Suggestions for Uber cheap but decent bass

[verb]

Another vote for Harley Benton here.

I have a JB62 and a PB50, both great basses. Thomann currently have 25% off a few HB products including the JB62 in sunburst and red, £115 delivered to the UK.

[shoulderpet]

Thanks for the replies, I have put my Hofner (plus case )up for sale in the for sale section of this fine forum so if anyone feels like snagging a bargain due to the issues that I have mentioned have a look

[Baloney Balderdash]

Also if you end up getting a Harley Benton, Thomann has a full 30 days return and money back policy, including shipping cost back covered, no questions asked, and I never had any issues returning items and getting a full return, that way the only thing you'll loose if the bass doesn't turn out to be to your liking is the initial shipping costs, which to begin with really isn't much.

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[dub_junkie]

Yet another vote for Harley Benton. I've got a dakota red JB-62 which I really like.

 

You can get a B stock one delivered for £100. I've bought a few B stock HBs and I've yet to find a fault with any. 

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_62cc_dr.htm

 

Colour never captures right on camera. It's at least a shade darker in real life 

[shoulderpet]

Thanks for the replies, I think I am going to go with a Harley Benton

Now the question, I want a bass with 2 jazz pickups , do I go with

 

Harley Benton JJ-45OP https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jj_45op_white.htm

or

Harley Benton JB-62 https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_62cc_dr.htm

 

?  They both look great

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

5 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

Thanks for the replies, I think I am going to go with a Harley Benton

Now the question, I want a bass with 2 jazz pickups , do I go with

 

Harley Benton JJ-45OP https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jj_45op_white.htm

or

Harley Benton JB-62 https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_62cc_dr.htm

 

?  They both look great

 

Listen to the provided samples and pick the one you think sounds best?

 

You really got no preferences when it comes to nut width and fingerboard radius, cause they are quite different in that aspects, from a playing feel perspective?

 

Also one got just 20 frets whereas the other got 24.

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Lw.]

I like the look of the JJ405 - giving me F-bass vibes. 

The JB-62 is very much just a Fender copy. 

 

They probably sound quite similar given the pup locations so probably more worth thinking about what you want to look like. 

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, shoulderpet said:

Harley Benton JJ-45OP https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jj_45op_white.htm

This.

 

You want a bright sound: maple board, Ash body, active j pups with treble boost, slap  on some light SS strings, and play with a lightish pick near the bridge and you won't get a brighter tone!

[shoulderpet]

33 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

This.

 

You want a bright sound: maple board, Ash body, active j pups with treble boost, slap  on some light SS strings, and play with a lightish pick near the bridge and you won't get a brighter tone!

That sounds good to me, on the description on the webpage it says "twin tone pot" is this bass and treble?

[hooky_lowdown]

32 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

That sounds good to me, on the description on the webpage it says "twin tone pot" is this bass and treble?

No idea. Generally active basses have treble and bass boost. Jazz pups are inherently brighter sounding, so you shouldn't have any issue dialing in a bright tone.

[shoulderpet]

3 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

Thanks for the replies, I think I am going to go with a Harley Benton

Now the question, I want a bass with 2 jazz pickups , do I go with

 

Harley Benton JJ-45OP https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jj_45op_white.htm

or

Harley Benton JB-62 https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_jb_62cc_dr.htm

 

?  They both look great

 

And JB-62 ordered in the Dakota red colour, whilst the JJ-450P looked tempting there is some degree of familiar comfort with the JB-62 being a simple passive jazz bass, my luck with ordering online hasn't always been great so fingers crossed

[dub_junkie]

Congrats!

I have flats on mine and is my go to bass that I reach for at home. My plan is to put chrome covers on it whenever I remember to order them.

Like I said the pics don't do the colour justice. It's a duller red in RL, not so tomato sauce looking. I think it's the best colour on the JB62s followed by shell pink and surf green

[NickA]

Don't buy new.  Check the marketplace every day and bag a bargain .... EG 

Squires are decent workhourse basses and probably better 2nd hand than a new HB at the same price.

[theplumber]

7 minutes ago, NickA said:

Don't buy new.  Check the marketplace every day and bag a bargain .... EG 

Squires are decent workhourse basses and probably better 2nd hand than a new HB at the same price.

Currently using two Squiers for gigs at the moment both Classic Vibe series. I bought this to use the neck for a project but after playing it decided it's too good to break! Yes a very well made guitar,basic but does what it has to! 

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 hour ago, dub_junkie said:

Congrats!

I have flats on mine and is my go to bass that I reach for at home. My plan is to put chrome covers on it whenever I remember to order them.

Like I said the pics don't do the colour justice. It's a duller red in RL, not so tomato sauce looking. I think it's the best colour on the JB62s followed by shell pink and surf green

I quite like the color it seems to have on that photo though.

 

Also if I actually learned to accept tortoise pickguard as a valid option for basses, something I never thought would happen, that bass/finish screams for a black pickguard, or maybe even a green one, if one is more daring.

 

The tortoise one doesn't look awful, just doesn't really compliment the finish of that bass all too well.

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[PaulThePlug]

6 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

And JB-62 ordered in the Dakota red colour...

Nice... I'd get a set of the Harley B own brand Flats @£13 added to the order before they ship...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hqs_bass_45_100_flatwound.htm?glp=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIi-GTu4uwgAMVsYlQBh2OGQQ3EAQYASABEgKut_D_BwE

Pics when it lands...

[Delberthot]

I've been thinking about a Harley Benton as well and found this Youtube Channel to be really good - no chat, just playing.

 

 

[shoulderpet]

And I went with the Harley Benton jb-62 jazz bass, rather lucky for me I ordered it for the bargain price of £105 new and the week after the price went up to £138.

 

Anyway aside from some fret buzz from some uneven frets it is actually very nice, there neck feels nice and the caramelised maple neck looks miles better than the horrible stark white maple necks that are on a lot of basses, the nut seems well cut, tuners are surprisingly pretty good, not gotoh or hipshot by any means but better than what is fitted on most of the Mim Fenders I have played. 

 

pickups sound good, nice and bright, punchy, does that cool scoopy jazz tone with both on full and as good as any stock jazz bass pickups I have heard, even the stock tort pickguard is pretty well done

 

Now I just have to find the funds to get the frets sorted and I will have a cracking bass 

Edited August 8, 2023 by shoulderpet

[NickA]

And for 100th the price of a Wal or an Alembic.... nearly.

[jay bass]

Looks Great love the red with Tort Scratchplate

how much does the bass weigh.

The weight  seems to be the only negative to Harley Benton basses.on reviews ive looked at.

regards

Jay

[shoulderpet]

4 hours ago, jay bass said:

Looks Great love the red with Tort Scratchplate

how much does the bass weigh.

The weight  seems to be the only negative to Harley Benton basses.on reviews ive looked at.

regards

Jay

I dont have a set of scales to weight it on but it is much, much lighter than the previous HB Jazz I had that had an ash body, that thing was more like a weapon than a bass

[MacDaddy]

Late to the party on this one, but I would have recommended you take a look at this thread:

£129 bass played at Glastonbury.

A BC member in the thread bought one and rates it well.

 

But I hope you get on with your HB Jazz.

 

 

[Mike Bungo]

All finished now so I'm just gonna get on with gigging it until I'm missing my Ricky again.... Thanks for everybody's input and if you want a bit of fun then get one bought!!!! Gear4Music actually have a few of these at £113.00 which are clearly returns but just mad value for money.... Cheers Mike

[PaulThePlug]

Good Darts... love the Go Faster stripe looks very Court / Ibanez GSR...

[kodiakblair]

On 09/08/2023 at 07:17, jay bass said:

The weight  seems to be the only negative to Harley Benton basses.on reviews ive looked at.

Only worth noting if you know the reviewer's background and experience.

 

If the reviewer leads a sedentary life or has never handled a bass before then 4.5-5.5Kg may seem heavy.

 

To a mother with young children, 4.5-5.5Kg is nothing; it's a healthy baby boy at 12 weeks. Much the same for checkout staff in supermarkets, they'll sling 5Kg bags pf potatoes with one hand; blissfully unaware that's considered "too heavy" on internet bass forums 😄