Oops, I did it again... Review of the Harley Benton Amarok BKRD-6
Oops, I did it again... Review of the Harley Benton Amarok BKRD-6
The correct number of guitars is always just one more...
Note: I got the warning that this email would be too long, and that most email programs wouldn’t get you to the end. Please click on the title to open it on the web to see the whole thing!
My wife is away for two weeks. That leaves me with too much time on my hands, and that usually means that I start looking at guitars.
I have been eyeing a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster for a long time, but the $1,800 price tag is a bit much. So, whilst I stared wistfully at the one on the wall at Guitar Center, even getting the staff to pull it down. Frankly, the three single coils are just not my thang. It sounds fine, but I’m much more of a ballsy humbucker man myself.
Last summer, after seeing tons of press on the Thomann Music house brand, Harley Benton, I bought one of their pro series in the Telecaster shape. Read about it here:
The TL;DR is that for the price of $360, it was far better than its peers in that price range, chocked full of premium features (stainless steel frets, roasted maple neck, and amazing fit and finish).
A bargain. It did have a few things I didn't care for. The locking tuners were a bit rough, so I swapped them for some Gotoh’s that are buttery smooth1, and the stock pickups were a bit low output, so I swapped them for active EMG pickups with a spot-bonus I got from work.
But, the net-net is that for a beginner, it would be really difficult to find a better bang for the buck.
That said, while I was browsing for the original purchase, I was entranced by several of their other guitars, and one that really caught my fancy was their Amarok series. These are “Super” Strat style guitars, with neck through design, 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, a sculpted body, EMG active pickups, ebony fretboard, locking tuners, and a figured maple veneer on the body.
Priced at $498 (the price varies with the USD-EURO exchange rate), it is a lotta guitar for the money. When I was browsing last Saturday, I saw that they had a B-stock2 that was on hand and it could be bought for $411.
I pounced, and added a $68 guitar case (at Guitar Center, a similar case is $190). The shipping was a bit steep3, but it shipped 2nd day international UPS.
Friday, it arrived.
It was well packed in double boxes, over padded, and unlike some parcels I have received, it was undamaged (the overpack in particular).
I pulled it out, and it felt cold (like it was in an unheated shipping hold, I know that is ridiculous, as it landed last night in Oakland, and made it to my house today).
First inspection is that it is flawless. I could have wished for a bit more figuring in the veneer top, but it still looks amazing. I like the deep burgundy color.
I couldn’t find any sign of wear, so I am pretty certain that it isn’t a return (no play wear, and the pickup protective plastic was still on it), so it must have triggered their internal inspection process to be tagged B-stock.
Regardless, the fit and finish are impeccable. The finish of the guitar is the common modern “matte” finish. I prefer a glossy, buff-polished finish, but I do know that adds a lot of labor, so I get it. Also there are many high dollar guitars that have it. Still, a detailed inspection found no blemishes. For $411 I got a high quality guitar.
I told myself I would wait for it to acclimatize a few hours and come up to temperature and stabilize before playing it. But I lied to myself. I plugged it into my Helix, dialed up a phat Metal tone (the Generator Rev-V Purple model), tuned it up, and started jamming.
The pickups are sick. Tons of beefy tones, plenty of output (I had to dial back the input gain of the Helix to not overdrive it) and a crunch that is super satisfying.
They are EMG’s, from their Retro series, that give a balanced, punchy mid range focused “chunk” and when combined with overdrive on an amp model, it definitely tickles my metal bone.
The neck is what they call a “Thin Modern C” shape. It is somewhere between the shape of the Fusion T I bought last year, and the ultra slim neck on my Charvel. I would prefer it to be a bit closer to the shred monster that the Charvel is, but it is quite good feeling in the hand. It reportedly has a 14” radius fretboard, and that makes Sweaty very happy. Flat necks are great for speed and for deep bends.
One of my grumbles about the Fusion T I bought last year was that the frets were a bit rough, and that made it feel like I was pushing through sandpaper when bending strings. But these frets are glass smooth, and perfectly dressed. In fact they are just as good as the fretwork on my Charvel that was more than twice the price. And they are stainless steel frets to the Charvel’s nickel frets4.
Neck through design means that the neck is solid. There are no bolt on joints, or glued joints. This supposedly leads to better sustain, and less tuning instability. Old BC Rich guitars were neck through, and they are legendary in their performance (plus they look damn cool). For my $411, I have a 5 piece neck, and a all the goodness that I expected.
The burgundy color of the body is offset with the wood binding on the body. A classy touch. The wings of the body (they are glued on to the neck through) are mahogany and the overall guitar is pretty light in weight.
The horns are a bit thinner than a standard Stratocaster, sort of a stylish embellishment of the S-type form that is not unpleasant. That said, it also leads to an odd location for the top strap button.
But, the strap button is on the back of the horn, and it feels … weird
Not terrible, but different, and it will take some getting used to.
Speaking of getting used to, the headstock is reverse from the “norm”, this is not new, but instead it is common in guitars targeted at the edgy hard rock player. It does take some getting used to, but I think I will cope.
Final Thoughts
I told myself that I would give it a week before I did a setup. That would give me a chance to play it in, and get a feel for it.
Alas, I lied. Today (Sunday, the third day I have had it) I did a full setup. The action was higher than I like (0.070”, and I prefer about 0.050”) - commonly set high to prevent string buzz when someone pulls it off the wall of a music store. Also, it came with a set of 10 gauge strings. I prefer a hybrid set with the larger strings on the bass side, but the top three strings being the 9 gauge set. For me, this provides the best feel and sound.
The intonation was perfect out of the box, and the neck relief was also spot on. No adjustment needed.
I pulled the back cover off to get a look at the wiring, and yeah, it is sort of what I expected. Yes, EMG active pickups. But the rest of the hardware is budget friendly. It is smoother than the hardware on the earlier Fusion T I bought, but it is still the weakest link. The question is do I bother to rewire it, or do I leave it be. Leaning on leaving it be for now. The weakest item is the toggle switch for the pickups. It is just cheap feeling. But it is good enough for now.
It tuned up and I have been hanging out on the sofa, watching some SciFi schlock movies (I am a huge fan of the true garbage era of SciFi) and just playing it au naturel5 to break in the strings. I have also plugged it in, and while unamplified I notice a tad of string buzz, it doesn’t come through the amplified signal. That is the indication that the action is perfect for me.
It is everything I expected and more.
I am not sure when or why we started calling things that are smooth “buttery”. Adjectives like “It played like butter” - seriously, who the hell thought that euphemism up.
B-Stock is a blemish or a returned item that is being sold. It has the full warranty, so there was no real risk in buying.
Shipping is from Germany, and they ship UPS worldwide 2 day. For this parcel it was $123. That seems fair to cover transport and duty. And it comes REALLY fast.
I am raving about stainless steel frets, but there is a reason. They wear far better than nickel frets, and will last significantly longer. But they are more difficult to work with, and frankly for most big name guitars (fender and gibson) even on their $3K instruments, you get nickel frets. So, getting them on a budget friendly guitar is quite the bit o’ awesomeness
Unamplified
That’s a guitar Jeff Beck would approve of!
Looks nice, Geoff. When are we going to be hearing you play?