The Joy of Single Pickup Guitars | Harley Benton SC-Jr

[@TheBanana93]

My god it sounds amazing for a £174 quid guitar... Harley Benton really are insanely good for the money. Imagine being a kid and getting that as your first guitar? Crazy.

[@LeonTodd]

Crazy, crazy stuff!

[@lugerard]

No, it’s not the guitar. It’s Leon.

[@1thess523]

Man that full gain sound sounded really good, I play pop and skate punk and i use a lot of palm muting and raking.

[@timtime9167]

Really good demo. You're tempting me.

[@mikestillwagon5675]

I have a Harley Benton DC Jr Fat and it is becoming my first choice guitar to grab. I have been playing for almost 50 years and this thing really keeps the fun alive.

[@LeonTodd]

The price to fun ratio on these is unbeatable

[@lugerard]

It’s Leon. He can make anything sound amazing! I follow his fractal tips. This guy knows his tones.

[@teterouge1472]

Beautiful guitar. Beautiful playing. Top stuff fella. All the best to you and yours from North Nottinghamshire UK

[@LeonTodd]

Thank you kindly!

[@teterouge1472]

@@LeonTodd you're welcome sir, I doth my cap 🙂. 🎸. Nice playing, the dc junior is on my list

[@teterouge1472]

Got it! Dc junior leftie dirty mustard... In love.. Thanks for the recommendation.👌 Y'all take care now 🎸

[@rubbadubdub6543]

@@teterouge1472Do you mean ‘doff’?

[@yeahright73]

That jam at the start kind of reminds me of a few years back, when I saw Satriani and Leslie West jamming together.

[@LeonTodd]

RIP Big Leslie

[@danceswithbadgers]

Juniors are where it's at for me. My '88, still languishing in storage along with my '96 Standard and '92-ish Studio, is the one I miss. It's Limeburst like the Harley Benton. A slab of mahogany and a P90 is really all you need, plus judiciously tweaked controls, settings and the right technique. Amply demonstrated here.

[@GurtejSinghGuitar]

Sounds super cool for a budget guitar! Harley Benton is making some really cool affordable guitars! Great demo brother.

[@wakjob961]

Charlie Starr, front man for 'Blackberry Smoke' makes the LP Jr. thing look easy. He definitely gets the most outta so little.

[@myhapylife]

What a sick sound from that guitar! 😲

[@steventheo69]

I have been wanting to get this guitar in the black finish, with the tortoise pickguard. Your playing really inspired me. Thanks

[@LeonTodd]

Thankyou!

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

My first guitar was a really crappy Les Paul imitation with a horrible fret job that hung over the edges of the fretboard and sliced up my fingers if I held the neck "wrong" and brushed against them. My next guitar - the first one that was an actual joy to play - was a shiny black single pup Kramer that actually had good action, was well intonated, and sounded great! While it had a tone and volume knobs, having just one pickup encouraged me to increase the variety of my tonal vocabulary with my hands, changing things up with how close or far from the bridge I picked or plucked the strings, all the palm muting stuff of course, harmonics of the pinch, touched and tapped varieties, playing dynamics, and on and in. It was the perfect guitar to teach me not just how expressive the instrument could be, but how expressive *I* could be, and I am grateful for having begun my journey in earnest on it. Thank you Kramer! All these years later though and I still have sooo much to learn (hybrid picking and sweep picking are still my nemeses). The journey never ends, and I never want it to. Cheers!

[@LeonTodd]

Which model Kramer?

[@c.g.vonhagenstein7576]

@@LeonTodd I'm pretty sure it was a Focus 1000. A talented friend did a lot of setup work on it, so it played better than it had any right to for its price lol. Lost years and years ago to a Savannah GA pawnshop. Edit: It may in fact have just had a volume knob lol. And my memories of playing it are likely coloured by the filter of time and the fact that the guitar I had prior was pretty atrocious (I don't recall what the no-name brand was of that one - it's been a long long time). Anyhow, between these and stuff like the budget Jacksons and - dare I say - even the Ibanez Gios and Jem Jr.'s, I feel like there are lot of decent budget-minded choices for starter guitars these days beyond the pawn shops. And, based on my own experience, there are worse things in the world than limiting a few things for learning purposes. Although I do think gear needs to be good enough for it to still be fun and gratifying, else new players can get de-motivated. But with all of the decent inexpensive practice amps out there these days I feel like that's covered too. Cheers.

[@sanoj1969]

Agree. Have one of these in the same color. It was very nice to see what you really can do 👍. What I mean first of all is your guitar skills….they are way good. I’m old and a beginner since 3,5 years now. But this guitar is one of seven that I now own is very close to my heart and I just love it. It’s very fun to play and it is very versatile if you learn to use the noobs. I got more different sounds out of this than any other of my guitars with only one pickup.

[@BS-gj5ot]

Cheers, love the jams. You kill it as usual.

[@jcoulter43]

Love P90's! A Les Paul Special 2 pick up configuration is just about perfect for all things rock and roll. Great video Leon. God bless and rock on 👍😎🎸

[@MultiSpeedr]

Dude you make that thing scream HB should give you a Signature....

[@LeonTodd]

They're making great stuff. i'd do it!

[@Randy-jz9ox]

I just ordered the DC Jr. That Roswell sounds great. Thanks for the demo.

[@chrisb48907]

how do you like it ?....i am thinking of getting the faded cherry DC jr or the SC special TV mustard,,, what to do?...haha

[@Randy-jz9ox]

@@chrisb48907 dude I love it. Good luck they both sound awesome.

[@chrisb48907]

@@Randy-jz9ox any issues upon arrival..could you rock right out of the box?

[@Randy-jz9ox]

@@chrisb48907 the action was just a taste high but absolutely. I loosened the strings a taste and lowered the saddle about an eighth of an inch and its perfect.

[@chrisb48907]

@@Randy-jz9ox well damn may have to grab it

[@JMal883]

Great intro jam, only problem is you’ve triggered my GAS again! Look forward to your videos, my bank balance less so.

[@peterschmidt9942]

I've eyed one of those off for years, but there's always been other guitars that interested me more. So it's always been on the wish list. I love the sound of P90's, but never owned a single P90 guitar before. So when @artistguitars decided to release one (and it's a bit cheaper than the Thomann product), I ordered one. It's a screw on neck instead of Thomanns glued in neck, but I can handle the headstock of the Artist guitars as opposed to Thomanns snapped off looking headstock (they just look weird LOL). Lovely playing as always Leon.

[@jlm4855]

I have a Les Paul with a set of P90's. Kind of fun to play with. Killer tones.

[@mikerichardson2177]

Fantastic tones

[@AudioAtmos]

I would say all guitars that are not exactly the same make me play with a different approach to some degree or another. I always have a hard time when people ask what type of neck, fretboard, etc. I prefer. I like them all. They’re just different. I agree that a single P90 LP junior type guitar is super cool. Great playing and cool nod to Leslie West.

[@LeonTodd]

Exactly!

[@implayingsomebass4753]

Your fingerstyle tone is bonkers!

[@LeonTodd]

Thanks mate! Trying to cop some Sonny Landreth with the slide but i can't play slide so fingers is as close as I get

[@implayingsomebass4753]

@@LeonTodd you're welcome! Your slide playing in the jam was giving me Rob DeLeo vibes... All around great playing and tones!

[@implayingsomebass4753]

@@LeonTodd I mean Dean DeLeo, whoops

[@stevebell204]

Leave the screws in back screws a couple turns out and use the as handles to take the cover off.

[@motorrebell]

AWESOME DEMO !!! LOVE Junior guitars - simplistic -,TONE & great sustain & Resonance because of Less string pull by missing Neck pickup magnets ! Have an SG Junior too , Demo the Epiphone CORONET plz - Highly recommended guitar !!

[@LeonTodd]

Thanks a lot!

[@kimkelley9269]

As always, awesome playing Leon! The guitar sounds good too! I love the color! I finally bought an new Axe FX III and it's pretty amazing.

[@LeonTodd]

Congrats!!!

[@jamesbarrick3403]

Nice vid. I prefer the faded cherry.

[@Bartogrom]

It's pretty amazing how good it sounds. What amp have You used for this video? I'm looking for similar sound as 9:00. Also is there a possibilty that You may test an epiphone tv yellow? : )

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Killer sir. ♥️♥️♥️♥️ I love single pickup guitars and I love me some P90s. Those faces 😂. I get it. A single pickup guitar makes you thi k different and I use one with my Jr I built from a Canadian kit with a PAF pro, and my Charvel which has a neck pickup I took out and now has a newly installed Duncan Custom. I use one with lots of gain and a wah pedal. You can do everything and use the way for the bass tones that you would normally use a neck pickup for. The way will do it. It works and sounds great and a wah is just a big ole tone control. Yeah, I play different big time and I love it. If EVH can do it then it's ok for me. 😂. That would make a great mod machine. New lollar or ? p90 and new locking kluson tuners and maybe a graphite but it bone nut and you're off to the races. Something about the midrange of a P90 that just sounds so good. ♥️🤘♥️ Great demo sir. Now you have me wanting another flatop single pickup Jr style guitar. Maybe a Harley Benton. 🤘🤘♥️♥️ Hope you're gigs were good my friend. Be safe.. ♥️🤘♥️

[@elastic65]

Nice playing..great faces😂

[@jonathanmoran3512]

Everyone knows that single pickup LPs are smothered in extra mojo.

[@raybassman7536]

I had to do the same thing with pickup washers on my Epiphone Jr. WTF.

[@peterharvin2775]

Sometimes less really is more. I found every one of those tones something I would love to produce.

[@ChristopherOrth]

No matter what tonal "upgrade" a guitar players wants to do to an instrument, they should always start with exploring the volume knob + signal path first. I swear most people wouldn't notice if you just gave them a volume on/off switch, but they miss soooooooo much tonal posibillity!

[@LeonTodd]

YES!

[@danceswithbadgers]

Absolutely. My 88 Gibson Les Paul Junior was the most usable ax I ever owned, and the most 'basic' . A simple setup and the right technique gives so much.

[@Alfredo78666]

- Ossie don't use picks - Angus you? - Nai, he's from Ascatlan, mate!

[@chrisb48907]

Wow!

[@roofus53]

Leslie West mate if you want to listen to the king of LP Jnr's!

[@LeonTodd]

the GOAT!

[@TomsGreenMind]

In there early with a question! Considering the shipping cost to Aus from Thomann, are Harley Bentons worth it for us down under?

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah the shipping takes it from "unbelievable deal" to "pretty good" IMO

[@TomsGreenMind]

@@LeonTodd costs as much to ship as the guitar costs 😬 Artist Guitars have an LP Jr that I might check out.

[@LeonTodd]

@@TomsGreenMind I'm really keen to check some of their guitars out too

[@KidNato]

If less is more then why do I want so many Juniors and Esquires?

[@LeonTodd]

Less is more (Les Pauls)

[@mikerichardson2177]

Do those guitars arrive ok from Europe Leon???

[@LeonTodd]

yeah they were packed really well, no issues

[@jnh73]

Wow! I think this is the next step for me. Started years ago with a dual humbucker guitar, then moved to a Telecaster with stacked single coils, now playing that same Tele with regular single coils staying mostly on the bridge, especially after seeing this one-pickup performance from Allen Hinds kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIHaZpyal6mDiKM Plus, HB has a wide selection of lefties for southpaws like me! Did you find the P90 super noisy at higher gain?

[@makes_synth_to_me9025]

But does it 80's clean?

[@JavierPwns]

As a guitarist i never understood the stupid over exaggerated faces you make in your videos

[@LeonTodd]

Neither do I

[@jonathanoakley88]

ever watch jaret nichols or SRV? its emotion and feel.

[@czarna_polewka]

Too much boomer's bending, not enough clean tone.