Harley Benton Aeolus vs Fender Telecaster vs Epiphone SG (with P90s) | Single coil guitar shootout!

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Today we’re pitting the Harley Benton Aeolus against my Fender Telecaster and my P90-equipped Epiphone SG!

Harley Benton Aeolus:

Epiphone Classic Worn P90 SG at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

Telecasters at Thomann:
At Sweetwater:

And before you ask, there is a reason for this. When Harley Benton sent me the Aeolus to do a video with, I realized pretty quickly that it’s a supremely versatile guitar. I’ve already tested the Aeolus out against my Epiphone Les Paul and my Ibanez AS73FM Artcore semi-hollow, as well as Harley Benton’s HB-35 Plus Gibson 335 homage, and it performed excellently.

So now it’s time to see what the Tesla pickups in the Aeolus can do in single coil mode! The Fender Telecaster is my beloved 2014 Mexican FSR model, and it has a Fender single coil bridge pickup and a Creamery wide range humbucker in the neck (which is split down to a single coil for eh entirety of this video). The Epiphone is a 2020 Classic Worn P90 model equipped with Epiphone’s P90 Pro Soapbar pickups – and yes, P90s are single coils!

Beyond that, the guitars all have pretty different specs, but they’re priced similarly (my Tele cost me about €400 new back in 2014 and has been modded since, and the Aeolus and the SG are both around the same price new in 2021) and all are good, solid performers.

So, in this video we play a bunch of different riffs in different styles on the three guitars. Can the Aeolus hang with a Tele and an SG on split coil mode for indie, country, classic rock, alternative rock, and a bit of heavier stuff too? It’s time to find out!

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

00:00 Hello!
00:26 Intro and what we’re doing today
01:57 Aeolus specs and info
03:08 Fender Tele specs/info
04:02 Epiphone SG specs/info
05:04 Today’s rig
05:43 Don’t forget: the Aeolus pickup selector is the wrong way round!

Clean Sounds
06:39 Clean tone reference chords on all pickups
07:55 Droning indie pop chords
08:34 Country ballad arpeggios
09:14 Blues rhythm chords
09:56 Strummed pop chords

Crunch Sounds (Amp’s Clean Channel w/Greer Lightspeed)
10:48 Airbourne inspired classic rock riff
11:23 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff
12:13 Classic rock riff
13:03 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff
14:22 Southern rock picked arpeggios
14:54 Indie rock barre chords
16:10 Indie rhythm chords
17:00 Indie art pop arpeggios
17:57 Indie octave chords riff

Lead Channel Sounds
19:21 Classic hard rock riff
20:13 Glam rock riff
20:54 Hard rock riff
21:42 Alternative rock riff
23:00 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
23:42 Pop punk melodic lead riff
24:31 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
25:16 Modern rock palm-muted power chords (Drop D tuning)
26:28 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D tuning)

Clean Channel w/Revv G3 Distortion Pedal (all in Drop D tuning)
27:17 Hardcore chugging riff
28:03 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
28:39 Hardcore punk riff
29:25 Thrash metal riff
29:55 Lead sounds
30:31 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff


32:08 My thoughts – the Aeolus is indeed a super versatile beast
33:06 Aeolus build quality, hardware and playability
34:28 Tele build quality, hardware and playability
35:46 SG build quality, hardware and playability
37:08 Neck differences
38:52 Sounds
43:01 Can the Aeolus replace all your other guitars?
44:24 Final conclusion and goodbye


Watch my full Aeolus review and demo here:

And my full Epiphone SG Classic Worn P90 review and demo here:



I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, using my Greer Lightspeed for the overdrive and my Revv G3 for the 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:
Greer Lightspeed:
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: Dusty Fingers – DJ Williams.

#HarleyBenton #Aeolus #Epiphone #Fender #Telecaster #EpiphoneSG


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