Hot on the heels of their very cool vintage guitar reimaginations, the revitalized Harmony’s new tube combos are bound to stir up excitement for their tasty retro looks alone. But while the navy blue vinyl covering and white woven-fabric grille cloth with gold piping make the H650 reviewed here a head-turner, its power and clean-to-dirty tone range will garner double-takes, too.
The China-made 50-watt, dual-6L6 1x12 H650—the largest of the three new Harmony amps—occupies a power sweet spot that a lot of large-club performers in many playing styles prefer. But it’s not a deafeningly loud amp, and it comes with a built-in attenuator that makes home and apartment use possible, as well as a raft of tricks and quirks that will appeal to retro-minded players looking for a distinct voice.
The tremolo is warm, round, and bubbly.
Feature Film
The original Chicago-based Harmony company cranked out well-made, affordable acoustic and electric guitars for decades. At one time they were the largest guitar manufacturer in the nation, and possibly the world. As electrics became more and more a part of the company’s product mix, Harmony offered amplifiers, too, though these were generally made by third-party manufacturers. Some of these amps have become minor legends in their own right. The mid ’60s H415 model made by Sound Projects Co., for instance, is regarded by Trainwreck tube guru Ken Fischer as a gem among affordable vintage amps.
The H650 isn’t much like old Harmonys in terms of circuity or tube complement. A pair of 6L6GC power tubes delivers output that Harmony claims as 50-watts, although that’s on the high side for these tubes (most similar class A/B dual-6L6 amps generate 40 to 45 watts). Four 12AX7 tubes drive the preamp, effects, and phase-inverter stages.
The cab is a semi-closed-back design, with a vented aluminum cover over the space between upper and lower back panels. Inside, a single Italy-made 12" Jensen Tornado Stealth 65 speaker converts all that energy back to moving air. The entire rig measures approximately 25.5" x 19.5" x 10.5" and weighs 49.8 pounds, which is still pretty hefty. But a wide, padded leather handle makes toting this substantial amp a lot more manageable.
Removing the upper back panel reveals a rugged printed circuit board, with through-hole, surface-mounted components. All potentiometers, switches, and tube sockets are mounted directly to the chassis itself, which should aid reliability over the long haul. Mounted on the grill side of the chassis, the tubes are tricky to reach, but it’s not impossible to access and replace them without pulling the whole chassis.
The top-mounted control panel offers a single channel with gain (which doubles as a push-pull control for boost), bass, middle, treble, reverb, tremolo depth and speed, presence, and master volume. The back panel is home to dual speaker jacks with a switch for 8- or 16-ohm output, and a rotary selector for the built-in attenuator, which offers 1 watt, 0.5 watt, and 0 watt output for silent recording via the line out. There are also two TRS footswitch jacks for a tremolo/boost and a reverb/effects loop, as well as a send, return, and bypass switch for the effects loop. Harmony thoughtfully includes both footswitches with the amp.
Blue Moves
Whether with humbuckers, single-coils, or P-90s, the H650 sounds distinctive, though at times a bit quirky. At lower to medium volumes, it ably produces clean to clean-ish tones reminiscent of a 6L6-based black- or silver-panel Fender platform: relatively mid-scooped, firm lows, and sparkling, glassy high-frequency tones. The Harmony’s greatest strengths are rooted in this foundation, but the spring reverb and tube tremolo help create lush retro soundscapes that are well suited to the fundamental voice. The tremolo is warm, round, and bubbly. The depth control’s taper increases drastically in the final 10 percent of its travel, but all the sounds are great. The H650’s reverb also sounds cool. It’s spacious, with a deliciously long decay but is never excessively splashy—even at maximum settings. The effects loop works effectively, and the external bypass switching is a bonus.
Things get wilder and more interesting when you crank the H650 to the point of overdrive. And whether you find these overdrive sounds fantastic or raunchy depends on your own tastes. With the gain past 1 o’clock and humbuckers or P-90s out front, the amp-generated distortion can sound a tad ratty and fizzy, which is very much in keeping with the cranked-up catalog-amp ethos that makes vintage Harmony amps appealing. Engaging the boost makes it even more so, as do most drive pedals. That said, there’s no end to the raw, garage-rock fun you can have with the gain maxed and boost engaged. Just don’t expect archetypal big-stack classic-rock lead tones.
The built-in attenuator is good at enabling ultra-hushed overdrive at bedroom practice volumes, but high-gain sounds can sound comparatively gnarly and compressed at 1 watt. It also seems that, given the effort of including such a feature, it would have been worth creating a 10-watt setting. Though the silent recording feature is a big plus for players that may be on the fence about justifying a 50-watt amp.
The Verdict
The H650 offers an interesting, if somewhat dichotomous, palette of sounds. On one hand, it’s capable of black-panel Fender-style clean tones that sound impressively refined if you stay in the amp’s sweet spot. On the other, you get hairy, raunchy overdrive in line with amps that constituted Harmony’s competition in the 1960s: Danelectro, Silvertone, Valco, and the like. The ethereal reverb and tremolo are a significant bonus. But whether the H650 works for you is probably down to how well you love the amp’s raunchier side.
Harmony H650 Demo | First Look
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Last year, Taylor Guitars capped its 50th Anniversary by introducing a new guitar collection celebrating the contributions of co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug to the guitar world. The Legacy Collection revives five of Bob Taylor’s classic acoustic models, curated by the legendary luthier and innovator himself. “To imagine that we’re doing guitars that harken to our past, our present and our future all at the same time,” Bob says, “I really like that.”
In developing the collection, Bob preserved the essence of his originals while integrating performance and playability upgrades introduced during his tenure as designer-in-chief. “It’s an up-to-date version of what those guitars would be,” Bob explains, “but with the same sound.”
Visually, these guitars feel classic—clean, understated and unmistakably Taylor. While Bob’s original aesthetic preferences are showcased in his Legacy models, the nod to the past runs deeper than trade dress.
From his earliest builds, Bob favored slim-profile necks because he found them easier to play. That preference set a design precedent that established Taylor’s reputation for smooth-playing, comfortable necks. Legacy models feature slim mahogany necks built with Taylor's patented New Technology (NT) design. “My first neck was a bolted-on neck but not an NT neck,” Bob says. “These are NT necks because it’s a better neck.” Introduced in 1999, the NT neck allowed for unprecedented micro-adjustability while offering a consistent, hand-friendly Taylor playing experience.
What makes this collection unique within the Taylor line is Bob’s use of his X-bracing architecture, favoring his time-tested internal voicing framework over more recent Taylor bracing innovations to evoke a distinctive tone profile. Since Andy Powers—Taylor’s current Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO—debuted his patented V-Class bracing in 2018, V-Class has become a staple in Taylor’s premium-performance guitars. Still, Bob’s X-bracing pattern produces a richly textured sound with pleasing volume, balance and clarity that long defined the Taylor voice. All Legacy models feature LR Baggs VTC Element electronics, which Bob says “harkens back to those days.”
The team at Taylor thought the best way to demonstrate the sound of the Legacy guitars was to ask Andy Powers, Bob’s successor, to play them. A world-class luthier and musician, Andy has spent the past 14 years leading Taylor’s guitar innovation. In addition to V-Class bracing, his contributions include the Grand Pacific body style, the ultra-refined Builder’s Edition Collection, and most recently, the stunning Gold Label Collection.
Below you’ll find a series of videos that feature Powers playing each Legacy model along with information about the guitars.
Legacy 800 Series Models
First launched in 1975, the 800 Series was Taylor’s first official guitar series. Today, it remains home to some of the brand’s most acclaimed instruments, including the flagship 814ce, Builder’s Edition 814ce and new Gold Label 814e.
The Legacy 800 Series features the 810e Dreadnought and two Jumbos: the 6-string 815e and 12-string 855e. Each model serves up a refined version of the Dreadnought and Jumbo body shapes Bob inherited from Sam Radding—the original owner of the American Dream music shop where Bob and Kurt first met. “I was making my guitars in the molds that Sam had made at American Dream,” Bob recalls. “There was a Jumbo and a Dreadnought. That’s all we had.”
All three Legacy 800 Series guitars feature one of Bob’s favorite tonewood combos. Solid Indian rosewood back and sides are paired with a Sitka spruce top, yielding warm lows, clear trebles and a scooped midrange.
Aesthetic appointments include a three-ring abalone rosette, mother-of-pearl Large Diamond inlays, white binding around the body and fretboard, and Bob’s “straight-ear” peghead design. Both Jumbo models also showcase a mustache-style ebony bridge—a nod to Bob’s early Jumbo builds.
Legacy 810e
The 810 Dreadnought holds a special place in Bob Taylor’s heart. “My first 810, the one I made for myself, was a thrilling guitar for me to make,” he says. “It’s the one and only guitar I played. It didn’t matter how many guitars we made at Taylor, that’s the one I took out and played.” The Legacy 810e brings back that bold, room-filling Dreadnought voice along with the easy playability expected from a Taylor.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 810e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 855e
Taylor’s first 12-strings found an audience in 1970s Los Angeles. “I was making guitars that would find their way to McCabe’s in Santa Monica and Westwood Music,” Bob says, “and these guitars were easy to play. Twelve-strings were a popular sound in that music. It was a modern country/folk/rock music genre that was accepting our guitars because they were easy to play. They also liked the sound of them because our guitars were easier to record.” The Legacy 855e, with its resonant Jumbo body, slim neck and gorgeous octave sparkle, carries that tradition forward.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 855e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 815e
The Legacy 815e revives Taylor’s original Jumbo 6-string, delivering a big, lush sound with beautifully blooming overtones.
Legacy Grand Auditoriums
In the early 1990s, Bob Taylor heard a consistent refrain from dealers: “Not everybody wants a dreadnought guitar anymore.” Players were asking for something with comparable volume but different proportions—something more comfortable, yet still powerful. This feedback inspired Bob to design a new body style with more elegant curves, more accommodating proportions and a balanced tonal response. The result was the Grand Auditorium, which Taylor introduced in 1994 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Thanks to its musical versatility and easy playability, Bob’s Grand Auditorium attracted a wide variety of players. “We came into our own with our Grand Auditorium,” he says. “People were describing it as ‘all around.’ It’s a good strummer and good for fingerstyle, but it’s not totally geared toward strumming or totally geared toward fingerstyle.” Also referred to as the “Swiss-Army Knife” of guitars or the “Goldilocks” guitar, the GA quickly became a favorite among guitarists across playing styles, musical genres and different playing applications including recording and live performance. “That guitar made studio work successful,” Bob says. It gained a wider fanbase with the debut of the “ce” version, which introduced a Venetian cutaway and onboard electronics. “That became one of our hallmarks,” says Bob. “If you want to plug in your guitar, buy a Taylor.”
Today, the Grand Auditorium is Taylor’s best-selling body shape.
The Legacy Collection features two cedar-top Grand Auditoriums inspired by past favorites: the mahogany/cedar 514ce and rosewood/cedar 714ce. Both models incorporate Bob’s original X-bracing pattern for a tonal character reminiscent of their 1990s and 2000s counterparts. Shared aesthetic details include a green abalone three-ring rosette, ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard and Taylor gold tuning machines.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 815e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 514ce
The Legacy 514ce features solid mahogany back and sides paired with a Western Red cedar top, yielding a punchy midrange and dry, woody sonic personality that pairs beautifully with cedar’s soft-touch sensitivity and warmth. It’s a standout choice for fingerstyle players and light strummers who crave nuance and depth. Distinct visual details include faux-tortoise body and fretboard binding, black-and-white top trim, and mother-of-pearl small diamond fretboard inlays.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 514ce | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 714ce
The Legacy 714ce also features a cedar top, this time matched with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. The result is a richly textured sound with deep lows, clear trebles and a warm, mellow response. Inspiring as it is, this specific wood pairing isn’t currently offered in any other standard Taylor model. Additional aesthetic details include green abalone dot fretboard inlays, black body and fretboard binding, and black-and-white “pinstripe” body purfling.
While the Legacy Collection spotlights Taylor’s past, newer models from the Gold Label, Builder’s Edition and Somos Collections show the company’s legacy is always evolving. Explore the Legacy Collection at taylorguitars.com or visit your local authorized Taylor dealer.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 714ce | Playthrough Demo
“Earthwood Bell Bronze strings are a giant leap forward in tone, playability, and durability. They’re great in any musical setting but really shine when played solo. There’s an orchestral quality to them.” -John Mayer
Product Features:
- Developed in collaboration with John Mayer
- Big, bold sound
- Inspired by alloys used for bells and cymbals
- Increased resonance with improved projection and sustain
- Patent-pending alloy unique to Ernie Ball stringsHow is Bell Bronze different?
- Richer and fuller sound than 80/20 and Phosphor Bronze without sounding dark
- Similar top end to 80/20 Bronze with richer low end than Phosphor Bronze
