Harley Benton HBMA-50E Mandoline VS

338 Customer ratings

4 / 5

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83 Reviews

Harley Benton HBMA-50E Mandoline VS
$77
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Disappointed to say the least
Mandoomlin 21.02.2022
My first mandolin. I've been playing ukulele and guitar for a while and wanted to give the mandolin a go. I got the electric one because I thought it would be interesting to play through an amp with distortion and some effects. After waiting 10 days for its arrival (held up in customs), my first initial impressions were good. It looks beautiful and feels good to hold. However, that was outweighed by the sound. The overall sound is very tinny and there is an obnoxious buzzing when you plug into an amp. The tuning pegs are tough to turn and sound like something is cracking when I tune. I am disappointed and wish I had saved some money and just got the basic mandolin.
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Not bad, not good.
Nickname is Nick Name 16.01.2024
Unfortunately the pick-up is very weak and doesn't quite amplify as well as the rest of my instruments, which was a let down for sure. That aside, it sounds great acoustically. I'm assuming a performer would most likely be purchasing at a higher price point/quality point than this, so this is pretty good for a beginner to the instrument. I wouldn't recommend it to a novice/pro.
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A mixed bag
speedydunlop 13.01.2020
My first mandolin so I was not sure what to expect. I was pretty pleased when I first picked it up and when I plugged it into the amp and I was even more impressed. Then I thought I’d address the tuning which seemed off. Unfortunately, the intonation is pretty poor on this mandolin. Open strings are bang on but 12th fret are almost a whole tone off. Even the most basic chords sound a little out of tune. I’ve been told I can get it sorted by adjusting the bridge but that’s a tricky job and not for the faint hearted. It’ll do until I can afford an Eastman.
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really nothing special
adomaslt 29.05.2021
It's cheap so that's why 3 stars, but besides that it feels like one step above toy instrument.

After having bought it two or so years ago, i really don't find myself picking it up anytime. It's just not fun to play.
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A
A decent mandolin
Anonymous 02.11.2015
Obviously for the money this mandolin won't take your breath away but it's a decent instrument. The finish looks good at first glance but when taking a closer look it has it's rough spots here and there. The "F" holes cut outs are not as smooth as you might expect. The pick guard does not have smooth rounded edging. Like the HB 35 I purchased, the pick guard looks as if it were shaped / trimmed by hand. The collars on the tuning pegs (machine heads) were not flush against the head stock on 6 of the 8 tuners (they were sticking up pretty high). So I had to loosen the strings and push them down flush. Not a big deal but it tells you a little about the attention to details on this particular instrument. When connected to the amp it worked fine. Not a lot of noise and no feedback (a good thing). Overall, not too bad. A decent mandolin to carry around with you without having to worry about your more expensive one.
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Not the best, but superb for the beginner
Anonymous 06.07.2016
I bought it to expand my instrument for studio use, I have to say that the quality is ok for the price. But if you are learning the basics of the instrument it's a good starter.
It's an industrial instrument and obviously, but the volume and the tone respect the traditional sound of a mandoline,
if found the single coil to be too much noisey. But you can change, thomann offers you tons of options for that.
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Good Price
Anonymous 15.01.2015
Very good price for this mandolin, i havent played a mandolin before but i thought the sound was very pleasent, altough when you plugged it in to a guitar amp the sound was a little tinny, i havent had much time to properly eq it but my initial reaction was that the pickups wasn't all that great.
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Harley Benton HBMA-50E Mandoline VS