5 Budget 7-string guitars for beginners or intermediate metal guitarists - technical review

Harley Benton Amarok-7 Black Red Quilt Burst
Made in Indonesia, neck-thru-body, 5-piece neck, 25.5 inch scale
EMG active pickups, 24 jumbo stainless frets
Grover locking tuners, custom hardtail bridge
Pros: Very good all round quality and build, good components, playable out of the box
Cons: pretty much nothing, not a fan-fret so not great for down-tuning
Overall – this would be the one to buy if you can afford it. Plays and sounds good out of the box
498 EUR       847 CAD Total once imported

Harley Benton R457-BK Franfret – black
Made in China?   Bolt-on maple neck, 25.5 – 27.5 inch scale
No-name humbuckers, 24 frets
Pros: Amazing for the price, quite playable, no real issues
Cons: standard pickups are a bit muddy, but can largely compensate with amp
Overall – probably the best of the budget guitars, and certainly best value for the money. Even better with a simple pickup upgrade
Base Price 150 EUR = 365 CAD + Bare Knuckle Juggernaut @ 317 CAD    Total 637

SubZero Generation Pro Fanned Fret 7-String – Ocean Fade
Made in Vietnam   5 piece bolt-on neck   25.5 – 27 inch scale
No-name locking tuners, 24 frets, single saddle bridge system  
No-name humbuckers
Pros: Basically sound, just playable, but far from being a “pro” guitar
Cons: Terrible stock pickups, low output, very prone to electrical interference, tuners are “notchy”, Fretboard needed a lot of work, some flaws in the finish
Overall – worst overall value for money, lots of issues, and needed work to make it really playable. Pickups truly dreadful, and very hard to tune. However, with better pickups, and Gotoh tuners and some work on the fretboard, it becomes a reasonable guitar. Poor value as a basic guitar, but can be modified.
Required fret levelling in order to become really playable, and even then, it’s still just an “ok” guitar – maybe no better than the base level Harley Benton, at a fraction of the price
List 347 USD    589 CAD fully landed    173 Pickups    154 Tuners      Fret Leveling 150   Tot= 1066 CAD

Jackson JS22-7 – black satin
Made in China, 1 Piece maple neck, 26.5 inch scale
Jackson tuners, 24 frets, hardtail bridge
Jackson humbucker pickups
Pros: Another pretty good basic guitar, playable out of the box
Cons: let down by some rough edges on the bridge hex screws of all things, and some sharp fret ends
Overall – pretty good value, plays ok, and can take lower tuning a little better with the longer scale. Stock pickups are perfectly playable, and bridge is easy to replace. A little work with a fret-file and the fretboard is good too. Close runner up to the Harley Benton – slightly better pickups, worse bridge.
355 CAD   + Hipshot bridge 207 + Seymour Duncan Black Winter 180     Total 742

Ibanez RGAIX7FM
Made in Indonesia 2016-2019
24 frets, bolt-on neck, ebony fingerboard with binding
DiMarzio pickups
Locking Gotoh tuners
Single volume, selector and coil-split
Pros: High overall quality, fit and finish. Targeted at Metal, good quality pickups. Very playable. Reputable brand, so will have good resale if this is important to you
Cons: Originally the most expensive (new) at $1429 CAD and was bought used in “B” condition at $734 CAD – but still a very playable and usable guitar. Little to choose between this and the Harley Benton Amarok, which makes the Amarok all the more impressive