101, that almost all the tones sounded like shit.
My harley benton sounds more or less like this:

around minute 7 is a good example how this can be a fucking shit!lol

The cleans might be great but with high gain becomes annoying as fuck, work for chords but when I try leads, holy fuck is fizzy city over there.

So what´s my options? I get rid of this shitty cab or I get rid of the speakers that the cab has, still is the chinese v30 that came with it. So I came here to ask for opinions and a bit of help. I wasted a lot of money buying and selling shit and the problem was the cab, FUCK MY LIFE!lol

I dont want and I dont need, neither a have space for a 4x12, it´s just to play in house. So I am thinking in
maintaining a 2x12, to practice in house I dont need more, well it´s much more that i need in fact. I wouldnt mind having a mesa boogie recto cab but it´s way off my budget. I heard great things about Orange PPC212 but still is a bit pricey for me and for my needs. I really dont know what do here, probably changing only the speakers in the HB cab wouldnt do much? I really dont know. HALP!lol

 

[~BURNY~]

I don't think it sounds that bad to be honest.

 

[Trevoire520]

+1, sure it's got a bit of a fizz to it but nothing brutal. Little bit of eq in the mix or adjusting of mic placement and you'd be fine.
Not used the Digitech so do't know if that might be the culprit? I have heard some say that they don't like the new chinese V30's though.

 

[Flow Of Time]

I had that cab once too, but sent it back, basically because of the reasons you mentioned. It's fizzy as fuck. However I'd probably like it these days for recording and contemplated getting the G412 a few times^^

If you simply can't stand the fizz when playing live, I'd give Zilla Cabs a shot. They are one of the best in their price range imo.

 

[DesireX]

The cab is fizzy at times but not a big problem to me. Here are some reamps I did with the G212 vintage:

 

[MrBongo]

sounds like V30 speakers. They do sound that way.
There are brighter speakers with more fizz out there though. That simply can´t be avoided and has to be filtered out during / after recording

 

[ProjectHamsterdam]

HI, I can relate to how you feel about this cab. I used to have the Framus 2x12 cab - basically the same as the HarleyBenton, just different color tolex and grillcloth. Couldn't make it sound right for recording no matter what I tried, it did get sweet lead sounds but the heavy rhythm sound was lacking - just paper thin and 2-dimensional and very thin and fizzy with the mids not in the right place.

A lot of people get great sounds with these cabs, but I couldn't get anything I liked.

My advise is keep the speakers (if they are the real Celestion Vintage 30s) and build a DIY oversized 2x12 cab using the Mesa Recto dimensions. It's a night and day difference, I can assure you.

I built one for myself. I used some cheap 19mm thick 9-ply poplar plywood and joined it using butt-joints and 8mm thick wooden dowels. Nothing complicated. If you are handy and already have the tools (a jig for cutting out the speaker holes and just a regular drill) it will only set you back about 50-60 EUR for the empty cab. You can leave it unfinished (no tolex or other shit, just wood) and lacquer it or something. Make sure to have it "rear-loaded" same as the real deal Mesa.

Transfer the 2 speakers to the new cab and test it. If you don't like it, put them back in the HarleyBenton cab and sell it.

I do like my DYI cab much better, the highs are still there but they actually enhance and balance the sound now, mids are much better and "in the right place", creamy if you like, and there is much more bass, even too much sometimes. I'd buy the real Mesa 2x12 but fuck it costs 860 EUR now and I'd rather just save up for the OS Recto 4x12 or something.

 

[Nuno Filipe]

I think I am developing with time a low tolerance to high gain guitars, that must be the problem also but the thing that I may conlude here it´s also that the celestion V30 isnt really what I am looking for, dont know if might be for stock speakers being chinese V30 but arent all they made in china nowadays? Even the V30 that came with mesa boogie?

I might agree that the video that I put it´s not the worst shit ever but still not good either for me, the thing with this cab it´s that depending on the processor, the sound can change from good to awful, there isnt much like a middle term or a balance. This cab with digitech sounds like shit, really.

Now the problem with this, it´s that I want a cab to play, to practice not to record, while in recording I can apply a LPF/HPF, to play with it in home I cant do that shit and after a some minutes the fizzy character starts decreasing the enjoyment of playing, so it´s not cool at all.
Friday I bought a amp head, a peavey xxl and man I can say the the clean channel and the mid gain channel on this head with the HB cab sounds really fucking good, lots of clarity and even a warm sound but that stops when I change to high gain channel, while it´s usable it´s far from good, starts to get worse as I add more gain.

I like the idea of buiding a cab but my handyman skills are non existant!lol What I am thinking as a easy and cheap solution it´s to change one speaker in the future, swap a v30 with a gt75 that sounds a lot more what I want to see if this makes the difference I want.

 

[nezvers]

What pickups had in your guitar? I had similar feel when I used amp sims everyone else used and got amazing tones, except me. That was until I changed Ibanez with stock inf 3 & 4 p-ups to Schecter with 81-7 / 85-7 and suddenly I loved sound I got.

 

[J.Lindmann]

I had the G212 vintage for years.
In the reheasal room and for gigging. No recording.
I always liked it though...

...until I got my Mesa standard 4x12.
I din't expect it to be THAT much of a difference, but it really is.
Less fizz and tons of more tight low end.

That made me realize, how bad the G212 actually was.
Maybe still a good bang for the buck but it is not even close to the big ones.

 

[mickrich]

That cab is front loaded so that makes a big difference.
Try putting the mic a couple of inches further back than usual.
I bought one of these unloaded and put a pair of Celestion V60 cones in it.
These are used in ENGL standard cabs.
I think it sounds pretty ok.
Not as good as my other cabs but nice for a change sometimes. The V60s are pretty dark.
But, as already mentioned, Zilla fatboy is just amazing and superb value.
See my demo thread.