Harley Benton WL-20BK Rock Series

I'll break down my review in different paragraphs, so that it may be useful, informative and comprehensive for the reader.
1. Introduction/Why i bought it:
I bought this guitar, mainly because I wanted a metal looking guitar that's extremely similar to a B.C. Rich. And this guitar totally delivered that, and more, for this astonishing price. It's really pointy, and it looks almost identical to a warlock, except for the headstock, that's more similar to an Ignitor headstock, or some Mockingbird models. The finish is really good and it has no flaws, it's a really nice, glossy black. Perfect look for metal or whatever you want to play, it's really begging you to play it.
2. What I'm using it for:
I mostly play metal on it. Since i bought it, I played a lot of Death tracks and I also improvised quite a lot of fast, shred type solos on it. It certainly does the job very well. Believe it or not, the comfort allows you to play mostly anything on it, as I also played some funk and Bee Gees tracks on it. All things considered, it's versatile.
3. Hardware:
Hardware is really good for the price. It has a Tune-o-matic bridge that holds tune pretty well, and the tuners do a pretty good job as well. Let me give you an example to illustrate that. I played three Death songs in a row, and after that, the guitar was a bit out of tune. Not terribly out of tune, just a little bit, and a 30 second tuning session fixed that in an efficient manner. The fact that i tuned the guitar a whole step down and constantly did 1/2 step bends during the songs is worth mentioning. It certainly can take quite the abuse before going out of tune. If i had to pick a slight con in this paragraph, it would be the tuners. They're quite good, and they're very good for the price, but I guess they could hold tune a bit better. Anyway, as I said, it's not a big con, but it's an upgrade worth considering, especially if you want to play concerts/gigs with it.
The knobs are really smooth and sturdy, they actually function/turn better than the knobs of an Ibanez RG i have, which is a guitar thrice the price of this one. The pickup selector does it's job well.
4. Sound:
Sound is good. The pickups are extremely good for the price. I considered buying a new set of pickups for the guitar, but I came to the conclusion that a pickup upgrade is secondary. For metal, they offer a beefy, loud, and pretty distorted sound, perfect for various types of metal and techniques such as pinch harmonics. But that doesn't mean it can't handle a less distorted sound, or other genres of music. I played quite a few clean parts with it, and it had a beautiful, non-muddy, beefy sound. Also, it's relevant to mention the fact that the pickups are isolated pretty well, reducing annoying sounds and hissing quite a lot. All in all, the pickups are phenomenal for the price, and with a decent amp/amp simulator, you can manipulate their sound in a versatile manner, how you see fit.
Also, the sustain is adequate, rivaling my Epiphone Les Paul Standard, a much more expensive guitar.
5. Playability:
The guitar was properly set up by Thomann, and it was playable right out of the box. The action was low, and it made playing a breeze. The neck feels smooth in your hands, and it is quite chunky. Not tree/baseball bat level of chunky, but quite chunky. It's extremely comfortable. Even if it's a bit chunky, it's on the same level of facile playing as the wizard III neck of my Ibanez RG, maybe even more comfortable. I honestly can't decide. Overall, shocked by the playabilty of this guitar, I was not expecting such playability for such a low price. I'm quite an experienced player, having quite a few years of experience, and I did not crave for a "better" or more expensive guitar while I was playing this one. Everyhing from trem picking to 3/4 note sweeps and long legatos felt effortless. I'm sure the setup made quite a difference in the playability, so big thanks to the always professional Thomann team.
Conclusion: For the price, this guitar is, without a single tiny trace of thought, UNBEATABLE for the price. i am quite an experienced player, and I've been blown away by the quality of this guitar. For the sake of summing up the pros and cons:
pros:
1. Great, metal, pointy, black, glossy look. The finish is really good.
2. The weight is nice, it's not extremely heavy, but it's heavy enough to not feel like a cheap instrument. It has a good weight to it. Also, no neck diving.
3. The hardware is good, the bridge and tuner do their job well, and the knobs turn effortless, offering a good feeling when operating them;
4. The sound is really, really good for the price. Heavy, high-output and also quite versatile if you combo the guitar up with a decent amp/amp simulator (such as BIAS FX);
5. The playability is excellent, the neck being quite chunky and smooth to the touch. The action was really low, making playing an absolute breeze.
Possible Cons:
1. It's not mandatory, but you might want to change the tuners if you're planning on extensive gigging.
2. This is certainly not mandatory, but you might want to change the pickups if you're planning on professional gigging. The stock pickups are very good, but you might want to swap them for more expensive pickups if you want to assure consistency/less hissing, maybe higher output sound for your gigs. As I said, there is nothing wrong with the stock ones, very good for pro players and beginners alike.
All in all, a great guitar that has value thrice it's price, maybe more. it's kind of hard to quantify. It certainly is the best option for the price, and I would warmly recommend it to pro players that are maybe looking for a cheap, awesome metal guitar (like I did), or to beginners that don't want to spend a fortune and also have a really good guitar to start out with. Well done, Thomann! I also bought a Harley Benton telecaster in the past and it was really good, Thomann really outdo themselves with the Harley Benton guitars.

I really like this guitar. The one I received was packaged well and is a well built guitar. The maple neck is straight with no sharp frets. The guitar plays well with no dead spots on the fretboard. I actually kinda like the stock high gain ceramic pickups. I will probably replace for a set of active EMG's but they do sound pretty good- excellent to play metal or hard rock. All the controls work well. The bridge seems ok. I did replace the stock tuners with black locking tuners, but the stock tuners were not really that bad. I was expecting to mod this guitar out, but now will only make a few changes. I will put in a bone or tusq nut to replace the plastic stock one although the guitar does seem to have pretty good sustain with the plastic nut. I see no reason to swap out the electronics( except if I put in active humbuckers and will need to change the pots) or the bridge. The guitar sounds really good in my opinion. I truly believe Harley Benton stock entry-level pickups sound way, way better than other stock pickups found in my other inexpensive project guitars. The Neck humbucker is mellower with some warmth although not as much as if it had an Alnico 5 magnet. The Bridge humbucker has some bite to it and handles high gain without too much unwanted noise/feedback although I do use a noise gate in my pedal board which helps cut down on that. The Bridge pickup is def good for solos and playing really heavy parts. Neither sound muddy to me. All in all I would recommend this guitar and the Harley Benton brand in general to my friends. I'm very impressed with Harley Benton's build quality. I also purchased the Mockingbird copy which I also really love. This would be an excellent guitar for a beginner who wants to learn how to play metal. I'm in the US and this guitar only costs about $100 which is unbelievable. The tuners I just put in were about $40 which is almost half of what I paid for the whole guitar. I'm just really impressed with this guitar. I've read other reviews saying that this guitar is hard to hold while sitting down. Nope, feels comfortable to me. The only thing I have noticed with the Warlock and Mockingbird is that both guitars have neck dive. I found if I hold the neck it plays fine and is balanced. So just hold the guitar and you'll be fine. I have 15 guitars and these two Harlery Benton's are becoming my go to guitars when I'm inspired to write something. All in all I'm a very satisfied, happy customer and I plan on buying more Harley Benton's even with the shipping costs so high- they're definitely worth it.

Bought this guitar as a gift for my girlfriend (she absolutely loves the shape, and I've had a Harley Benton guitar before so I know they're good quality). Ordered it late Monday/early Tuesday, and it arrived by Friday of the same week. First, the only bad thing I can think of: shipping damage. Like I said, I had an HB guitar before, the R458 (not the fan-fret model, the standard one). For the price point, it was a fantastic guitar in pretty much every aspect, but there was a sizeable chip taken out of the headstock. Back to this guitar, there was an even bigger chunk taken out of one of the bottom wings. The guitar was still playable, but it's clear that Thomann doesn't package their guitars very well. It might be different for European customers, but it's frustrating living in the US and getting a guitar touted as brand new, and finding it in less than B-stock condition. I didn't see if the missing chunk was in the box as I was hurrying to hide it, it may have arrived in Germany like that before they shipped it to me, but regardless of where the damage happened I hope Thomann/Harley Benton can get to the bottom of it. If it wasn't for that, these guitars would pretty much be perfect. On to the good stuff!
1. Frets: one of the biggest things to check for, especially on lower priced guitars, and both of the HB axes I've bought have been great in this department. It might need some mild filing as we experiment with it more, but upon first inspecting it the ends were very smooth, and the frets weren't dirty. It's good that HB focused on this part, since you can't change frets (easily that is) and it can make or break a guitar.
2. Tuners: while you can upgrade the tuners and most hardware/electronics in the future, having nice stuff right out of the box is always helpful. The tuners aren't the greatest, but for a ~$100 guitar these are pretty decent. Held tune well enough, felt smooth and solid turning, and there weren't any jumps in pitch.
3. Electronics: both knobs, the switch, pickups and jack didn't make any unwanted noise. The pots don't have the smoothest taper, but for cheap parts you can't go wrong. The pickups are suited to the guitar; high output, a bright midsy bridge pickup, a smooth but plinky neck pickup, and really nice clean tones in the middle position. You can change them later, but I'd be pretty satisfied keeping these pickups in there if it was my own guitar.
4. Setup: again, you might have to change it depending on the situation or your taste, but right out of the box it was mostly playable. The action wasn't terribly high, there were no dead spots, and there was very little buzzing. The only "major" thing is that it'll probably need intonated, but considering what you're getting here that's still pretty good.
5. Aesthetics: with the exception of the damage at the bottom of the guitar, this thing just looks sick! The shape is a little different from a standard Warlock, but they chose some cool ways to change it without making it totally different. The headstock is a nice shape, the truss rod cover has "HB" printed on it in a cool script, and the brand name on the headstock has a pearloid finish on it that looks really classy. This thing LOOKS like it belongs in a coffin case.
Thomann/Harley Benton, I hope you can iron out the shipping damage. I'll still continue to buy HB guitars, they've shown consistent quality and value, I just want this brand to be the best it can. If you're not br00talz enough to play a pointy guitar, HB has other great offering for pretty much anyone. If you're looking for a metal fan's dream guitar on a budget for everyone, look no further.