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

I’m coming from diatonic tremolo harmonicas. But wanted something I could make a key change within a song. For example, I wanted to impress my in-laws in the Philippines by playing their national anthem. I tried it on my tremolo but there is a key change in the song. I knew chromatics can play in any key. So the research began. I didn’t want the cheapest because if I had a bad experience then I’d just give up. Seen that with other instruments especially guitars. At the same time I wasn’t sure if I could get a grasp on how this thing operated and will I stick with it. Watched all the reviews I could find and narrowed it to a few choices. The kb12 looked to have all the qualities of the hohner cx12 with some improvements. And at a third of the cost. Videos showed good sound quality but I was aware they might be enhancing that with fancy recording equipment. Sooner or later I had to make a choice. I picked the kb12 kongsheng. It arrived in a week. The packing had no padding at all! Luckily the harmonica was not damaged. I started playing it immediately and now am learning two other scales. I got the baby blue one in”c”. I’m working on learning the key of “g” and “a”. Also a few songs like Wellerman, Dreams by ABBA, and of course The Philippine National Anthem. It’s great fun. Nice tonal quality and all the notes work. The top note is a bit stiff at the moment but they all seem to be like that. I can make it sound good there and I feel it could loosen up over time. I’m tickled with this thing! I wasn’t sure about the looks at first but it grows on you. No crevices to snag facial hair. The slide is quiet and smooth. Airtight and no leaks while playing. I was thinking that if this one went well, I could upgrade to a higher end chromatic. But now I’m so impressed, you know, I think this is it for me! I’ll try to post some videos someday soon on rumble.com under the name ‘GliderRider’. Be aware I’m no expert by any means. lol

The Kongsheng KB-12 *looks* similar to the Hohner CX-12, but isn't. It has a different sound - not as loud, but more focused. The slide button mechanism is quieter and smoother than Hohner's, in my opinion. It comes apart for cleaning with no tools needed. Given the price, its value is more than acceptable.

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!

It sounds okay but it is uncomfortable to hold and it looks really ugly it is I no way worth it I would recommend to save and get a better one or go cheaper and get a better one in other words my forerunner chromatic is better and it was only 40$ but at the end of the day if you don’t think it’s ugly than I guess get it but it just isn’t great something I learned after playing it for a bit is the draw reeds are really unresponsive it’s bad just save yourself the pain save the money and get a Suzuki or spend less on a forerunner this one is and I hate to say it garbage

Not airtight and noisy on the low end. I returned this product.

The KONGSHENG CX-12 Hole Chromatic Harmonica has good sound at a good price; it's aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, rugged, and easy to disassemble and service. Hohner, eat your heart out.One minus: the drawing supplied with the harmonica for the note layout has errors.To help my fellow Amazon customers I made a new drawing that corrects KONGSHENG's errors. It's included with this review.

The case even though is made from ABS, not metal, it feels good quality, with a slight texture for grip and a smooth surface at the mouthpiece for confort; Taking it apart is the best thing about this harmonica because you can do it in about 5 seconds (obviously not including the reedplates) so maintenance is probably very easy.The harmonica is really loud and responsive in almost all holes.It's comfortable although I wouldn't say more than a round mouthpiece traditional chromatic harmonica.But the major flaw and the reason I'm giving it such a low rating is because both my original and replacement units came with the same major defects: windsavers (valves) from holes 1 to 4 are not properly attached so there is an annoying rattle that can be as loud as the note itself. Hole 12 draw notes leak air becoming very difficult to play a piece that uses that high register. I'm not a luthier to fix that and this is something I shouldn't be worrying about with a brand new harmonica.Again, this is an issue both in my original unit and then the replacement one however that second unit has the rattle in holes 1 to 3.The slider as in the casing, it has a texture for a better grip, very subtle however it is enough to create a friction when you push it in or out, it sounds like two pieces of thick paper rubbing each other, very annoying so not as quiet as other people say, sure it is light to push and it doesn't have that clicking sound however it is not as smooth as people say.This is an alternative to the overpriced Hohner CX12 but honestly I think you should avoid this copycat model and look for something else in cheap chromatics.Amazon's customer service was really helpful and understood my situation, but the product itself was not up to my expectations.