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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t
At this price - a very good arrow !
trrrrrrrrrrg 22.11.2021
I have been looking for travel and/or harsh party instrument low price (not to fear to damage or loss); tuned and should be played 4-5hours without finger-cramp. This is it - Simple, zen-builted, easy, no flimsy parade, but real workhorse! Test!
1. Tone & sound - high, clear, almost cut-through-stone (high freq.) with some middle range taste, as "A" mandolins have. Fine.
2. Tunning machines and tunning at high possitions: so-so to well. No miracle, no tragedy.
3. Electronics - eeeh... single pickup. High, little silent, with some noise - minihumbucker would be a better choice; think evryone pay cheerly some euros more for clear, non-affected sound..
4. Touch and neck - from acceptable to - good. Great possitive surprise!
5. Look and processing - fine. No considerable reservations. Back is black!
6. MINUS: dot frets - tiny and flimsy. I dont wait long durability.
CONCLUSION: for its price a VERY FINE INSTRUMENT for beginners and also experisenced players as a less-care paddle-board, where the beers-flies-through-the-air-with -glasses-and-dent-prosthesises... :-)
DRINK A LAMP & - ENJOY!
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Excellent little instrument to learn on
Sparky 23.07.2019
I needed a mandolin for augmenting my home recording demos, I make absolutely no claims to write this review as a mandolin player - but as a guitarist using it for fills, chords and dynamics for song writing ideas.

Pros - price (crazy money for such a nice instrument)
Sound is grand acoustically (as with all stringed instruments you buy - use the set of strings they send to set up the guitar/mando - then fit better strings - as long as the gauge you want is the same)
Pick ups - decent single coil sound - but comes into its own when you try various effects - you can get a very sweet sound that you just cant get on a hi-strung guitar or a 12 string.

Cons - the action was quite high for me when it arrived, but was easily sorted with some filing and sanding - neck and nut were fine - bridge needed sanding ... a floating bridge means you MUST set the intonation carefully yourself. But that's the whole point isn't it? I enjoy doing this work so it wasn't a 'con' to me.

The frets were a bit sharp on the edges ... but you expect that when you buy a cheaper instrument, a bit of polishing and it's sorted.

If you want to add Mando sound to your arsenal - fantastic option for you. Can't beat Thomann for this range of instruments. You will need to do some basic setting up (action - intonation - pick up levelling) if that scares you .. youtube it, you'll be surprised just much you can improve an instrument without needing an expert to fine tune some things.

Superb value.
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JaneWillow 01.01.2021
It's a good beginner mandolin, but the lowest string does sound a bit bad. But it sounds okay in the back of a mix as a little sprinkle of nice sounds. Also the pickup was noisy, so I wouldn't recommend it for live. I could have returned it I suppose, but it's good for the price and I think if I want to upgrade the pickup I will.
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PT
Bon instrument moyennant des réglages et modifications
Philippe Tolet 23.04.2021
D’abord changer les cordes, comme c’est un micro magnétique, mettre des cordes avec du nickel, genre daddario ej67
Baisser l’action avec les roulettes sur le chevalet, régler l'intonation, il y a des tutoriels sur youtube si vous ne savez pas comment faire, dévissez le micro,, virez les ressorts qui ne servent à rien et remontez le micro, il est beaucoup trop bas donc le niveau est trop bas, il doit remonter au moins de 5 mm, à faire faire par un luthier si vous n’avez pas l’habitude, demandez lui de mettre un fil entre la masse et le cordier ce qui supprime complètement le bruit de fond, indispensable ! Et voilà vous avez un excellent instrument parfaitement utilisable même en concert !
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D
Pretty good
Drhummer 25.12.2021
for its price it is an amazing product, although i wish the sound was better when plugged in
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v
Affordable and quality
vslm 23.01.2023
I am satisfied with my mandolin, it sound great with or without amplifier. If you do not have acoustic amplifier you might need to adjust the tone and effects a little to get the authentic mandolin sound
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LB
My firts mandolin....
Lee B. 18.06.2013
I have wanted a mandolin for some time but had no idea what I was looking for. My budget was limited and so was my choice. Someone recommended this mandolin to me and after giving it some thought I decided to order it. I have to say I was not disappointed! It is very well made and the finish is excellent, more importantly its a nice instrument to play and has a beautiful tone.

Well worth considering if you have a limited budget
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S
good value
StefB 02.01.2020
very nice mandoline for this price range, it sounds good enough for my purpose
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A
Great value
Anonymous 20.04.2015
I am a guitarist who likes to dabble in mandolin, ukulele and other instruments occasionally, and this mandolin was everything I needed to do that without spending a lot of money. Recommended unless you are a serious mando player.
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V
Good work horse
Vetrodar 11.11.2020
Nice sounding instrument, but have not very good qality & poore frets
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Harley Benton HBMA-50E Mandoline VS