Unboxing 3 new guitars from this INSANELY popular brand...
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
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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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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 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.
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'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.
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.
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 RUclips 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!
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.
DEFINITELY A RETURN 😮 No plastic film on the PG dead giveaway
I believe that pickguards are covered in protective film. After removal they should be shining brightly 😊
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
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!
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.
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.
I tried to get an 8 string harley benton from Thomann for several weeks to use it as an upgrade platform, because theyre cheap and I'd never upgraded a guitar before
My order kept being cancelled and Thomann kept telling me my bank was cancelling due to an issue with it being international
My bank was telling me that it wasnt an issue on their end and that they had never even received any request for funds from Thomann for the order(s)
Idk which was actually causing the issue, but I tend to believe my bank over Thomann because I've never had a single issue with my bank of any kind, and I do a lot of online shopping, often from overseas vendors.
I ended up buying a used schecter c-8 deluxe to use instead.
All in all i think it was a blessing in disguise
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.
Wow, that first one definitely looks like a return, or someone liked to play it at the warehouse.
Incase anyone was not sure why Kyle is the best resource on RUclips 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
It never fails to amaze me that guitars are shipped this way. Double-boxed should be a *minimum* standard. Period.
(edit: So I went and checked the shipping prices, and they have in fact gone up, but they are still cheaper, even including shipping, than getting a new quad of Vintage 30s without a cabinet. However, my point about the ebay sellers is rendered moot, as this wouldn't be profitable enough to be worth the effort of getting hundreds of 4x12's shipped and disposing of them at the price when shipping is accounted for. However, if they open up brick & mortar locations anywhere near me, I am gonna go try out one of their cabs, just out of curiosity.)
The Harley Benton cabinets are simply too cheap to pass up, even if you don't want the cabinet, if you already have a 2x12 cabinet or combo amp and wish to upgrade your speakers to a pair of Vintage 30s for example, they got $320 worth of speakers inside a cabinet that goes for $255. If you have a 4x12 that has cheap speakers in it, but it's a solid cabinet? Their 4x12 contains $640 worth of Vintage 30s and costs $455.
Also, especially considering the cost, they're moving volume, so it's almost a guarantee that you will get speakers made in the last year, which means you'll have the most recent iteration of the Vintage 30, with the mesh dust cap and the older cone and spider, like the ones made pre-2005/06.
So it's like, if you're looking for a cabin, you might as well grab one even if it looks cheap and flimsy to you, because it's almost always cheaper to buy an unloaded cabinet off Reverb and buy the speakers separately anyway, so the worst case scenario is you get the cabinet and give it a try and it feels a little flimsy and rattly in places, so you just look around the used market for an unloaded cabinet or even one of those nice old Peavey cabinets with the terrible speakers, the 12" Blue Marvel, and just replace the speakers.
Hell, I bet half the eBay sellers who are selling Vintage 30s, right now, bought the 4x12 or 2x12 cabinets and pulled those speakers out. Inside the 4x12, you have at least $640 worth of speakers, for a price of $455.
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'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.
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.
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 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.
Harley Benton should make a murdered out active double cut and SG if they don’t already. I actually think they build these knowing people will want to mod them. The grounding issue is unacceptable, but other than that how much can you expect for the money? 200 dollar guitars are 200 dollar guitars and a 200 dollar guitar in 2023 is way better than a 200 dollar guitar in 1992.
The budget beginner guitars have improved tremendously.
The mid tier have gotten worse or inflated beyond mid tier.
The top of the line stuff has gotten more unobtainable.
When I started playing in the 90s 1000 bucks would get you your dream guitar pretty much,but 1000 dollars might had well been a million for a 13 year old.
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?
i have never tried the HB guitars but I did buy the HB 212 cab. I will say, even if the shipping price is still about $100 for US, it is still absolutely worth the price for the cab. Given that a lot of 212s loaded with V30s cost WAY MORE in the states, even used.
At time of writing, a HB 212 loaded with V30s cost $400 with tax and shipping. Thats still cheaper than any brand new cab on Sweetwater, even the 212 Boss Katana cab loaded with Waza speakers
UPS delivered my HB guitar upside down. The point of the headstock poked through the box. Needless to say the headstock was unrepairable. A sticker saying "this side up" would have saved a lot of problems.
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. :)
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 two of HB guitars. Friend of mine has another two bass guitars. All of them arrived in pristine condition, no scratches. Nothing like your experience, sorry to see this. Even though all of the guitars required some proffesional set-up, all of them become our favorites. We both ordered from EU store.
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.
Those probably came from a warehouse of returns in the US. Paying for shipping from europe really cuts into the many extra necessary purchases. Hopefully you weren't suckered into paying for european shipping when they were shipped from the US
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.
Love the look of the strat and jazz master versions. Been debating on the jazz master one for myself specifically.
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.
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'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!
Dont know what to tell you, I had bought a LP clone a few years back. The pickups were trash, but everything else on the guitar was solid. I swapped the stock pickups out with Seymour Duncan JP and Jazz and it is one of my go-tos now. Best $120 Ive ever spent on a guitar. That and the v30 2x12 left me with a very high opinion of Thomann.
I was eying that active jazzmaster as a first guitar, and while im glad that it came out nicely im dissapointed all around with the QC here.
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.
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.
If I recall correctly, the cabs are on the reverb store, as well.
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 got a guitar from Sweetwater that went through their 55 point inspection. It was a joke. It’s not just Sweetwater, but it seems quality control and the lack of caring has really gone down in general with everything.
I buy from SW because of a few convenience factors, but yeah their 55 point inspection in my experience is nothing more than "ok it's not split in two we're good"
You're not kidding. I got a left handed ltd spider. Came to me with .011's , the flo6d pulled up at a massive angle and raised. All to hide the uneven frets😂
55 point inspection 😂😂😂. People actually bought that sales pitch. I've been saying it for a long time now and people are finally starting to notice. Took them long enough.
I returned 3 guitars to Sweetwater ranging in price from $1500-$1800 this year. The flaws with them were so obvious that I really believe they just sign the inspection cards and throw them in the box. Passing through all those hands pretty much guarantees additional damage imo.
You can’t watch any RUclipsr channel anymore without Sweetwater being mentioned. Once someone grows their channel Sweetwater jumps in. When it comes to gear demos and the gear being sponsored by Sweetwater I don’t watch.
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
Good enough for you for buying a guitar with active pickups. That's why I never get a guitar with active pickups. I just want to be able to plug it in and play without having to mess around with changing batteries and dealing with unnecessary electronics that'll only highlight my mistakes and sloppy playing even more. If you play the V with a standard cable connection rather than right angle, the cable stays out of the way.
I have 3 Harley Benton Amarock guitars, a regular 6 string, a baritone, and the 7-string model. I had them all shipped from Germany to the US. All three of them were in great shape and only one had a couple of frets that were a bit rough. My biggest complaint is that they came with EMG Hot 70 pickups. The pickups were clearly fake EMG Hot 70's. The real Hot 70's have screws on one bobbin, and these do not, they look old and worn and one looked like it was in a fire with what looks like soot on it. The pole pieces do not line up with the strings either. The electronics are cheap overall and the switch is wobbly and cheap as well, but to be honest it still sounds good with no noise. However, that to me is nothing as I always rewire and put in high end pickups and electronics. I have to say that overall, I have paid way more for Schecter and Dean guitars that were not nearly as high end as these and I still had to replace the pickups, nut, tuners, and bridge to be happy with those. For the price, I honestly don't think these guitars can be beat! at least the Amarock series that I own.
Those scratches in the pickguard and worn strings on the first guitar, that's relicing, and they gave it to you for free!
every guitar in that line up had a major design flaw with the paint coating parts that need to be bare for grounding... their other guitars are excellent. I own the Fusion II, the RB-600cs, the CST24HB the TE-20 and one of their acoustics. I've had two minor issues. The action on the fusion was a touch high (fixed that myself) and one bridge saddle on the RB-600cs was defective from production. Got a replacement within a week from Thomann Germany, and I had that fixed by someone better at setting intonation than I am. I couldn't be happier with the small amount of money I spent for the product I've received...also, buy from Germany, their in house team does a basic setup on every guitar before it ships. the US Reverb store obviously does not do that...
I like the strat version. It might be alright with proper setup and string change. Nice proper review KB! 🤘
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.
The guitars you received were missing a good deal of the inside protective packing that comes with Harley Benton guitars. Order one directly from Thomann and see the difference. The shipping is fairly expensive ($80) for one guitar but they don't really charge that much more for multiple guitars orders. I have an order for 5 guitars I am about to put in and the total shipping will be $160.
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.
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 🤔
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 own 3 HBs.they are great guitars. setups and pickup replacement is needed and a new switch in my tele other than that fantastic
easily competes with much higher-priced guitars
P.S. the shipping on the cabs are free!!! I haven't tried them. I am SUPER happy with my V30 2x12 cab from Stage Right.
Its as big as my MX 4x12 marshall cab. You know those 4x12 mx cabs are small for 4x12 but the SR 2X12 IS REALLY SWEET
Had absolutely zero issues with my HB's from Germany to Portugal. Seems like a US Warehouse problem
I bought 3 Harley Bentons. The first 2 was the same model I sent them back and at my third try I bought an other one was better but had those scratches like yours, and not at a pick guard, it was at the wood finish. That I understood is that there is no QC, they just send you the guitar from China or Indonesia etc.
I've yet to see a review where anyone really likes these ultra cheap, flat black "modern" active guitars. I've had mixed results with HB, mostly good though. The $400 Fusion T style EMG guitar had unrealistically nice quality and finish overall, but the active pickups seemed to fade in and out while playing, like they'd lose half of their articulation and output, not even being able to drive the gain on the amp. My ST62 and TE30 were okay for the money, but these new JA60CC's are next level excellent for the $160 they cost roughly. Bought 3 (2 shell pink, 1 surf green), all 3 came perfect. The neck, tuners, frets, overall finish and pickups genuinely compare with a $500-$600 guitar or even better. The JA60CC is the sweet spot for anyone wanting a Jazzmaster style guitar for cheap.
Harley Benton is Thomann's own brand for cheap products. The quality spreads from garbage to good even within one product.
I bought one guitar there some months ago. A Sire S7. Eventhough it was b-stock it was packaged very well and did not have any thumbs or scratches at all. And the plastic protection was still on, new strings and did not appear to be played once.
I bought a 7-string and a 5-string bass. Both are awesome, the 5-string was a b-stock as well. As far as the microphonic pickup, grab a candle, beeswax, sex wax, remove the tape around the pickup, use a hair dryer, melt just a little bit and seal it up.
I'd definitely return the first one. I play mainly at home so I like to keep my guitars in great condition as long as possible, so getting one with that kind of playwear would bug me. Never had a HB, but I have a couple sub-$300 Jacksons that were all perfect out of the box, and that's not too nuch to ask IMO.
On a positive note, if you leave the noise gate off, you can communicate with whales.
Amazing to see how many people feel they got lucky getting a good one... I have had 3 fusions 2 sc models and all perfectly fine considering the price point with some far exceeding the price
Yo kyle. Thomann the Seller and designer of Harley Benton is the Largest MusicStore in europe and its 1h drive away from me. So i may be kinda biased. What harley benton accomplished in the last decade in terms of quality and models to choose from is really one of a kind IMO. But these guitars are even cheaper in germany (obviously) and on the used market you can get them for basically less than a tank of gas. There are models thst you need to put in some work if you‘re a sound pro like you are. But for most beginners or normies it‘s just an insane bang for the buck. Especially compared to low end squiers/ ibanez and such. Try to go Harley benton Pro. These guitars can be found for 200€ used here and are absolutely killer. Stainless steel frets, roasted maple and all the bells and whistles of a + 1200usd korean guitar.
It‘s like gibson is expensive but even more in europe and the QC in that price range is nuts. My last new gibson (as a lefty model) got the dots sitting on the wrong side of the neck. So its irreparable… and very dry and rough rosewood board. I needed to sand a fretboard from a 1800usd guitar in order to bring it on a 300usd harley benton level. I mean no gibson bashing i love these fuckers. But you need to consider what you‘re buying. Especially matte finishes are a real pain in the but.
I am actually not surprised to see damage from transportation. We in the facility i work can do our best to package stuff yet the carriers still find ways to damage things.
It's just crazy how much they don't give a fk about what they handle on a daily basis.
Without forgetting that the customer service at Thomann is simply excellent, I've been buying from them for years and frankly, I'm far from switching. Initially, I was a bit skeptical, but Harley Benton has turned out to be great value for money. I even use it to perform in front of people without any issues. All that matters is getting the setup done by your luthier, and you're good to go.
PS : did you film in 2 frames per seconds 😅
I got a Harley Benton DC-580 CH Vintage Series last year. Overall quality was OK but it required quite some work to file sharp fret ends, polish all the frets (terribly gritty) and set it up properly. My biggest disappointment were the pickups. They were OK-ish with higher gain but sucked at even mild overdrive and were useless with no gain (clean).
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.
that model has grounding issue was probably repaired and setup all active series HB have to take paint off bottom of bridge
Every guitar I've received from Thomann has been in pristine, new condition. Must be a thing with their US Reverb store? My only issue with one guitar I received is the finish looked nothing like the picture on their website.
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 think the cosmetic issues are purely from the Reverb store. I bought a fusion from there and there were cracks in it. Guitar played great, but I couldn’t ignore those cracks. When I bought my two other Harley Bentons from Thomann, they were in great shape. I don’t if Thomann is sending the US store b stock or something, but it’s still ridiculous that their sending out product that has this issues.
Well I was going to buy an LP but when I went to checkout they wanted $85 for shipping. I clicked the back button and won't pay that much shipping.
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.
The Flying V has an grounding issue on all of their guitars. You need to scrape away the lacker on bridge to sort out the fault...
Me and my drummer both own a Harley Benton Amarok baritone guitar each, F A N T A S T I C guitars! We tracked all of the quad tracked rythm and the lead guitars for our last couple of singles, solid as all hell and a damn near unbeatable price for a neck through with EMGs and locking tuners. Can't recommend the Amaroks enough for people that can get them
I strongly agree. I have the baritone and the standard. They kill all my other guitars for metal !
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
Thomann was one of the worst stores I ever dealt with. Charged me for a guitar and took 6 months to shipped. Refused a refund until I disputed the charge with my credit card company. Guitar randomly showed up after refund was done. Thomann expected me to pay for it all over again and refused to pay for return shipping.
Let’s just say they ended up getting it back and reimbursed for return shipping after a few lengthy emails and reviews.
Never used cheap active pickups before but EMG's don't require grounding. Not sure what's up with those
Fishman Fluence also needs grounding and is expensive..
I bought the 24 volt mod for my jazz version loads of difference
I bought the Harley Benton TE-70 Black Paisley a few years ago when their shipping to the US was reasonable. It arrived in pristine condition.
That being said the double cut and the amarok series are allegedly spectacular
Thanks for the fantastic review. There’s another RUclips reviewer who has partnered with HB and just gushes over them. Thanks for your honest review sir. Cheers
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.
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.
I bought a Harley Benton SC-25th anniversary model in Firemist. That guitar was amazing. Stainless Steel Frets, locking tuners, everything was perfect. For about $300. I think it just depends on the model. These actives models look bad. And the pickups sound like booty in every video I’ve seen. I think with HB you really gotta get to that $300 mark for the guitars to be good. There’s no way a $100 guitar or sub $200 is going to be anything impressive.
I also have the SC-25th and it was perfect out of the box. It has been my go to guitar. I may swap the pickups since they lack a little bite for my taste. The TE-52 I got at the same time (was actually the reason I made the order since I wanted a tele) is good as well but does need a good setup and will do some mods to it like locking tuners, new string trees and brass saddles. But ya, was looking at an active model to use in drop-c so I can put my LP back to standard, ended up just getting the 25th for standard and to leave my LP in drop-C and am glad that I did, though I would have ordered either the Fusion-III or Fusion-T with the roasted neck. The 25th was cheaper and am happy with it, better than any Epiphone LP I have personally played or owned.
I never bought all the hype and praise over HB. Most reviews on RUclips are paid advertisements, and presenters still seem to bite their lip when reviewing them. I cant see a guitar that will possibly need a bunch of work out of the box to be either a good beginner guitar, or a good value. Spend the extra and get a used Yamaha or Ibanez. Thanks for an honest review!
My HB was in perfect shape. No adjustments needed. Maybe you ordered B stock?
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.