DP
A NICE Solid R Style Bass!
Wow what a stunning looking, and nice sounding bass!
Build quality itself is excellent! Flawlessly finished! Front and back!
Pickups work well and sound pretty good! There is a fair bit of disparity between them, but they aren't crappy. DOES it sound like a 'Ric'? Not very, but it's kinda there. It's not a slavish copy by any means!
The bridge pick up is quite bright but scooped sounding, but it's nice & punchy!
The neck THUDS! Serious low frequencies put out by it, however I think it is a bit too 'dark' sounding! But if you WANT thump and low end rumble, its got it in spades!
Now, the rub! The nut on mine, is prefectly cut to the right height, NO probs there. Tuners work well! Frets are nicely installed.
The BRIDGE assembly, while nice & solid & high mass, does NOT allow for enough lowering of the playing action! The neck pitch is too shallow! While it IS back angled, it is slight! * NOTE TO THOMANN: Do a redesign of the neck pocket to increace the neck pitch a few more degrees! *
To overcome this, I will have to GRIND down at least 2mm off the bottom of each saddle, + the groove on the rollers that sit on top to lower the bridge by at least 3mm! I have screwed the plate & grub screws all the way down, & while it did help, it is still too high for really comfortable playing! A bit disapointed about that aspect!
The bridge design itself is pretty good otherwise! It's good and solid! What you NEED for good energy transfer from the strings to the body!
AFTER I get the saddle blocks and rollers lowered, only THEN can I determine IF any frets also need levelling after!
KEEP this in mind if you are thinking of purchasing this bass.If you LIKE a really low action, you will NOT get this out of the box!
Sorry HB, while a beautiful bass, this model is a bit hit & miss!
Cheers!
Build quality itself is excellent! Flawlessly finished! Front and back!
Pickups work well and sound pretty good! There is a fair bit of disparity between them, but they aren't crappy. DOES it sound like a 'Ric'? Not very, but it's kinda there. It's not a slavish copy by any means!
The bridge pick up is quite bright but scooped sounding, but it's nice & punchy!
The neck THUDS! Serious low frequencies put out by it, however I think it is a bit too 'dark' sounding! But if you WANT thump and low end rumble, its got it in spades!
Now, the rub! The nut on mine, is prefectly cut to the right height, NO probs there. Tuners work well! Frets are nicely installed.
The BRIDGE assembly, while nice & solid & high mass, does NOT allow for enough lowering of the playing action! The neck pitch is too shallow! While it IS back angled, it is slight! * NOTE TO THOMANN: Do a redesign of the neck pocket to increace the neck pitch a few more degrees! *
To overcome this, I will have to GRIND down at least 2mm off the bottom of each saddle, + the groove on the rollers that sit on top to lower the bridge by at least 3mm! I have screwed the plate & grub screws all the way down, & while it did help, it is still too high for really comfortable playing! A bit disapointed about that aspect!
The bridge design itself is pretty good otherwise! It's good and solid! What you NEED for good energy transfer from the strings to the body!
AFTER I get the saddle blocks and rollers lowered, only THEN can I determine IF any frets also need levelling after!
KEEP this in mind if you are thinking of purchasing this bass.If you LIKE a really low action, you will NOT get this out of the box!
Sorry HB, while a beautiful bass, this model is a bit hit & miss!
Cheers!
14
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L
So so for the price.
I've had a couple Harley Benton electric guitars that I considered pretty good for the price you pay. This is the second Harley Benton bass I've bought and they both were duds. Especially when taking in to account the significant shipping cost to the US. The volume pots on this bass are horrible. You go from zero to full volume in less than a 1/4 turn. Sound is dull. In the US, you can do just as good or better at your local music store for the price I paid with shipping.
2
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C
Beautiful Bass, Terrible fretwork
My RB-414CS arrived quickly and in perfect shape to California. Workmanship and finish was excellent. It also sounded great. The string action was a bit too high so I attempted to lower it a little. No luck! Any lowering of the action caused terrible fret buzz. I investigated with my fret rocker tool and discovered high frets all over the fret board. It appeared no fret leveling had been done. At the price point it may not be reasonable to expect good fretwork.
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Dg
Looks the part.
Great value for money. required a bit of setting up no neck relief.
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JR
Could be better
Great looking bass let down by the neck which was bowed up ! and the bridge strings do not have individual adjustment. Fixed the neck with the truss rod and have got the bridge setting right. Bought this cos it looked so good , better than a Ric 4003, so ugly ! Now I have got it right I would give it 4 stars, shame it was'nt right out of the box.
5
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S
Harley Benton RB-414CS Classic Series
This bass was okay. The sound was so so. Doesn’t sound like a Rick. The quality was really good and it plays pretty good. If you change the pickups it might be a good bass.
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