PM
Harley Benton DC-600 VI
The Harley Benton DC-600 VI offers very good value for money at £179 and would be an excellent first guitar for someone requiring a wider range of sonic possibilities.
I bought a Vintage VS6 SG second hand a few months ago for a song on eBay and this has become my favourite guitar so I thought I would treat myself to a three pickup version for my birthday when I saw the HB.
I will start with the things that I like:
The guitar was very well packed. The first thing that struck me was the cream paint job. Absolutely flawless and beautiful. The neck is also very nice and the action is low. The overall weight of the guitar is pleasing and I would say perfect
The fretboard is ok but not perfect. It looked a bit dry so I gave it a coat of lem oil. The inlays have been put in well but there were a couple of wood imperfections on a couple of frets.
The frets have no sharp edges which are often present on cheaper guitars. More on them later.
The electronics work perfectly and the pots have a lovely smooth feel and are easy to use with the top hat knobs. The pickups are ok for clean stuff and offer a wide range of tone with the three volume and one tone set up. They don't offer the same quality of sound when playing through distortion as the Vintage VS6 SG However the latter guitar is twice as expensive!
Now the things I didn't like as much:
The electronics backplate was very badly cut. I had to take it off, smooth it off with a file and wet and dry paper. The screws for it also weren't countersunk. The pick guard screws holes had also been countersunk too deeply.
The intonation was way out on the D string. I had to remove all the strings on the guitar ( which weren't put on professionally- didn't stay in tune) and reverse the intonation blade on the D string to set it up properly. The intonation screws have Phillips heads which I have never seen on a tunamatic bridge before and don't like them! What's wrong with normal flat head screws on tunamatic bridges?
I used a Rolson flat head screwdriver to adjust them having had previous problems with Chinese Phillips screws stripping in the past. The most annoying thing however were the frets weren't polished which lead to any string bending producing a horrible grating sound and feel when initiated.
Who wants to be getting out masking tape and wire wool on a new guitar to polish the frets. Not me!
However now that's done and I've put on some Ernie Ball 10's
( properly). The guitar sounds a lot better and stays in tune.
In conclusion as I said the guitar offers great value for money but isn't perfect for an experienced guitarist. It could have been if a little more effort and care had been taken. I do realise that every second counts in terms of costs on these guitars. It would be better to put the price up to £200 and rectify the faults I've mentioned I believe.
I bought a Vintage VS6 SG second hand a few months ago for a song on eBay and this has become my favourite guitar so I thought I would treat myself to a three pickup version for my birthday when I saw the HB.
I will start with the things that I like:
The guitar was very well packed. The first thing that struck me was the cream paint job. Absolutely flawless and beautiful. The neck is also very nice and the action is low. The overall weight of the guitar is pleasing and I would say perfect
The fretboard is ok but not perfect. It looked a bit dry so I gave it a coat of lem oil. The inlays have been put in well but there were a couple of wood imperfections on a couple of frets.
The frets have no sharp edges which are often present on cheaper guitars. More on them later.
The electronics work perfectly and the pots have a lovely smooth feel and are easy to use with the top hat knobs. The pickups are ok for clean stuff and offer a wide range of tone with the three volume and one tone set up. They don't offer the same quality of sound when playing through distortion as the Vintage VS6 SG However the latter guitar is twice as expensive!
Now the things I didn't like as much:
The electronics backplate was very badly cut. I had to take it off, smooth it off with a file and wet and dry paper. The screws for it also weren't countersunk. The pick guard screws holes had also been countersunk too deeply.
The intonation was way out on the D string. I had to remove all the strings on the guitar ( which weren't put on professionally- didn't stay in tune) and reverse the intonation blade on the D string to set it up properly. The intonation screws have Phillips heads which I have never seen on a tunamatic bridge before and don't like them! What's wrong with normal flat head screws on tunamatic bridges?
I used a Rolson flat head screwdriver to adjust them having had previous problems with Chinese Phillips screws stripping in the past. The most annoying thing however were the frets weren't polished which lead to any string bending producing a horrible grating sound and feel when initiated.
Who wants to be getting out masking tape and wire wool on a new guitar to polish the frets. Not me!
However now that's done and I've put on some Ernie Ball 10's
( properly). The guitar sounds a lot better and stays in tune.
In conclusion as I said the guitar offers great value for money but isn't perfect for an experienced guitarist. It could have been if a little more effort and care had been taken. I do realise that every second counts in terms of costs on these guitars. It would be better to put the price up to £200 and rectify the faults I've mentioned I believe.
3
0
Report
S
IT SHREDS!!
There are a few things that I love about this guitar. The knob configuration is entirely unique with the 3 Vols and 1 Tone. You can't find that configuration in any price point from any other brand (that I have seen). The fretboard material leaves a bit to be desired. I can't tell if it is even wood but time will reveal that. Tuners have been replaced but that was to be expected. I also LOVE the placement of the output jack. It's the only guitar with this body style that has placed the jack on the side and that is amazing. I am very happy with this purchase. I play this guitar every day and I love it.
1
0
Report
P
Good quality but neck felt too thick
Maybe I'm more critical because I have wanted SG for a long time and accidentally tried 2000€ Gibson new model while I had this Harley Benton DC-600 in home. I have one Harley Benton TE-30 and kept it. Pros: Overall quality for this price range is good. Coloured and finished nicely. It maybe looks abit more yellow than you see in pictures. It's made from real wood and you can't get any mahogany guitar in that price range for sure. Feels maybe little heavy compared to Gibson but this is around 10x more expensive. Pick ups sounds ok, noting special but fine.
Cons: Main cons was neck thickness for me. Nobody really talks about it but if you expect really thin neck from this its a little thicker because its c-shape. I realised I want thin D-shape. Also tuners felt abit loose, specially mine on 6th string.
I decided not keep it and save the money for real SG:)
Cons: Main cons was neck thickness for me. Nobody really talks about it but if you expect really thin neck from this its a little thicker because its c-shape. I realised I want thin D-shape. Also tuners felt abit loose, specially mine on 6th string.
I decided not keep it and save the money for real SG:)
0
0
Report
TG
Back cover cut by a child, neck is LARGE.
I really wanted to like this guitar, and the sound is there. Unfortunately, the neck is wider than I am used to, and to get the pickups to maximum sustain, they have to be too close to the strings, and they interrupt your picking. Overall I like it, but plan on some serious setup changes, in an effort to make it more playable.
0
0
Report
H
Nice n easy
Very nice looking guitar, no flaws on the build very light, easy to play nice sound variation with pick up choices, fret board a bit dry and strings need changing but overall a very good.
0
0
Report
A
Impressive, stylish, great mojo.
I was impressed, it exceeded my expectations. I use it to get the super low sound of all 3 pickups on at the same time. Garage-rock is what I use this guitar for right now.
The neck is "C" shape, feels fatter than your regular skinny-modern LP/SG and all Strat/Tele necks. I can compare it with a PRS "wide-fat" neck profile.
3 humbuckers means you always have to strum and pick on top of the pickup covers.
With the switch in the middle position, you can control all pickups with their respective volume knob. You can have any combination by turning on and off the knobs and even mixing and blending the pickups.
The 3-position switch works like this: 1 - Neck+Middle, 2 - Neck+Middle+Bridge, 3 - Middle+Bridge.
Pros:
- unique deep sound with all 3 pickups on
- great body/neck weight balance
- great neck shape (for me)
- looks awesome
- low cost guitar
Cons:
- low cost finishing (crooked screws, mismatched knobs, crooked pots, gaps and misallignments under the acrylic-looking coating over the neck binding, overall low value parts)
All-in-all, a very good low-cost guitar with the (to be expected) low-cost issues.
The neck is "C" shape, feels fatter than your regular skinny-modern LP/SG and all Strat/Tele necks. I can compare it with a PRS "wide-fat" neck profile.
3 humbuckers means you always have to strum and pick on top of the pickup covers.
With the switch in the middle position, you can control all pickups with their respective volume knob. You can have any combination by turning on and off the knobs and even mixing and blending the pickups.
The 3-position switch works like this: 1 - Neck+Middle, 2 - Neck+Middle+Bridge, 3 - Middle+Bridge.
Pros:
- unique deep sound with all 3 pickups on
- great body/neck weight balance
- great neck shape (for me)
- looks awesome
- low cost guitar
Cons:
- low cost finishing (crooked screws, mismatched knobs, crooked pots, gaps and misallignments under the acrylic-looking coating over the neck binding, overall low value parts)
All-in-all, a very good low-cost guitar with the (to be expected) low-cost issues.
8
0
Report
T
Beautiful mod platform with qc issues
A good looking guitar with some minor qc issues. Dry fretboard, some finishing issues, unpolished frets and seems to have been shipped without being cleaned.
It was all fixed by some quick polishing and fretboard conditioning. The nut is kind of unsightly and it kind of looks like someone hacked away on it
Having bought it as a mod platform it didn't really matter to me since it was a quick fix and the guitar is very cheap.
The electronics sound kind of muddy with higher gain but that is up to personal taste.
As a mod platform it's great but I would be disappointed if I bought it as my first guitar since the fix isn't really easy when you have no knowledge and experience.
It was all fixed by some quick polishing and fretboard conditioning. The nut is kind of unsightly and it kind of looks like someone hacked away on it
Having bought it as a mod platform it didn't really matter to me since it was a quick fix and the guitar is very cheap.
The electronics sound kind of muddy with higher gain but that is up to personal taste.
As a mod platform it's great but I would be disappointed if I bought it as my first guitar since the fix isn't really easy when you have no knowledge and experience.
1
0
Report
F
A beautiful guitar with great sound! But one suggestion
No one can say this isn't a great looking guitar. The pickups lend themselves to either clear sound or heavily distorted hard rock. The fretboard is on the wide side and very comfortable enabling clear quick finger-work. And the weight in the 7 lb range is very comfortable when doing a 4 hour gig. I only had a bit of trouble with the tuners which should really be upscaled to make this inexpensive guitar perfect.
0
0
Report
JA
S.G 3 humbuckers
Tuned it,plugged it in. Not a bad guitar. Had to turn knobs up to 10 but it has that S.G sound. I'm going to put in different pickups to see what happens.All up,guitar plus new pickups I've spent $760 .I'll be shopping here again.
0
0
Report
b
dc 600 VI
great guitar for the money pickups a little weak but sound good excelent build quality. says it has indian larual fretboard but looks black maybe stain?.
0
0
Report
