Harley Benton JB-20 CA Standard Series

Terve taas arvoisat basistit. Tein taas basso-ostoksia Thomannilta. Harley Benton JB-20 ca eli edullinen punainen jazz basso, eli Red Devil, oli nyt ostos vuorossa. Tässäpä oli nyt kyseessä hieman heräteostos. Omistan nimittäin jo ennestään fender jazz basson sekä squier jazz basson, joten minulla on paljonkin kokemusta jazz bassoista keikkailujenkin myötä. Viime vuosina olen soitellut muilla bassoilla kun ei ole ollut kiinnostusta jazz tyyppisiin soittimiin.
Mutta 111 euron hinta houkutti kokeilemaan tätä halpisbassoa. Luin review arviot ja eihän niissä mitään erikoista ollut. Odotin, että basso saattaa tulla toimitettuna kotiini hyvinkin heikossa kunnossa tai sitten tyydyttävässä tilassa.

Avasin paketin ja otin basson esille. Hyvältä näyttää. Kaula on suora. Ulkomuoto ja viimeistely kiitettävä. Punainen väri ok. Nauhat olivat hieman viilausta vailla, mutta hetkessä ne viilasin kuntoon. Viritin basson ja ei tarvita kaulan säätöä. Valmis soittamiseen. Kielet ovat ihan kelvolliset, mutta parempiakin on saatavissa kaupasta. Ääni on keveähkö, mutta se ei ole mitenkään huono asia.
Basso painaa 4.2 kg kiloa mikä on ihan ok paino. Täysin sama paino kuin fender jazz bassossani.
Potentiometrit ovat toimivia ja tekevät tehtävänsä hyvin. Ei ongelmia .
Huminaa kuuluu hieman, mutta ei voi sanoa että bassossa olisi maadoitusongelmia. Kaula omaa selvää neck diveä, mutta leveällä hinnalla asia korjaantuu.
Yllättävän erinomainen soitin, jota voi käyttää jopa keikkailuun suoraan paketista jos haluaa.
Erityisesti pidin soittimen kaulasta, joka on luistava ja muotoilultaan erinomainen.
Thomann laadunvalvonta on selvästi parantunut vuosien mittaan.
Basso on paljon enemmän kuin vain aloittelijan soitin. Kaikilla kolmella jazzbassollani on omat luonteenpiirteensä. Tämä punainen halpa basso on täysin pätevä kotona soittamiseen ja myös keikkailuun. Periaatteessa tämä monipuolinen soitin kelpaa perus jazz bassoksi omistajalleen vuosikymmenten ajaksi.
Tähtiä 5/5.
EDIT:
I’ve been using the bass for about a week now.
The neck is really comfortable for playing blues and rock. The bass tone feels a bit light or thin t when playing blues, but using e.g Behringer V-Tone BDI21 preamp—which is an affordable and excellent unit—helps with this. I’m using a 200W TLC amp and an Ampeg Classic 1x15" cabinet. With the right settings, you can get a tone just like a Fender Jazz Bass, and the buzzing disappears as well.
I highly recommend using a preamp.
Thus, you don’t even need to change the strings, abd pickups.

JB20 CA Bass.

This bass guitar is an impressively assembled instrument.
The range of authentic Jazz Bass tones are all there for the finding.
It's appearance and quality of finish is also a delight.
The bass handles well and came perfectly set-up.
The minor adjustments made for personal preferences were easily made.
An ideal instrument from beginner through to intermediate use.
And also a go-to bass for all other music making.
Many of Thomann' s customers who have commented on product value for money are correct to do so, and the JB 20 CA bass is certainly no exception.
It joins the JB 20 Sunburst Bass previously purchased, to which Flat Wound Strings are now fitted. This also gives a good performing instrument.
After many years of listening to my eldest son practising bass for his gigs, I picked up an old Westone Thunderer1A bass he had left with me on leaving home. I now spend happy hours, making the same noises he used to, and have my own collection of basses from which to choose.
Thomann' s is always my preference for any items I need to follow my retirement interests..

we're talking about a cheap bass, right? so let's keep that in mind and not compare it to a high quality one that costs 10 times more.

out of the box, the string action is high and the bass isn't really pleasant to play, but if you take time to watch a few videos on youtube to learn how to adjust it, then you can get it alright. it'll be difficult to get the best string action + no fret buzz + a perfect intonation, but you can definitely get something that works and makes the bass a nice instrument to play.

i wish there was a little more effort put into the electronics because when you play with a bit of overdrive (or fuzz!) and don't touch the metal parts of the instrument (the strings or bridge typically), it will hum quite clearly, and i would have definitely paid 10 bucks more to get slightly better components that would fix that...

other than that, it's great, not too heavy, the neck is really good (again, let's not compare to a fancy instrument) and the sound is alright. some people say that changing the strings would improve that point, i haven't tried yet but it would make sense.

anyways, if you are looking for a bass as a secondary instrument just to record a few stuff or play occasionally and don't want to spend too much on it, go for it! just, don't be afraid to adjust it so you can make it right to play... you go slowly and it'll all be fine!
if bass is your main instrument and you want one that will follow you for years, i'd recommend to go with something more serious.