Harley Benton G212 Celestion V30

Update to my original review:

I sent pictures of my cab to Thomann Customer Service. After seeing the pictures they agreed to offer me a discount. Other customers seem to be happy with this cab so I can only assume that the poor visual appearance of my cab is not typical for this model. I was also give the choice to return the cabs but with the discount I can live with the cosmetic flaws so I kept it. Thanks to Thomann Customer Service for handling this in such a great way!

I will leave the rest of my original review (and ratings) un-edited but keep in mind that my experience does not seem to be representative for the normal build quality of these cabs.

Original review:

I purchased this cab to have a compact option for a "heavier" voiced cabinet in my studio (the rest of my guitar cabs are 60s/70s voiced). At this point I have broken in the speaker for about 30-40 hours so they should start to show their potential. Still a bit harsh in the upper midrange but that's normal for Vintage 30s at this point. However, it is clear to me that this cab will not give me the power in the lows/low mids that I was hoping for. Compared to other more expensive V30 equipped 2x12 cabs this one sounds just a little too thin for my liking. It's not horrible but I guess you get what you pay for.

And that brings me to build quality. My cab came new out of the box with a large dent in the top of the cab. The tolex wasn't damaged so either the cab must have been damaged before applying the tolex or the plywood must have been seriously flawed. The dent is about 2cm in diameter and pretty deep so it would have been impossible to miss at the factory. I guess they just shipped it out anyway. Extremely poor quality control!

The tolex is also of a cheap quality, very thin. It won't stand much abuse on the road before getting ripped up. The tolex is also very poorly applied. The corner joints are HORRIBLE. There are huge gaps with the plywood visible through. Strips of incorrectly cut tolex are dangling loosely, trying to fill in the gaps. Which they don't as the tolex is not properly glued either. The tolex can easily be peeled off in the corners, no glue at all there. I can not believe how this got past quality control. My only conclusion is that their IS NO quality control.

This makes me seriously doubt the durability of this cab. So far it sounds ok but I will not be surprised if things start rattling and coming apart even after a relatively short time of use. It just seems so extremely poorly built and from poor materials. I just hope the soldering job inside is better than the exterior so it doesn't end up blowing up one of my tube amps if a speaker connection fails.

I would have returned it if it wasn't for the fact that it's so cheap and I don't own a car so bringing it back to the post office just seems too much of a hassle.

I have absolutely no confidence in this cab. In fact, I have never seen a worse build quality in a new guitar cab. Ever!!! Not recommended unless you don't care AT ALL about build quality and are desperate for a cheap V30 equipped 2x12. The price is after all barely more that for two V30s purchased separately.