Harley Benton - cheap AND cheerful?

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, NicoMcJ said:

I made the mistake of clicking on one of his videos before.

 

Never again.

 

34 minutes ago, Velarian said:

Me too! I hate that corny “subscribe to my channel” to make the weird lobster claw hand thing disappear. 🤮

I feel the same .

 

He's also well behind the times , I played a mate's JB-40 7 year back.

[42Hz]

On 30/01/2022 at 19:17, iconic said:

The JB75FL is the same bass but with a black pickguard and same price £139😎

 

The fingerboard wood seems to differ. JB40 is Pau ferro JB75 is Laurel. IDK if that has any practical value.

[mcnach]

On 21/01/2022 at 19:07, iconic said:

I've just fitted a set of their 'Value' nickel roundwound strings to my VMJ.... just because I have them across my strats/tele and acoustics and find them perfectly fine and thought why not at that price. 

 

Well, I can confirm they have a very pleasant feel on the fingers (and thumb) good tension, settled in very quickly as regards tuning stability, nice and bright.

They do not feel like cheap strings at all, quite the opposite, they remind me of EB Slinkys if I had to do a quick and dirty comparison.

 

Obviously no idea how they will last but, the guitar ones last like any other decent string I've tried. 

 

A fiver a set, crazy value, absolutely crazy, I'm a convert. 😎

 

I was ready to remove the stock strings on my MB-5 as soon as it arrived, but I waited a little and by then the initial new 'zing' was gone and I actually really liked the strings. Still on, an the Newtone replacement set is still in its package. Pretty nice strings once they settle, which happens in a couple of weeks or so with everyday use.

[lownote]

Call me rash but I've decided to en-active my JB40FL.  Serendipity - I watched Lobster's video on upgrading to EMG pickups and blow me within hours a set of the same pups appears on the for sale section at a very good price.  No iodea what we'll sound like - well, like Lobster's I spose - but the idea is to give me  a very flexible quality active bass for very little more than £200.

[PaulThePlug]

looking on Thommans...

Those HB High Quality HQ packaging looks just like the Olympia Strings... Bargain Rounds and Flats... Gtr and Bass... shame on the Postage cost...

[stewblack]

29 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

looking on Thommans...

Those HB High Quality HQ packaging looks just like the Olympia Strings... Bargain Rounds and Flats... Gtr and Bass... shame on the Postage cost...

I have two sets of the new HB strings arrived today. I'll let you know.

[TheLowDown]

5 hours ago, stewblack said:

I have two sets of the new HB strings arrived today. I'll let you know.

They're really good IMO. I have the 5 string and 6 string SS and I will be getting the HQS flats soon. Fantastic value for money when you consider that the D'Addarrios are more than twice the price and less than half as good.

Edited April 23, 2022 by TheLowDown

[MungoBass]

I bought a brand new Precision for less than £100, fitted a set of Fender flats and was delighted with the deep vintage sound.  It had an excellent set up on delivery and the fret work was spot on with no sharp ends.  The only thing I didn’t really like was the headstock shape.....needed a ‘tele’ style makeover!  I would happily buy another HB based on this experience.

[Lw.]

Anyone played the Harley Benton kind of faux F-basses? Specifically the JP-45? 

 

I have a strange urging for a cheap bass, I generally don't really like the F bass designs but these are calling to me for some reason! 

 

Am I mad or do these look alright for £185? 

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jp_45op_white.htm

[crazycloud]

4 hours ago, Lw. said:

Anyone played the Harley Benton kind of faux F-basses? Specifically the JP-45?

I haven't but I wanted one for a while when they first came out - I'm trying to thin the herd rather than expand it ATM.

There's the HB thread on TB where a couple of people have bought these and I think Lobster has a video coming up very soon on one as IIRC an unboxing video was linked, but I never watch those.

There was also another thread on TB where one person was upset they'd copied an Arai that went for a while too. I think some had bought them in that one too. Both are in the last couple of months.

[kodiakblair]

6 hours ago, Lw. said:

Anyone played the Harley Benton kind of faux F-basses? Specifically the JP-45? 

Good thread on them here.

 

 

[Lw.]

I can't go on Talkbass but from that thread on here it seems like mostly positive reviews, seems like budget basses have come a long way since I started playing many moons ago! 

[kodiakblair]

10 hours ago, Lw. said:

I can't go on Talkbass

Jealous isn't a strong enough word to describe how I feel 🙂

[Jackopie1]

On 10/12/2021 at 11:18, madshadows said:

I have a HB Jazz bass and it's terrific, the only drawback is it's quite heavy but it plays, sounds and looks great  

 

A link to the bass:

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbb1975_na.htm

 

John 😎 

Hi John. 

 

I've had an eye on one of these- gigging with a P Bass which I'm perfectly happy with, but never owned a jazz bass so I'm definitely curious. 

 

What is the neck like? Chunky? 

 

Jack

[xgsjx]

Did you just call him Chunky?

[madshadows]

5 hours ago, Jackopie1 said:

Hi John. 

 

I've had an eye on one of these- gigging with a P Bass which I'm perfectly happy with, but never owned a jazz bass so I'm definitely curious. 

 

What is the neck like? Chunky? 

 

Jack

 

Not too chunky and plays nicely, got a low action on mine

 

John 😎 

[SuperSeagull]

Liked everything about my fretless jazz except the weight. Way too heavy to consider gigging with so it's gone to another owner now. I might be tempted by a Hofner style fretless though. 

[crazycloud]

On 24/06/2022 at 19:07, Lw. said:

I can't go on Talkbass

I smell banhammer. There are a couple of delicate types over there that think they work for twitter.

[Baloney Balderdash]

I had read and heard through the internet that Harley Benton was supposed to be unheard of value for the money, still I was surprised and astonished by just how amazing the quality was compared to the money paid of my Harley Benton GuitarBass (Harley Benton's take on the Bass VI concept) that I recently bought, my first Harley Benton ever, that I bought recently.

 

Mind it wasn't flawless, but it was still outstanding quality for the money paid, and apart from a few relatively easy fixable flaws, it felt like a really solid instrument, worth much more money, and the fretwork, apart from a few a bit sharp frets (nothing that really should bother anyone unless they insist on focusing on it), in terms of being leveled was dead on perfect, making really low action, with minimal, almost dead flat neck, relief, without any fretbuzz whatsoever, possible.

 

Here's link to the thread I dedicated to it, along with a review a few posts further down:

 

And here's an artistic rendition of a picture I shot of it:

 

 

Now I seriously GAS for their dead cheap, but, if the audio clips on Thomann's website is anything to go by (also compared to other sound clips on their side of considerably more expensive basses), amazing sounding short scale P Bass, as well as their fretless Beatbass, Harley Benton's fretless take on a Violin/Beatles bass, which judging from this YouTube demo I watched featuring it also sounds no short of amazing, like listen to this, and take into account that the first half of the video is even straight DI'ed with no additional editing done to the signal whatsoever:

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[crazycloud]

On 24/06/2022 at 14:44, kodiakblair said:

Good thread on them here.

I had forgotten about that one.

[horrorshowbass]

I've been hovering over the passive stingray clone, the MB4.

£100!

[Maude]

On 17/12/2021 at 07:12, NancyJohnson said:

I've known Josi for years...top bloke.  If you're looking for great budget pickups, Warman are brilliant.

 

On 17/12/2021 at 11:32, Bassfinger said:

His products are a cost effective way to pep up a Harley Benton.  Like the HB's, Warman pups punch well above their weight so it's a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned.

 

His customer service is invariably first class too.

 

I've got his Firebucker PUs in my old Hofner Artist bass, and I picked up a pair of the insanely high powered Drivetrain quadcoils for a future project the last time he had a sale on. 

Great pickups. 

[Maude]

I was looking for Peavey T40 reviews and watched this video on YouTube. 

He has a few HBs and loves them. 

[Bassfinger]

On 02/07/2022 at 16:39, horrorshowbass said:

I've been hovering over the passive stingray clone, the MB4.

£100!

My MB4, with Wilkinson tuners and Warman pup, is a snarling beast and has now become my main gigging tool.

 

Not only does it growl like an angry rottweiler with a deep tone that would make Brian Blessed take a respectful step back, but it's fun to play, not too heavy, looks good, and the boys in the band reckon its the best sounding of my basses. 

 

It's arguably the best combination of attributes and price of any new bass anywhere and a ripe platform for fun, cost effective modding. Were it not against God's law I'd marry it!

[SICbass]

Hi All,

 

after much hemming and hawing between an MB-5 SBK Deluxe Series and a PJ-5 HTR Deluxe Series, I plumped for the MB-5 SBK Deluxe Series. The bass is fine, but I find the string spacing a bit narrow at the low end of the neck. Not a big deal, but...

My question is, has anyone had both basses and is the PJ-5 spacing any wider? They both have the same width of nut, but I couldn't find clear info regarding spacing at the bridge.

 

Thanks,

Paul