Harley Benton: Roswell v Tonerider pups?

[lownote]

I'm mulling putting Toneriders into my Harley Benton JB.  Maybe even with a KiOgon loom.  Logic tells me that for £138 new this bass cannot have good wires. But maybe I'm being too negative. Any of you cats with knowledge got a position on this? 

Edited January 11, 2022 by lownote

[kodiakblair]

2 hours ago, lownote said:

Any of you cats with knowledge got a position on this? 

All depend if you think a Chinese pickup ( Tonerider) will be better than a Korean pickup (Roswell).

 

Tonerider are a relative newcomer , 18 years in business , Roswell close to 30

 

With regard to specs there's not a lot between them , IMO. Both use alnico 5 slugs and both have braided hook up wire.  The wire count between the two differs ; Tonerider quote 7.4k for the neck and 8.2k for the bridge. Roswell say 7.55k for neck and 7.82k for bridge . 

 

Does it make a huge difference ?

 

Tonerider only give the Henry reading for the neck , 3.2H . Roswell say nothing but the similar alnico 5 braided wire Donlis quote 3.0H for their 7.2k neck pickup and 3.2H for their 7.6k , expect the neck pickups to be about the same with the Tonerider bridge being slightly louder than the Roswell.

 

Personally. I wouldn't bother. 

 

 

Pots/caps ... 

 

If they start to fail ,change them ; same as you would with any bass. I've 8 year old Bentons with the stock pots/cap/jack sockets 👍

 

I totally understand the " it only cost £138 there must be something dodgy" thinking but Harley Bentons are just decent basses sold at affordable prices , factory makes a modest profit/Thomann makes a modest profit ; big money for both is the massive volume of sales.

[MichaelDean]

I'd say that the exception to the above with pots is if all of the volume or tone roll off happens in the last bit of the sweep, and you're not happy with that, then it might be worth thinking about replacing them. 

 

I feel like the pots are doing something now in my HB tele after switching them out. Before it was literally all or nothing. 

 

@KiOgon also makes some really nice looms...

[lemmywinks]

The loom in there will most likely be fine, if you want to spend some money on upgrading wiring then grab a TS100 or SQ001 iron plus a power supply for £40ish. Passive J/P bass wiring is entry level stuff if you have decent equipment, loads of guides and diagrams online. 

[Robbo149]

FWIW, I had a HB Jazz bass a while back & was also going to swap the pickups for something 'better' but I actually thought the Roswells were pretty good, so left them in. 🙂

[iconic]

Spend your hard earned on trying different strings, you'll notice more of a difference. 😎