Harley Benton TUBE5 Celestion Reviews

Great little amp

The celestian speaker is what makes this amp amazing in my mind. The material is nice, it's sturdy. The tone is great, a real little tube amp. It can also be quite loud if you bump up the volume. The only thing I could say is a con is that it doesn't have much for eq(just a single tone knob) so if you wanted to mess around with the treble and bass you really need some stomp boxes. Other than that it is a perfect practice amp, and it's great for the vets who have additional gear to go along with it. Highly recommend for anyone just looking for a bedroom amp or for just practicing and honing your craft :)

Good amp for this money

I didn't have high expectations for this amp. Can cheap be good? I bought it for quiet practice, mostly for clean or little bit overdrived sound. Surprisingly, the sound is not bad at all, especially considering the price tag. I tested it with a >1K€ Gretsch guitar. The sound is a bit boxy, but you can make it darker or brighter with the tone button. The first impression was how much a separate button for low and high frequencies would change the price. But the tone button also works in the appropriate area. The middle frequencies are dominant, perhaps this combo would actually be suitable with an additional overdrive/distortion pedal. A slightly more unpleasant surprise was with the power button. The difference between 5W and 1W mode is quite small. When I put aside the Vox AC4BL1 (12AU7 tubes in the preamp), the HB 1W was much louder than the Vox with its 4W. The HB amplifier's own drive is quite loud even in 1W mode, if you turn the volume knob past 2PM. But with the clean channel (volume 11AM or so), this amp is absolutely fine, and why not try it even for recording in a home studio.

Awesome "tweed" like sound

This amp does what it's meant to do really well. It's simple but it has depth. It excels in the mid range, although it lacks in bass frequencies (it wouldn't make sense aestheticaly for this amp to have those frequencies anyway). For the price, you won't find a better tube amp.

Surprisingly great amp

I can’t believe how amazing this sounds. Lovely crisp balanced sound, it takes pedals really well and for only a hundred nicker.

top tube amp

I was very surprised by the beautifull sound and how loud it gets. Together with some amp-in-a-box like pedals for example, you can have all the classic amps in one cheap amp for home recording and practicing. 5watt is loud, the 1 watt knob is therefore very good. In comparison to a Katana I tried once : a real tube amp like this is much, much more fun to play. The sound goes deep.

Goes really wel with reverb, overdrive, phaser, ....also fuzz, but...

One downside, thats why I returned it : it has no real gain knob. The volume knob functions for gain also, but its not a great reach. For most People this is no problem because that's why they invented boost and overdrive pedals. But for my fuzzes, I prefer to have a gain knob to dial in the overdriven sound as much as I need . Such a pitty I have to send such a good amp back!

I' ll try the Marshall dsl1.

I am a bit confused and i would like to receive help

Sticked to the end of the cable is a yellow written note, which states “this appliance must be earthed”. It makes me question half an hour of the practice time before i took a notice upon the note. Have i done damage to the amp by not following the instruction? What does it even mean that it should be earthed/grounded? Is the device incomplete?

The look, the feel, and the weight and the sound of it is beyond perfect, though i must say, i have been having issues with humming and constant ticking sound which seems to appear when i don’t lay hands on strings. It seems to wash away as soon as i lay hand on the string and play some notes.

Can someone pour remedy into my problem?

great value!

very nice little amp, super sounb for the price, and enough for your apartment pratice (at least for me...)

Eats the competition alive

Against a Pignose it’s a different beast altogether obviously as it’s a valve amp after all and that is what makes this thing sound so big for it’s size. It can get very loud. Compared to a Fender 600 which has a similar spec, this is better in many ways. The speaker is bigger, and it has a 5Watt or 1Watt setting which is great for getting fat tones at low volume. The biggest bonus also is this amp doesn’t have an excessive hum like the Fender. It’s great for recording, it sounds big and the tone knob is very active so you really shape the sound quickly and simply live. Oh and the price is unbelievably low, it’s a gift.

My first tube amp

Sounds sweet, simple controls and a good enough speaker. If you're on a budget or/and can only play in your small apartment bedroom, this is the one to buy.

Great for the harmonica!

I playing bass and harp in a blues/rock band, and I was looking for an acceptable amp for the former. And this amp more than acceptaple, it's great! It's loud enough - I would say that enough for mid-stage gigs without PA, up to about 50-80 person, even with a drummer. The sound is just what you're looking for: dirty and bluesy. I couldn't stop smiling the first time I tried it. Only 1 star minus for the feature bicouse, there is no gain button on the amp, but in summary: if you play the harp, BUY IT!

It's ok for the price but not that impressive

As far as low wattage tube amps go, there are not many in the market. This is a very decent amp, but I found the 1-watt Marshall DSL1 to be a lot more impressive, with more features and the price is very close.

The lack of eq, means you need a drive or eq pedal in front to really shape the tone.

It is loud, even at 1-watt. There is little change in volume between 1 and 5 watts, but it feels that this amp delivers better at 1 watt. It would have been more useful as a bedroom amp if it was 1-watt with the option to reduce to 0.1 watts.

The overall tone is rather bright - this if you like it or not comes down to preference.

At 5 watts connecting it to an external cabinet makes a big difference!

I played it for two days straight - works well as a pedal platform and it starts getting a crunch with the volume turned to 7 and above.

I think for small live gigs this can be used either on its own or connected to another cabinet.

Excelent amp

Very easy and Great amp

bed room and small studio enough!

Cute and usable.

A novelty really. I owned an Eppi valve junior 10 years ago, same amp, but with slight variations, I used it lots, my music style has changed though, I have a cleaner sound now.

The HB tube 5 is a very similar amp, but with a tone control & 6v6 power tube, so having more clean sound than the Eppi, clean until vol knob is at the top, from there the increase in volume stops and turns into a distortion knob, no louder, simply more distortion, smooth valve distortion, "the real thing", it's darned loud too.

The tone control has a big range making it adaptable to more guitar styles and more guitars.

Small & light, the tube5 is good for small bars up to 15-20 audience. I love this little beauty, I'll use it plenty for Sunday afternoon gigs with the lads in my local bar.

And a great price too.

Best recording amp,for ftaction of price.

Don't look for Big famous brands..because For the name alone...you pay adfitional 50 % of good wasted money. This little amp is simple,yet high quality,well built,sweet tube sound at volume level that suits all you guys out there that want to play at home,without having your neighbours wanting to stab you. The sound of this amp however...is loud enough for great cleans,and also amazing dirty sound.The price ofcthis little amp is a joke. Get yourself one even if you already have other amps.For tje price of it...dont even think twice.

Just in between...

The 5W is too loud for apartment practice, the 1W too quiet...

I does misses 1 more control... Not sure what this will do, though...

One for the money

Great fun

Everyone should have one

Works well with Harley Benton overdrive pedal

Should have reverb but.... You can use a reverb pedal,and sounds fine without

Great gift for yourself or any guitarist

Looks at the price

It sounds like a tube amp because it is a tube amp

It does not sound like a fender but I know what those reviews mean all the same

The lower amp setting is a bit power muted, but both settings have interesting tones at various volume settings

For me the sweet spot is about 80% volume but I play it way down too

It's far louder than I was expecting

I bought it for Christmas last year so am adding this review this Christmas after a year

tube5 Harley Benton

Vandaag toegekomen onmiddellijk uitgetest. Meteen verast van het geluid.

Klinkt geweldig. Onmiddellijk mijn transistor versterker opzij gezet.

Great Harmonia Rig

Good little amp, good sound with all you could reasonably ask for at this price - which is incredibly low. Plugged harmonica rig straight in and was impressed with the quality of sound and volume. I'll gig this alone for small/medium shows and mic up for the larger ones. Great weight !

Great sound at low level!

That's my first tube amp. I have been playing it about a week. Amp looks very nice. No cheap feeling with knobs and built quality. Sounds great at low volume. It gives nice clean sound with volume about 1-2. It is great for playing home and recording. I am really happy with this amp.

After two days of playing sounds better BTW...

Only negative for me is 3 band EQ...

Solid, great sounding practice amp

The sound of a tube amp is something most guitarists dream of, but they can be impractical in the home! This little amp, at just 5 watts, is perfect for just that! All the tube goodness and none of the complaining neighbours.

Beyond simple (hence the low features score), this has a volume, tone, 1w/5w selector and on off switch - that's it. At low volume on the 5 Watt setting you get a satisfying fender like clean tone. Crank the volume (and maybe switch down to 1W mode for bedroom stuff) you get bright tube overdrive, that is responsive and perfect for blues and rock.

It's small, light, sounds great and all around is highly recommended!