Harley Benton Bass Expander

[kodiakblair]

I first heard about these start of May then they were pre-order but promptly got dropped from Thomann's product list. Thinking it was just a supply problem I emailed Thomann and asked them for news when they sorted out whatever problem they had.

Start of last month I got word so ordered one. 2 days later they were sold out Few days later my £85 DI pedal arrived. Nice sturdy little box about the same size as my Eden WTDI. Reading L-R you got Blend,Bass,2 knobs for sweepable Mids,Treble. 2nd row is Volume,2 knobs for Compressor and a Gain. XLR,Headphones and 1/4" Amp out, 3.5mm Line-In,Input and Thru.

It runs on 9v battery,DC power or phantom power. Ground/Lift and a 0dB/-10dB input switch.

Great wee thing for practise with the line-in volume set at source. Been playing around with it for last couple of weeks and must say I'm pleased with it. Just a good wee DI that does its job.Don't really know what else I can say,the differences are noticable soon as you start turning knobs.

£85 may seem a lot for something with the Harley Benton logo but I reckon with another name and middle man costs it would hit £160 easy.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_custom_line_bass_di_expander.htm

[Mudpup]

That looks like good value - good spot!

[funkydoug]

Looking at buying on of these... any issues with yours so far? And how does it sound??
Cheers, Doug

[ped]

Looks like a neat travel headphone practice tool. Anyone know of something like his with built in reverb? That would be my ideal unit.

[Daz39]

Does the Gain make it remotely growly?

[kodiakblair]

@funkydoug

Aye it's good wee unit but the phantom power doesn't work on mine and Thomann aren't covering themselves in glory about fixing it.

I've still not pushed the Gain much but the find the blend really handy. Like anything it works different with different basses. SC P-bass with flats was easy to sound great, active 5 string with roundwounds I'm still trying to get there.

I've spotted it sold under a couple of different names. Modtone is one, Eleca is the other. The Modtone has a video review up already.

[funkydoug]

Thanks for the info, will check the modtone vid.
Cheers, Doug.

[ped]

Well it's not the best demo video in the world I found the vid - here it is.

http://youtu.be/VbvauzmnBfw

I ordered one for travelling a couple of days ago so will let you know what it's like. Can't be any worse than the vox amplug it's replacing!

[kodiakblair]

Thomann have confirmed the phantom power doesn't work on these. Sales had been changed to request only,imagine buyers will get an email explaining the issue to save the returns hassle.

I'm keeping the pedal

[ped]

Got mine today. I bought a 'B stock' one, and, whilst there isn't a mark on the pedal, it arrived in a completely sodden cardboard box. The outer box, though (the parcel) was fine. Very strange. I didn't expect it to work at all but plugged in it was fine. Maybe it was the silica gel sachet

It's fine for the price. It plays better with passive basses than active - it seems quite easy to distort the pre and I'm not talking nice distortion. Careful use of the gain and input pad means I can get a decent headphone volume with an active bass, and a passive bass is louder and less prone to distorting. That said, my active bass is pretty powerful so it could be that.

The EQ section sounds really nice, actually. It didn't come with a manual (does anyone have a pdf?) so I'm unsure of the shelving but it didn't take long to dial in my sound with a few minor adjustments. The blend knob is handy.

I wasn't expecting much from the compressor and it's taken a while to get it sounding OK - again, better with a passive as my active seems to push it too much. I prefer a limiter style so I set the threshold and compression accordingly and it sounds pretty natural, and after a few minutes you really don't notice it. Of course A/B comparison with my main unit the difference is clear as day but for a little practice tool, it's fine and a nice addition to have.

The line in works, so I can play along with drum tracks. That's all I wanted it for really. Nicely built, all round quite happy for the price. There's not much hiss at all, only when you crank the gain or the compressor is it noticeable, so that's nice bonus. I'm using it with a battery so when the one in it dies I'll see how long they last. As I say though this is going to see fairly irregular use so I'm sure that'll be acceptable too.

Will bring to the bash probably if anyone wants to try!

Oh and without a manual I was initially confused about the LEDs - green is off, red is on (!?)

cheers
ped

[url="https://ibb.co/fQhkpF"][/url]
[url="https://ibb.co/c5mObv"][/url]

[kodiakblair]

Not much of a manual ped but here it is anyway :-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8zq5ubjeadzxt1/Bass%20Expander.pdf?dl=0

[ped]

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1505236663' post='3370450']
Not much of a manual ped but here it is anyway :-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m8zq5ubjeadzxt1/Bass%20Expander.pdf?dl=0
[/quote]

Thanks for that. Strange, I don't think my clip light goes red when the signal is definitely clipping. It kind of flickers a bit but not a clear red even when maxed.

Thanks again for sending the manual

ped

[Bigwan]

These have been pulled from sale again. Got in just in time Ped...

[Danuman]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1505247072' post='3370544']
These have been pulled from sale again. Got in just in time Ped...
[/quote]

Drat. I'll have to keep an eye out for something better, I suppose.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1505233218' post='3370416']
Of course A/B comparison with my main unit the difference is clear as day but for a little practice tool, it's fine and a nice addition to have.
[/quote]

Congrats! If I'm permitted to be so bold... what's your main unit?

[ped]

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1505251178' post='3370582']


Drat. I'll have to keep an eye out for something better, I suppose.



Congrats! If I'm permitted to be so bold... what's your main unit?
[/quote]

You may! It's a Roland VB99 which has a host of really nice sounding compressors and limiters. there are, of course, many more parameters to choose from and I like having an 'attack' control but the HB does well for the price, size and the fact it's battery powered.

[Danuman]

I'm on the lookout for something that might serve as a practice tool for the road. (I suppose ideally with some tone-shaping pre/DI backup/other capabilities...) The VB99 is surely not that! Haha.

Nice to learn about it, though. It looks frightening!

[ped]

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1505322152' post='3371061']
I'm on the lookout for something that might serve as a practice tool for the road. (I suppose ideally with some tone-shaping pre/DI backup/other capabilities...) The VB99 is surely not that! Haha.

Nice to learn about it, though. It looks frightening!
[/quote]

Well it's definitely not battery powered! Like you I'm looking for a little practice tool too, this works nicely but maybe check out the Korg Pandora if you can find one. Actually I don't think that has a D.I. I'll let you know if I find anything. Everything I've found is missing at least one thing. Pick any but one of these!

Compressor
Reverb
Line in
Battery powered
Small
Light
EQ
Decent volume
Headphone out

[kodiakblair]

Definitely no DI on the Pandora. Great wee box though I use mine when trying out basses.

[Bigwan]

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1505323110' post='3371069']


Well it's definitely not battery powered! Like you I'm looking for a little practice tool too, this works nicely but maybe check out the Korg Pandora if you can find one. Actually I don't think that has a D.I. I'll let you know if I find anything. Everything I've found is missing at least one thing. Pick any but one of these!

Compressor
Reverb
Line in
Battery powered
Small
Light
EQ
Decent volume
Headphone out
[/quote]

Ipad with interface would cover all of those surely... Means buying into ios but I haven't looked back. Selling up pretty much everything else.

[ped]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1505326705' post='3371114']


Ipad with interface would cover all of those surely... Means buying into ios but I haven't looked back. Selling up pretty much everything else.
[/quote]

I tried an iRig HD2 but found the latency offputting. I posted elsewhere about it but I never found if it was just mine or all of them but either way it went back. Was a shame because it would be perfect. Maybe I should try another but I'm cool with the Benton now.

[funkydoug]

I've always ended up looking at compact multitrack recorders for home practice ...
For example, Boss br80, br800 & zoom r8, r24 tick most of your boxes, and more. No DI though, just line level out.
I've had several over the years and the modern ones from zoom and boss basically sound very good indeed for your purposes. The BR80 in particular could be used as a micro preamp. There is a tiny learning curve but it's really not an issue at all. They also cover your guitar and vocal needs too if you're that way inclined, work as field recorders and USB interfaces.
Main advantage over iPhone /iPad is that they are dedicated units. So they don't get updates at inconvenient times, I don't get email, notifications or other cr@p when I'm playing and they have the required inputs and outputs without the need for a separate box.
Can you tell I'm a fan???

Cheers, Doug

Edited September 13, 2017 by funkydoug

[ped]

[quote name='funkydoug' timestamp='1505337640' post='3371227']
I've always ended up looking at compact multitrack recorders for home practice ...
For example, Boss br80, br800 & zoom r8, r24 tick most of your boxes, and more. No DI though, just line level out.
I've had several over the years and the modern ones from zoom and boss basically sound very good indeed for your purposes. The BR80 in particular could be used as a micro preamp. There is a tiny learning curve but it's really not an issue at all. They also cover your guitar and vocal needs too if you're that way inclined, work as field recorders and USB interfaces.
Main advantage over iPhone /iPad is that they are dedicated units. So they don't get updates at inconvenient times, I don't get email, notifications or other cr@p when I'm playing and they have the required inputs and outputs without the need for a separate box.
Can you tell I'm a fan???

Cheers, Doug
[/quote]

Thanks, yeah all of those look great and probably ideal for practice. I did look at a few in gear4music but some didn't have batt power or didn't have line in etc but I could probably have tried harder. The BR80 looks nice. Thanks for the heads up. The Benton will suffice for now.