Young metalheads that are just starting out playing guitar and bass today are really blessed with the awesome budget stuff you can get nowadays. I would have killed for one of these over the utter crap Stagg and J&D guitars that every Swedish guitar store sold. They were even more expensive than one of these! Not to say that Thomann/Harley Benton makes some crap stuff too, but their crap is still better than the crap that was available 20 years ago.

I love how the over-the-top playing is accompanied with an almost disinterested, relaxed, in-chair performance.

Getting a strong Jim Root Strat vibe from this, just a few minutes in.

Watched your stuff for years man. I think you have always been fair with your reviews. Thanks for the content.

The way the world is at the moment it’s pretty amazing they are selling at that price. Like you say it stays in tune and plays ok . What more can you honestly ask for . When I think back to the planks you would get for that money when I started way back when the world was young ( I’m old) . Great vid as usual Arnold

Dude it's been a long minute since I've been up to date since I've watched guitar KZfaqrs because I disconnected myself from the world for mental health reasons. But dude, your videos were always good. But these demos. My God, you are starting to run laps around yourself. Fucking incredible playing. And the tone. THE TONE.

Man Arnold I've really liked the tones you've gotten over the last videos. Maybe it's just because I'm back at my good audio setup but Huge step up to me keep up the good vids.

When you ask mom for a Jim Root strat and she says "We have a Jim Root strat at home"

So I purchased this guitar! WOW! exceptional instrument. Mine had actually not one issue. Switched out the strings, moisturized the finger board cause it was DRY. I like my action low, so I placed a small shim inside the neck pocket, it allowed me to lower the action perfectly. Set the intonation and its perfect! I am freaking SHOCKED how good these pickups sound! Mine actually did come with the battery. I am 46, I cant imagine having this caliber of instrument in my teens.

Ayy good shit dude, I feel like you're one of the only guitar youtubers that actually has riffs.

Cool video Arnold! Cudos on your beer tasting chops too!

Awsome playing man. I've been a budget guitar guy for over 20 years. Since before we had options. Lol my only experience with hb is a PRS style kit I built. That thing absolutely exceeded every expectation. So, I've been looking at this ever since, to build a Jim root clone for. Locking tuners, new nut, Hipshot bridge, and the proper pups, etc. Something I can build a bit at a time without dropping 2 grand. From everything I've seen, I think it's worth it. I have a great set of guitar tools, files etc. I think I'm sold man. 🤘

Hell yea dude! I hope you got a good harley benton this time! I want to make this my first harley benton mostly bc of the pickups. I am curious what you'll think of them. Are they voiced almost like emgs? I feel like they should be but well see! Your the first of the professionals to review this. Also the first that is metal not dad rock. Dad rock is fine but I WANT THE CHUGS!

Older video but i think your reviews are some of the best on the tube, ✌️

Great video man! The so maniest cheers from Belgium

best reviews on this platform. thanks arnold. can we get another bc rich stealth review? :)

I have a Harley Benton Victory and the fret edges are great other than one or two spots and it's on the low areas of the neck and doesn't get in the way while playing. I am going to order more from HB in the future.

Great video thanks for the review!

awesome review. i have 17 x harley bentons and they are incredible.

I love the strats and hate single coils in the bridge, love the HH configuration-I’m a broke ass too 🤠This is up my alley. Might get one of the 7 strings too. Good stuff man🤘🏼

Big props to Harley Benton. For a buck and a half, this thing is kinda boner-inspiring! There was NOTHING like this around when I was a broke-ass kid lookin' for a cheap guit-box.

Doesn't help! Now I definitely want one! Thanks Arnold!

One of best intro songs yet 🔥

Good video about a guitar I’m looking at as a beater. One thing about the lack of a battery, it likely thomman didn’t want the battery to burst while in transit especially if it was shipped by air. Otherwise again good detail on this video, keep it up

The whammy engaged on the voice reminded me of Stuart from mad tv lol!

Mucho props on the crystal mountain throwback!!

Sweet axe like Jims but Im getting soft Ive been trying to nail down clean tones on the Spark40 and learned Rebel Rebel and The wind cries Mary this morning. Rock on.

Effortless playing , colour me envious ! Personally I quite like that fizzy sound, I think it gives this budget guitar (super budget) , it's own personality. I've had two HB guitars, my last one the DC 580 custom, different beast to what you have here, but for the money, what is there to complain about. Awesome review, and playing. 👍👍👍☮☮☮🤘🤘🤘 PS: Beer wise I'll stick to my old time favourite ... Newcastle Brown Ale :)

I got the headless a couple weeks ago. It needed the frets polished worse than any guitar I have ever seen and set up. After that though it's pretty alright.

Arnold, if anything, the slop in the neck joint is easier to deal with than one that is overly tight. Strat pockets are notorious for cracking on the treble side if too tight (which isn't visually obvious).

Nice demo song and your tone was nice too.

Brilliant Arnold............it's a Lovely instrument .........it Looks great........it crosses a lot of tick boxes with the superstrat design etc .......what is there not to LIKE about that guitar?...........quite honestly........... it also sounds very good. Arnold, you would be the first to agree that sometimes you just can't go into "NASA style territory" about electric GUITARS........ right?......... A guitar is 3 lumps of wood.....and a Neck and fingerboard + frets.....machine heads ............and some coiled magnets. ........ so you ask yourself......."how much cash should those items listed above actually cost?" (a finished guitar?) and your answer is that "Harley Benton" has you covered with a very attractive answer. Bravo for reviewing it Arnold. And 9 percent is too much booze........take a nap best wishes vin.

Another great video! 🤘

would love to change wiring and pot and look that jack that would and could solve the small issues. You know SD actually get parts from that factory and they make some of their pickups, EMG to cooperate with Korea wow since 80's. But id din't told you that lol.

hey great video! good taste in metal as i can see from your battle jacket haha/

Sounds great!

If the open e is slightly rattling that could be that the nut is cut a bit too deep but I’ve managed to fix that with stuffing foam behind the nut (which you’re gonna wanna do anyway to mute that annoying ringing sound with chugs) anyways this guitar is sick for the price!

Time to mod this thing to Jim Root specs ;) would be a fun mod project.

The good part of the shipping tho if you buy a guitar and amp or 5 guitars it’s the same shipping price as the 1 guitar you picked up

so for the 2k you pay for the Jim root guitar. You can get this, slap a Reverse Fender headstock on it, (I went Full Roasted Reverse with the Small Lettering.) Get you some Cleaner Pickups, as the HBZ aren't bad, but they are a little muddy. And with that comes your choice of wiring, taps, splits, whatever. you might even be able to add something like an afterburner. Locking Tuners of your choice strap locks, or what I did was just screwed some eyelets into the guitar and use clips. And honestly you'd have a sicker guitar and probably save between $800-$1000.

For this black colored guitar, it the perfect guitar to me if I were to get this one.

Hey Arnie! Try to get a Tonante next time you visit Brazil

Love your playing. Kinda hate it in reviews where the guy just plays a few tired old blues licks for 30 seconds.

I think there was no battery included because of the overseas shipping. Mine comes with a battery. It's even mentioned as a free add-on on the receipt.

Shit! Arnold, what a killersong!!! I broke my neck in thousand pieces!

Thing is definitely awesome looking…not bad at all for that $…I would’ve lost my mind as a 13 yr old in 96 if I got a starter like this

Sweet! Thorn in my side. Im like the only person that digs force of habbit hahaha. Cool guitar for sure

I've had mine for a few weeks and my neck joint is tight, finish is perfect, no fret sprout but they were rough and had filing marks and needed to be filed more. I've never had a guitar with frets in this condition but now that it's been addressed the guitar is great and quite fun to play.

Nice video! How much does this guitar weigh exactly?

Could you check it to see if the neck is correctly seated? What you do is while under string tension you loosen the neck screws like half a turn. Body side first then neck side. Then tighten them back up. The tension of the strings will pull the neck into the pocket properly. Can change the guitar a lot aye.

The HBZs that came in my JA20HH were almost unusable. The preamps were pretty trash as they had a crazy high noise floor that resulted in a constant hiss with any gain added. At first I thought I could live with it as I have a gate and can just turn it up, but I was getting that noise bleeding into tracks. As soon as I swapped in a set of EMG Jim Root pickups, it was clear how bad the HBZs actually sounded.

Yo Arnold! Could you try if a squier or fender neck fits this body?

looks a lot like my customised USA strat, which is in D standard too

I have a real jim root strat already but honestly i really wanna buy this anyways just because its so stealthy looking. I bet with a few hardware swaps that thing is probably a fucking animal. Throw some locking tuners and a new bridge on it and youre good to go.

really impressive i think im gonna have to order one ... would you upgrade the tuners and bridge ??

best review , now i understand the thickness of the neck , its a no go for me , thanks

Really great song in the beginning, what is that song called?

Just picked up a b stock unit for like $100. New heavy strings and fret polish and it's an amazing guitar. Only thing I dislike is the cheap tuners and the finish cracks at a few of the fret joints. If they bother me maybe ill wet sand it or something.

Hi i have a question,so is it technically possible to fight off the high end freq. fizz with an eq pedal? thanks and keep up le good work

Dood, the track is SICK!

Where did you find this for 150? I see them in the 250/300 price range online Edit: Oooh nevermind its right on their website! Other people are trying to resell them higher than the manufacturer price

For years ..each demo track is an experience

this throug a metalzone would be fizz heaven!!

The gap in the neck pocket is irrelevant. There is a 5cm longer gap on the south side of the neck in every Strat' or Tele-like guitar and no one ever said it mattered. The one concern is the "very thiiick" neck. Measurements would help because Thomann do not indicate figures.

Jim Root guitar with a realistic price some EMG upgrate and u ready to Rock! 🔥🔥🔥 Ps: fvcking brutal song! 🤘💀🤘

good way to chug on a budget , doesn't sound bad at all

I just ordered one! I want to replace the tuners with black locking ones and the nut with graphtech…. What particular nut and tuners would work?

That song rips holy shit

lol what’s with the clam at 13:41? Am I missing something here?

whammy pedal engaged ??!??!?! LOOOOOOOOOOL

I have one of these with the tremolo and it was 88 EUR back then lol. I just wish Squier would release an affordable H-H hardtail

Grab me a Natty Light from the beer fridge 🔥🤘🔥

I still feel like Agile at the time beats HB with price to quality ratio. My old Agile AL-2000 for under $250 seems more solid than any of the HBs I've tried

FYI, this guitar comes with a significant amount of ground noise - like so much that it is distracting making the instrument unplayable. used a multimeter and found there was no ground from the bridge/strings to the output jack. Opened it up and saw there was a ground wire under the bridge. Used multimeter in continuity mode on the wire and it was grounded to the jack. The bridge is painted black all over. I scratched the paint off on the bottom where the ground makes contact, used multimeter on strings to jack- problem solved. There is still ground noise but its completely silent when you touch the strings. Went back and forth with their customer service and their “master designer” who tells me that im using too much gain. Um, this guitar is advertised as a hard rock/metal guitar and im using too much gain? Lol. He also told me there is no ground problem and no need for a bridge ground because the guitar has active pickups. Then why is there a bridge ground wired in - for looks? So apparently they are mass producing an ungrounded noisy guitar with a ground wire that is useless because of the paint on the bottom of the bridge. Its an easy fix and the guitar is amazing for the price but you have to scratch your head when the “master designer” is so clueless. Still think this guitar is totally worth the money as it sounds crazy heavy.

My cheap guitars seem to have more mojo I don't know what it is.

8:44 I heard it doesn't come with a battery as well so I went out and bought one before it arrived, turns out now it does actually come with a battery included lmao

🤘💀🤘

I would buy this guitar and spend more money on mods, than the actual guitar. But I think it could be worth it.

Will you at some point do another 8 string review?

I wanted baritone so I got Harley Benton 27 inch baritone I can tune down to drop g now problem but I wanted drop e to play some humanity’s last breath but it’s great for playing my own shit

Germany guitar??

$118 right now… I spend more on Scotch every week. :)

Nice review, check funky fluid beer from Poland, Best beers ever

Pickups are like blue jeans theyre all denim but some cost hundreds once the label gets stiched on. Barring the unpotted chinese cheapies. Guitar Fetish make great ones for $40 a piece.

I love you

if only they made a lefty version of that one

Hey Arnold where the hell are ya?

>moves to tx >new voice

Look in the box. My battery was packed in the box besides the guitar

The neck profile is a big turn off for me

I think the guy standing up is at the wrong gig.

Jesus... You have half the electrical grid in there... A little hiss? It's like 100db 60Hz hum...

ITS ONLY $120!!!

Don't you think you has too many amps? I only has a Fender Mustang iV and never turn it above 2.5...

Exodus \m/,

its incredible how CHEAP are these Harley Benton ... I own a 8 string fanfret, it's very good for the money but the fretworks are poorly made

Upgrade a few parts and it is an absolute weapon kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ial0o6Z-p7jFfXU.html

Piece of junk!! Bought for my son,in one week both input jack and pickup selector switch broke.thumbs up to thomann for fast full refund...dont waste your $$$

WTF with the subliminal pic shit …. You messing with my mind - not good dude !

WTF with the subliminal pic shit …. You messing with my mind - not good dude !