Thinline Telecaster vs Telecaster | Harley Benton TE-69TL vs TE-62CC: which is best value for money?

Today, we’re comparing two of Harley Benton’s takes on the legendary Fender Telecaster: it’s the traditional TE-62CC versus the TE-69TL Thinline Hot Rod!

Get the TE-69 here: https://thmn.to/thoprod/517406?offid=...
Get the TE-62 here: https://thmn.to/thoprod/502822?offid=...

These two guitars are both Telecasters, then, but they’re about as far away as two Teles can get. The traditional TE-62 is what most people would expect a Tele to be with its two single coil pickups and its very standard layout. The TE-69, meanwhile, has a few tricks up its sleeve: it’s a Thinline, so it features a semi-hollow, chambered body, and it also has a humbucking bridge pickup that you can also split down to a single coil.

Both guitars are extremely affordable – the TE-62 will set you back €149, while the TE-69 comes in at €219. Is it worth the extra money, though? And is that stacked bridge humbucker really going to deliver classic Tele tones as well as a true single coil bridge pickup? That’s what we’re about to find out!

In this video, I put the two guitars up against one another and test them out in as many different musical styles as I can, from country, folk and indie, to pop, rock, blues, punk, metal and more. Which one do you think is best?

Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:

00:00 Hello!
00:17 Introduction and what we’re doing today
02:00 TE-62CC specs and info
03:33 TE-69TL specs and info
05:26 Today’s rig and plan

Clean Sounds
06:29 Clean tone reference chords
07:10 Poppy barre chords
07:40 Country lead sound
07:53 Country ballad arpeggios
08:06 Ringing open indie pop chords
08:32 Funky rhythm chords
08:46 Blues progression
09:08 Ascending indie chords

Indie Rock Sounds
09:22 Fat indie rhythm chords
09:52 Southern rock arpeggios
10:02 Indie rock barre chords
10:26 Kings Of Leon inspired riff
10:40 Edgy indie rock chords
10:54 Octave chords riff
11:19 Choppy barre chords

Classic Rock Sounds
11:37 Groovy classic rock riff
12:03 Driving classic rock riff
12:18 Airbourne inspired rock riff
12:40 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff
12:57 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff
13:13 Classic rock riff

Heavy Overdrive Sounds
13:29 Classic hard rock riff
13:47 Hard rock riff
14:03 Hard rock melodic lead
14:26 80s rock riff
14:43 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff
15:00 Alternative rock riff
15:24 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
15:50 Pop punk melodic lead riff
16:06 Pop punk riff
16:31 Punk rock power chords
16:45 Progressive rock riff (Drop D tuning)
17:00 Modern rock palm-muted power chords (Drop D)
17:24 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy riff (Drop D)

Metal sounds (all in Drop D)
17:41 Metal chugging riff
18:14 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
18:38 Hardcore punk riff
18:53 Heavy metal lead sound
19:09 More hardcore punk
19:33 Classic metal/sludge riff

20:10 My thoughts
21:06 First impressions and looks
21:39 Price
22:50 Build quality and hardware
23:37 Playability and necks
24:59 Weight
26:05 Sounds and pickups
29:11 What competition is out there?
30:41 My conclusions
31:11 Which one should you buy?

My setup was as follows: I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Revv G3 for heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.

Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

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H&K Black Spirit 200 head: https://thmn.to/thoprod/447827?offid=...
Revv G3: https://thmn.to/thoprod/437353?offid=...
Focusrite 4i4 (this is the newer equivalent of my 2i4, which they don’t make any more!): https://thmn.to/thoprod/467952?offid=...
-----

Enjoy!

My setup was as follows: I ran the guitars into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, also using my Revv G3 for heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.

Here’s some links to those bits of gear:

-----
H&K Black Spirit 200 head: https://thmn.to/thoprod/447827?offid=...
Revv G3: https://thmn.to/thoprod/437353?offid=...
Focusrite 4i4 (this is the newer equivalent of my 2i4, which they don’t make any more!): https://thmn.to/thoprod/467952?offid=...
-----

Enjoy!


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Backing music from the YouTube Audio Library: Duck In The Alley – TrackTribe.

#HarleyBenton #HarleyBentonGuitar #Telecaster #ThinlineTelecaster #TelecasterThinline

Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!


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