Harley Benton SC-550 II PAF

95 Customer ratings

4.7 / 5

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64 Reviews

Harley Benton SC-550 II PAF
989 AED 251,26 €
Plus 277 AED shipping
The price in AED is a guideline price only
Since we ship from Germany, additional costs through taxes and customs may be incurred
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Superb 2022 Les Paul by Harley Benton (SC550ii) PAF
Supertaff 18.02.2022
All the recent positive reviews on Youtube did not prepare me for this beautiful instrument delivered to me today from the first factory batch of 2022. It looks sublime, is a joy to hold and was tuned and set up spot-on before delivery !!! The overall finish and workmanship is excellent. The lovely neck came with beautifully polished frets. The 3 way switch works well and feels solid. The volume controls do the job graduated evenly, and the tone pots equalise steadily all the way from closed to open. The Tesla pickups are well worth the upgrade HB installed on this mark ii of the popular SC550. The sounds through my old Zoom GFX-707, right through from clean to dirty, are breathtaking . I can't stop playing it. I actually shed a tear of joy (Welsh). Why the hell would you buy a Gibson when you can get this superb thing for less that £250?
Please thank your folks in Indonesia for me.
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Very good and affordable starting point
MyNicknameMustBeAtLeastFiveCharactersLong 23.08.2021
I bought this guitar exactly month ago. Did not have any special expectations beside one - it will be a good base for modifications. Yes, I will pimp the guitar, and will complete this review after a while.

First impression
Once the guitar arrived, I unpacked it, tuned and simply plugged in. And there was the first surprise. I was able to play it without any additional set up. It was in-tune (someone set the intonation up it in the factory, or I was lucky to get one with bridge saddles in the right positions - I hope the first one). Anyway - it was feeling well, with no buzzing and with proper intonation. Nice.

The oryginal sound
The guitar sounds pretty well "from the wood" - before plugging in, and the sound is pretty balanced "horizontally and vertically" - across the strings and positions. The sustain thou could be better (I compared it to my old Ibanez AR300, as I do not own real Gibson).
While plugged in - it is nicely playable, with well balanced sound, but a bit "too dry" for me. That said - I am simply stating I do not like the Tesla pickups. As for budget guitar I will go rather for Toneriders (Thomann would probably easily make a proper deal with Tonerider to keep the cost down).

The look
That is a killer! This damn guitar looks like one that you spent five times more money on it.
On the one I have I spotted no finishing flaws.

Build quality
Surprisingly good, I love the steel frets and the way they are finished and polished. That is something you will get only in expensive guitars. No glue traces or gaps around the binding. Very well!
But there are three minuses I must point out:
- the biggest - a 3 millimetres gap between the neck and body (visible only after you remove the neck pickup). I filled it with epoxy, as I believe any gap there is reducing sustain),
- small scratches on the 20th, 21st and 22nd frets (like scratched with file). Thankfully only under E6 and A4 strings, so I am not really playing there,
- dirt dust in the cavities (not really visible, as those are covered with plastic plates

Summary (unmodified guitar)
If you want a Gibson, but cannot afford or won't buy original, SC-550 is really great starting guitar. Good sounding from wood, very acceptable factory setup, fantastically looking baby. I highly doubt you can buy anything better for less than 600 Euro. Especially with steel frets.

PS
I will pimp my copy and complete this review in two weeks (still waiting for parts).

UPDATE 07.09.2021 - SC-550 pimping
======================================================
As I planned, I pimped it, and will keep this guitar. I have fabulously sounding instrument, with great sustain, tuning stability and great playability. Well, and good look too ;-)

Pimping-up process:

Bridge
I started with changing the bridge, by replacing the original one with TonePros LPCM02 C Tuneomatic Set Chrome (bought at Thomann). I replaced the bridge completely, with bushings. A magic happened. This bridge looks and weights basically the same as the original Harley Benton, but there was immediate sustain improvement. Plus the locking screws that keep the bridge and tailpiece in place, when you’re changing strings is great enhancement.

Electronics
Having that, I decided to replace the whole electronics.
I put DiMarzio PAF 36 Anniversary set (in creme). Replaced pots with DiMarzio custom tapper pots for volume and DiMarzio push/pull pots for tone. Orange Sprague capacitors (well, I personally like them) and treble bleeds.
I also replaced the toggle switch - for Switchcraft one, and the jack socket for Pure Tone multi contact output jack.
The push/pull on tone potentiometers work as series/parallel switch. In total I have 8 different pickup combinations, all hum cancelling. Truly versatile guitar!

Tuners
The last thing I replaced were the tuners. I managed to buy for good price a set of GOTOH SD90MG-T-SL looking tuners. They also fit perfectly the SC-550 II.

I also made, printed out and put *ugly* sticker on the headstock saying “Gibby” and replaced the cavity covers with ones in creme colour. Because of grip (the push/pull pots require good grip) I replaced the potentiometer knobs with Strat-like ones.

In total (the guitar + new parts) it was around 630 Euro, but there is no way you will buy that sounding guitar, with this quality hardware, and additionally steel frets for under 1000 Euro. Simply not possible. And then still, most probably you will want to change pickups at least (I do that on all my guitars always).
And - you do not have to spend the whole sum at once, you may do upgrades gradually.

Here are some pics:



One more time - the HB SC-550 II is great guitar to start (playing, learning to play, gigging). It is also fantastic base for upgrades.
If Thomann will have different product manager in the guitar department, they have the capacity to produce outstanding guitars, that can compete with the big brands. Some small details here and there only to change.
Well, maybe that person is just great product manager, but not musician ;-)

Anyway - go and buy one, if you want/need affordable, but very good Les Paul copy.
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Still don't believe it.
audiomo music 14.07.2021
I have to say I am more than impressed with this instrument. The problem I have with lower end instruments is always in the neck, whether it's the frets being rough, the ends being rough, or the fingerboard not being the most finished... this is by far the best I've had in any guitar that isn't Japanese or American outside of the PRS SE line, at a third of the cost of one of those!

The tesla pickups are an improvement from the Roswells in this body style in my opinion, and I love the straight forward no nonsense from them... no coil split needed, they work perfect as is and even sound good clean.

The weight of the guitar is great at 8.3LBS or around 3.75KG, it's effortless to play and I am confident I could take this guitar out tonight and play a full performance with no worries or issues. Great job harley benton.

I made a full unboxing, inspection, and playthrough of this guitar on my youtube channel audiomo music if you are interested to see me go over the exact guitar I received. Thank you again for the great work everyone.
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HARLEY BENTON SC 550 II
MARC_BOLAN_TREX 04.11.2022
I’ve always been kind of old school and a true and passionate fan of Marc Bolan, Mickey Finn and TREX, as you can imagine my very first electric guitar had to have an old-school look. I bought the HARLEY BENTON SC 550 II in PAF, DFB and FTF finish but in the end I chose the FTF one. So I chose the FTF one, and I installed on it a cream pickguard to make it look more vintage, now I have a guitar that looks like a lot the NOVEMBER BURST guitar that is played by Slash in the November Rain video. I recommend the HARLEY BENTON SC 550 II to whoever has to buy the first electric guitar with a LES PAUL style.
HAPPY PLAYING TO EVERYONE !
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na
Great value, well worth it
name already taken 19.03.2022
I've had this about 5 months now and I really like it. It came pretty well set up. It looks and sounds great and it's really nice to play.
I've added push-pull pots to split the coils.
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SC-550 II PAF
FNGs 26.03.2022
Absolute winner! I read online reviews and watched demos. It surpasses expectations! HB makes it possible to
play great instruments for extremely friendly prices. The attainable options available are fantastic. I just ordered my fifth HB with more to go.
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Nice guitar!
Zola1979 28.10.2021
Great value for money!
Got this as a birthday present from my girlfriend, so no complaints here :)
Try the guitar, it is a nice one!
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Simply beautiful, a steal!!!
Godspowerlifter 12.06.2023
I've been playing for over 3 decades. This instrument really impressed me.
It looks fantastic. The Tesla pickups will never need an upgrade. Action and playability were good right out of the box.
Even if you're rich enough to afford a high end Gibson, add this to your collection as well. For the price, this instrument is a stage winning, great-sounding, head-turner that you can gig with and not sweat over some clown damaging it.
I'm definitely considering buying a second (in another color) for good measure...
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Amazing quality
Siciliano 13.01.2023
I am new to guitar and received this as my Christmas gift from my wife. (I picked it out). Right away, I brought it to my guitar teacher who couldn't believe how good the quality of this instrument is and how beautiful it is. He said it was more comfortable to play than his $3000 Gibson. When I am ready for another guitar, I know this is the brand I will go with.
My only gripe is a scratchy tone knob that I will spray some contact spray in to remedy it.
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Very Impressed!
Mixxo 15.05.2022
After having my SC 550 II PAF for a bit over a month now, I'm happy to say I am more than pleased with the guitar & the Thomann buying experience.

This 550 II arrived in pristine condition to the U.S. I made a couple minuscule adjustments initially to see how it responded but actually ended up back near the Thomann QC specs. Many speak of mods to be done but I will wait a bit. The Tesla pickups sound fine, the electronics respond properly and it plays like a dream.

I like it so much that I just ordered the SC Jr. in black w/tortoise-shell pickguard & case. Thanks Thomann!
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Harley Benton SC-550 II PAF