Harley Benton Amarok-BT BKNT Flame Burst

It's almost annoying that there's no real competition for the specs of this guitar. Depending on what kind of model you're used to, the body might take a bit to get used to, and if you haven't played baritones before (like me), you might be a tiny bit alienated for the first 5 minutes, but that disappears almost immediately.

I can't say I can notice a huge difference in the sound from the baritone scale length, but I can barely feel the longer neck in the first place. It's only a 27 neck, which is barely in the baritone ball park anyways.Whether this is worth it for you is entirely up to your priorities. Would you sacrifice a tiny tiny amount of comfort for a tiny tiny amount of tone or vice versa? Then again, it's probably much more noticeable on higher end amplification e.g. not my 200 euro practice amp.

Honestly, the biggest change in sound might reasonably be the wound g string. Do keep in mind I'm playing a 12-68 set in C standard, which is higher than most people use baritones. Perhaps the neck shines through in tunings lower than B. Still a unique and satisfying feel though.

The quality control can be a bit nefarious, but with Thomann's return policy it should really never be a major concern unless your packages take a month to arrive and you have no patience. If you don't need it right NOW you might as well gamble with a b stock to save some cash.

The tuners seem fine (I have no experience with locking tuners so I can't really comment well), the input jack is decently responsive (although it doesn't seem like it will survive for more than like, 2 years), the volume knob is cut weirdly and scrapes against the body when turned (really easy fix that everyone can probably do though).

As for the EMG's, I have a really bad ear for comparing stuff when it's not like, a direct playback comparison, so I can't really comment much on their sound quality. If you haven't used actives in the past, it takes a bit to get used to having to unplug when you're not playing to conserve battery life. Not exactly a concern or anything, just something I wish I didn't need to do, but that's extremely picky. According to other, more experienced players, they sound less compressed than EMG 81s, basically kinda like more aggressive passive pups. No complaints here. They don't limit your sound much, and it's not like you can't get a satisfying clean or crunch sound with em.

All of these things barely matter. The only real issue I can see with this guitar is that it might just not inspire you. An instrument with 3/4ths of these specs with a finish that makes you want to play it more is probably more worth it imo.

I purchased this to have an inexpensive introduction to playing baritone as I wasn't sure if I'd care for it and stick with it. Plus if I did like it and later bought a nicer instrument, it would be nice to have a backup.

The guitar needed a bit of finish and setup work to get it properly playable. Many of the fret ends were sharp and the neck relief was so low that it was causing quite a bit of buzz. There are also a couple of slightly high frets, but they're not a problem after setting the neck relief correctly. Fortunately those issues are easily rectified. The tuners are a bit stiff, but are serviceable. Also while the quality of the finish is commendable, the flame top is very obviously fake.

After addressing the playability issues, it's quite nice to play and it sounds exactly as expected. By that I mean it sounds just like every other detuned guitar with EMG Retro Active pickups, which is good and is part of the reason I bought it. Overall I'm happy with the guitar and extremely happy with the price.