Side by Side Banjo Comparison - Recording King, GoldTone, Gibson, Yates
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- Опубликовано: 30 мар 2020
- I quick side by side comparison of the following Banjos
2019 GoldTone OB-3 "Twanger"
2018 Recording King RK36
2012 Yates Skillet Head - See Ron Stewart playing my Skillethead on stage in Lexington Ky in June 2024 • Grandfather's Clock - ...
1998 Gibson Granada
This was made to show both the OB3 and RK36 can more than hold their own against the big boys costing more than double. You cannot go wrong with either if you are in the market and not wanting to mortgage the house to pick one up!
I highly recommend these guys:
The Banjo Store: thebanjostore.com/
Banjo Ben's General Store: store.banjobenclark.com/ 
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I like the Gold Tone.
A very good player makes them all sound good!
Yates has the most pop and growl!!
I recall a story about the famous violinist Jascha Heifetz and a man who came back stage after a concert to visit him. During the visit the man mentioned that he thought Heifetz’s violin sounded wonderful. Heifetz’s picked up the violin, put it up to his ear and said “funny…I don’t hear any sound from it at all.” The point being that the the quality of “sound” of an instrument is only heard when someone plays it -and the better the musician is at getting tone out of that instrument, the better it will sound. Of course, the opposite is also evident when someone of limited skill plays a great instrument.
The Gold Tone sounds the best to my ear. I like the Yates but it's a little tubby and hollow. Now talk about the price for what sound you get. I think banjos are just WAY to expensive for a slight change in tone quality, volume, etc. I have heard crappy sounding $8,000 Gibsons and awesome sounding Gold Stars, Gold Tones and Recording Kings.
I think they all sound great 👍
Goldtone. Goes to show how little difference there is in sound between some high dollar banjos and the lower end brands. You are paying a lot for a name, or just a slightly "better" sound.
Yates is the best of this bunch - the Granada is also very good,
Whats funny is i own a granada, the rk 36, a gold tone and some days one might sound better than another but basically they all sound the same
I’ll take whichever one you don’t want! Lol
The Granada wipes the floor with the other ones...IMHO...but would love to hear the Granada vs a maple Yates
The Yates sounds a lot more resonant then the rest and sustains longer BUT the differences between the four are so slight I don't think any ordinary listener would be able to tell the differences and when playing just one without the others to compare immediately I doubt anyone alive could notice any differences.
I hear a distinct difference. I rate them as Yates first, Granada second- The two lower priced banjos do sound less rich, the lower overtones are muted. But between the GT and the RK, I do like the Gold Tone sound quite a bit more but they are heavy banjos. The RK is a bit muted. The tone will vary from instrument to instrument but I believe the main reason they sound different is the quality of the wood used. One thing I've observed having played a lot of banjos is the neck stiffness is a big.. HUGE factor and the cheaper sounding banjos have more flex in the neck, I can feel and see it when it's in my hands. The neck wood is what makes a maple, walnut or mahogany banjo sound so different. The rims are all maple, the resonators, if true to prewar are all poplar, the neck is the only real difference but the choice of the tree species and the very log they carve a neck from is HUGE for tone. I'm sure Yates selects his wood carefully.
Spot-on assessment, although I liked the Gibson a tad more than the Yates. The Gibson seemed to have a woody, low midrange that I liked, that the Yates lacked.
probably because of the age, let the RK and the Goldtone mature a bit and lets hear em'...
The Yates sounded best to me. I listened to a bunch of banjos in my life standing across from them as a bluegrass fiddler at jams all across Virginia and North Carolina for about 48 years now. It's got that cut in the air.
My guitar instructor told me 50 years ago I didn’t have a great ear. True. I guess that’s why all four sound pretty much the same to me. Judging from the comments, we’re all pretty much in the same boat.
1) RK 2)Gibson 3)GT 4) Yates
Yates stood out to me. Great tone content with more “crack” than the others
Excellent comparison video. I think one sounded better but it doesn't matter which because they all sounded good.
Good stuff, buddy!
Thanks Ben! Hope all is well in your quarintined world!
Nice advert for the twanger
I thought that Yates sounded the best... Out of all . First two almost identical.
The Yates sounds a lot better now after I took it to Ron Stewart for a set up, here is a video of him playing my yates on stage this past weekend: ruclips.net/video/VbXwR2rgQRs/видео.htmlsi=QwTHu37raGMU5NTw
I think either the Granada or the skillet head sounded the best
Put all the comments in a bag and shake them up and you draw out the conclusion that sound is relative to the listener. Even in a blind test you would get different opinions because that’s what they are.
Very little difference, and what there is is more likely due to minor differences in setup than brand or price. Imho.
Yates is best in this group. But it could have a better setup.
It did need a set up and I recently took it over to Ron Stewart and he got here dialed in, here is a video of him playing my Yates on stage with the Seldom Scene this past weekend! ruclips.net/video/VbXwR2rgQRs/видео.htmlsi=QwTHu37raGMU5NTw
I kaint tale nairy a bit o diffrence in nun ubum!
I go for the Yates !
Ahmad, thanks for posting, this is useful. That OB3 sounds, more refined and perhaps a little more tubby that the 36?how do they compare when cranked hard? Great picking.
Thanks for this video! They all sound great to me. GoldTone is a great company. They have great instruments AND excellent customer service. I don't know anything else about the other brands, except I have really liked every Gibson I've ver played. I'd recommend the GoldTone you play in this video, for sure :)
Yes they are all great Banjos! And could be played by a pro or novice and be completely happy. For the money you cannot beat the Recoding King though it’s a cannon and they are under $1k it’s just crazy.
@@Ahmad310x If I'm being completely honest, that Recording King was my favorite sounding of the four as I prefer a thinner/brighter sound (not that it's drastically thinner/brighter than the others) but they all do sound great :)
Totally agree with you!
The twanger sounds almost identical to the Granada
proof that a banjo is a banjo
Yep! Everyone o them sound like a banjo fer sure
For me, and through my computer speakers, the Goldtone and Gibson sounded very much alike. The Recording King sounded a bit thinner and the Yates sounded a lot thinner.
I thought the twanger was a bit dull. Surprisingly. The gibson and Yates sound great
also is best to do the test in a sound proof room the true resonance is harder to pick up inside hard walls. Great comparison tho...!
no Stelling??
In fact I think the closest are the Granada and the Twanger!
My thought!
Great playing Ben great Banjo great shirt
Hey Ahmad, I sent an inquiry on the RK-R36 on bangohangout. I'm not sure how that alerts you so I'm commenting on this video to make sure it gets seen. Thanks!
There is no a nickel's worth of difference in the tone of the comparisons.
Can nylon strings be put on a banjo for an early sounding banjo , if so please do a video on that please.
I don't think that would sound too good, not enough twang and brightness from nylon.
Old-timers had gut strings and skin head.
The end was nice. If I was a banjo I would want to be the last one..
Nice! What strings do you use on the Twanger?
Granada is the best
I like the Gibson because it's the one that said "ba - - dumb......." at the end.
Not Much Difference At All , Because They Look Like For The Most Part , Newer Banjos I Think ? If You Played a Banjo That Was Over 50 Years
Old and Compared That to These Banjos , You Certainly Will Here The Difference In The Old , Seasoned Banjo . Time Makes a Banjo Sound Better .
Gibson , Yates , the other two not much difference to me.
All about same
yes, they are sounding all like a banjo ! :-)
IMHO its not fair to the banjos when you compare a maple banjo to mahogany banjos...like comparing apples to oranges
If you can get your hands on a capek pronounced Chaypek You will have no comparison Brilliant. Good comparison though
Gibson had the better sound
they all sound better than the gold tone. the rk36 is a bit darker.
No Sullivan? The man who re-started the reformation!
No different.