The "I own a Harley Benton" show-tell thread!

[Baloney Balderdash]

 

So this is the thread to post pictures and tell about your Harley Benton basses.

 

 

I must admit I only own one, a Harley Benton GuitarBass, their take on the Fender Bass VI concept (that is a 30" short scale 6 string bass, but tuned like a guitar, only 1 octave lower, and with narrow typical guitar like string spacing), that I bought a couple of months back, but which has quickly grown on me to now having become my main instrument of choice.

 

I however has it tuned to G standard tuning, that is 9 half steps bellow regular guitar E standard tuning, or 3 half steps above regular bass E standard tuning, using a set of custom made Newtone nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings, gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .027 - .020.

 

I had heard a lot of praise about Harley Benton instruments, and it wasn't lies, this instrument for sure is unbelievable amazing value for the money.

 

No finish flaws that I can spot, just beautiful if you happen to like sunburst with tortoise pickguard (which I must admit is one of my absolutely least favorite finish options, but it actually has grown on me, since getting this instrument, had it come in any other finish option I had picked one of those though), absolutely perfectly spot on cut graphite nut, the 1 piece maple that makes up the neck got perfectly straight grains running the length of the neck, the pickups sounds not short of amazing (if rather noisy, but I guess that's pretty much part of the deal with any single coil pickup in any instrument that hasn't been shielded properly), even if I only use the middle one soloed, gives me spot on the kind of tone I like, very articulate and very sensitive to picking dynamics in a very natural way, and the frets are as good as perfectly leveled from factory too, I have it set up with ever so slightly bellow 2mm (~0.078" ~5/64") action, measured from bottom of the thickest string to top of 12th fret, and about 1.5mm (~0.059" ~4/64)  action on the thinnest string, but I am confident I could go even lower if I should wish so without any fret buzz whatsoever.

 

 

Here is is, with an added Jack Skellington (character from Tim Burton's animated movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas") skull sticker, the stock knobs swapped for transparent clear and black lampshade knobs, with respectively green and red electrical tape (also known as insulating tape) cut to shape and stuck on the top of them, the electronics swapped for a set of EMG solderless wiring, with the middle pickup having had it's wires swapped for a shielded one, and connected to the 250kOhm volume pot only (adds up to the original stock 500kOhm respectively Volume and Tone pot, and I have no use for the tone pot anyway), the remaining EMG solderless tone pot and the original 5 way pickup switch left unconnected, only being there for aesthetic reasons, as is the neck and bridge pickup (though except for the original stock wiring not being shielded and the original stock jack output socket seeming a bit to the flimsy side the stock electronics actually seemed and worked perfectly fine):

 

 

And a more artistic rendition:

 

 

The only additional mod I plan really is painting the stock black pickup switch knob very light yellow, like on this PhotoShopped image:

 

 

Definitely won't be the last Harley Benton instrument that I get either, next one is likely to be either their dirt cheap short scale P Bass, sounds amazing in the samples provided on Thomann's own homepage, or their fretless Violin/Beatles Bass (that they call Beatbass), which sounds amazing in the demo videos I watched featuring it on YouTube, especially one very thorough one where even the straight DI'ed tone with no post production that it demonstrates sounds pretty amazing to me, kind of curious to try out a fretless bass, I know I for sure will have some use of it in the music I create, and it being short scale, which there aren't many options for when it comes to fretless basses, makes it the obvious choice since I almost exclusively played short scale basses for something like the last 15 years or so. 

 

Oh, and the strap in the picture is a Harley Benton one too by the way, an 85mm wide black real suede leather one with 6mm memory foam padding.

 

Really comfortable to wear, even with this instrument, which, what I didn't mention, is actually quite heavy.

Edited July 30, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Len_derby]

HB short-scale P bass. Excellent straight out of the box. Everything 

left stock. Amazing value for the £89 I paid in 2020.

 

 

[mcnach]

I've got 3, and my girlfriend 1...

 

This is her PB-20 SBK. 

I had to replace the tuners because when I changed the strings (it's her bass, but I'm her 'tech'  ) one of the tuners' gears just got all chewed up. This particular alloy of iron and cheese was not very good. Also changed the original tort pickguard to a single ply black, and put DR Red Neon string on it. The strings are much brighter in person but they're so hard to photograph! 

The cat hates the sound of the bass, but she's intrigued by it at the same time...

Great neck, very low action, and I like the sound of that pickup... it just sounds like a Precision should, with a really nice low mid growl to it.

 

[stewblack]

6 hours ago, mcnach said:

I've got 3, and my girlfriend 1...

 

This is her PB-20 SBK. 

I had to replace the tuners because when I changed the strings (it's her bass, but I'm her 'tech'  ) one of the tuners' gears just got all chewed up. This particular alloy of iron and cheese was not very good. Also changed the original tort pickguard to a single ply black, and put DR Red Neon string on it. The strings are much brighter in person but they're so hard to photograph! 

The cat hates the sound of the bass, but she's intrigued by it at the same time...

Great neck, very low action, and I like the sound of that pickup... it just sounds like a Precision should, with a really nice low mid growl to it.

 

That would look awesome with a tort scratch plate 😉

[Paul S]

On 28/07/2022 at 08:18, Len_derby said:

HB short-scale P bass. Excellent straight out of the box. Everything 

left stock. Amazing value for the £89 I paid in 2020.

 

 

 

Cpoy and paste of this.  Unbelievably good value.  Actually I fib, I swapped the white pickguard for a black one.

[Baloney Balderdash]

I had a thought, could it be that since Harley Benton have no issues with the no name pickups in even their lowest dirt cheap models sounding absolutely amazing that big brands with a budget line on purpose make lackluster pickups to put in these lower end models to make their expensive high end line of instruments seem better than they really are, so to speak to create an illusion of a difference that in reality is far from as huge, and certainly nowhere near what the price difference would otherwise suggest?

 

Could this theory actually have any reality to it, or am I just making up conspiracy theories here?

 

I mean the big companies would certainly have a motive to do so, and this theory does seem to match my, admittedly fairly limited and nowhere really statistically valid, first as well as second hand experience with such instruments in question. 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[mcnach]

This is my MB-5 SBK.

 

Stock except for the pickguard (can you tell I despise tort?  ).

 

I love this bass. It's passive but I don't feel the urge to mess with that, it sounds great as it is. I was recently going over a bunch of little demos I did last year and there was one in particular that I thought "ah, I love that Stingray, it sounds so good" then I heard a low D... "hmm, I do have a Hipshot D-tuner thingy on my Stingray but I don't recall having used it in ages"... and then a low B... ah! It was the Harley Benton 5 string!!!

 

Nut needed some attention as it was cut slightly too tall, and the fret ends were a little sharp. Both issues were sorted easily in about 30 minutes.

I wish the string spacing were a bit wider, as the fingerboard has room for it, but it's a really nice bass to play regardless. This is the bass that finally made me appreciate 5-string basses and now I'm comfortable playing 4/5-ers equally.

 

[PaulThePlug]

HBO850 Acoustic... wearing flats... lovely.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I have two hardly bent-ones.

[kodiakblair]

21 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Could this theory actually have any reality to it, or am I just making up conspiracy theories here?

No there's solid thinking behind your theory.

 

Years back David Ellefson designed a bass for Peavey, it had the stock PJs they were buying from Korea. Marketing dept weren't too happy about that so changed the PJs to Duncan Basslines.

The Megadeath fella didn't think the Duncans were an improvement so questioned the decision ; he was told $30 spent on brand name pickups translated to a $300 price hike for retail.

 

Following year he left the company 👍

 

[Prosebass]

I had a 'Jaco' style lined fretless jazz around 2017-18 that the previous owner had updated with EMGs, a Babicz bridge and Schaller tuners. 

 

I can't remember the purchase price but considering the upgrades was still good value. 

 

It felt, played and sounded nice. Was well made and without issue, but was a tad heavy compared to what I was used to (Luthite Cort Curbows)

 

I should have kept it but it went in a clear-out of all my surplus gear. I may have sold it on here or ebay?

 

I am currently considering a HBZ-2004 Deluxe Series 4 string. Does anyone have experience of it? 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Prosebass
Facts.

[Paolo85]

25 minutes ago, Prosebass said:

 

I am currently considering a HBZ-2004 Deluxe Series 4 string. Does anyone have experience of it? 

 

 

 

I had the HBZ 2005 the 5 string. Great value for money but not as good as my HB JB75fl in my opinion. Pickups where muddy compared to the Roswell you get in the J.B. I do not think they have a standard shape so an upgrade would likely be difficult. Still, very interesting bass and in many ways not comparable to the JB. Not the snappy Jaco sort of bass, not at all. It makes you want to play slowly.

These two videos in my opinion give a good idea of what the bass is good for

 

 

Quite heavy though, although not as much as the JB75. Neck is not thin but less chunky than the JB75's if I remember correctly. Edges were sharp.

Mine was also neck heavy, but that was 5 string. As for the neck-thru, I had mixed feelings about it. The high mass bridge is hugh and my bass was at the limit of needing a neck shim - which I could not have done.

Also it had this very weird thing that the pickups height was not adjustable. Easily solved, I bought some foam and put it underneath. But the pickup screws were glued, it was hard work getting them out the first time, and I was afraid the screws would get ruined before I could do it

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Paolo85

[Prosebass]

Thanks Paolo 🙂

[Baloney Balderdash]

10 hours ago, Paolo85 said:

I had the HBZ 2005 the 5 string. Great value for money but not as good as my HB JB75fl in my opinion. Pickups where muddy compared to the Roswell you get in the J.B. I do not think they have a standard shape so an upgrade would likely be difficult. Still, very interesting bass and in many ways not comparable to the JB. Not the snappy Jaco sort of bass, not at all. It makes you want to play slowly.

These two videos in my opinion give a good idea of what the bass is good for

 

 

Quite heavy though, although not as much as the JB75. Neck is not thin but less chunky than the JB75's if I remember correctly. Edges were sharp.

Mine was also neck heavy, but that was 5 string. As for the neck-thru, I had mixed feelings about it. The high mass bridge is hugh and my bass was at the limit of needing a neck shim - which I could not have done.

Also it had this very weird thing that the pickups height was not adjustable. Easily solved, I bought some foam and put it underneath. But the pickup screws were glued, it was hard work getting them out the first time, and I was afraid the screws would get ruined before I could do it

 

 

Sounds really weird about those fixed, non adjustable pickups.

 

What on earth could possibly be the reasoning for that?

 

Just doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me.

 

Only thing I can possibly think is achieved by that is scaring potential buyers away as soon as it is revealed in one of the reviews of the bass on Thomann's own website, or people learn otherwise, or to troll beginners who don't know any better, not that those reasons makes any more sense.

 

Just seems like a bad business decision, and strangely enough also quite unlike Harley Benton otherwise.

 

Like almost as if someone in charge of the economy with no knowledge whatsoever about instruments from the top down decided that production expenses of these basses needed to be cut, by what, 5 cent?, for who knows what absolutely retarded reason, which incidentally happened to add up perfectly with the cost of the two small pieces of foam that was otherwise supposed to be attached underneath the pickups to make adjustment possible, and then just ordered them to be left out by the assumption that two crappy foam pieces couldn't possibly have any practical function anyway, and then when told: - "But those hold the pickups in place, are you sure about this?", replied: - "Well, then, just glue them in, much better solution anyway, and who are ever going to look under those..., was it peckhoofs you called them..., ...pigooze, ...right...,  anyway?".

 

I was told the pickups in their cheapest, progressive series I seem to recall, 6 string bass offering was like that too, when I revealed I was pondering on weather to buy one, I think actually here on this forum, which made me decide for a definite no purchase. 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Paolo85]

On 31/07/2022 at 01:07, Baloney Balderdash said:

I had a thought, could it be that since Harley Benton have no issues with the no name pickups in even their lowest dirt cheap models sounding absolutely amazing that big brands with a budget line on purpose make lackluster pickups to put in these lower end models to make their expensive high end line of instruments seem better than they really are, so to speak to create an illusion of a difference that in reality is far from as huge, and certainly nowhere near what the price difference would otherwise suggest?

 

Could this theory actually have any reality to it, or am I just making up conspiracy theories here?

 

I mean the big companies would certainly have a motive to do so, and this theory does seem to match my, admittedly fairly limited and nowhere really statistically valid, first as well as second hand experience with such instruments in question. 

 

 

 

I would not be surprised. At the same time, when I had an Ibanez GSR205 and a HB HBZ2005 I thought the pickups were fairy equivalent (or better, the pickup+preamp ensamble). I find the Roswell in my HB JB better but these, for as cheap as they are, are not no-name pickups.

I guess soapbars may be a slightly more complex issue (maybe that's the reason why one could buy plenty od good classic J and P aftermarket pickups for £20-30 while it's not the same for soapbars) but that's just a guess.

At the same time, the fact that, in my opinion, the sound of a Squier Affinity PJ could in my experience be widely improved by buying £20 pickups is weird..

 

 

[TheLowDown]

14 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

which incidentally happened to add up perfectly with the cost of the two small pieces of foam that was otherwise supposed to be attached underneath the pickups to make adjustment possible, and then just ordered them to be left out by the assumption that two crappy foam pieces couldn't possibly have any practical function anyway, and then when told: - "But those hold the pickups in place, are you sure about this?", replied: - "Well, then, just glue them in, much better solution anyway, and who are ever going to look under those..., was it peckhoofs you called them..., ...pigooze, ...right...,  anyway?".

 

I was told the pickups in their cheapest, progressive series I seem to recall, 6 string bass offering was like that too, when I revealed I was pondering on weather to buy one, I think actually here on this forum, which made me decide for a definite no purchase. 

It's easy to rectify with something like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175354318755

Edited August 1, 2022 by TheLowDown

[Stub Mandrel]

My hardly bent-one.

 

[verb]

I have two Harley Bentons, a PB50 and a JB20. I bought the PB50 as I had never owned a P bass and thought it would be a cheap way of trying one. I have to say I was impressed by it, the neck is as chunky as most reviews say but not unplayable. The standard strings, D'Addario stainless rounds I think, gave it a nice growly tone. I fitted some cheap flats, another first for me, it has a good thud but I prefer the rounds. Fit and finish are all good, the set up wasn't bad but it did benefit from a few tweaks. 

I bought the JB20 because I wanted the neck for a body making project I have planned. I had ordered an Allparts jazz neck, but returned it due to a few faults. When I received the JB20 I was surprised at how much I liked it, so I'm leaving it in one piece for the moment. The set up when I received the bass was poor, the action was very high and the intonation was out. The neck relief was fine, the nut was cut to the correct depth and there were no sharp fret ends. I found the standard strings were quite harsh, to the touch and to the ears. I replaced the strings with 45-105 D'Addario Pro Steels and gave it a set up. With only slight neck relief, I set the action at the 12th fret at just under 2mm on the G and 2.5mm on the E without fret buzz. Three of the tuners were very notchy, the other one was very smooth, I messaged Thomann and they sent me a replacement set. The replacements were slightly different but using the original mounting plates and all the other parts from the replacement tuners I now have functioning tuners. The pickups are a bit bland but functional. I have a set of EMG pickups that I decided to fit, but discovered the HB pickup mounting screw hole spacing is about 4mm narrower than standard J pickups. I may route the body and trim the scratchplate to fit the EMGs, if I don't like the gaps I can get a new scratchplate and make something to tidy up around the bridge pickup. I've also noticed that the bridge pickup is not central. The volume and tone pots seem to work mainly at each end of their travel.

For all its faults I really like this JB20.

[Baloney Balderdash]

19 hours ago, verb said:

I have two Harley Bentons, a PB50 and a JB20. I bought the PB50 as I had never owned a P bass and thought it would be a cheap way of trying one. I have to say I was impressed by it, the neck is as chunky as most reviews say but not unplayable. The standard strings, D'Addario stainless rounds I think, gave it a nice growly tone. I fitted some cheap flats, another first for me, it has a good thud but I prefer the rounds. Fit and finish are all good, the set up wasn't bad but it did benefit from a few tweaks. 

I bought the JB20 because I wanted the neck for a body making project I have planned. I had ordered an Allparts jazz neck, but returned it due to a few faults. When I received the JB20 I was surprised at how much I liked it, so I'm leaving it in one piece for the moment. The set up when I received the bass was poor, the action was very high and the intonation was out. The neck relief was fine, the nut was cut to the correct depth and there were no sharp fret ends. I found the standard strings were quite harsh, to the touch and to the ears. I replaced the strings with 45-105 D'Addario Pro Steels and gave it a set up. With only slight neck relief, I set the action at the 12th fret at just under 2mm on the G and 2.5mm on the E without fret buzz. Three of the tuners were very notchy, the other one was very smooth, I messaged Thomann and they sent me a replacement set. The replacements were slightly different but using the original mounting plates and all the other parts from the replacement tuners I now have functioning tuners. The pickups are a bit bland but functional. I have a set of EMG pickups that I decided to fit, but discovered the HB pickup mounting screw hole spacing is about 4mm narrower than standard J pickups. I may route the body and trim the scratchplate to fit the EMGs, if I don't like the gaps I can get a new scratchplate and make something to tidy up around the bridge pickup. I've also noticed that the bridge pickup is not central. The volume and tone pots seem to work mainly at each end of their travel.

For all its faults I really like this JB20.

 

Regarding factory setup I never quite understood why some people include it in the reviews, this has nothing to do with the actually quality of the bass, it's made adjustable for a reason, and one should expect to have to do a proper setup on as good as any new bass or guitar, regardless of price tag, certainly for goes for all mass produced basses, but even then you should expect to have to do one to get it to your desired measurements.

 

That a bass has a poor factory setup is a bit like complaining about the adjustable direction blades in the vents of the air condition in a car not haven been set up to fit your height and preferences when you got your new car, as said, it's a adjustable, it is literally made with the purpose of being fully adjustable, you having to adjust it to get it to fit your personal preferences is exactly what it is meant form, it's not a fault of the instrument.'

 

Same thing with stock strings, though I guess one could argue for the actually being somewhat relevant.

 

Personally I'd expect to change strings on every new instrument regardless of price class, along with a full proper setup, to make it fit my personal preferences, regardless of what the instrument might have costed, weather that is 100 or 2000, so what it might or might not be from factory doesn't interest me and is totally irrelevant as far as I am concerned, you might as well complain about the color of the cardboard box (if mail ordered) it comes in not being to your personal preferences, absolutely nothing to do with the actual quality of the actual instrument.

 

Also that the pole pieces of the pickups doesn't always line perfectly up with the strings on a bass is perfectly normal, even for higher end basses.

 

Sorry about the rant, I do appreciate your review otherwise and contribution to this thread, I just don't get the fixation on the setup in reviews, and it isn't just you, I see some people consequently including it every time they review a bass, it just doesn't make any sense to me as it, as said, has absolute nothing whatsoever to with the quality of the actual bass, nor affect it in any possible way, and is in fact made with purpose of adjusting it in mind.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[verb]

3 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

Regarding factory setup I never quite understood why some people include it in the reviews, this has nothing to do with the actually quality of the bass, it's made adjustable for a reason, and one should expect to have to do a proper setup on as good as any new bass or guitar, regardless of price tag, certainly for goes for all mass produced basses, but even then you should expect to have to do one to get it to your desired measurements.

 

That a bass has a poor factory setup is a bit like complaining about the adjustable direction blades in the vents of the air condition in a car not haven been set up to fit your height and preferences when you got your new car, as said, it's a adjustable, it is literally made with the purpose of being fully adjustable, you having to adjust it to get it to fit your personal preferences is exactly what it is meant form, it's not a fault of the instrument.'

 

Same thing with stock strings, though I guess one could argue for the actually being somewhat relevant.

 

Personally I'd expect to change strings on every new instrument regardless of price class, along with a full proper setup, to make it fit my personal preferences, regardless of what the instrument might have costed, weather that is 100 or 2000, so what it might or might not be from factory doesn't interest me and is totally irrelevant as far as I am concerned, you might as well complain about the color of the cardboard box (if mail ordered) it comes in not being to your personal preferences, absolutely nothing to do with the actual quality of the actual instrument.

 

Also that the pole pieces of the pickups doesn't always line perfectly up with the strings on a bass is perfectly normal, even for higher end basses.

 

Sorry about the rant, I do appreciate you review otherwise and contribution to this thread, I just don't get the fixation on the setup in reviews, and it isn't just you, I see some people consequently including it every time they review a bass, and it just doesn't make any sense to me as it, as said, has absolute nothing whatsoever to with the quality of the actual bass, nor affect it in any possible way, and is in fact made with purpose of adjusting it in mind.

 

 

I thought I'd mention the factory set up because people often state how their HB was good to go out of the box. I would think this bass is designed as a first bass, and having a bass that is easy and enjoyable to play would be important. As a beginner you may not know that a bass is adjustable, also, having to pay for a set up may be an unexpected expense.

 

I stated that the bridge pickup wasn't  central, not that the pole pieces don't line up with the strings. The pickup cavity is actually 2-3mm out of alignment with the center line of the bass. 

 

I thought I'd do an honest review of what a new HB could be like. 

 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

13 hours ago, verb said:

I thought I'd mention the factory set up because people often state how their HB was good to go out of the box. I would think this bass is designed as a first bass, and having a bass that is easy and enjoyable to play would be important. As a beginner you may not know that a bass is adjustable, also, having to pay for a set up may be an unexpected expense.

 

I stated that the bridge pickup wasn't  central, not that the pole pieces don't line up with the strings. The pickup cavity is actually 2-3mm out of alignment with the center line of the bass. 

 

I thought I'd do an honest review of what a new HB could be like. 

 

 

Point being it's not realistic to expect a bass to be set up optimally, which is all that more important as a beginner, as you state yourself, it might had been nice if it was so, but fact is it is not, and as I said this would be the same for more or less any bass that you buy, regardless of price point, reality is not going to adapt to what is convenient I am afraid, and one is doing them self a disfavor expecting so.

 

Also I don't think it's specifically designed to be a first bass, don't even know how you would go about doing so, there is no such thing as beginner instruments, only beginner players.

 

If anything beginners ideally should keep away from too cheap instruments, where additional work, beside the mandatory setup (as said a setup and new strings really should be expected with any bass, regardless of price point, which honestly might also be a much better way to put it in the first place than making it look like it's a specific thing with a specific instrument, if one feel obligated to do a "beginner" review), might be required to make it a decent player. 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Paolo85]

I remember when I started I bought the cheapest bass in the shop, and, true story, I did not know there was such thing as a setup. I figured that out literaly a few years later

[Baloney Balderdash]

43 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

I remember when I started I bought the cheapest bass in the shop, and, true story, I did not know there was such thing as a setup. I figured that out literaly a few years later

Except for me actually starting out with buying a really nice used bass, that I by the way still own, an Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic, one of the last models made on the legendary Matsumoku factory in Japan, before Aria moved their production to Korea, I had no clue what a setup was either, and so played it with the exact setup as when I bought it for years going forward.

[kodiakblair]

On 01/08/2022 at 00:19, Paolo85 said:

But the pickup screws were glued,

Glued or seized ?

[Paolo85]

28 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Glued or seized ?

There was some resin-looking stuff here and there on the screws when they came out so I believe glued