Harley Benton Blues Harmonica in B(H)-Major Reviews

a decent diatonic harmonica at a great price

I was quite pleased with this harmonica, and got a few in different keys. Great value!

The form factor is quite chunky, fatter than most hohners, but the sound holds up pretty well, giving a rich tone and good bends for blues. I would recommend breaking it in slowly for a few days by gently blowing chords (several holes together).

As a cheap blues harp to fill in your lesser-played keys I would certainly recommend it. If you only buy one harmonica though, particularly if you are learning, I would get recommend a Hohner Special 20 or Lee Oskar Major Diatonic, either in C (as assumed by most tutorials / teachers) or F (so you can play a blues in C),

Please note that a B(H) diatonic will play blues (in cross-harp or second position) in Gb, so this is the harp you want to play a Gb blues. To find the blues key count a perfect fifth up (7 semitones) or a perfect fourth down (5 semitones) from the key it is stamped with.

Best 'cheap' harmonica around

I've tried all the 'cheaper' brands of harmonicas available and settled on these as being the best of them. When I started playing harmonicas I basically bought one each of the cheaper types, in different keys so see what I liked. I've settled on these. The quality is not quite as good as the £20 upwards price range, e.g. hohner sp20, or Lee Oskar, and I may replace ones that wear out with dearer harps, one at a time, but these are excellent value.

When I started I thought I'd only need about 5 harmonicas, A,C,D,E and G, but soon realized that guitarists capo up a lot, and C#, D# etc are getting as much use at the naturals. I've used them a a couple of gigs now, and I've grown to like them a lot.

Okay

Well, you get what you pay for and this is cheap. There's no punch and little volume. Sorry.