H
Impressive Value
Plus points:
Thomann's excellent customer service. The first example I had was an escapee from quality control and had to be replaced. This was done quickly, and with a very helpful attitude. The second example, the one I have kept, needed a little remedial soldering to fix a broken connection.
It's a beautiful looking thing, better in the flesh than in the photographs. The combination of woods works well. It is cosmetically very attractive.
Very little, if any set up will be required. The neck pick-up is arguably a little low and the truss rod will need a little tweak as the neck is not quite concave enough. This is not a big deal, I've have had to adjust the truss rod on just about every guitar I have ever owned. The action is never going to be as good as more expensive bass, but it's good enough.
D'Addario strings. Apparently not everyone's cup of tea, but they are the brand I currently favour, so I won't be changing them, except for another set of D'Addarios when they wear out.
Smooth operating control knobs that have a very subtle but definite centre notch (not the volume control).
Reasonably quiet electronics to begin with. After three months I am replacing them with an after market active circuit.
Very good tonal range, as you would expect from an active bass ? have a listen to the samples on the Thomann site. I have seen reviewers grumble that the bass is not as deep as more expensive basses, or that the treble is not as bright. To which I would say, maybe, but learn how to play the thing. There's plenty there. More than enough for an introduction to 5 string bassery.
The through neck is obviously wider than a 4 string, and the strings are slightly closer spaced. It is, however, pleasant to play.
The balance is good. I don't find it heavy (try a Rickenbacker if you want to hurt your shoulder!)
The machine heads are precise and seem rather better quality than I had expected.
There is no significant fret buzz anywhere, although the action is medium rather than low.
Minus points:
The first example had a body in three pieces. The lower part of the bottom wing was a separate piece of mahogany. The joint was solid, but inevitably you could see where the grain changed. My current example of this model has single piece wings.
The bridge pieces are individual for each string, and not quite perfectly aligned across the guitar. They were differently misaligned on the first example I had, it looks like the manufacturers just can't get it right. I doesn't matter other than visually. The bridge pieces are steel. I can't help feeling it would have been better to have a billet bridge and tailpiece.
There is no instruction sheet - you have to work out what the controls do - volume, balance and two tone controls.
For me, the lack of a thumb rest is a big deal. Luckily I had some hardwood spare and have made my own.
Conclusion:
My experience of Harley Benton instruments is that they are of noticeably cheap construction on close inspection, obviously nowhere near the quality of a major brand instrument, but sound unexpectedly good and play unexpectedly well. This is the cheapest bass I have ever owned by a significant margin. That it is so capable for less than £200 is an indicator of how much better cheaper instruments are these days. So for a first dabble with 5 strings my immediate reaction is that really, for so little money, you can't go wrong, but don't expect to fall in love with it.
I play quite forcefully with the middle cut. Through the Hartke A100 this bass really growls ? I like it. The acid test is would I use this bass live? The answer is yes, I would, but I'd still stick with my Hohners as my main instruments.
Rated as good overall despite some drawbacks, simply because it is very good value for money.
Thomann's excellent customer service. The first example I had was an escapee from quality control and had to be replaced. This was done quickly, and with a very helpful attitude. The second example, the one I have kept, needed a little remedial soldering to fix a broken connection.
It's a beautiful looking thing, better in the flesh than in the photographs. The combination of woods works well. It is cosmetically very attractive.
Very little, if any set up will be required. The neck pick-up is arguably a little low and the truss rod will need a little tweak as the neck is not quite concave enough. This is not a big deal, I've have had to adjust the truss rod on just about every guitar I have ever owned. The action is never going to be as good as more expensive bass, but it's good enough.
D'Addario strings. Apparently not everyone's cup of tea, but they are the brand I currently favour, so I won't be changing them, except for another set of D'Addarios when they wear out.
Smooth operating control knobs that have a very subtle but definite centre notch (not the volume control).
Reasonably quiet electronics to begin with. After three months I am replacing them with an after market active circuit.
Very good tonal range, as you would expect from an active bass ? have a listen to the samples on the Thomann site. I have seen reviewers grumble that the bass is not as deep as more expensive basses, or that the treble is not as bright. To which I would say, maybe, but learn how to play the thing. There's plenty there. More than enough for an introduction to 5 string bassery.
The through neck is obviously wider than a 4 string, and the strings are slightly closer spaced. It is, however, pleasant to play.
The balance is good. I don't find it heavy (try a Rickenbacker if you want to hurt your shoulder!)
The machine heads are precise and seem rather better quality than I had expected.
There is no significant fret buzz anywhere, although the action is medium rather than low.
Minus points:
The first example had a body in three pieces. The lower part of the bottom wing was a separate piece of mahogany. The joint was solid, but inevitably you could see where the grain changed. My current example of this model has single piece wings.
The bridge pieces are individual for each string, and not quite perfectly aligned across the guitar. They were differently misaligned on the first example I had, it looks like the manufacturers just can't get it right. I doesn't matter other than visually. The bridge pieces are steel. I can't help feeling it would have been better to have a billet bridge and tailpiece.
There is no instruction sheet - you have to work out what the controls do - volume, balance and two tone controls.
For me, the lack of a thumb rest is a big deal. Luckily I had some hardwood spare and have made my own.
Conclusion:
My experience of Harley Benton instruments is that they are of noticeably cheap construction on close inspection, obviously nowhere near the quality of a major brand instrument, but sound unexpectedly good and play unexpectedly well. This is the cheapest bass I have ever owned by a significant margin. That it is so capable for less than £200 is an indicator of how much better cheaper instruments are these days. So for a first dabble with 5 strings my immediate reaction is that really, for so little money, you can't go wrong, but don't expect to fall in love with it.
I play quite forcefully with the middle cut. Through the Hartke A100 this bass really growls ? I like it. The acid test is would I use this bass live? The answer is yes, I would, but I'd still stick with my Hohners as my main instruments.
Rated as good overall despite some drawbacks, simply because it is very good value for money.
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DP
Absolutely amazing.
I'm trying to be as impartial as possible with this one.
I absolutely love looking at it cause it's a gorgeous beast, even with the little cosmetic quirks. I also love playing it cause it's insanely comfortable. The neck, even though it's thick is actually amazingly comfortable (I suppose big credit goes to the satin finish). I have no problem with playing fast. I don't slap, so I can't give you a review on that, but probably it's not the best for it considering the 24 frets. Overall, it's very comfortable to play. No frets stick out, though it will probably still need a fret job, which is fine.
Setup wise, it didn't come perfect out of the box, no buzz but high action and bad intonation, which is also fine, but it is quite tricky to set up. The individual saddles don't have an intonation screw, so basically, every time you need to set the intonation, you need to loosen the string, and guess the saddle position, and then tighten the string again. I suppose that's the price you have to pay for smaller gap between strings, beauty and also the fact that you can fix them in place and make sure the saddles don't move.
Sound. It sounds very powerful. You can make it sound both warm or punchy. It's got an amazing range. It sounds great at band practice, through DI or amp or amp into DI, and not so much with my practice amp at home. So if you buy this as your first one and only have a tiny practice amp, just lower the preamp volumes, cause the output it has is a bit too much for a small amp/speaker.
So, for closing notes:
pros:
-looks beautiful;
-satin finish;
-comfortable neck;
-good sound;
-tuners do the job;
cons:
-I suppose, the bridge, which is quite strange to operate.
I guess I will switch to an Ibanez or Warwick style. But I suppose this is just personal preference.
-some cosmetic quirks which I don't care about.
-can't play in a passive mode; the closest you can get to it is by moving the bass/treble knobs to the zero positions.
So, probably the best value for your money on the market. There is no similarly priced bass that can compete with this one.
I absolutely love looking at it cause it's a gorgeous beast, even with the little cosmetic quirks. I also love playing it cause it's insanely comfortable. The neck, even though it's thick is actually amazingly comfortable (I suppose big credit goes to the satin finish). I have no problem with playing fast. I don't slap, so I can't give you a review on that, but probably it's not the best for it considering the 24 frets. Overall, it's very comfortable to play. No frets stick out, though it will probably still need a fret job, which is fine.
Setup wise, it didn't come perfect out of the box, no buzz but high action and bad intonation, which is also fine, but it is quite tricky to set up. The individual saddles don't have an intonation screw, so basically, every time you need to set the intonation, you need to loosen the string, and guess the saddle position, and then tighten the string again. I suppose that's the price you have to pay for smaller gap between strings, beauty and also the fact that you can fix them in place and make sure the saddles don't move.
Sound. It sounds very powerful. You can make it sound both warm or punchy. It's got an amazing range. It sounds great at band practice, through DI or amp or amp into DI, and not so much with my practice amp at home. So if you buy this as your first one and only have a tiny practice amp, just lower the preamp volumes, cause the output it has is a bit too much for a small amp/speaker.
So, for closing notes:
pros:
-looks beautiful;
-satin finish;
-comfortable neck;
-good sound;
-tuners do the job;
cons:
-I suppose, the bridge, which is quite strange to operate.
I guess I will switch to an Ibanez or Warwick style. But I suppose this is just personal preference.
-some cosmetic quirks which I don't care about.
-can't play in a passive mode; the closest you can get to it is by moving the bass/treble knobs to the zero positions.
So, probably the best value for your money on the market. There is no similarly priced bass that can compete with this one.
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is
Convenient, but not perfect
The guitar has good playability and a serious appearance. The sound is average, it lacks character, but it is calm and you can work with it. I found 3-4 cosmetic flaws, notches, glue, dent, but generally nothing serious. The bass is worth the money and is suitable for home lessons and recordings. The guitar was rebuilt as always very cool.
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h
Suprisingly good!
Bought this as cheap five string bass to do some composing etc at home with tiny amp. The sound was suprisingly good (was little skeptic of the demo audios on the product page) and the quality feels overall solid.
Cant really tell is this good for actual bass player but as long time guitar player this was money's worth to have at home for quick bass needs.
Cant really tell is this good for actual bass player but as long time guitar player this was money's worth to have at home for quick bass needs.
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A
This have a very good construction and materials. After a little set up it's very comfortable. The only problem is the pick ups. These are too wide change it with standard 5 string soap bars, single coils or humbuckers. It's a bit sad but the a sound is good enugh to not to worry about it.
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K
Great Bass
Great cheap bass, only issue is one of the knobs being a little finicky. Other than that it sounds great.
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M
Great but came with a little issue
The bass is great, but the jack socket had a problem (a part of it was turning when the jack cable was in it so it broke the soldering), anyway, Thomann sent me a new one so I could replace it. You can hear that there is a bit of noise when you push the high frequencies, but it is no big deal.
On the other hand you will need to do a good setup on it, but aside from that I'm happy about it for the price.
On the other hand you will need to do a good setup on it, but aside from that I'm happy about it for the price.
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R
Excellent value
I couldn't believe the sound from this bass for the price. My only issue is with the quality of the finish. It is a bit rough in places, however, for the price it is incredible value. Well recommended.
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A
Amazing
This bass.. it is superb and its so cheap! this is the one of the only basses i could find within my price range that not only had active pick-ups, but has a 7-Ply Neck.
The sound is thick and straight out of the box there is not much setting up to do, i just adjusted the truss rod by half a turn and did nothing to the action and it was perfect. The only downside to this bass is that there are no instructions, so i didn't know what the control knobs did, by my best guess, the bottom left is volume, bottom right is a mid control? not too sure about that one, top right is treble control and top left is bass. but aside from the lack of instructions this is a great guitar and you would be hard troubled to find an equal bass in this price range
The sound is thick and straight out of the box there is not much setting up to do, i just adjusted the truss rod by half a turn and did nothing to the action and it was perfect. The only downside to this bass is that there are no instructions, so i didn't know what the control knobs did, by my best guess, the bottom left is volume, bottom right is a mid control? not too sure about that one, top right is treble control and top left is bass. but aside from the lack of instructions this is a great guitar and you would be hard troubled to find an equal bass in this price range
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