Harley Benton MB-5 SB Deluxe Series

I bought this bass mainly for home studio use (I was done downtuning a 4-string) and am definitely not disappointed.

The MB-5 offers a decent, low barrier introduction to 5-string basses. The neck, though quite thick, fits nicely in my slightly-larger-than-average hands, and the contour on the body is placed perfectly to avoid getting in the way or excessive friction against the arm. The MM-style pickup and the separate volumes for each coil offer enough tonal variety for my uses, and the pickup itself sounds good with good strings. Tuning stability is fine. Out-of-the-box this bass does however require a setup in order to eliminate string buzz and correct intonation. That being said, for 130e + shipping this is pretty much the best bass I've played in that price range.

TL;DR:
Pros:
- Nice neck for larger hands
- Separate volume-pots for the 2 coils of the pickup
- Good, comfortable design
- Good tuning stability

Cons:
- Requires setup
- Factory strings aren't great
- Wood is what you'd expect for 130e

I bought this bass because I've had a MM style bass in the past and I liked it. I needed a bass for a home studio recording. This is my 3rd HB instrument, so to be honest I was rather expecting some frustrations and a bass that will be waiting as a DIY upgrade kind of thing. My main concern was fretwork, I was already planning to buy some better pickup as well. But ... let me tell you, soon as I put my hands on it I was amazed by the fact, that frets were smooth and nice! Perfect finish and nothing to complain about quality and look - wise! In this price range i have not seen ANYTHING BETTER so far. I did not have to adjust the rod, nor string height, i tuned it and the bass was ready to be plugged. The sound blew me away. It sounds MUCH better than the bass I mentioned before, that was active and almost 3x more expensive ! At some point I even thought that I will think twice before any upgrade, because I don't want to loose what I have now. Sure, low mids could be tighter and more defined, but all the rest - I couldn't actually ask for more. I will put some strings of my choice and we will see. Guys, this is an amazing bass, and HB made a huge improvement, thumbs up! I am not going to get rid of this bass any time soon. I feel like I won some kind of lottery! 4 stars only because 5 would maybe not be fair with top end instruments or instruments I never had a chance to compare this one with. MB-5 SB Deluxe is my personal 5 star bass at this point, and I had an Ibanez 605 before and believe me or not, I would not change it back.

I wanted to have a 5 string bass to record some deep parts in my hobby studio and I didn't want to bust the bank.

Pros:
- for me, it should be a one-trick-pony. I would like to have rumbling, growling deep bass for some metal and rock covers that I do for fun. This bass delivers exactly that
- the finish is nice
- frets are ok, hardware is good
- the bass plays and sounds nice overall and hardware seems to be OK for the job

Cons:
- really big, chunky neck, I will need some time to get used to it
- the nut is somewhat sharp, I accidentally hit it with my left hand and it surprised me that it hurt
- one volume knob seems to be dead, so I have to fix that

I would recommend this bass to anyone who wants a cheap 5 string bass. Quality-wise it is around the same level where my previous Squier bass was.