GUITAR COMPARISON: Rickenbacker 360/12 VS. Harley Benton RB 612

[@Luke_dude_9]

Excellent comparison mate! I reckon overall the Harley Benton gets surprisingly close. Maybe a bit fuller and not as bright as the Rick, but close enough where you could probably tweak the eq and I probably couldn’t tell the difference in a mix.

[@beatleguitartone]

Exactly. Here I am playing both with the same amp eq, then adding a pedal compressor. The mic takes the sound from the amp and then goes to the mixer. The HB 12 strings option also has a wider neck so it is more playable, but the sound of the Rick, if you are playing Beatles, sounds as “must be”, but RB is a very good affordable option.

[@Marc-js8rx]

I own a 2007 Rick 12-string in the same body style as that HB. It's the 620/12 "Crestwave" design, and it sounds exactly like your 360/12. I think the difference may be the bridge p'up's placement. Still, a close difference, one that may not even get noticed if the HB was the only one you heard at a stage performance dialed in right.

[@beatleguitartone]

@@Marc-js8rx great comment! One question: what kind of PUs has your 620/12?

[@lynyrddeville]

The Haeley Benton has the same problem as mine. Until I found a 12 s addle bridge it was never possible to get it in tune with itself. SI found a great drop in replacement on some obscure Ric fan website, but it cost me almost as much as the guitar did. It did however make it a viable guitar to use rather than nice looking garbage.

[@beatleguitartone]

@@lynyrddeville Words of wisdom

[@1rwjwith]

The Harley Benton sounds out of tune . Maybe intonation is slightly off. The HB is usable but the Rick still wins easy…its just unique and I don’t believe the HB has the octave string second configuration . I think Rick’s may be the only make that does that although I think Taylor may make an acoustic electric 12 that has that as an option.

[@beatleguitartone]

@@1rwjwith you are right. Even a modern 12 string song, I totally connect, relate to a Rickenbacker sound.

[@alseveron6558]

Trouble is, they put the bridge pickup too far forward on the HB.

[@beatleguitartone]

@@alseveron6558 great comment!

[@alseveron6558]

@@beatleguitartone Thanks. Your HB sounds brighter than mine. Maybe they've changed the wiring. I'm gonna try adding a 0.47 capacitor in series with the bridge pup on mine, and see if that helps.

[@alseveron6558]

@@beatleguitartone Thanks. Good video. Your HB does sound brighter than mine. I wonder if it has different internals. I'm going to att a 0.47 cap to the bridge pup and see if that helps. I'm looking to emulate the early McGuinn sound.

[@beatleguitartone]

@@alseveron6558 Hi! Just let me tell you that my VOX AC15 treble was I think at 75% (3pm)…

[@dnadna9317]

I'd love to get wave files of both guitars doing the same song on the bridge so I can play around with the EQ because I swear there's a frequency you can remove and match the tone of the Rick easily with a pedal EQ but I'd need the audio to find it

[@beatleguitartone]

@@dnadna9317 I think the Eq pedal is the most important pedal, IMHO. I will make another comparison soon, with different riffs…thanks for your comment!

[@allenfamily8445]

Ric IMHO. Are the octave strings on a HB the same positioning as on a Ric?

[@beatleguitartone]

@@allenfamily8445 no (Rick: oct lower-oct higher/ HB: Oct higher/ oct lower). First of all, I did not mean to make the HB sound like a Rick, like trying to change the strings order to achieve a Rick sound, so, the sound we get here in the video is a factory default sound. :)

[@karmicselling4252]

A great comparison video BUT you are not comparing apples with apples. A more accurate comparison would be to string both guitars exactly the same ... same strings ... and most importantly, the same string configuration. Ideally, the HB would be set up with the same string configuration as the RIC. Even so, they do sound quite similar here. Playing with a capo would tend to equalise the sound a bit. Most RIC fanatics can hear the difference regardless, but the majority of listeners would be hard pressed to tell the difference. The upfront value equation favours the HB. But in the longer term, the RIC is the way to go. Sure, it costs about ten times as much as the HB ... but you will probably want to play the RIC tens times as much. Cheers.

[@beatleguitartone]

@@karmicselling4252 great comment mate!! It is like you are saying, the strings and the strings configuration are different. But also the fretboard length are different so playing with the exact strings would be IMHO, forcing the scene. But great comment mate!! Thanks!!