Post by taurash on May 18, 2020 8:36:40 GMT
I've been trying and demoing 3 very recent and brand new Harley Benton guitars, thet illustrate HB's will to step up their game.
For a brand that started some 20 years ago with ultra low cost guitars, that's something of a challenge !
Their first step in this direction came from the Fusion pro, and the first ones were not that good, leading the brand to move to some Fusion pro II very quickly.
So, I thought they had learned from their past mistakes and that these ones would be excellent, in termes of playability, sound, finishes, QC and setup.
As a general conclusion for all 3 guitars (HB Agufish signature, HB Amarok and HB EX-84 modern) I would say that there's more pros than cons, but the cons are still consistant.
Pros :
- plays nice
- sound pretty good
- give you the impression that there's a lot a lot of guitar for the price.
Cons :
- finishes are not as good as they should and as expected.
- not enough models, very quickly turned out of stock (except for the Agufish signature that was a limited series).
Now, let's analyze each guitare individually.
HB AGUFISH Ltd :
Potentially the most successful of the 3. Mine had no flaw, was playing very good, looked super cool. But the setup was a total failure. I had to seriously straightened the neck and so make a complete setup of the guitar including the intonation. Not a problem for me, but a potential problem and disappointment for people who think that for 500 bucks, this has to be done properly.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't like the sound of the Roswell Seraphim pickups. And I didn't wanna change them for something else. So I've sent it back, but it truly was very well done.
HB AMAROK-6 :
Came with finish flaws and a deficient cheap jack input. Fortunately, the problem on the jack input was easy to solve. In terms of sound and playability, it's really impressive. It's as good than my Schecters and that's not an easy level to reach ! It's a pure modern metal beast, and finding these specs on another brand will cost you more than twice the price of this one. Now, for 498 bucks, with the name Harley Benton printed on the headstock, I know that many people think and say it's too expensive. I think time and youtubers will convince them it's not Hopefully the next batch will be flawless !
HB EX-84 MODERN :
An attempt at offering a copy of the mythical ESP MX-220 Jame Hetfield used in the late 80's when the album "And Justice For All" was released. Probably the most audacious and ambitious attempt Harley Benton has ever done ! Even more tricky when you consider they cannot replicate the famous "banana headstock". Meaning that the success of this attempt is based on the yellowish color. And that's what I call an epic fail. Cos the guitar that customers do receive at home is white. Classic white.
But the guitar itself is good ! Despite the thickness of the neck that pushes it a bit further from the ESP MX 220, it plays nice, sounds pretty good and its tuning stability is unbetable at this price range (sub 300€).
So my final thought is : yes they can do it. Yes they can move to a higher level and have big brands like ESP LTD, Jackson, Schecter and Epiphone make nightmares.
But Harley Benton really need to pay a lot more attention to the finishes of their guitars and, more generally, to their QC. Jack input problems won't be accepted on a 500€ guitar. Paintjob flaws will only be tolerated if the guitar is sold as a B-stock with a good discount.
If they can solve these problems, they will meet their challenge
If you wanna see the videos I have made with these guitars, here are the links :
For a brand that started some 20 years ago with ultra low cost guitars, that's something of a challenge !
Their first step in this direction came from the Fusion pro, and the first ones were not that good, leading the brand to move to some Fusion pro II very quickly.
So, I thought they had learned from their past mistakes and that these ones would be excellent, in termes of playability, sound, finishes, QC and setup.
As a general conclusion for all 3 guitars (HB Agufish signature, HB Amarok and HB EX-84 modern) I would say that there's more pros than cons, but the cons are still consistant.
Pros :
- plays nice
- sound pretty good
- give you the impression that there's a lot a lot of guitar for the price.
Cons :
- finishes are not as good as they should and as expected.
- not enough models, very quickly turned out of stock (except for the Agufish signature that was a limited series).
Now, let's analyze each guitare individually.
HB AGUFISH Ltd :
Potentially the most successful of the 3. Mine had no flaw, was playing very good, looked super cool. But the setup was a total failure. I had to seriously straightened the neck and so make a complete setup of the guitar including the intonation. Not a problem for me, but a potential problem and disappointment for people who think that for 500 bucks, this has to be done properly.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't like the sound of the Roswell Seraphim pickups. And I didn't wanna change them for something else. So I've sent it back, but it truly was very well done.
HB AMAROK-6 :
Came with finish flaws and a deficient cheap jack input. Fortunately, the problem on the jack input was easy to solve. In terms of sound and playability, it's really impressive. It's as good than my Schecters and that's not an easy level to reach ! It's a pure modern metal beast, and finding these specs on another brand will cost you more than twice the price of this one. Now, for 498 bucks, with the name Harley Benton printed on the headstock, I know that many people think and say it's too expensive. I think time and youtubers will convince them it's not Hopefully the next batch will be flawless !
HB EX-84 MODERN :
An attempt at offering a copy of the mythical ESP MX-220 Jame Hetfield used in the late 80's when the album "And Justice For All" was released. Probably the most audacious and ambitious attempt Harley Benton has ever done ! Even more tricky when you consider they cannot replicate the famous "banana headstock". Meaning that the success of this attempt is based on the yellowish color. And that's what I call an epic fail. Cos the guitar that customers do receive at home is white. Classic white.
But the guitar itself is good ! Despite the thickness of the neck that pushes it a bit further from the ESP MX 220, it plays nice, sounds pretty good and its tuning stability is unbetable at this price range (sub 300€).
So my final thought is : yes they can do it. Yes they can move to a higher level and have big brands like ESP LTD, Jackson, Schecter and Epiphone make nightmares.
But Harley Benton really need to pay a lot more attention to the finishes of their guitars and, more generally, to their QC. Jack input problems won't be accepted on a 500€ guitar. Paintjob flaws will only be tolerated if the guitar is sold as a B-stock with a good discount.
If they can solve these problems, they will meet their challenge
If you wanna see the videos I have made with these guitars, here are the links :