KONGSHENG KB-12 Chromatic Modern Harmonica key of C for Beginners and Professional Adults with Unique Design

This harmonica has a rich and pleasant tone. Build quality is top notch and it's model is eye catching. It's also comfortable to play due to the nice mouthpiece. It is very easy to dissemble and reassemble. This company has made a nice model that can rub shoulders with more expensive brands.

You cannot Reverse the slider as you can do in Hohner, Seydel, Suzuki Chromatic Harmonica. For eg many Harmonica professionals do reverse the slider so that the Harmonica of Key C transforms to Harmonica of Key C#. So while playing many (rather most) Bollywood, Indian music, film music; the judicious use of slider makes the playing of song more smooth, perfect, with better performance.For eg if you want to play "Mere Naina Sawon Bhado" or " O Sajna Barkha Bajar aayi" one can play it better while playing in Harmonica with Reverse Slider adjustment, especially for beginners. Although experts can play this in any of the slider arrangment (Normal or Reversed) but needs tremendous breath control, slider-breath (blow-draw) synchronisation control, for which it needs a lot of practice & sadhana under a Guru who is a Harmonica Virtuoso. So if want to Play songs in KB12 harmonica with normal slider arrangment (as manufactured) then it's oK. But with reverse slider arrangements this is not a good choice. Also the Air tightness is not like Hohner Schwarz 12. Although it's a Chinese copy of Hohner Harmonica

Okay, I know as a "quiet player," I'm in the minority and I'm fine with that, so the fact that I'm not "personally" enamored with the instrument, is a moot point. However, I also run a 23 year old, CHROMATIC harmonica forum, and know for a fact that this little guy has many of the qualities "normal" players want, ~AND~ at a very attractive price. Firstly, it IS a blatant Hohner CX12 (which I'm no fan of) knock-off, which, besides the more tapered mouthpiece, embarrassingly, incorporating at least another four very cool features that Hohner somehow never thought of for the last three decades. The response (how fast the reeds speak and are subject to the players' tonal modifications) is excellent! The sound is bright. The volume (projection) IMO is probably greater than my Hohner CX12. While devoted CX12 fans might find it bit too bright, fans of the now hard to find, Hering Chromatics might really find this attractive, along with anyone who thinks a loud, bright, inexpensive, CX12 is the way to go. A.J.Fedor -SlideMeister

I’ve been playing diatonic harp for 20 yrs and chromatic for about 10. I’ve always struggled w the chromatic because of the quality of the instrument and of course having it not in the Richter scale tuning as the diatonic harps. I own a hohner 270 super chromonica which is the best one aside from a couple others that I also have but the kongsheng kb-12 is better. Smooth ergonomics for your mouth and even for bearded fellows it won’t pull your hairs at all. The action is superb. All notes play proper and if you understand how to use proper embouchure with your mouth and tongue action, then even the lowest and highest notes resonate quite well. The audio dynamics seem good as far as clarity for playing quite loud or soft. Out of the box the only thing you should do is repeat tapping the slide of the harp (about 30-50 times) to smooth out the abs plastic of the button so it does not stick. It is possibly the same as a hohner cx-12 jazz harp minus the sexy color and the high price. I really don’t see myself ever needing to buy another chromatic harmonica now!

Ordered one of these in C based on a recommendation from Brenden Power. I have owned many chromatics including a couple of Hohner CX-12s, multiple 270s, and a 280. The first KB-12 that I received had issues on the last two holes in that some notes did not sound. I returned it and received another with the same issue. I have been playing for many years and have not experienced an issue like this until now. I just returned the second one for a full refund and have no plans to buy another. The priced sounded too good to be true and it definitely was.

I already have a H**ner CX12 (which this is copied from). It's definitely not the cx12 quality sound but it's certainly good enough. Now will it last 20 years? Time will tell.Caution: I had a strong metallic taste on my lips and tongue the first time I played it. After wiping with dish detergent, that went away.

And it is.In a good way.While there are minor difference in design, this is nearly identical to the Hohner CX12 at about a third the price. In fact it you have a CX12 the body of this one should fit and other than the really terrible color, this body is more like the CX12 Jazz with reduced size mouth piece. So worst case for a CX12 owner is you get a second body for your reeds at less than the cost of a second body and this one sounds great on its own. Frankly, I bought it because I thought it would be taken away for some copyright infringement. That remains to be seen...