Harley Benton JP/JJ Series

[stewblack]

6 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Are you sure you did it and that it wasn't there to start wtih? I mean, most of my basses have dents somewhere, but I remember doing each one, its not really something you can do without noticing.

100% certain. It happened either in the case or at the rehearsal. Weirdest thing. But I look all over a bass when it arrives and you cannot miss this. 

 

[stewblack]

8 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I've never tried it myself, but I hear you can remove (or reduce) dents in wood with a wet cloth and a soldering iron and steam it out.

The problem is less the depth of the dent than the pale wood showing through, but I will try this to level it up. Then a bit of stain or something. 

 

[CJPJ]

28 minutes ago, stewblack said:

100% certain. It happened either in the case or at the rehearsal. Weirdest thing. But I look all over a bass when it arrives and you cannot miss this. 

 

That moment you leave the room for a comfort break and your band mates decide to have a play with you new toy ….

[stewblack]

11 hours ago, CJPJ said:

That moment you leave the room for a comfort break and your band mates decide to have a play with you new toy ….

Bast@rds!

[stewblack]

I took my courage in my hands, watched a minute of a youtube video and broke out the soldering iron and damp flannel.

My tiny little white mark became a deep series of rippling dents 🤦‍♂️

Tip: Don't press the iron, just let it create steam. GENTLY!

So today out with the sandpaper, wire wool and tea...

[stewblack]

The neck now feels smooth. When the tea is still wet it's an invisible repair. Who knows? It might gradually stain down and match.

[Twunkbass]

What's the weight like on these? They look perfect but my spine is fickle 

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, Twunkbass said:

What's the weight like on these? They look perfect but my spine is fickle 

 

My 5 string JJ is 9.8 lbs. Not exactly superlight but not crazy for a 5-string. I expect the 4 string ones to be a bit lighter. The balance/feel is very good, it's a really nice design and with a nice padded strap I find it more comfortable than many other lighter basses I've got... but the weight is still 9.8 lbs.

I'm waiting for another 5 string, a JP. I'll report back when I get it (hopefully tomorrow, if not early next week).

 

edit: arriving tomorrow, just got an email from DHL

Edited May 5, 2022 by mcnach

[stewblack]

The four string is light as a feather

[Greg Edwards69]

FWIW. It’s worth keeping an eye out on thomann’s b-stock bass page for bargains. There’s a sunburst JP-45OP on there right now for £167. Not a huge saving, but still, it’ll help pay the energy bills!

[mcnach]

22 hours ago, mcnach said:

 

My 5 string JJ is 9.8 lbs. Not exactly superlight but not crazy for a 5-string. I expect the 4 string ones to be a bit lighter. The balance/feel is very good, it's a really nice design and with a nice padded strap I find it more comfortable than many other lighter basses I've got... but the weight is still 9.8 lbs.

I'm waiting for another 5 string, a JP. I'll report back when I get it (hopefully tomorrow, if not early next week).

 

edit: arriving tomorrow, just got an email from DHL

 

 

5 string JP received. It weighs 8.5 lbs! 

 

[mcnach]

Beast. I liked the JJ, but I like the JP even better. Nicer pickups and the passive electronics are simple but they do just what I need it to do.

Filed the nut slots a tiny bit as they were a bit too tall to allow a nice even lowish action, adjusted the truss rod (nice and smooth, and that little rod is handy) and saddles a tiny bit... and away you go. Not exactly a classic Precision sound (pickup is 2cm closer to the neck than standard), but it would still be recognised as Precisionesque for sure. Nice growl to it. It's also a pretty light bass for 5 strings (8.5 lbs) as I mentoned earlier. It just needs some shielding which is absent in any meaningful way. What I thought was conductive paint is just some kind of primer I guess, not conductive. But that's easy enough to fix.

 

That pickguard needs to go 'though. I don't get why it's so popular  I'll get a single ply black instead.

 

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

 

Can’t see the photo  

[stewblack]

Looks great @mcnach

Funnily enough, I'm getting the blue JJ with the white guard. Even though I believe tort is the absolute gold standard colour for a pickguard, it looks very wrong with the blue.

[mcnach]

16 hours ago, stewblack said:

Looks great @mcnach

Funnily enough, I'm getting the blue JJ with the white guard. Even though I believe tort is the absolute gold standard colour for a pickguard, it looks very wrong with the blue.

 

Ah, nice!!! As much as I am also not a fan of pearloid, the blue JJ looks very good. Tort looks fine to me on the sunburst, and the white even... but I agree, on the blue it just looks odd. 

[stewblack]

Blue JJ arrived today. 

Plays as nicely as the PJ. Looks lovely. I'm really a P pick-up guy at heart, J pups seem a little gutless in comparison, but in a band context they often excel.

Anyway another HB triumph.

[tauzero]

On 29/04/2022 at 12:41, stewblack said:

The neck now feels smooth. When the tea is still wet it's an invisible repair. Who knows? It might gradually stain down and match.

 

Oh, I thought the tea was for when you were waiting for the soldering iron to heat up.

[Twunkbass]

If the 4 strings end up being light I don't think I'll be able to resist 

[stewblack]

33 minutes ago, Twunkbass said:

If the 4 strings end up being light I don't think I'll be able to resist 

They are.

[lemmywinks]

What's the spacing on the 5 string?

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

What's the spacing on the 5 string?

 

They are 18mm. I thought it was 18.5 at first but I have measured it more carefully now.

[lemmywinks]

1 hour ago, mcnach said:

 

They are 18mm. I thought it was 18.5 at first but I have measured it more carefully now.

 

Nice one thanks, what's the low B like? Watched Lobster's quick demo and it didn't sound great on his.

 

I like that they do the JJ with a cheap active circuit in there as it gives you an easy upgrade route for a better preamp, I have a spare Artec SE3p knocking around which would turn this into a nice backup bass.

[mcnach]

On 12/05/2022 at 00:06, lemmywinks said:

 

Nice one thanks, what's the low B like? Watched Lobster's quick demo and it didn't sound great on his.

 

I like that they do the JJ with a cheap active circuit in there as it gives you an easy upgrade route for a better preamp, I have a spare Artec SE3p knocking around which would turn this into a nice backup bass.

 

 

The JJ's B string sounds fine to me, I tilted the neck pickup slightly away from it and it helped even out the sound but the stock strings are quite flexible and the B string feels a bit 'floppy'. I like the strings on the MB-5 but not so much here so we'll see how new strings behave (planning on DR Sunbeams with a 130 B-string). Quite curious to hear it with the U-Retro preamp.

 

The JP's B string was a bit more off-balance and adjusting the pickup didn't quite even out things, but I haven't spent much time with it. I've got a set of TI Jazz flats for it and once I put them on I'll try to adjust things well and see how it goes.

edit: I decided to play with the pickup height, in particular the split for the B and E strings... and yeah, it needed brought down a bit. It's amazing how big an effect adjusting pickup heights can have. So yeah, it's pretty even now. I still find it a bit floppy, especially with the stock strings which are really flexible (I can't stop myself from bending strings as it's so easy!  ) but that's more a property of teh string itself. I can't say these are the best 5 string basses ever, that would be silly, but they're a lot more than just adequate. 

 

Best B string I tried was on a Lakland 5502, not sure how much of that was teh 35" scale or just that the pickups were better designed for the B.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2022 by mcnach

[Rich]

On 25/04/2022 at 16:48, Woodinblack said:

If it is a copy of a 50s P bass why would it say anywhere it was a copy of a p bass, because then by default it wouldn't be a copy of a 50s P bass any more as the 50s P bass also didn't say it was a 50s P bass!

 

Errm... yes. Or no. Something.  mummy, my head hurts

[lemmywinks]

18 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

 

The JJ's B string sounds fine to me, I tilted the neck pickup slightly away from it and it helped even out the sound but the stock strings are quite flexible and the B string feels a bit 'floppy'. I like the strings on the MB-5 but not so much here so we'll see how new strings behave (planning on DR Sunbeams with a 130 B-string). Quite curious to hear it with the U-Retro preamp.

 

The JP's B string was a bit more off-balance and adjusting the pickup didn't quite even out things, but I haven't spent much time with it. I've got a set of TI Jazz flats for it and once I put them on I'll try to adjust things well and see how it goes.

 

Best B string I tried was on a Lakland 5502, not sure how much of that was teh 35" scale or just that the pickups were better designed for the B.

 

 

 

Thanks that's very helpful, I usually use D'addario EXL165-5 on my main bass .

 

I'm considering swapping out my backup bass for something a bit more like my main bass in terms of pickups and string spacing (JJ and 18mm) so this looks like a good candidate, shame about the neck pickup rout (I hate white scratchplates!) but it isn't a dealbreaker..

 

Not sure why the P version is passive yet also more expensive though.