What is the most versatile electric guitar for under $500? Harley Benton vs Epiphone vs Ibanez!

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Today, we’re comparing three of the best and most versatile guitars for under $500/€500: the Harley Benton TE-69 TL Hot Rod, the Ibanez Artcore AS73FM, and the Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro!

Harley Benton TE-69TL:
Ibanez AS73FM:
Epiphone Les Paul Classic (the closest current model to my LP!):

The idea to do this video came to me after playing the TE-69 TL for a few weeks. For the money, this guitar is incredible: €219 gets you a roasted maple neck and board, Roswell pickups – including a stacked bridge humbucker – and a stunning ash body on a Hot Rod Tele that feels like it should cost at least twice as much.

And that got me thinking: what other guitars for a similar price can cover so many genres so well? And, which of them would also suit someone who wants something that’s not too dissimilar to a Thinline Telecaster?

Step forward my Ibanez Artcore AS73FM in Azure Blue Gradation – which is rather like a Gibson or Epiphone 335 in its makeup – and my 2014 Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro! You often hear about the 335 vs Les Paul debate, and the Thinline Telecaster vs 335 comparison is another that many guitarists have made.

I’ve owned the Ibanez and the Epiphone since new, and they’re both fantastic for playing a wide variety of musical styles. They’re also both models that many people turn to when looking for something that can compete with a Thinline Tele, and while they’re both comfortably more expensive than the Harley Benton in 2023 prices, they certainly weren’t when I bought them!

So, all this said, the goal of this video is to compare the three guitars in as many different musical styles as I can, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, blues, punk, metal and more. Which one do you think performs best? Let me know in the comments below!

Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:

00:00 Hello!
00:14 Introduction and what we’re doing today
02:11 Harley Benton specs and info
04:21 Ibanez specs and info
06:46 Epiphone specs and info
09:07 Today’s rig and plan

Clean Sounds
09:58 Clean tone reference chords
10:47 Funk rhythm chords
11:13 Blues progression
11:46 Country strummed chords
12:05 Ringing open indie pop chords
12:45 Southern rock arpeggios
13:04 Surf pop barre chords

Overdriven Sounds
13:36 Fat indie rhythm chords
14:06 Droning indie pop arpeggios
14:41 Octave chords riff
15:07 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
15:26 Upbeat indie barre chords
15:50 Droning indie rock riff
16:12 Groovy classic rock riff
16:39 Hendrix inspired riff
16:55 Driving classic rock riff
17:10 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff

Heavy Overdrive Sounds
17:25 80s rock riff
17:45 Hard rock melodic lead
18:16 Classic hard rock riff
18:34 Glam rock riff
18:54 Alternative rock riff
19:18 Punk rock power chords
19:31 Pop punk riff
20:10 Modern rock palm-muted power chords (Drop D tuning)

Metal sounds (all in Drop D)
20:34 Metal chugging riff
21:25 Heavy metal lead sound
21:52 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
22:28 Rammstein inspired industrial metal riff

22:42 My thoughts
23:45 Price
24:26 Looks/aesthetics
25:12 Build quality and hardware
26:34 Weight
28:38 Playability and necks
30:04 Sounds and pickups
33:29 What other similar guitars are out there?
35:55 My conclusions
36:32 Which is the best guitar? Which one should you buy?

My setup was as follows: I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Revv G3 for heavy distortion sounds. 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.

Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

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H&K Black Spirit 200 head:
Revv G3:
Focusrite 4i4 (this is the newer equivalent of my 2i4, which they don’t make any more!):
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Enjoy!


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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.

#HarleyBenton #HarleyBentonGuitar #Telecaster #ThinlineTelecaster #TelecasterThinline #Ibanez #Epiphone #LesPaul


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