NBD : Harley Benton GuitarBass VS Vintage Series [Bass VI] - with review!

[Baloney Balderdash]

Edit!!!: Updated the title to be more in line with the updated thread.

 

Here's my "review": 

 

 

I just ordered a Harley Benton GuitarBass VS Vintage Series from Thomann, which essentially is a Squier Bass VI clone with a fixed bridge, which again is a 30" short scale 6 string bass, but tuned like a guitar, just 1 octave lower, and with typical guitar string spacing.

This Harley Benton actually gets really good reviews, and Harley Benton instruments are generally known to be amazing value for the money.

Also judging from reviews the quality control has improved since they started selling this model.

 

Should arrive by the middle of next week.

 

I plan on stringing it with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .026 - .018 (plain string) D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound steel core strings, and tuning it to G standard tuning, that is 3 half steps above regular E standard tuning, as in G1 - C2 - F2 - A#2 - D3 - G3.

 

 

 

Will report back with pictures and my personal impression of it once it has arrived and I have had a chance to try it out properly.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Woodinblack]

Its an interesting bass for sure, and gets round the issue of having the tremelo on the Bass VI that always seemed more problems than it was worth

[gafbass02]

I had one and it was just brilliant. I couldn’t find a use for it so moved it on, but it was far better than the squier vi I owned previously. 

[stewblack]

Very interested in this thread

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, gafbass02 said:

I had one and it was just brilliant. I couldn’t find a use for it so moved it on, but it was far better than the squier vi I owned previously. 

 

Looks lovely, especially the wood. Not a fan of the sunburst / tort colour scheme thing but probably just as well as I would end up getting one, and I have had 2 bass VIs and a Ibanez SRC6, I don't know why I am incapable of realising it is not really something I am going to use!

[theyellowcar]

I had a Squier Bass VI for a few years but could never quite figure out what to do with it. This caught my eye as being good value!

[Baloney Balderdash]

6 hours ago, theyellowcar said:

I had a Squier Bass VI for a few years but could never quite figure out what to do with it. This caught my eye as being good value!

It does work decently as a regular bass with 2 extra strings or as a decent extremely downtuned guitar as well, but really to make it work optimally, for it to really shine, you need to treat it as an unique instrument in its own regard and on its own terms.

 

And as far as I am concerned that is as a melodic/solo instrument primarily, which in a traditional band context would mean in the role of a lead instrument, filling out the sonic spectrum/space between the guitar(s) and the bass, or alternatively used as the basis for ambient work in combination with an extended use of effects.

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

Also, judging from the demos I've watched featuring the Harley Benton GuitarBass its stock pickups actually sound really great, and it even seems like all 5 pickup combinations produce great and very usable for optaining different flavors of tone (like with basses and guitars I usually tend to find one setting that to me sounds better than any other and then stick to that exclusively, but with this I could actually totally see my self making use of the pickup selector switch for different situation and parts), so not very likely I would ever want to upgrade the pickups.

 

But if I did decide to upgrade the pickups, does anyone know if a regular Strat pickups (and would that go for both the Strat pickups where the bottom board of the pickup is flush with the pickup, as well as the ones with sort of a small triangle of the bottom board sticking out to one side a bit?) fit the cavities in the body and cutouts in the pickguard (like for instance a Seymour Duncan Strat Hot Rails single coil sized blade humbucker), and also how big are the cavities for the pickups in the body, a tight fit for the stock pickups, or would there be room for installing something like a mini humbucker sized pickup without additional routing needed (Like for instance the TV Jones Thunderblade pickup, or the Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker neck replacement pickup (both double bladed humbuckers). Of course regardless you would then still need to cut a fitting hole in the pickguard)?

 

If not which pickups would then fit, only Fender Jaguar and Fender Bass VI pickups?

Edited April 30, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

YES! 

 

Tracking service says it is in the process of being delivered and that I should get it later today! 

 

So much looking forward to get my fingers on it. 

 

Just really hope that I haven't been unlucky in terms of quality control with my specific unit (would be such an anti climax, plus tedious to go through the troubles of returning it).

 

As said I will write an update once I got it and have had a chance to try it out properly.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

Unfortunately whoever was to deliver the package scratched them self in the butt and chose to call that an "attempted" delivery, so now I'll have to wait till tomorrow, unless they chose to pull the same trick once more.

 

And customer service is absolutely useless.

Edited May 4, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[gjones]

I wonder if you put lighter strings on it whether it would sound like a Strat?

[shoulderpet]

I have been curious about the one for a while but never brought one as the string spacing is way too tight for me, I know they are aimed at pick players but my picking technique is pitiful at best

[Baloney Balderdash]

17 hours ago, gjones said:

I wonder if you put lighter strings on it whether it would sound like a Strat?

No, it would most definitely not, not with that much longer scale length, for one because the tension of the strings would be that much higher, or with the same kind of tension the gauge of the strings insanely thin, and that is just one aspect of how that the scale length would effect the tone differently.

 

Plus the pickups might be voiced differently.

 

Most likely would sound closer to short scale 6 string piccolo bass rather than a Strat.

 

16 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

I have been curious about the one for a while but never brought one as the string spacing is way too tight for me, I know they are aimed at pick players but my picking technique is pitiful at best

Well, I prefer to use a pick for bass, and fingers for electric guitar, like acoustic classical guitar style.

 

Not sure which I go with yet, but I kind of dread to think of how I will deal with the tight string spacing as well, haven't played guitar for a long while, though the longer scale length might help a bit with with it not feeling to cramped after all, the thicker string gauge though possibly making it worse.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

Got it yesterday.

 

 

First impression:

 

Looks beautiful, mind I would personally have preferred a different finish, but for what it is it looks genuinely great, and I can't spot any obvious finish flaws.

 

But damn, this is big and heavy, even though it is a short scale it is exactly as big as my 34" scale Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic bass, because of where the bridge is positioned on the body, as well as the 6 inline tuners headstock, and also just as heavy as the Aria Pro, despite the fact that the body of the Harley Benton is supposed to be basswood, and my full scale Aria Pro features an ash body (haven't actually weighted it, but my best bet is just about 5 kg (~12 lbs) or so).

 

 

Edit!!!:
Ah, this explains it, apparently Thomann haven't updated the specs for this Harley Benton GuitarBass on their homepage, while this is what it says on Harley Benton's own homepage: "...the Harley Benton GuitarBass has a nato wood body and a bolt-on maple neck with a Makassar ebony fretboard...". (both those wood types being about as heavy as wood gets and extremely hard, sturdy and stiff. Used to be respectively a basswood body and a heat treated maple (Roseacer) fretboard, which is what it still says on Thomann's homepage)

 

 

Edit #2:

So I wrote to Thomann to get a confirmation on the wood used for this instrument, but they replied that after having one of their guitar technicians expect their demo model he confirmed that the spec list on Thomann's own homepage was indeed correct, that is a Roseacer (heat treated maple) fretboard and a Basswood body, despite not matching the description on Harley Benton's homepage. 

 

However I am not exactly entirely convinced about this guitar technician also being a wood expert, and how he could possibly even make a proper accession through the finish of this instrument, even if he really in fact actually should happen to also be an expert in wood. 

 

And in any case it still leaves the question why Harley Benton would claim the body being made of Nato wood and the freboard Makassar Ebony in the description of this instrument on their homepage, though the spec list on the same page does indeed match that on Thomann's.

 

Also still it doesn't quite explain how a piece of basswood this size could possibly be so abnormally heavy as is the case, despite the fact that it is supposed to be a really light wood type, even when accounting for natural variations from individual tree to tree and even specific cut to cut out of the same tree.

 

I guess it must remain one of life's great mysteries, and I guess I'll just have to learn to accept that I'd most likely never will come to learn which of the official claims match the actual truth, or even if either of them even does, and if the reality of which wood types used for this instrument could possibly be an entirely different 3rd mystery combination.

 

 

Picking it up I also noticed how massive the neck is as well, really chunky, almost baseball bat-esque type, neck, but surprisingly comfortable despite that fact.

 

And also the grains of the piece of maple that the neck is made of, exposed by the thin satin clear finish of the back of the neck, runs as good as perfectly straight along the length of the neck, as they ideally should for optimal stability and lowest risk for the neck to eventually developing a warp/twist, in theory at least, which the Makassar ebony fretboard, which as said is an extremely hard and stiff type of wood, is no doubt going to help with as well.

 

After tuning it up and playing it acoustically: nice low action from stock, and no fret buzz at all, though the fret ends are a bit sharp here and there, and could have used a bit more thorough filing, but nothing that bothers me too much, also the stock strings feels a bit rough, and the low E string, with it's just .084 gauge, is way too floppy, but overall it feels comfortable to play, though it will take some time getting used to the super narrow standard guitar string spacing, constantly fumbling, my fingers tripping over each other, and hitting the wrong strings.

 

Now I didn't actually plug it in before restringing it with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .024 - .018 (plain string) D'Addario XL nickle plated steel hex core roundwound strings, and tuning it to G standard tuning, as in 3 half steps above regular E standard tuning, as I planed to, and setting it up properly, so can't comment on how it sounded  plugged in straight from stock, and with the stock strings.

 

As said I can get the action just as low as I prefer it without any fret buzz whatsoever, that is ever so slightly below 2mm (~0.079" = ~5/64") low G (what would normally be low E) string side, and then declining towards just about 1.5mm (~0.059" = ~4/64") high G (what would normally be high E) string side, measured at 12th fret from top of fret to bottom of string (and with so minimal relief that the neck is very close to being dead flat), and could probably go even lower still without any fret buzz (in fact the actual measurements are slightly bellow the numbers mentioned, but pretty much fits spot on measured at the 17th fret), which is pretty impressive for an instrument in this price class.

 

The nut slots are cut at perfect depth as well.

 

Plugging it in first thing I noticed was how noisy it is when the pickup switch is on a single pickup, which I guess is what to be expected from single coil pickups, the noise does though almost entirely disappear as soon as you are touching the strings, creating a ground connection, so shielding it should help tremendously on this issue, the noise is not anything beyond regular unshielded guitar noise when 2 pickups are on at the same time though.

 

My favorite position being the middle pickup soloed, which actually sound pretty great, other pickup combinations sound nice enough, but not exactly blown away by the tone. 

 

Played acoustically it does sound great though, and as said the middle pickup soloed sounds pretty great too, but I am most likely going to eventually upgrade the pickups for double bladed humbucker single coil format Strat pickups.

 

Also the balance across the strings with the pickups adjusted right (that is low side being adjusted just slightly lower than high side) is pretty close to perfectly even, which I assume is thanks to the pole pieces of the pickups being stackered following the radius of the finger board. 

 

All in all I am really satisfied.

 

This Harley Benton GuitarBass, Fender Bass VI inspired instrument, definitely punch a good deal above it's price class, and I can warmly recommend it.

 

 

Here it is:

 

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Cat Burrito]

Interesting. I didn't know that this existed. I have a Burns version. Again cheaper than the Squier. I bought it for some Glen Campbell style melodies in an original recording band but have actually wound up using mine a lot in an 80s goth duo. Love mine. 

[bertbass]

Newtone make a set of strings specially for this.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Now that I spend a little more time with this instrument, have gotten used to the narrow string spacing (sort of just a matter of getting back to it, since I do play guitar too, even if it must be something like a year ago or so I did so last time), and had time to dial in my "amp-less" setup to work optimally with it, I have fallen deeply in love with this instrument.

 

Plays awesomely great, feels really good in my hands, and not least with the middle pickup soloed sounds amazing, really punchy and snappy with a nice amount of bite as well.

 

This is definitely taking over as my main instrument.

 

And I will be able to use it both as the basis for new ambient tracks with my main solo project "Fjernsind", with the G standard tuning I use in place of guitar for my alternative folk project "...and for such a long time", as well as the main instrument for my sort of stoner/doom rock project "all I nil", that I otherwise have used my 28,6" 4 string tenor bass, in G standard tuning as well, for, before I got this Harley Benton GuitarBass.

 

Love it.

 

Though I will need to find a replacement for that middle position stock single coil pickup that I love the tone of soloed, cause it is intolerably noisy (not too bad with my hands on some metal parts of the bass, creating a ground route for the bridge ground wire, but the hum is insanely loud whenever I don't). .

 

Ideally I would want a humbucker pickup in a Strat single coil format, either a true humbucker double bladed one, or just one with stacked coils that'll kill the hum, but while sounding as close as possible to the stock one.

 

I just have absolutely no idea how I am supposed to get one that does, unless in the unlikely case that someone else owning this Harley Benton went through that same process and succeeded to find such a pickup dial in with the right answer.

 

I suppose my best bet would be a stacked coil design though, for at least sounding as close as possible to a true single coil pickup as possible, and Alnico 5 magnet based like the stock one.

 

Eventually the plan is to swap out all 3 stock pickups, even if I don't really need more than just 1 great tone, and by far most likely will stat in that middle pickup soloed position for something like 90% of the time.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[crazycloud]

25 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Ideally I would want a humbucker pickup in a Strat single coil format, either a true humbucker double bladed one, or just one with stacked coils that'll kill the hum, but that sounds as close as possible to the stock one.

 

I just have absolutely no idea how I am supposed to get one that does, unless in the unlikely case that someone else owning this Harley Benton went through that same process and succeeded to find such a pickup dial in with the right answer.

Guitar pickups work fine in basses, just avoid the really hot overwound types. Musiclily and Wilkinson have some twin blades wound around 8-10k that sound fine and are not expensive at all. Both on amazon and epay and Musiclily sell both direct.

 

Another not expensive but name brand would be a Wilde (Bill Lawrence) L45S.

[BigRedX]

On 29/04/2022 at 15:59, Woodinblack said:

Its an interesting bass for sure, and gets round the issue of having the tremelo on the Bass VI that always seemed more problems than it was worth

 

IME as soon as you fit sensibly heavy strings in order to get decent sounding and feeling E and A string, the vibrato mechanism becomes completely inoperable to people with normal arm muscles.

[BigRedX]

On 04/05/2022 at 17:17, shoulderpet said:

I have been curious about the one for a while but never brought one as the string spacing is way too tight for me, I know they are aimed at pick players but my picking technique is pitiful at best

 

They appear to be aimed a guitar players rather than pick players per se. Having said that I found the string spacing on my Squier Bass VI tight even by guitar standards, and borderline unplayable with the thicker Bass VI strings.

[BigRedX]

9 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I will need to find a replacement for that middle position stock single coil pickup that I love the tone of soloed, cause it is intolerably noisy (not too bad with my hands on some metal parts of the bass, creating a ground route for the bridge ground wire, but the hum is insanely loud whenever I don't). .

 

Ideally I would want a humbucker pickup in a Strat single coil format, either a true humbucker double bladed one, or just one with stacked coils that'll kill the hum, but that sounds as close as possible to the stock one.

 

I just have absolutely no idea how I am supposed to get one that does, unless in the unlikely case that someone else owning this Harley Benton went through that same process and succeeded to find such a pickup dial in with the right answer.

 

I suppose my best bed would be a stacked coil design though, for at least sounding as much as possible to a true single coil pickup as possible, and Alnico 5 magnet based like the stock one.

 

Eventually the plan is to swap out all 3 stock pickups, even if I don't really need more than just 1 great tone, and by far most likely will stat in that middle pickup soloed position for something like 90% of the time.

 

On both of my 3-pickup Bass VIs (Squier and Burns) I found that the middle pickup was best for "bass" sounds although neither suffer from the noise problems you describe despite having single coil pickups, so I'd investigate the the shielding and grounding on your bass before committing to the hassle and expense of a pickup change. 

[Cat Burrito]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

On both of my 3-pickup Bass VIs (Squier and Burns) I found that the middle pickup was best for "bass" sounds although neither suffer from the noise problems you describe despite having single coil pickups, so I'd investigate the the shielding and grounding on your bass before committing to the hassle and expense of a pickup change. 

I noticed the same with my Burns

[Joe Nation]

I'm curious about how the Bass VI sound compares to a conventional bass (eg a Jazz), a baritone guitar (~27" scale length) and a conventional guitar (eg a Strat). How are baritones and Bass VIs tuned compared to ~25" guitars - an octave lower, two octaves? Anyone know of any youtube vids with a good comparison? Obviously they'll all be very different, but I've never knowingly heard a Bass VI or a baritone in isolation.

[crazycloud]

17 minutes ago, Joe Nation said:

How are baritones and Bass VIs tuned compared to ~25" guitars - an octave lower, two octaves?

Bass VI types are generally the same as a guitar EADGBE, an octave lower.

 

Baritones vary a bit more but the two most common I've encountered have been BEADF#B, or ADGCEA depending on scale, string gauge and what you're playing. But there are others.

[BigRedX]

With regard to comparing the sound of a Bass VI to more "conventional" instruments I couldn't really comment since I've never spent any serious time with the ones mentioned in @Joe Nation's post.

 

Standard tuning of a Bass VI is E-E a octave below that of a standard guitar. Baritone Guitars tend to be B-B for 28" scale or A-A for 30" scale, although just like any guitar you can actually tune them any way you want. My Bass VIs are tuned EADGCB because the open C string is more useful to me than B for for drone parts in our songs in C and Am.

 

Most Bass VIs have three single-coil pickups in roughly Stratocaster positions, but the tuning will mean that you don't automatically get Stratocaster-like sounds out of them. Baritone Guitars tend to have two pickups in the typical guitar bridge and neck configuration (either humbuckers or P90 type), and from my experience with a 28" scale baritone tuned B-B it was pretty much like a typical guitar but lower in pitch. Bass VIs are very different beast. You can get guitar-like tones out of them, but they are also a "proper" short-scale bass guitar albeit one with two extra high string and closer string spacing.

 

Have a listen to this live clip of my band Hurtsfall where I'm using the Eastwood Hooky Bass VI and get both guitar and bass type sounds out of it. The Hooky is a bit of an oddity in the Bass VI world as it is based on the Shergold Marathon Six-String Bass and appears to be aimed more at bassists rather than guitarists. It also has a single humbucking pickup mounted somewhere between where the bridge and middle pickups would be on a typical three-pickup Bass VI. Having said that the majority of the tone is courtesy of the Line6 Helix I play through, and my "back-up" instrument a Burns Baracuda with three single coil pickups (normally using the middle one) sounds much the same through this set up.