Harley Benton Cabinets/ Framus Cabinets any Experience?

[BigK]

Does anyone have any experience of these cab's (i'm talking about the vintage 30 ones) They seem a bit too good to be true but they are made from plywood instead of particle board/mdf like the marshall and other cheaper cabs and come with vintage 30's.

Im not expecting miracles but a semi decent cab that I can gig with would be awesome.

Please any thoughts good or bad are welcome.

[warpthrone]

I saw these, there dirt cheap. I was thinking of buying one.

[Simon D]

I've not tried one, but my gut tells me they will have had to save money on them somewhere, and it wasn't on the speakers. They're made in China, which will certainly have driven the build costs down.

I wouldn't chance it personally, but I've always been a suspiscious sod who believes if something sounds too good to be true, it is.

[Will]

FWIW, I believe Marshall have ply cabs, but the baffle board, or the back board are MDF.
So maybe these cabs, although listed as ply, may also have this?

[MrBump]

Gosh, they are cheap...

Did I read that right? £150 for a 2x12 with Vintage 30s?

I'd be inclined to buy...  I'm looking for a 2x12, my Marshall 4x12 is too impractical.  I think that my Marshall cab is over engineerd anyway.

Mark.

===EDIT===

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Harley+Benton/G212+Vintage+Cab/10/1

I'm sure you've seen it before, but the Harmony Central reviews are pretty good...

[hhcave]

Harmony Central is normally useless for reviews... EVERYTHING has 5/5 stars because the people who bought the items obviously want to convince themselves that they made the right choice...


Even Line6 amps get 5/5 stars....and marshall MG amps...

[Dazza1004]

no experience of them but the Framus cabs seem like a good deal also

http://www.thomann.de/gb/framus_fr212_cb.htm

[MrBump]

Harmony Central is normally useless for reviews... EVERYTHING has 5/5 stars because the people who bought the items obviously want to convince themselves that they made the right choice...


Even Line6 amps get 5/5 stars....and marshall MG amps...

Yeah, that's true - but you can quite often filter out the duff reviews and get an idea of how they are in terms of reliability etc.  In the absence of having the item in your hands, even questionable reviews can be useful.

And I like the Framus cabs... the snob in me likes the name over the other one...

Mark.

[kellar]

I live in Germany so I have played quite a bit of Harley Benton equipment. I certainly wouldn't recommend them. Harley Benton is Thomann's "house brand". They offer a wide variety of guitar equipment and all of it is dirt cheap. Frankly, you get what you pay for. The majority of it is beginner equipment. The speakers are made cheap and the cabs are your typical plywood material. While the price isn't going to set you back a ton, I would be willing to bet you will be looking for a better speaker within a week. :?

[HairyChris]

And I like the Framus cabs... the snob in me likes the name over the other one...

Mark.

I have a v30 Framus Dragon 4x12. Good cab, light, rigid (all birch ply), pretty cheap for what it is. Doesn't quite have the heavyweight booya of a Mesa, Diezel or Orange cab but is better then the Marshall. IMO, obviously, and I have A/Bed them. Framus is punchier.

[MrBump]

The speakers are made cheap and the cabs are your typical plywood material.

Speaker are cheap?  They were Vintage 30s in the cab above...

[BigK]

I was looking at the framus cab, but its dimensions are a bit smaller which makes me think it wont have as much 'chunk' as the harley benton cabs. Depending how much I get in my wages I might just pull the trigger and end this dispute. even if its not awesome it will serve my purposes until I can afford an Orange 4x12.

[Simon D]

even if its not awesome it will serve my purposes until I can afford an Orange 4x12.

That's just it isn't it - at this price, it can be adequate and you won't mind too much as long as it serves your purposes. Something loaded with V30s could be worse as a stopgap.

[HairyChris]

I was looking at the framus cab, but its dimensions are a bit smaller which makes me think it wont have as much 'chunk' as the harley benton cabs. Depending how much I get in my wages I might just pull the trigger and end this dispute. even if its not awesome it will serve my purposes until I can afford an Orange 4x12.

It's a pretty tight cab.

However, what's the price differential between that & an Orange? Is it worth just saving for the Orange (or buy a Matamp)?

[BigK]

I was looking at the framus cab, but its dimensions are a bit smaller which makes me think it wont have as much 'chunk' as the harley benton cabs. Depending how much I get in my wages I might just pull the trigger and end this dispute. even if its not awesome it will serve my purposes until I can afford an Orange 4x12.

It's a pretty tight cab.

However, what's the price differential between that & an Orange? Is it worth just saving for the Orange (or buy a Matamp)?

I'm just looking at 2x12's at the minute as I've moved back into my mums untill I get 'a proper job' so space is an issue too. So I was refering to the 2x12 framus, Doe's anyone have any experience of the framus v30 2x12? although the 4x12 framus cab looks mighty tempting.