Harley Benton's new guitar releases have us excited – the EX-84 brought out our inner Hetfield dreams, while the recent AguFish signature model proves the company has serious ambitions in the mid-priced market. But we didn't see a brand new 12-model metal series coming.
And the spec / price ratio here is big news.
The Amarok series is aimed at the modern hard rock and metal player with 6-,7-string and baritone models, high-end finishes and quality appointments for prices that suggest these guitars could make serious waves.
The guitars feature neck-though mahogany body construction, 5-ply (maple/mahogany/maple/mahogany/maple) neck with ebony fretboards loaded with stage-friendly glow-in-the-dark fretmarkers.
Prices start at £437 for the Amarok-6, and for that you get, 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, EMG pickups and Grover locking tuners too… no we're not joking. We don't joke about guitar spec.
Active high output EMG pickups feature across the line with the canny all-rounder pairing of the EMG Retro Active Hot 70 ceramic in the bridge with the 70 alnico-5 in the neck.
The guitars are available in four finish options over either a quilted or flame maple veneer top: a menacing Black Natural Flame Burst, Black Blue Flame Burst, Black Red Quilted Burst and Emerald Natural Quilted Burst.
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The baritone Amarok-BT (£479) version features a a 27” scale length while the 648mm scale 7-string Amarok models are priced at £524
Additional features include:
● Neck form: Slim modern-c profile
● Fingerboard radius: 355.6 mm, 14 inches
● Nut: Graptech Tusq XL
● Controls: 1x master volume, 1x master tone, 3-way toggle switch
● Truss rod: dual action spoke wheel
● Bridge: WSC hps-6 custom hardtail
The Amarok series is available now. You can check out and order the full range over at thomann.de.
Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.