I have various quality brands from Hohner diatonic… I Bought Bluesband to find quality control of Hohner regarding low price diatonic Harmonica… But I assume that is the way it is and also the Music shop owner later admitted the same. So after all you get what you pay for then… But product like this tarnishes Hohners image… Specially If someone is a beginner & that is all they can afford to start with.
The very first harmonica I ever had was a gift of a Bluesband in the key of C. It was actually quite nice. Air tight and played well. I bought a full set due to the price and I do not like them. Certain harps play well, others leak air and in general do not play so well.
I went to Hohner Blues Harp, a professional quality harp and I love them. I have since tried Special 20 and Marine Band 1896 - and I’ve never been disappointed with any of them. All of those are professional harmonicas. They cost a little more but you get what you pay for.
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Of course we get what we pay for…
But under the banner of Hohner to my own opinion is sheer mockery & cheap publicity gimmick … First impression is last impression.
I’ve many different brands of expensive 10 hole Harmonica as well…
Including several Chromatic.
But I wouldn’t recommend any beginner to use Hohner Bluesband…
Instead I’ll tell them If their budget is limited then to save some money & buy a better quality Harmonica unlike Hohner Bluesband.
I was fortunate in 1977 to have Thorens & a couple of golden melody to begin with…
But Thank You for answering my long awaited query…
Greeting from Hamburg Germany.
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I agree with you. I felt I was lucky to have my first Hohner to be a fairly good instrument. But as a recommendation for a beginner, I wouldn’t recommend Hohner Bluesband harmonicas either.
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Basically you get what you pay for. I recommend all beginning players to start on a good quality instrument. In my opinion the Hohner Special 20 and Big River Harp models offer the best value for money in combination with beginner friendly ergonomics. And you can’t really go wrong with any of the instruments in the Marine Band series.
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I know I’m resurrecting zombie threads here, but I find most people are simply conditioned to believe negative things about cheap products, but I recently got a Blues Band he harmonica and I think it sounds great and it’s easy to use. I’ve played harmonicas before but this is the first one I’ve bought for myself.
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If you get on with the Blues Band that’s great, but it is not of the same quality as the Made In Germany harmonicas. When you become more proficient I recommend you try a Hohner special 20, that’s the model upon which the Blues Band is based, but it’s much better quality and is reasonably priced,
cheers
Steve
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That’s the one everyone recommends and I would always rather have something that is made in Germany, so if my budget improves I might try one. I’m really enjoying this one so far, but the highest note takes a lot of air and is pretty weak.
Making high quality airtight harmonicas is labour-intensive and expensive. You get what you pay for. But generally speaking you can get a decent instrument for under EUR 35, which is pretty cheap in comparison to guitars or pianos 
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The Blueband rocks. It’s great for starting out on. You can trash it and not feel bad for having destroyed it. Once you become a more experienced player you’ll move into the realm of $100 + harps, but to start out, there’s nothing wrong with the Bluesband
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