Harley-Benton GA5H

[ibanezjunkie]

ive never heard of them before i heard them mentioned in the guitar store. anyone have any experience with their 5 watt valve head?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ga5h.htm

and anyone have any more information about 'Harley Benton' stuff that could be important?

thanks

 

[tunghaichuan]

It's a re-badged Valve Junior with a funky tone control. IIRC, it uses the older V2 OT, which is the wrong primary impedance for the power tube. You'd have to change it out for something better to get the amp to sound good.

I'd look at this one instead: http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ga15.htm

It is push pull and puts out about 15W, which will not be that much louder than 5W.

You could use it as a combo, or plug it into a bigger cabinet for a bigger sound.

tung

ive never heard of them before i heard them mentioned in the guitar store. anyone have any experience with their 5 watt valve head?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ga5h.htm

and anyone have any more information about 'Harley Benton' stuff that could be important?

thanks

 

[ibanezjunkie]

this amp is mainly for sort of bedroom/small rehersal room use, so i dont really need 15 watts. ive used 5 watt heads into my 4x12 before and the sound is pretty impressive.

and what power valve do you recommend for better sound if i decide to buy one of these?

 

[Geraint Jones]

From what I know they`re identical to the epiphone valve junior series , made in the same factory but branded for Thomann . I bought a Rat modded combo on ebay for about £150 . Check out the Rat website Andy Dokken who mods them up lists their faults but for £70 its a good little amp . The combo I`ve got is plenty loud enough and already comes fitted with a power brake so you can max it out without the earache . I like the retro looking finish on them as well .

 

[tunghaichuan]

and what power valve do you recommend for better sound if i decide to buy one of these?

Sorry, I was unclear on that. I meant you'd have to change out the output transformer. The stock one is the V2 valve junior, or at least it was. The V2 OT was 7.5k, you want the V3 which is 5k. This should be marked on the OT.

The stock power tube is likely to be either Sovtek or Chinese. I would replace it with a JJ EL84.

tung

 

[ibanezjunkie]

but besides all the general tech specs

is it a good choice of amp for £70?

id have to order from mainland europe, but oh well.

 

[tunghaichuan]

but besides all the general tech specs

is it a good choice of amp for £70?

id have to order from mainland europe, but oh well.

Call them and ask them for the specs on the output transformer. Ask them what the primary impedance is.

Since it is basically a Valve Junior, it won't sound very good with the V2 7.5k primary OT. It will sound pretty good if it has the V3 5k OT.

Still it is about $100US. New VJs are about $150 here in the States now.

You'd be better off with the Blackheart Little Giant 5W head. It is built better, and it sounds better. It is more money, which is the down side.

tung

 

[Tibernius]

It's the Version 2 Output transformer, at least it is in the combo version. I know the head version has 4, 8 and 16 ohm outputs, but I think it's still the second version.

Slight problem with it (from my point of view at least) is it won't distort without using pedals. The tone control is also fairly useless as it only controls the bass.

 

[ibanezjunkie]

It's the Version 2 Output transformer, at least it is in the combo version. I know the head version has 4, 8 and 16 ohm outputs, but I think it's still the second version.

Slight problem with it (from my point of view at least) is it won't distort without using pedals. The tone control is also fairly useless as it only controls the bass.

i like amps that dont distort too well, gives me an excuse to crank it up.

and atleast the GA5H has some way of controlling the output rather than just the volume like on the Valve Jr.