Harley Benton ST-Modern | The best budget HSS Strat you can buy in 2024?! In-depth Review & Demo
This is the Harley Benton ST-Modern in Sea Foam Green: a new, super affordable HSS Strat style guitar with great specs alongside modern playability and feel!
Get the ST-Modern here: https://thmn.to/thoprod/573382?offid=1&affid=1250
I said super affordable… the ST-Modern is €179. That puts it squarely at the same budget price point as the cheapest Squier guitars – the HSS Sonic Strat in this case, which is also €179 in Europe – but what you get for your money here is, frankly, pretty ridiculous!
The ST-Modern has a poplar body and a roasted maple neck for starters. It’s a modern feeling neck, with a comfy modern D profile and a compound 12-16” fingerboard radius. There’s a 42 mm graphite nut, the scale length is 25.5”, and you get 22 medium jumbo nickel silver frets with rounded ends on a laurel board.
At the headstock, you get Sung-Il locking tuners. You also get a double action truss rod with the adjustment wheel at the body – and I love that easy access, especially at this price point.
So far, so good. At the body, we have excellent upper fret access thanks to the deep double cutaway and contouring, and the HSS pickups (the bridge humbucker also has a coil split for even more tones) are Harley Benton’s own HBZ brand. The vibrato bridge is Sung-Il.
All things considered, this is a lot of guitar – on paper – for the money. HSS Stratocaster-types are supposed to be some of the most versatile out there, but just how good can the ST-Modern be for this price? And is it simply worth dropping the extra cash for the extras (like stainless steel frets) you get with the excellent ST-Modern Plus?
That’s what we’re about to find out! In this video, I put the ST-Modern through its paces in as many different musical styles as I can, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, punk, metal, and more.
Let me know your thoughts on the ST-Modern in the comments!
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Hello!
00:21 Introduction to the ST-Modern
01:37 Specs and info
04:55 Today’s rig and plan
Clean Sounds
05:35 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup settings
06:06 Grungey droning chords
06:25 Funk rhythms
06:38 Country tones
06:58 Ascending droning indie chords
07:11 Blues progression
07:22 Jangly chords
07:43 Ringing open indie pop chords
07:57 Art pop chords
08:15 Tone control test
09:17 Strummed folk pop chords
Light and Medium Overdrive Sounds
09:34 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
09:40 Fat indie rock rhythm chords
10:13 Southern rock arpeggios
10:32 Garage rock riff
10:49 Choppy barre chords
11:07 Upbeat indie barre chords
11:30 Volume control roll off test
11:52 Indie octave chords
12:18 Airbourne inspired rock riff
12:29 AC/DC inspired riff
12:47 Quacky rock riff
12:56 Classic rock riffs
13:36 Hendrix inspired riff
Fuzz Sounds (JHS Bender)
13:55 Black Keys inspired riff
14:10 Alt rock riff
14:43 Classic fuzz rock
15:11 Indie rock melodic riff
Heavy Overdrive Sounds
15:31 Van Halen inspired riff
15:52 Glam rock riff
16:12 Single note melodic rock riff
16:33 80s rock riff
16:55 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff
17:13 Punk rock sounds
18:21 Progressive rock riff
18:36 Modern rock palm-muted chords
19:01 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff
19:17 Thrash riff
Heavy Distortion Sounds (all in Drop D)
19:26 Metal chugging riff
19:43 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
19:55 Heavy metal lead sound
20:10 Hardcore punk riffs
20:58 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
21:11 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff
21:56 My thoughts
22:41 First impressions and looks
23:08 Weight
23:39 Build quality and hardware
25:11 Playability and neck
26:06 Volume knob position
26:49 Sounds and pickups
29:51 What other similar HSS guitars are out there?
30:29 Is the ST-Modern Plus worth the extra money?
32:29 Other competitors
34:19 My conclusions on the ST-Modern and why you should buy it
My setup was as follows: I ran the guitar into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Greer Lightspeed, JHS Bender and Revv G3 pedals for overdrive and heavy distortion sounds (and a cheeky TC Triple Delay for the lead sound!). The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That’s it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.
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Get all this gear at Thomann: https://thmn.to/thocf/jkhog8l06m
Get all this gear at Sweetwater: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/LXqdE0
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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.
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Originally posted by UCbNnXraM9oHWWBACNS07DMw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9LwmFgsuPM
Timestamps team:
00:00 Hello!
00:21 Introduction to the ST-Modern
01:37 Specs and info
04:55 Today’s rig and plan
Clean Sounds
05:35 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup settings
06:06 Grungey droning chords
06:25 Funk rhythms
06:38 Country tones
06:58 Ascending droning indie chords
07:11 Blues progression
07:22 Jangly chords
07:43 Ringing open indie pop chords
07:57 Art pop chords
08:15 Tone control test
09:17 Strummed folk pop chords
Light and Medium Overdrive Sounds
09:34 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
09:40 Fat indie rock rhythm chords
10:13 Southern rock arpeggios
10:32 Garage rock riff
10:49 Choppy barre chords
11:07 Upbeat indie barre chords
11:30 Volume control roll off test
11:52 Indie octave chords
12:18 Airbourne inspired rock riff
12:29 AC/DC inspired riff
12:47 Quacky rock riff
12:56 Classic rock riffs
13:36 Hendrix inspired riff
Fuzz Sounds (JHS Bender)
13:55 Black Keys inspired riff
14:10 Alt rock riff
14:43 Classic fuzz rock
15:11 Indie rock melodic riff
Heavy Overdrive Sounds
15:31 Van Halen inspired riff
15:52 Glam rock riff
16:12 Single note melodic rock riff
16:33 80s rock riff
16:55 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff
17:13 Punk rock sounds
18:21 Progressive rock riff
18:36 Modern rock palm-muted chords
19:01 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff
19:17 Thrash riff
Heavy Distortion Sounds (all in Drop D)
19:26 Metal chugging riff
19:43 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
19:55 Heavy metal lead sound
20:10 Hardcore punk riffs
20:58 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
21:11 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff
21:56 My thoughts
22:41 First impressions and looks
23:08 Weight
23:39 Build quality and hardware
25:11 Playability and neck
26:06 Volume knob position
26:49 Sounds and pickups
29:51 What other similar HSS guitars are out there?
30:29 Is the ST-Modern Plus worth the extra money?
32:29 Other competitors
34:19 My conclusions on the ST-Modern and why you should buy it
nr 1 indie guitar tester guy in YT. Thanks for that. For me this is better than the Modern Plus, which I returned. Mainly because of the PU's, I like these betters. I have had 8 Harley Bentons. Now I have 4 that I keep. This is the best one of them. When I played it, and heard it, I thought: "Is this is a joke?". In a good way.
It's always so fun watching your videos. I dig that sea foam (I refinished my MS-60 in sea foam before I even played it lol).
I think I'll get the modern and save some money to get the double bound telecaster harley benton do. Also rich i have a sire t7 fm that's great and the bridge on that looks pretty much like the one on the modern and it's solid I've had no issues at all with it.i was going to go for the sire s7 hss but i do like the 12 inch radius finger board I've a g and L s500 sss with 12 radius neck it's the dogs potato's. Anyway thanks for the review it's been most helpful ????
This seafoam green should have come with the roasted maple fretboard. I just don't understand why Thomann have to manufacture few colours with laurel and others with roasted maple fretboard. All colours should have their laurel and roasted maple variants. This move by Thomann is really dumb and does not cater to individual preference. Please pass this criticism to Thomann and Harley Benton. They should have also used the same string trees as the Fusions. One thing I love about this colour is that it resembles the Nick Johnston Schecter strat.
I used to think that a Gibson was it!! Until I got a new LP that came with 'Schoolbus' frets ie 'Not Crowned' I couldn't believe it £2200 and not properly crowned. I own a Harley copy but the sustain isn't so great, though it feels better than the LP to play. I'll be looking to buy this Strat it looks and sounds lovely, won't ever be paying silly money again for guitars. Thank you so much Rich, just watching you play and listening to you has cheered me up no end.
Very good and informative video, well played sound comparisons and objective assessment.
Wow again, the best tone and product demo on YT. Excellent job as always. Thank you Rich. Very tempting guitar indeed, good job at HB too 🙂
well well you made a very lovely review of this great guitar on the 14 Nov 2024 …and on the Thomann website they say all these guitars are not available …waiting time Seven – Nine Weeks!! as much as I would love to get this guitar I find kinda counter-productive to promote a product we cannot buy !
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Is it worth the difference to pay the extra for the modern plus ?
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Good evening dear friend, a great guitar from the Thomann company under their HB brand. The price is more than acceptable, the appearance, color and workmanship are very good. I have 7 guitars from them and I am very satisfied. Nice video. Greetings Pavel CZ.????????????
I got one of the last ones before they were out of stock.
In this color, would have preferred the white one but they were out. It's actually a great color, it's growing on me.
Ridiculous for the price and great regardless of price. Pickups are fine, neck is amazing, tremolo works as intended.
Only thing I will change is the string trees, I prefer rollers.
Out of stock
Very cool run, im hoping they reissue the DC custom in that blue like Mr. Frickker has ????
HB are really pushing the budget envelope. And best of luck to them. If they can make great quality instruments at a fraction of the cost of the "brands" then I hope they win the fight.
Poplar sounds so close to alder that it is according to Gibson when they tested thoroughly in the 50's that they put it on their short list of acceptable woods Gibson designers could spec. Every Gibson ES 335 has a plied top with every second layer is poplar since the first one ever made). You can get a bad piece of alder but poplar is scarily consistent one piece is usually the same as last. Buy this guitar with the maple fingerboard and it will not have any credibility issues. You can spend thousands on guitars it is offered on. The same goes for nickel frets. You won't find them on a Martin. To me I love cheaper PU's because if I pay more for so-called better ones on a guitar I buy sooner or later I will be tearing them out for Duncan's or the equivalent. In short there is in my book zero downside buying this. The money saved can go towards better PU's if I feel need them.
Thanks for the review. I can’t wait to get access to this guitar here aux Etats Unis. I didn’t hear any jazz tones in your review. Any way you can manage to some classic jazz tones along with the blues tones ?
I'll be getting one. At the moment I have a DC Deluxe, HB35 Plus and an ST Active in satin black. I love them all. I've been playing since 1984 and a Strat has always been my guitar.
HSS are definitely very versatile. I made my first around 1978 ????. I have two currently. I can't do a gig only on sss. I need humbucker. Conversely I can do a gig on humbuckers if coil split / tap avaliable.
First the money this looks phenomenal value frankly.
Harley Benton are awesome.