S
I like it
When I first seen this bass, I instantly liked the look. I bought it to be my experimental platform for flatwound strings, and intended to change the pickup straight away. But the stock pickup sounds fine to me, and an overall quality is very good, so I decided not to modify anything.
For this price it is really hard to beat.
Update - I installed a push pull for a series-parallel connection of the coils. This humbucker has 4 wires, so you could easily do it. It has the same color wires as seymour duncan, so just look for the wiring diagram on seymour duncan website, called Jazz Bass series wiring. As it seems, it was wired a parallel before, hence the output was average. Now it has also an additional "real" humbucker sound. Highly recommended and easy mode.
For this price it is really hard to beat.
Update - I installed a push pull for a series-parallel connection of the coils. This humbucker has 4 wires, so you could easily do it. It has the same color wires as seymour duncan, so just look for the wiring diagram on seymour duncan website, called Jazz Bass series wiring. As it seems, it was wired a parallel before, hence the output was average. Now it has also an additional "real" humbucker sound. Highly recommended and easy mode.
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G
Epic bass!
The HB was really well put together. It was playable straight out of the box. Almost every bass I’ve ever bought needed a few tweaks to make it right, and the HB was no exception. The main tweak was the action (string height) at the nut…each string slot needed a little file to lower the string (being careful to not go too low!). It took about 10 minutes and made a huge difference. I took it on a session together with my Status Retro Jazz…an unfair comparison as the Status cost 35 times the HB. The HB was more than adequate; it had the honky sound of a Stingray, it sat well, with no neck dive, smooth frets, a slightly fatter neck profile than the Jazz…a joy to play. A P bass sounds like a P bass, a J bass sounds like a J bass, and the HB sounds like a Stingray. It’s a great looking bass, nice and light. Un-be-f8cking-lievable at this price. Couple of negatives: the pole pieces in the pickup protrude a little more than I’d like, and the tuners feel cheap (but the bass stayed in tune all day). I’ve played £500 basses that are not as good as this. At £119 (UK price Sept 2023) I might just get a few more to match my clothes.
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S
Stings Like a Ray, Makes Great Music...Man! A Winner On All Fronts!
Forget the "at this price point" malarkey, this is one fine bass at any price! Astounding Harley Benton can offer such appointments, solid build quality and downright FUN playability on a such budget friendly instrument. Harley Benton's matte black finishes are something to behold, they really have it down, smooth as silk, all over darkness. Super versatile humbucking pickups and a solid hardware suite make us wonder how anyone can compete? Nice and lively unplugged, as nasty as you wanna be plugged in, simply inspirational and just plain really fun to play. Can't go wrong here.
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J
nice bass for a verry sharp price
this bass does what it needs to do
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Bo
Believe the hype
This bass came in right before my band practice, so I took it out of the well packed box and brought it straight there with another bass just in case there was a problem with the MB-4. I plugged it in and couldn't believe it. That classic stingray sound with a perfect setup right out of the box, shipped to the US for less than $200! It feels, sounds and looks great. My whole band was impressed and one member is buying his own HB P bass now. It just moved my G&L down in the pecking order of my bass collection. No complaints at all!
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G
Far exceeded my expectations!!
Can’t beat Thomann music for customer service, speed of shipping and giving the consumer an incredible value. This bass arrived in about 4 days from the time I placed the order. Shipping from Germany to NJ in that time is amazing! It arrived very well packaged and safe without a single blemish. The build quality and sound rivals instruments costing ten times as much. The set up was spot on - easily playable without any buzzing or unpleasantness. Couldn’t find any sharp fret edges. The pictures on the website don’t do the mat black finish justice. Looks way way better in person. I did change the strings to flat wound’s (personal preference ) but there were nothing wrong with the included strings. Overall a very attractive, well built, easy playing, great sounding, great value bass.
Way to go Harley Benton!!
Way to go Harley Benton!!
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g
I love this bass simple!
Much lighter as I thought, I use with flats very low action, comfortable neck and good quality for this price.
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DS
Absolute Bargain
Brilliant instrument, and exceptionally good value. Solid construction and well made, and a great choice either as a stock guitar or as a modding platform for later upgrades. It will need a proper setup in time, but it is unbelievably good for the price and you would pay a considerable amount for a comparable instrument from a retail store.
Big, thick, aggressive tone. Absolutely over-the-moon with the purchase.
Big, thick, aggressive tone. Absolutely over-the-moon with the purchase.
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MC
Cheap, but with loads of cheer - Harley Benton does it again.
It looks great, mean and moody in the black. It has a wonderful gritty, growly tone. It's great to play, a little less chunky in the neck than a P and reasonably light. It's well finished, and required little in the way of setting up to make a great playing instrument. I bought it as a backup for my husband to gig with, but he loves it so much it has become his main gigging bass and he takes his Fender Geddy Lee Jazz as a backup to this! Really can not find any fault with this instrument, and for the price it is astonishing value.
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B
Beautiful finish, a small set up required but play lovely out the box.
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