Harley Benton DC-Custom II | Incredible tones and quality for the money! Review & Demo
This is the Harley Benton DC-Custom II in White: a new, affordable evolution of the brand’s take on the Gibson/Epiphone SG style of guitar!
Get the DC-Custom II here: https://thmn.to/thoprod/570320?offid=1&affid=1250
At €299, the DC-Custom II is definitely in the ‘cheap guitar’ domain, especially for a new guitar released in 2024 – but a quick look at the spec sheet shows you that, as usual, Harley Benton is really pushing the value for money boundaries.
You get a meranti body and neck here (meranti being a mahogany-esque tonewood, apparently), and a roasted jatoba fingerboard. The neck’s made to a Gibson 628 mm scale length with a fingerboard radius of 350 mm and a 42 mm graphite nut, and you get Grover tuners and 24 Blacksmith stainless steel frets. Yep, stainless steel frets for €299!
The body is a more offset, metal looking take on the SG – it reminds me a lot of an ESP/LTD Viper 256 – and the white finish and gold hardware make for a really elegant look. Pickups are a pair of Tesla TM VR-Nitro humbuckers, with a coil split too, which should make this guitar extra versatile.
All things considered, this is a lot of guitar for the money, but how does the DC-Custom II compare to the competition from the likes of Epiphone? That’s what we’re about to find out! Here, I put the guitar 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 DC-Custom II in the comments!
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Hello!
00:20 Introduction to the DC-Custom II
01:26 Specs and info
05:04 Today’s rig and plan
Clean Sounds
05:37 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup settings
06:07 Country ballad arpeggios
06:19 Grungey droning open string riff
06:36 Blues progression
06:48 Country twang lead sound
07:02 Funky rhythms
07:15 Strummed country chords
07:34 Ringing open indie pop chords
07:47 Wolfmother inspired riff
07:57 Ascending droning indie chords
08:11 Tone control test
09:09 Atmospheric arpeggios
Light and Medium Overdrive Sounds
09:27 Fat indie rock rhythm chords
09:58 Choppy barre chords
10:16 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
10:31 Droning open string indie riff
10:44 Garage rock riff
11:00 Indie octave chords
11:26 Upbeat indie barre chords
11:50 Volume control roll off test
12:10 Another KoL riff
12:17 Groovy classic rock riff
12:32 AC/DC inspired riff
12:50 Classic rock riff
13:05 Hendrix inspired riff
13:22 Airbourne inspired rock riff
13:33 Quacky rock riff
Heavy Overdrive Sounds
13:42 Glam rock riff
13:53 Van Halen inspired riff
14:13 80s rock riff
14:33 Single note NWOBHM riff
14:54 Hard rock lead sound (w/ extra delay)
15:05 Chunky alt rock chords
15:28 Alternative rock riff
15:42 Pop punk riff
15:54 Punk rock power chords
16:09 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
16:22 Thrash riff
16:32 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
16:48 Modern rock palm-muted chords (Drop D)
17:13 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D)
Heavy Distortion Sounds (all in Drop D)
17:29 Metal chugging riff
17:46 Pop metal riff
17:57 Heavy metal lead sound
18:12 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
18:24 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
18:37 Hardcore punk riff
18:49 Thrash metal riffs
19:08 Hardcore punk breakdown
19:23 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff
20:02 My thoughts
20:47 First impressions and looks
21:27 Weight
21:51 Build quality and hardware
22:37 Playability and neck
23:53 Sounds and pickups
27:26 What other similar SG-type guitars are out there?
29:03 My conclusions on the DC-Custom II 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 and my 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.
—
Get all this gear at Thomann: https://thmn.to/thocf/jkhog8l06m
Get all this gear at Sweetwater: https://sweetwater.sjv.io/LXqdE0
—
Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.
#HarleyBenton #HarleyBentonGuitar #HarleyBentonGuitars #HarleyBentonOfficial #Thomann #ThomannMusic #SGGuitar #CheapGuitars
*Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!*
@HarleyBentonOfficial
@ThomannsGuitarsBasses
@ThomannMusic
#Harley #Benton #DCCustom #Incredible #tones #quality #money #Review #Demo
Originally posted by UCbNnXraM9oHWWBACNS07DMw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWjk3xnGqeI
Get your DC-Custom II here: https://thmn.to/thoprod/570320?offid=1&affid=1250
Timestamps team:
00:00 Hello!
00:20 Introduction to the DC-Custom II
01:26 Specs and info
05:04 Today’s rig and plan
Clean Sounds
05:37 Clean tone reference chords on all pickup settings
06:07 Country ballad arpeggios
06:19 Grungey droning open string riff
06:36 Blues progression
06:48 Country twang lead sound
07:02 Funky rhythms
07:15 Strummed country chords
07:34 Ringing open indie pop chords
07:47 Wolfmother inspired riff
07:57 Ascending droning indie chords
08:11 Tone control test
09:09 Atmospheric arpeggios
Light and Medium Overdrive Sounds
09:27 Fat indie rock rhythm chords
09:58 Choppy barre chords
10:16 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
10:31 Droning open string indie riff
10:44 Garage rock riff
11:00 Indie octave chords
11:26 Upbeat indie barre chords
11:50 Volume control roll off test
12:10 Another KoL riff
12:17 Groovy classic rock riff
12:32 AC/DC inspired riff
12:50 Classic rock riff
13:05 Hendrix inspired riff
13:22 Airbourne inspired rock riff
13:33 Quacky rock riff
Heavy Overdrive Sounds
13:42 Glam rock riff
13:53 Van Halen inspired riff
14:13 80s rock riff
14:33 Single note NWOBHM riff
14:54 Hard rock lead sound (w/ extra delay)
15:05 Chunky alt rock chords
15:28 Alternative rock riff
15:42 Pop punk riff
15:54 Punk rock power chords
16:09 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
16:22 Thrash riff
16:32 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
16:48 Modern rock palm-muted chords (Drop D)
17:13 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D)
Heavy Distortion Sounds (all in Drop D)
17:29 Metal chugging riff
17:46 Pop metal riff
17:57 Heavy metal lead sound
18:12 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
18:24 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff
18:37 Hardcore punk riff
18:49 Thrash metal riffs
19:08 Hardcore punk breakdown
19:23 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff
20:02 My thoughts
20:47 First impressions and looks
21:27 Weight
21:51 Build quality and hardware
22:37 Playability and neck
23:53 Sounds and pickups
27:26 What other similar SG-type guitars are out there?
29:03 My conclusions on the DC-Custom II and why you should buy it
Reminds me in specs in some ways to the HB CST models. They also have the Meranti/Jatoba woods, 24 stainless steel frets and graphite nut. They also have the coil split. However they use Roswell instead of Tesla, hardware is DLX not Grover and you get Wilkinson bridge on the tremelo bridges. This is 20 Euros more than the CST so the difference will probably be the tuners and pickups. But it will definitely be lighter. So if you're looking for similar specs and features that's one to look at too.
Hard to say anything negative because generally HB are good to us lefties, but still bummed that they didn't come out with a left handed option for this particular model. I've been patiently waiting on them to update the vintage series DC-580 for ages now
Recently got a HB TE69TH and sits an astonishingly good tele. Gonna get the white dc soon. Nice one.
Sounds good. Pick ups a bit dark but still good. Coil splits sound P90ish but there is a BIG volume drop between full & half sounds!
I've heard worse!
NICE little homage to Wolfmother's White Unicorn! m/
Nice lookibg guitar that is…
Slightly tempted…. again
Hi, I am considering this guitar instead of Epi that I returned. I am interested in:
– neck dive, Epi didnt have any sitting in classical position or standing with strap
– neck angle. One of reasons I returned Epi was because of big neck angle, the strings were miles from the body and it was unconfortable. I tried Ibanez GAX 30 with TOM bridge and shallow neck angle. Much more confortable, but really low action was not possible as the bridge was high
– How long does the neck feel. That was second reason why I returned Epi. I had to extend the left hand too far sitting in classical position
– sharpnes of the bridge, third and final major reason I returned Epi was that the bridge was sharp, hurting my hand when palm muting
This is much more of an ESP Viper clone than an SG. Nothing wrong with it but two very different guitars.
HB does make lighter SG clones, but they are of much lower spec than this guitar unfortunately (DC580, DC60 Junior)
I have a Vintage SV6 (Sg style)
And I wouldn't change it for a Gibson. Not that it's "Better", but because it's better for me.
The tone is more to my ear, the fret board is comfortable. The weight is spot on.
It's the differences from an SG that suit me better. Kinda feels like an SG and an LP had an affair, and this was their bastard child.
This is a really good guitar! It sounds very good. I wasn't expecting that. I have to try it. Great video as always!
Tesla pickups are a quality bit of kit , had a set before , great clarity and definition imo ????
good review, but they send you a guitar which probably means its checked properly. My experience with HB is that the neck can be awful or good. So really you should buy one to check quality in real life
????????????????
The production quality of your videos is stunning, they're all full blown projects on their own. Oh, and I liked the HB as well. Sounds good, nice specs, very useable PU modes.
Great review and playing demo ! I really like your honest reviews and valuable information. I never buy a new guitar without seeing
what you have to say about it first. Thank you !
Harley Benton guitars are really great. I own a few.
You're reviews are the best. So clear and with such a wide variety of tone samples and styles. Well done sir ????????
Hey, will you be making a review on SC Custom III? Really curious of your opinion.
8lbs 4oz & 24 frets is just too much modernity pour moi, thank you most kindly….
Very interesting and professional video, congratulations, beautiful guitar. I'm looking for a guitar to play ZZtop, and reproduce the sound of Billy Gibbons, this guitar can do it. Could you recommend me other Harley Benton guitars?, Thank you very much
I keep looking at the HB double neck double cut but as cool as it may be would i use it??? IDK but it is pretty freaking cool as is this one.