Unboxing 3 new guitars from this INSANELY popular brand...
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2023
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Hey guys! Sorry about the frame rate on this video, I have no idea what happened in the upload process but it rendered out just fine. Thanks for putting up with the wonkiness!
It was the curse of bad guitars.
I love your videos man I swear that I love them, but sometimes I don't quite understand why you play cheap guitars with expensive gear, most People that play those guitars are going to play them with a Zoom multieffects or Line 6 Spiders, I repeat I do love you man but It would be nice to see something that match your amps and gear like the new ESP's e-ii, some customs from diferents brands from time to time or at least the new stuff from schecter, and no I'm not going to stop watching your videos because you are an awesome guy and you are fun to watch I'm just saying that sometimes it's time to give a proper match to the gear man that's all, cheers mate!
Oh good I thought there waas something wrong with my computer :P
No apologies for the clickbate title and thumbnail?
It's like watching '80s TV lol.
My Buddy actually works at Thomann since 13 years, and i know how they handle their stuff. I worked there for a day, and that was really enough. The workers threw the packages around, and unpack their stuff for fun, just to play around with the Instruments. They ship it even if it falls down. For us in Germany Harley Benton is Junk
It's junk in America too but so many poors that don't want to admit it
It is junk. I owned one myself and it was terrible.
Your buddy seems to be a fucking loser likewise for is coworkers
I own 5 harley benton guitars and two basses. They all play as well as my expensive instruments. But I'm not going to lie, there usually are specific models that are great overall and others that just suck. I guess it depends on the factory where they're made. For example, the te-52 is an amazing instrument. Fretwork is on points, pickups sound as good as any mexican fender pickups. Wood and electronics are actually better quality in my humble opinion, the guitar stays in tune better than my some of my expensive stuff.
The moment you unboxed that 1st guitar, I knew trouble was in sight. Glenn Friecker tested these and they had a massive grounding issue.
I've just received a HB Fusion III in HSH configuration (not a roasted neck). It's pretty awesome. Not a fingerprint on that guitar. I love that thing.
I have gotten 3 models shipped from Germany to France. All at different times, all with various modding plans in place. Every one was perfect, modding plans were scrapped I left them all as received, they are that good. For the cost of these guitars, you will never find a better deal. I will be buying more of them.
The grounding issues are what is keeping me from buying any of them. At that price, i would rather buy cheap Ibanez guitars and mod them to my liking, even if it's probably a worse idea.
@@kenshiku the grounding issue is guickly fixed
Good for you because it certainly wasn’t the same story for me! Mine was terrible and completely unplayable! It also feels cheap!
so I live relatively close to Thomann and I only have positive experiences to speak of. I've been a customer for a long time and I've had good and bad products and I've always gotten stellar service. When I wanted to branch out into multiscale guitars I "ordered" a bunch of guitars to the shop floor and went there with my laptop, interface and headphones, tried and recorded a bunch of guitars over a short demo track I wrote basically the whole day. And did end up buying a Harley Benton 7 multiscale and emg pickups for it in the end.
I actually like their stuff for the most part. I ordered 6 guitars at different times over the last 5 years and the 2x12 HB cab and they were all packaged very well. You have to watch whether you get a B stock or not. Generally decent guitars but all of mine needed a setup and a fret job. Every single one of them had at least one sharp fret end. I pretty much anticipate doing work to every guitar I own regardless. The lower end harley Bentons are kind of hit and miss but again, to be expected for the price point. I don't have any of their active models so I have not seen the grounding issue. The tuners on all of them are absolute trash however. I bought them all knowing this though. Good mod platforms and I still own and play them all. I have over 50 guitars and basses though. I know I have a problem lol.
yep that HB is a B-STOCK
I believe that pickguards are covered in protective film. After removal they should be shining brightly 😊
Love the look of the strat and jazz master versions. Been debating on the jazz master one for myself specifically.
I can say I definitely didn't have any issues with mine. I have the same strat you got, and just recently got one of their 7 strings. Both arrived in great shape, but I also did order from their international store and idk if that made a difference
Wow, that first one definitely looks like a return, or someone liked to play it at the warehouse.
Maybe I just got lucky. I bought one of their 8 strings (the cheap white one with the maple fretboard) and it has zero issues. No ground loop noise, no cheese grater frets, none of that. Plays and sounds great, only had to do minimal adjusting on the bridge. Mine wasn't double boxed when it arrived though so I was pretty nervous about that. Thankfully no damage on mine though.
I picked up a HB DC Jr back in May 2020 during the shutdown for a little retail therapy, and to see what the hype behind the brand was all about. I think it was a little over $200 total, shipped from Germany at that time. There were no signs of previous playing or shipping damage. The pelham blue-ish metallic finish, was basically flawless. There were a few small issues, though. The main one being that the neck was set at a slightly too low angle to get the string action as low as I prefer, even with the bridge fully decked down. Easily solved by cutting the saddle slots deeper, and shortening/smoothing the overall saddle height. Frets were slightly gritty, but were level. A half hour of polishing fixed that. The single P-90 was too far from the strings to get a strong output from it. I fixed that by removing the pickup, tracing the cover outline, and making a riser from some scrap pickguard material. I may have had to adjust the nut slots as well, but I honestly don't remember whether or not I did at this point.
For me, someone who had been building guitars from scratch for the past 7 years at that time, and doing my own tech work for roughly the last 20 years, these things weren't a big deal. However, for people who aren't competent in the world of guitar teching, it would have likely cost them anywhere from another $100 to $150 or so to get it playing optimally. I still have it, the neck is very stable, it holds tuning quite well, and plays great.
I can't help but wonder if the V with the grounding issue was sent over to the States before they had remedied the problem, and was sitting in a warehouse here for some time before you got it, since that one was the only one that still had that problem.
DEFINITELY A RETURN 😮 No plastic film on the PG dead giveaway
I bought one. Arrived perfectly set up and the intonation was spot on. Fretwork was stellar. Its the guitar I play the most now. Guess I got lucky.
You got, I got one from my GF on birthday, it's unplayable and belongs to trash. Tried setting it up but even the frets are so unfinished it's not possible to bend at all.
Seems like they haven't been polished at all, feels like a sandpaper playing on this.
Never ever buying HB guitars, don't know what I was expecting. Seems like a total lottery.
Good for you but it’s definitely not the same story for me. What I got was terrible and completely unplayable!
I ordered a Harley Benton once.
When i received it... the body had a big dent on the front, neck was twisted, frets were unevenly placed and some of the fret wires were not even glued all the way down to the board and sticking out. Customer service at thoman was being kinda difficult and we're not making the return process any easier either.
To say the least, it was not a cool experience.
Hey Kyle. Are your QC captures the amps by themselves or an amp/cab combo? I play my QC through a cab so I’m looking for amps only.
Imo for the price you can't beat it as long as there arent major problems that effect playability. Definitely will be a mod project kinda guitar for someone who has been playing awhile where a beginner would be fine right out the box to start learning to play.
The handling issue may be due to the US store. Did you say these came from Reverb?
I have received several orders from Thomann and I have not seen any guitars come with the handling issues you've pointed out. Did you order B-stock units?
Mine have all come in nice shape, without fingerprints. I will order again soon from them.
I like the strat version. It might be alright with proper setup and string change. Nice proper review KB! 🤘
I have never recieved a guitar from Thomann, that had been opened and Played like that one of yours
if you buy a B stock, they can be returns, or ex demo models, but they should still be pristine?
the round one looks great and sounds sickk! im thinking about getting one and upgrading it with an Evertune
if swapped with emg active which dont need that grounding. would that work right?
Kind of off subject, but have you tried the Orange pedal baby? If so, how does it compare to the Blackstar amped 1? Thanks!!
I've bought two HBs, and if I've learned anything, it's that you have to give them a proper setup when you get them. My CST-24T arrived in Chicago perfectly intact and almost in tune. However, the action was very high, and it had a couple high frets (I think it was the 14th and 15th frets) that were preventing me from really getting the action nice and low.
I leveled and crowned those frets, readjusted the string height, and it's really, really good now. It's one of my go-to guitars. The one weak point is probably the tuners, which I eventually want to swap, but even if I don't, the stock tuners are good enough. I can abuse the trem and it stays in tune.
So, if you're willing to do a setup, these are great. If not, pass probably.
I have had multiple Harley Bentons and still have 2. I've had great luck with them. All of them were at least decent.
One of them (the Amarok) is currently my favorite guitar and I have much more expensive guitars.
Edit: I have that ST20-HH too. Mine didn't come like that. It looked brand spanking new.
Not nearly as good as the Amarok, but then it was quite a bit cheaper.
I upgraded everything on it. Tuners, bridge, pickups/electronics and filed the fret ends/polished the frets.
It's a pretty solid guitar now.
Hearing that you have a Quad Cortex and that you are running it through traditional amps as opposed to an FRFR powered speaker cab, I have a question for you, or maybe two!
I was under the impression that I would have to get an FRFR speaker cab. I'd much rather use a traditional amp instead. How are you doing that? Are you eliminating the amp model on the Cortex and just using the effects?
I'm totally confused, I don't know what to get? Can you please help me with my dilemma?
Thanks.
I got the Active V for Christmas and had the grounding issue but no other QC problem. Maybe the nut the low E was a bit too close to the edge but the was nitpicking. Changed the bridge and tailpiece to one I had laying around and now it’s a go to along with my PRS Custom 24 Wood Library. Very different price points but both feel great in the hands once you get past the couple issues with the HB.
I've bought 2 HBs from Thomann, and they've both been great. I have an SC-DLX Gotoh and a TE FLT-90. Single cut I bought as a B-stock, only thing I've ever found "wrong" was a little bit of the shell pink was sprayed onto the jack plate just a tiny bit. Bought the TE brand new for 139. Had to touch up the ends on a few frets, but no issues other than that. Only change I've made to the sc is adding a string butler. Both came with graphtech nuts. Added graphtech string trees and locking tuners to the TE. Absolutely love both of them. Bummed to see you had such a rough first experience with them 😕
Hey Kyle, the Harley Benton JA-20HH or the DMT-100 for the value?
Yeah, seen a fair few videos on these active models and a lot ran into grounding issues, fixable but you'd need to know what you're doing and for the price, is it worth it? Gotta say though, I've had a couple of their passive models before now and never had any complaints.
They reportedly curate guitars from 20 factories in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. QC is supposedly done by Thomann in Germany. So, I am guessing quality is all over the place depending on what you buy. They seem similar to the Amazon faire. Pickups don't seem to be potted.
Correct. They’re made by whoever will make them the cheapest.
I just got a Fusion III and I like it. The neck is a bit thicker than I would like, there's a little bit of neck dive when it's just on your thigh, and mine wasn't fully sanded on the back of the neck (tiny spot of rough sealer you could feel). But a tiny bit of sanding with 3000 grit took care of that problem.
The guitars I have tried have been one step short of awesome. The 8 string needed to have better dried woods but it was close to great for the price. Sad cause it was super good to play. Fret popped. Neck wasn’t quite as tight in the neck pocket as I would have liked. The HB cab I have is great for the price.
Great video Kyle. I recently ordered a Harley Benton DC Custom and 212 cabinet with vintage 30s. I live in the US and received both in 3 days. They arrived in excellent condition, totally brand new with no blemishes, signs of use or wear. Packaging was great and my guitar was secure in the box. It didn’t move at all. I did order directly from the Thomann site vs Reverb. Would love to see a review from you on the EX-84 Modern EMG and Fusion-III EMG HT Roasted SBK. Those are two I’m considering.
Now, those other 2 guitars are wicked ! Get them.
I have the JA-20HH. It has good bones, but it definitely had some issues...but for $140 you can't expect TOO MUCH. I bought it with the idea of taking a cheap guitar and putting good parts in it to see if it makes a difference. All in with guitar and parts I came in around $700 and its a solid player. There's a playlist on my channel if you want to check out what I did with mine.
I never had any kind of issues with the Harley Benton stuff I bought.
For the price tag I found the quality quite pleasing.
But I also had to put some time in a proper set up.
Definitely something to keep in mind when buying Harley Benton instruments.
the harley benton cab I bought actually came damaged - but the speakers were fine, and at the time it was still cheaper to buy it that to straight up by the v30s new - even with the shipping cost so it was still a great deal - I mean if you don't have a 2x12 it's still cheaper than you can buy anywhere - they are made out of decent plywood as well so - it's a fantastic deal if you don't have a cab or needed one.
They are actually fairly oversized as well with decent bass response.
Did you get the guitars direct from Thomann or from the Harley Benton Reverb store?
Did Harley Benton ground the bridge? Curious why it's humming?
Bought a Harley Benton Amarok batitone. When I got it, the volume knob had major issues with cutting out. I reached out to Harley Benton and they basically were no help; the only option they gave me was for me to send the guitar back at my cost. They claimed they would reimburse for the shipping but that's not something I would ever take on faith from a foreign shipper. I suggested that they refund me a portion of my payment to offset the repair cost but they wouldn't do that. In the end, a friend of mine opened it up and fixed it and now it works fine.
So what I would say is that if you're ordering from the US, be aware that they basically have zero customer service unless you're willing to foot the bill for shipping back to Germany. I won't be buying another guitar from them for this reason. This is unfortunate as it's a pretty nice guitar now that it's functional, but for me, not having useful customer service is a hard dealbreaker with mail order gear.
I bought a 12 string acoustic that was from Germany. It was in the basic box with that thin sheet of foam. Then that box was in a bigger box with one crumpled piece of paper as padding. Thankfully everything was fine but I have been hesitant to buy anything since. I’m curious if they’re using the Reverb listings as a way to resell returns.
Only own one. I got the 30" Baritone Ja and it's incredibly good. Great fret work and everything was spot on as far as QC goes. Really impressive for $200.
That price is shipping included. .??
Ive been eyeing that one, im usually an 7/8 string guy but for 150€ it looks pretty insane
I got a used Harley Benton bass off of Reverb, it was pretty good though I do plan to open it up and shield the cavities with the next string change to hopefully reduce some hum and static buildup on the pickguard. My first bass, so not a lot of experience to compare with other budget basses. I then ordered a TE-52 and a SC-25th.
The TE-52 needs a good setup, probably will need to adjust the truss, but is fine as far as quality, I do plan to put on locking tuners with roller string trees and brass saddles. It is my first tele style guitar, so can't compare it to much but I'd put it on par or with the Classic Vibe Strats I have owned.
The SC-25th was perfect out of the box and is becoming one of my favorites, it has been the first guitar I pickup for standard tuning, only complaint is the stock Rosewell pickups could be a tad hotter for my liking, so I may swap those out eventually but I am giving them time and slowly raising pickup height every week or so. That said, it is better quality and feel than any Epiphone LP I have played (even the Slash edition gold top I used to own). Neck finish is awesome, like the body size, the neck is narrower than I was used to but am adjusting nicely.
So quality seems to come down to luck, esp for the lower priced ones, but I have been happy with them (gotten lucky with finish and whatnot) and think they are viable alternatives to Squier, Epiphone, etc.
I had a Harley shipped all the way to Bangladesh . Arrived in flawless condition. Was a fusion Tele. Locking tuners, graphtech nut, roasted maple, SS frets and all the works. I did change out the Roswell pickups for SDs because those didn't do high gain too well. Otherwise a fantastic guitar from a fantastic brand. Sourced from the same Indonesian factory as Schecter LTD Ibanez and a few others I believe. It easily competes with my 1000+ USD guitars. Probably the best value for money guitar I've ever come across. I would advise to always go for their higher end models though. Glad you covered HB man. Well deserved and great content from you as always. 🙏
I have the Agufish sig guitar, mahogany body,swamp ash top, ebony board, stainless frets, roasted flamed maple neck, grover tuners, brushed chrome hardware, 7 ply binding on the body, ilum inlay dots, Grover locking tuners....yeah it's pretty great. It was like 500 bucks and was a limited run of 350. I got number 320.
So you're digging the amped 1 as a power amp? I've been curious about it for a little bit, I've tried out a few power amps and havent been totally satisfied, yet. I think I'll give it a shot..i trust your opinion more than anyone else on youtube lol. Do you like it over the Power stage?
Hi, Kyle
I bought a sc-1000 with active pickups and i'm very Happy about It. It arrived so well and ajusted! 👍
Maybe i buy the Amarok-6 soon 🤔
If I recall correctly, the cabs are on the reverb store, as well.
I ordered a TE-90 FLT last year it cost $70 for direct shipping and I have had next to no issues. It had zero flaws other than input jack coming loose but easily tightened up.
I put a set of lockers on that strat, a graphtec nut and had a real hipshot laying around that I put on. The sustain is unreal now. That cheap bridge was a tone killer on mine. I also shielded the cavity and back of the pickguard. Did a level/dress/polish on the frets, plays great. Total 115 and 12 for the nut. The other stuff I had sitting around. Not a bad deal.
Hey Kyle, I have three HBs in my collection. A 20 years old HBL400GT (bought new in 2003), a CST24T (2021 model) and the Victory you have as well. No, the grounding issue of the V has definitelly Not been solved yet, needs a little work, and it’s gonna be fine. The V and the CST got HB locking tuners as a first measure, that helped a lot. Don‘t forget the price these guitarsgo for. I literally learned to play on the HBL, on which I changed the pickups to SH-6es, and that was long before they bumped up their Game terms of Qualitiy and that thing still is the guitar to go for, when I play C-Standard stuff for its incredible resonance! I love all of them and won‘t turn any of them down in the near future. I‘m even planning on extending my collection! Cheers from Germany!
I have one of their 2x12 celestion cabs and it sounds on point
I got two from Germany and one from the reverb shop. No issues with mine that my tech has noticed aside from intonation issues and needing new strings.
The ones from reverb ship in less packaging for sure.
I wonder if the b stocks are getting shipped to the reverb store in Connecticut
I just got my first HB a few weeks ago.
Had to level and polish frets. They were scratchy as hell feeling.
Also the neck was warped and I spent 2 days getting the guitar humidified enough to get the neck halfway decent.
The guitar I have is the p90 Goldtop Les Paul clone.
Now I do really like it. But I essentially did $200+ of repair work to it to get it properly set up.
The pickups that came with it are pretty good all things considered.
But Ive had nicer Chibsons then this. And they were the same price, only it came with frett nibs and was worlds better.
Thank you! I’m American but live in Europe and was gifted a Harley Benton. It was a complete POS also with frets that cut my fingers, insanely high action, bridge falling off, horrible tuning machines, it felt like a plastic toy and it never stayed in tune! I tired my best to fix it but gave up.
Waaaaay to many fake reviewers on UA-cam who are either following a fad or are being paid to say it are LYING about these guitars! They’re not great by any stretch of the imagination!
I've ordered 4 direct from thomann. They didn't have those issues of being previously handled. I have that strat and love it.
Same experience for me.
I own their 30" baritone JM clone and semi hollow 335 clone. Sent from Europe to Australia and they came securely boxed, no play wear or blemishes with no neck or fret issues.
my first harly benton came with a broken and cracked neck ,, im waiing on the replacement atm nice to see someone else at least keep it real.
My Victory Active Black does not have the grounding issue. I got it about 2 weeks ago.
I bought a guitar and a few cabinets from them back in 2017. No complaints other than the QC of the instrument itself.
I have the fanned fret 8 string. The pickups are extremely low output (And this is someone who uses Gibson burst buckers) so it could definitely use better pickups. After putting on thicker strings and giving it a neck adjustment it plays really well, stays in tune and does the job. I just have to almost max out the gain on the amp to make it sound right
I got a 458BK a few days ago and I didnt have many issues. Packing material was good and didnt run into any majory finish issues (other than the finish being a crazy fingerprint magnet). Did a basic setup bc the neck was bowed pretty bad and I restrung right away and havent had any issues. The pickups are weak when it comes to palm mutes. Almost sounds like the volume is only half way up but i dont really care since I plan on swapping the pickups soon. Overall, I paid $260 for the guitar after shipping and i'm happy with it.
I got myself a Harley Benton R-446 earlier this year for proggier kinds of metal in Open C tuning.
The only thing wrong with it, was the fact it had one or two minor scratches in the finish.
It sounds great, plays great, and I was honestly impressed with it. It arrived super fast, too.
I see some people slate HB guitars, and at first, even I was a bit skeptical.
But I plan to buy more. I think they're great.
I have a GT450 and for the price it's a decent axe. Biggest drawback is that they cut the cavities deep, so get ready to add some sort of block to boost the bridge pickup height.
Had 2 and both really good.
Those scratches in the pickguard and worn strings on the first guitar, that's relicing, and they gave it to you for free!
I have the second unboxed one. Came mint and i love it.
I bought a Tele TE - 70 Rosewood Deluxe (the George Harrison Tele Rosewood style) in 2019 for 165€.
It looks so cool with the Rosewood veneer top and back, and headstock too, and the double bound body. It comes with Wilkinson bridge with brass saddles. I swapped the pickups for a Dual Rail in the bridge, and upgrade the neck pickup too.
I like it a lot among my others guitars, and here in 2023, it holds up very well ! Zero issues !! Cheers from France !!
I had a chance to visit Thomann last month while vacationing. Picked up a Brian May Red special inspired guitar and brought it with me on two plane rides. I am quite impressed with my purchase and that’s coming from someone that owns more than 10 guitars including very expensive Gibsons , Fender, ESP, etc….ended up paying less than $300 for the HB and Thomann even mailed me a new pack of Grover tuning machines as the model I played on the floor and the website had Grovers listed but when I went and picked up my actual guitar from the warehouse it had stock Harley Benton engraved tuners
My experience with Thomann and HB has been pretty much fantastic:
Fusion III - Paid Thomann to swap the pickups to a JB/59 set, SS frets were polished to perfection and didn't even need a setup. 10/10
Fusion-T - SS frets were awful and hadn't been touched, complained to Thomann customer service whi refunded me the £80 it cost me to get them sorted. Rest of the guitar was perfect, again didn't need a setup and no issues. 8/10
DC Jr - no problems, slightly high action out of the box but easily fixed as the wraparound bridge has individual saddles. 9/10
Bought that Jim Root esque Strat too (and the Jazzmaster) but returned both as I couldn't get on with the feel of the neck and didn't want to have to sand it down so returned the JM and sold the Strat.
Overall I think HB are fantastic but have some intermittent quality issues. The Pro series including things like the Fusion range, Amarok and Aeolus are a much higher quality.
Ultimately you get what you pay for with HB guitars, the cheaper guitars feel cheaper and the pro series are imho some of the best value for money guitars you can get.
I bought a brand new Jackson last year and our of the box it was worse than all my Harley Bentons as the setup was appalling, buzzed all over the place and needs a full setup and truss rod adjustment.
I'd definitely recommend trying a Pro series guitar too, I think you'd get a kick out of the Amarok or Amarok-BT (baritone) too, the specs are insane.
Is that a plastic film on the pickguard that needs to be peeled off?
I use the slanted 2x12 daily and LOVE IT. it rips.
I've had the EX-84 modern in blue with locking grovers and the Roswell actives. It was awesome. Played great, sounded amazing. No issues what so ever. Sold it because the neck was thicker than expected and I found it was just a touch too thick for my liking.
My brother had 2 Amarok, one baritone, one 7 string. Again both were awesome guitars. So far my experience with Harley Benton has been fantastic.
Apparently the grounding issue has to do with the coating where the ground is soldered. If you de-solder it, sand the coating down and re-solder, that should take care of it.
I bought the 24 volt mod for my jazz version loads of difference
Incase anyone was not sure why Kyle is the best resource on UA-cam for us guitarists to compare amps.
1. Flawless A-B comparison. HCAF trolls would all be proud
2. Guys got a great picking hand, and good palm mute. There is far more too it then just muting the strings. this guys got the perfect balance between mute and string sustain. for METAL IMO
3. Great ear for tone .Kyle gets great tones out of anything. Gives everything a fair shot ignoring the common mans ideals of what an amp should sound like. EX: badlander videos. That amp KILLS never would have known otherwise.
4. No nonsense. Caught wind there were differences in v30s. He shot out 30 REAL cabs and speaker combos. No one else on here bar nolly (but does he count lol) has even close to done that. All they can do is talk about it. He showed us straight up.
Thank you Kyle. Keep killing it my guy!
Ps: Tones all in the hands
I purchased 3 HB guitars back in 2021, a DC junior, a half size classical for my youngest daughter and an SC-550 II. They made their way to Canada undamaged, which was a big concern of mine. Great start. The DC Junior is alright, its very inexpensive and it has that plastic feel to a lot of the parts, it sounds fine, plays fine but feels cheap. The SC 550 II is a beast! That sucker has hundred of hours of practice and play time now and the only thing i have had to change is the strings (duh!!). I love that guitar, and i thought that i would want to change the tuners and pick ups right away, i was pleasantly incorrect.
I was actually hoping you were going to try the Guitar Max model, its the only one I'm seriously considering from them lol
Is there plastic on pic guards?
I bought a Harley Benton Victory (flying V) Classic in November of 2022.
It's a cool guitar, I like it. But boy, did it have some QC issues.
The good:
-Played well right out of the box (after a tune-up, of course)
-Fret work was good. Only minor buzzing and no sharp ends or sprouting at all.
-Finish was very nice...no scratches of defects that I could see.
-Tuners are surprisingly good and stable for such a cheap guitar.
-It looks bad ass
The bad:
-Neck pick up was not properly installed, so it was not centered under the strings, nor was it aligned properly with the bridge pick up
-Harley Benton logo on the headstock is off centre
-Pickups were not good at all. Replaced them with spare Epiphone pick ups that used to be in my Les Paul Studio. Big improvement
-Volume/tone pots and pick up selector switch were super cheap. Have since been upgraded.
-Feels cheap, compared to my Epiphones.
Do I like it? Hell yeah.
Is it as good a guitar as my two Epiphones? Hell no.
People out there who say that a $500 guitar are either on crack or they're trying to sell you something.
Harley Benton guitars, in my experience are *ok*. I've certainly owned and played worse.
But boy, for a few extra hundred dollars you can get WAY better. Save up for a good Epiphone, Squier, or Ibanez, is my advice.
Just out of curiosity.. The Guitars where Flopping about in the box... You made a point of making a point about that.. Was any of the Guitars damaged..?
I have 3 Harley Benton, but none of them are active, all came in super condition. They sound good and are good for a mod. I think these series look to have more issues than more standard one.
That being said the double cut and the amarok series are allegedly spectacular
How do these compare to the Donner DK matte black guitars? Ive been looking at both of these companies for a project guitar. Great demo as always Kyle!
Save your money
@therileyobrien That's what I kinda figured, but I love me a project guitar! I did really like the sound/look of the jazzmaster one, but these are known to be problematic.
I have a jim root copy from HB but unfortunately the bridge won’t go far enough back for perfect intonation on the B string. Other than that it’s great
Edit: I have it tuned to drop B
In relation to the qc issues I wonder if ordering through Thomman would help with that since I imagine their in store techs would take a crack at it hopefully
hey Dumbo, loved your guitar skills on Rudy's channel.
So Im a recent subscriber I play more classic rock but I appreciate all kinds of music I was wondering if you ever tested out the marshall code 100 head ??? Wondering your thoughts on these amps
I got the BM-75 a few days ago. The pickguard plastic was just as scuffed as yours. The pickup selector switch has rust on it. Strings were definitely used. Otherwise, it looked great.
got one a few weeks back, single P90 double cut, the nut on the B string is cut way too deep.
Must be us shop experience, never had a played guitar out of the 4 to the uk ! All needed a good setup and some work, but great value for money
Sounds like HB is having some issues! I bought an 8 String fanned fret guitar at the start of the pandemic. It took 4 days to get from Germany to my house in California. It needed some fret work and the pickups were garbage (fortunately I bought some EMG 909's that fit perfectly). After addressing the frets & swapping the pickups, the thing is an absolute beast & fun to play.
My experience with Harley Benton: I had 3 HB guitars so far.. My first guitar was Harley Benton, bought it used and it was broken problem with electrics... But that's on guy who tried to mod it witch i found out later... Then i had Harley Benton SC550 Custom a LP type and it was fun guitar.. Played good, EMG retro active pickups sounded decent but for me LP is not confy to play so i sold that one..
Now i have Harley Benton Fusion with Floyd 1000 and i got that for 300e and guitar is just amazing.. Spec wise you can compare it to a lot more expansive guitars..
Guitar hold tune when you dive bomb or play with floyd all the time, pickups are good Rosewill passive ones and i love roasted maple neck.. Only thing that i want to upgrade is to put locking tuners just to save time when i swap strings.. But that guitar is my main guitar for some time now and i rly love it. :)
I have one H-B explorer model with Emg 81-85 set and grover lockingtuners, needen some fretcare (polished and bad fret edges). The bridge is crap doesnt make the strings resonate so a bit of a mod guitar.
Ordered the 8 string fan fret…Hopefully everything goes smooth, Gonna find out lol
Dull knives into a SM57? 🤔 Does it chug?
On a more serious note, if you're having grounding issues with the guitars, I have a video that walks through how to fix that on all of the guitars.
😊 very nice guitars my recent guitar was a epiphone accoustic the guitar before that was a gretsch streamliner my favorite great full strong sound all my guitars are made left handed I can't get over how they made my gretsch streamliner left handed with great detail l been singing and playing guitar over 50 years I can fix them also
This line from HB is best to avoid I think. I have an SC550 II for over a year now and it is my workhorse guitar, dragging it mostly to rehersals although I gigged it too. At first I tought about switching the PU's as my main axe has higher output ones I did not wasted any money on that as it delivered pretty well for the classic metal stuff I play with my band. That guitar is a serious instrument and much-much more worth checking out even if it is more a vintage spec'd instrument over theese active ones. All in all that level of HB guitars are best bang for the buck on the market currently I think.
I've probably bought 4-5 guitars from them. All from Germany. A bass, which is really nice, and I didn't have to do much to it besides set it up! All the 6 stringers I got from them are usually roasted and SS frets. The woods are beautiful! The frets are usually horrible! So scratchy, it's like a violin bow on the underside of your strings! If that makes sense! I bought one SC that I sold after I decided it was too complicated to send it back internationally. The Max Fusion signature model I bought was immaculate except for the frets(of course), and the neck angle was off. Luckily, I have experience and do all my own tech work! Including working on SS frets, btw the steel they use is super hard! You have to take a tool to them, not just A/O sanding paper! The 40th anniversary model firemist LP style guitar I got was nearly perfect aside from the frets. Excellent buy! They usually come shipped very well and well packed! Overall, good values to be had! Especially if you know what you're doing and already have an arsenal of tools you've invested in.
Oops! 25th anniversary models! Post wouldn't let me edit! Lol!
I bought a tele style guitar about a couple years ago. It was on the heavier side and the fretwork was crap. I ended up giving it away.