Harley Benton Acoustic bass

[squire5]

I bought one the HB B-30BK acoustic basses from Thomann.All in all its nothing spectacular but it plays well,has good volume acoustically and is comfortable.The neck has 22 frets as opposed to 24 in earlier models resulting in a slightly shorter neck.Played acoustically,the strings have a uniform volume although they are very 'scratchy' for want of a better word maybe 'noisy' would be better.Frets are well trimmed and overall not a bad bass HOWEVER....(theres always something)  when played through an amp there is a volume variation in 1 string.The 'D' string when playing on frets 1-5 shows a marked drop in volume which is not at all noticeable acoustically.Above fret 5 all is well.This points to either the bridge or the transducer under the bridgepiece.Am I right? and if anyone has heard of this or can offer any tips on overcoming it,I'd be most grateful.OK it cost £129 so I cant expect perfection,I know that.But I'd like to fix it.

[PaulThePlug]

I've got the 850...

I went with cheap Adagio Flats... (the Harly B flats look very like the Olympia packaging) replacing the squeaky scratch phoz bronze but might be an issue with the shorter scale length.

Vol balance is 'prolly down to the piezo pickup bar under the bridge.

I removed a spacer packing shim, this allowed a lower action, but also cured the 'bridge roll' of the bridge blade by sitting further down in the block, pushed down nice and square, make sure the pickup bar rests flat and central, in contact with bridge block and bridge blade.

Some pics and blah blah, mind tends to be a corner noodle played mainly unplugged. I likes it.

Oh and pics please... tut tut... you know the house rules.

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by PaulThePlug

[Baloney Balderdash]

3 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

I've got the 850...

I went with cheap Adagio Flats... (the Harly B flats look very like the Olympia packaging) replacing the squeaky scratch phoz bronze but might be an issue with the shorter scale length.

Vol balance is 'prolly down to the piezo pickup bar under the bridge.

I removed a spacer packing shim, this allowed a lower action, but also cured the 'bridge roll' of the bridge blade by sitting further down in the block, pushed down nice and square, make sure the pickup bar rests flat and central, in contact with bridge block and bridge blade.

Some pics and blah blah, mind tends to be a corner noodle played mainly unplugged. I likes it.

Oh and pics please... tut tut... you know the house rules.

 

Off topic, but just read your old thread about your acoustic bass, and:

 

Thomann and Harley Benton are notorious for not updating specs on their sites, the reason why the fretboard is so dark is like in fact really Purple Heart (also know as Amaranth), which they started using as fretboard wood on a lot of their instruments instead of that thermally treated Maple, Roseacer as they call it, and the good news it is that Purple Heart is a lot harder and stiffer wood than Maple, very close in terms of stiffness to Ebony and slightly harder than Rosewood, which ought to make for a lot more durable fretboard and overall more stable neck.

 

Pretty certain it is in fact Purple Heart, cause it looks just like the fretboard on my Harley Benton GuitarBass, which also was listed to have a Roseacer fretboard, but that I got confirmed in a mail from Harley Benton themself, after asking, they started using Purple Heart for instead, and that this would be the case for my bass according to when it, according to the serial number, was produced.

 

I know Purple Heart/Amaranth is supposed to have purple-brown hue, but after it has been sealed and treated it becomes more of a very dark grey, almost black, color, which you can see on photos of other instruments that features a Purple Heart/Amaranth fretboard as well.

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[squire5]

Well another discovery about this bass.I bought a soundhole cover to alleviate feedback when playing out.This has had the effect of completely obliterating the 'D' string altogether when played through an amp.So it looks like I wont be holding on to this bass at all. I've asked Thomann for their comments but I'm not holding out much hope.You get what you pay for I suppose.

[Baloney Balderdash]

24 minutes ago, squire5 said:

Well another discovery about this bass.I bought a soundhole cover to alleviate feedback when playing out.This has had the effect of completely obliterating the 'D' string altogether when played through an amp.So it looks like I wont be holding on to this bass at all. I've asked Thomann for their comments but I'm not holding out much hope.You get what you pay for I suppose.

You get a higher chance of getting what you pay for with paying more, at least (except sometimes not with certain Fender and Gibson productions).

 

Also when reaching a certain threshold you generally really get a lot less more than you would otherwise think for the amount of extra money paid.  

 

Plenty of genuinely great instruments to be had a lower prices, you just have to be a bit more patient finding the lukcy ones out of a budget production, and be ready to eventual do a few relatively cheap and minor upgrades to get it up to standards.

 

It's not like they specifically do an effort of consistently making as crappy instruments as possible, as that would actually raise production costs, it's just that the outcome quality will be somewhat more random, as well as the quality control, that is the quality of the instruments that are allowed to leave the factory, will be somewhat lacking with budget instruments.

 

That said the "getting what you pay for" sentiment certainly is more true with acoustic instruments than electric amplified ones.

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash