Harley Benton R-458 BK Progressiv Series Reviews

best quality/price

Out of the box the guitar is ready to use. If you need low action in standard tuning F# you have to make some minor fixings - lowering the bridge and tightening the trust rod, then you have 1,5mm on 12 fret, without buzzing. The humbuckers are good, not excellent, but good, low noise and clean, can be upgraded. At all the mechanic of the guitar is 9/10.

8 Strings Guitar

Great option for 8 string guitar for low budget.

Great starter 8 string.

Got this to dip my toes into the 8 string stuff. I Love it!

In this price category, very good. Only one shortcoming, which may be a matter of setting, the deepest string is difficult to tune.

When considering the price, this is unbeatable

This guitar came to me with one of the best setups I've ever seen, the strings were almost uncomfortably low, with no fret buzz. Was a little insane to be honest.

Overall, the guitar is pretty light, especially for an 8 string which does make it feel just a bit cheap, but after some TLC it plays perfectly, and most times I reach for this over my many $1,000 guitar options. Most of the "light" feeling is in the neck, the body feels fine and sturdy, just a little light. The neck however does feel like if I ever drop the guitar it will break in half.

The neck radius is very flat, so it takes some getting used to, but it helps with an insanely low action, and easy maintenance.

The passive pickups are just a touch quiet, but that's not an issue as they sound completely fine. They're not as high output as something like EMG's, but they do the job. I actually prefer them over EMG's for the music that I play.

The tuners are nothing special, but they do the job very well. To the touch they do have a "cheap" feeling to them, but I've had no functional issues with them, they work great.

Overall:

PROS

- Great Price

- Great sound for passive pickups

- Setup / Maintenance is easy

- After some TLC, the guitar plays just as good as guitars 3x the price

CONS

- The guitar FEELS cheaply light

- most of the components are made from cheap material: the nut, the tuners, the bridge etc...

- Needs TLC when first delivered. Neck wood is dry and frets need polished

Perfect first 8 string

I've spent some years playing 6 string guitars and one 7 string. Somehow this is by far the most comfortable/easy to play! This feels nicer in my hands than guitars that cost much more. Incredible value.

I really hate to say it, but I was very disappointed with this guitar.

Neck became badly bowed and warped under the strain of heavier strings. Headstock joint looked thin and stressed. Action was much too high and I was unable to get it under control because of the warping of the neck.

Pickups sounded muddy and overly dark, without much clarity, even in high notes.

I played with it for a day, then put it in the closet in my "dead guitar" pile.

Superb!

First of all, I have to admit that it will be difficult to avoid striking personal notes (pun intended) when writing about this instrument. This is my “second first” guitar – an instrument that got me back to playing after several years of musical hiatus. Second, I write this short review after four years of usage which, I suppose, is more than enough to recognize the weak and strong points of this guitar.

Shipping and quality control

The shipping was very good and on time – no complaints here. The instrument arrived in nearly immaculate condition save for some microscopic crack at the headstock which does not bother me at all but may bother you so keep this in mind.

Setup

Out-of-the-box playability was OK, after changing the strings and a more careful setup the instrument feels fantastic. It was easy to get a low string action with little to no fret buzz and good intonation. However, the screws used in the instrument are horrible to operate. Fortunately, since I stick with the same string gauge and keep the instrument in stable temperature/humidity further adjustments have been very rare.

Tuners are fine. I know people complain about them, but I have had no problems whatsoever. Once tuned, the guitar stays in tune unless I do some crazy binds.

Tone

Most of the time I use the distorted tone, but occasionally switch to the clean channel and in both cases remain satisfied. Keep in mind though I am by no means a tone guy: if it djents I’m good (it does). Just type my name and “belphegor’s prime” or “przyjdz” on YT to hear the instrument in action.

Appearance

The axe looks fantastic. Despite its apparent simplicity, there are lots of aesthetically pleasing nuances to the body shape of this instrument. More importantly, it is very convenient to play, higher registers of the fretboard are easily accessible (I play seated holding guitar in classical position). The headstock is – as far as I checked reading other reviews – a matter of taste. I personally love it.

Overall

In sum, I wholeheartedly recommend this guitar. It is cheap, looks and plays fantastic, and offers numerous upgrade possibilities if you so desire.

Djent bloody Djent

I bought this Metal monster machine around 4 y ago. I was curious and I start researching on 8 strings guitars in the internet. Så came out that the cheapest one was the Benton. I was thinking maybe I don't like to play 8 strings and considering the price I convinced myself in buying it.

I have to say is very well made for the price and it sound great . Dedicated for metal but is possible to play also clean and synth \ drone stuff.

If u wander about how to get some sunn o))) kinda shit > this is the instrumenten!!!

lit bad was that I couldn't unscrew the neck because one screw didn't came out so I damaged edge it. And the machine are absolute not good.

A part of this 2 bad consideration the guitar is very nice .

I made also a video review if u wanna listen how it sound : https://youtu.be/qifoUOa69vQ

Fair enough

Well if you want a perfect finish, perfect tuning, perfect sound this guitar is not for you as this guitar is made to be cheap. The tuners are bad. They are not predictable at all, some even have slack. Detunes very easialy. The paintjob is rushed. Conclusion?

Worth the money!! Plays just fine and for what it is, adequate for this price point. Nice to own an 8 string on a lower budget. Recommended!

Perfect first 8 string

Bought this expecting mediocre playability, poor intonation etc. and a weak scratchy tone like other ultra-cheap guitars I've owned, but it has exceeded all expectations and is exactly the extended range instrument I've been wishing for, despite having little money to spend.

Condition and initial impression:

Arrived extremely well-packaged, with the hex keys and even a free jack lead included. Upon opening, noted that there's not a single scuff, scratch, bump or crack on the instrument, and it was strung with strings that were heavy enough on the bottom end not to be too wobbly. It is also surprisingly light, the body weighs almost nothing and I'm sure most of the mass comes from the neck. This helps it balance really well on a strap.

Sound:

The humbuckers sound surprisingly rich when playing lead parts, only moderately worse than something like an Ibanez quantum pickup, but enjoyable to play and listen to nonetheless. I'd heard that these pickups give a somewhat muddy sounds on the lower strings, and this is true to some extent when distortion is applied, but EQ can largely sort this out. Clean sounds are pleasant and sparkly, the lower 2 strings buzz a little in chords sometimes but it's not much of an issue.

Setup:

Straight out of the box the action and intonation were fine, though I adjusted the action of the higher strings to preference. It was only somewhat out of tune, not enough to make the neck and strings temporarily unstable. It has held tune really well, despite the poor reputation for these tuners.

If you'd like an introductory 8 string without committing £400+, go for this one, it'll take you a long time to want to upgrade it.

Great Quality, Amazing Value

I was shocked at the quality of the guitar when i first saw it. The frets are perfectly dressed, no sharp edges, all smooooth. The neck is very comfortable, very similar to ibanez wizard, and it has a matte finish making it very comfortable to play. Sound is pretty good too, i don't have my tube amp or pedal with me but it does sound pretty decent in the solid state amp.

Knobs, tuners, bridge and input jack are good quality as well.

The setup on arrival was great. Action is perfect and it had brand new strings.

Actually a great bargain!

I received this instrument 2 days ago. I read propably around a 100 reviews before i bought it so i actually expected it to have some issues that would need to be addressed before it would be playable.

But no!

The finish is just way above standard for a 150 euro guitar. The neck is fine, slight string buzz on frets 1 and 2 but nothing that would bother me. Reviewers said that the pickups are noisy, but no. Mine are silent and deliver a great output for the price. The strings that come with it are not great but way above the expectations that i had so that is not an issue.

Tuners are just what the reviews said, quite simple HB stock but are actually ok. It does not detune a lot and the feel to the tuners is actually that of a more expensive instrument.

Bottom line, i LOVE this guitar and it has not left my hands since it came. It's a no brainer, if you want to try out an 8 string. Buy this one now! It has the feel of a 3-400 euro guitar!

Good base for a great project.

Well built instrument. Pick ups are a bit muddy but what do you expect at this price point? Great value, I do not regret my purchase whatsoever.

absolutely amazing

now this guitar is a beast

the one issue I had was loose strings which was completely fixed when I replaced the strings with a heavier gauges stays in tune and is rock solid

8 string beauty

If you want to try a wide range guitar, but you're afraid of spending to much money on a instrument that you don?t know if you will adapt... this is it... for 150€ you get this beautiful black machine.

First I'm going to talk about the cons.... THERE IS NO CONS for this price, good sound, good construction, perfect weight. If the price was over 200€ maybe I could talk about the tuners, but for this price are perfectly all right, for the pick ups the same thing, if it was a 250€ guitar, maybe I could talk about it, but for this price they sound very nice.

I love particulary the neck length and width. It feels very smooth to play.

I hardly recommend it, excellent purchase for a low price.

I simpli love it

I ordered it maybe 2 years ago and i'm still looking at it like it came yesterday. The quality is perfect, size is perfect and its not too heavy (weight). I simply LOVE IT.

A good introduction to 8 strings

I bought this because I wanted to experiment with an 8 string guitar and generally they're very expensive. For the price point of this guitar it's hard to argue that it is anything other than excellent value.

It's well made, especially for the price. I've bought several harley benton guitars over the years and have seen the workmanship in there construction improve a lot.

The pickups are my main hang up with this guitar, it's not that they sound bad they just don't sound particularly good. It was difficult for me to get a good tone from them but I achieved it eventually. A part of this is probably related to the extended range of the guitar vs. the amplifiers I've tried it through. I recently purchased a kemper profiler and it sounds great with high gain amps. I will potentially upgrade them to some seymour duncans and then it will be an amazing guitar

Nice Feel but bottom end is not so good

It is lightweight and for the price is good. I find though that it struggles with tuning and sound at the bottom 2 strings.

I wish I had waited and had the fan fret model instead

its a good starter 8-string guitar

the neck has a nice shape, i dont know why but the sound feels "compressed"