Harley Benton MB-5 SB Deluxe Series

Sain tänään pitkään haluamani ja odottamani Harley Benton MB-5 -basson. Basso on käsissä huomattavasti kauniimpi kuin kuvissa. Viimeistelyssä ei ole mitään moitittavaa. Kielet ovat sopivan alhaalla, eikä niitä tarvitse säätää alemmas. Ainoastaan hienovire täytyy korjata. Basson sointi on hyvä, joskin hieman persoonaton. Omistan kolme kertaa kalliimman Sterling by Music Manin Stingray -basson, jossa on aktiivielektroniikka. Siihen verrattuna MB-5 -bassossa on hiljaisempi sointi ja tummemmat ylätaajuudet. Käytän bassossa yleensä esivahvistinta, ja sen kanssa MB-5 alkaa toimia todella! Kun soitat bassoa eq:n, kompressorin ja/tai särön läpi, kuulostaa soundi todella jyräävältä. On suorasta ihmeellistä, kuinka Harley Benton kykenee tekemään näin suorituskykyisiä soittimia näin halpaan hintaan. Omistan nyt yhden Harley Benton sähkökitaran ja -basson. Pakko myöntää: minusta tuli viimeistään nyt Harley Benton -fani!!

Tilasin ihan huvikseni, jotta saisin kokeilla, miltä 5-kielisellä soittaminen voisi tuntua. Basso vaikutti yllättävän hyvin säädetyltä, vain pikku viilailuja tarvitsee tehdä. Luultavasti "konehuoneen" joutuu eristämään, sillä aika häiriöherkältä se vaikuttaa. Kaula äkkiseltään melkoinen mötykkä, mutta ei mahdoton. Mikrofonin navat eivät ihan osu kohdalleen kielten kanssa ja muutenkin talla saisi olla ehkä hivenen leveämpikin, sillä kaula tuntuu ylänauhoilta turhan leveältä kielten välistyksen jäädessä makuuni liiankin kapeaksi. = Kaulaa kapeammaksi tai tallaa leveämmäksi. Verrattain vähän olen edes kokeillut tätä kunnolla sähköihin, mutta sohvabassoksi tämän hintansa vuoksi tilasinkin.

First let me preface this review with the fact that it is based impressions after thoroughly inspecting and playing it for some time.

Build quality.The bass is extremely well put together. I found no paint runs, "stray" screws, paint scuffs, glue residue etc. Everything is as it should be (and I did a pretty thorough once-over!). Price aside, this bass is as well built as any other and this is just unbelievable! I must also give a nod to Thomann's quality control as well, I suspect they too make sure these instruments are top notch before they are delivered, so... kudos Thomann! 5/5

Next up, hardware. The knobs are the metal "speed" type. They work just fine. No "dragging", no scratchiness and no noise whatsoever. They seem to be able to hold up.
Tuners are the open mechanism type. Upon first inspection they do look a little flimsy but they are pretty accurate and do the job well enough. The plain, plastic nut, which also does look flimsy, is well cut and grooved, no complaints. Even after a little abuse (slapping-popping, bends etc.) the tuning still holds true, so they're A-OK.
The bridge is also less chunky than it might appear but it, too does the job just fine. Actually, way better than a few other similar bridges, to be honest. 5/5

Now, on to the sound!
This a single pickup bass, so you'd expect it to be a one trick pony, but no! The "humbucker" pickup's coils are split so you get two volume pots for each "row" and a tone. Nothing over the top but responsive enough and they do the job well enough.
The sound is unbelievably close to the real thing, actually. Coupled with a good amp you can fool anyone! The distinctive growl's definitely there. If you push the amp a little that bass has a serious bite. Didn't really expect it, to be honest. The bass doesn' really lack the highs, either. It can sound very piano-like if dialed in correctly, pretty excellent for chordal work, too. Just dial in the bridge "side", turn up the tone and voila! I also suspect that, experimenting with different sets of strings, you can get pretty much any sound you're after with that one pickup, so that's definitely a 5/5. I wouldn't change the pickup, either. It's much better than many of its rivals and surpasses other, more expensive instruments even! Excellent indeed!


Playability's pretty good right out of the box. Could do with a little tweaking to get rid of fret buzz completely and a little raising or lowering the pickup, but all in all it's pretty good.
The neck is VERY similar to a G&L L2500 tribute. On the substantial side, surely it's not an Ibanez neck but not a baseball bat either. Radius is pretty comfortable for anything. The frets are on the low side and could use a polish but I found no dead spots or high frets, so no levelling needed (yay! I hate fretwork!).

All in all, I can't really complain about anything on this bass. Especially considering the price! Everything is as it should be, and personally, I wouldn't bother modding it. It plays and sounds pretty good and I'd probably use the money on getting another HB. Which I'm now planning to!

5/5 for everything