RB1 Bass Combo : Sturdy, great sound, great price.

Ok, to get this out of the way: This review is written from the perspective of a guitar player learning bass and looking for a practice amp for the living room (and some home recording). I am playing it with a Harley Benton RB 414 and also tested it with a friend‘s Epiphone Thunderbird and Harley Benton Beat Bass.

Chassis and build quality:

The amp chassis has a closed back and appears quite sturdy. Nothing gives the impression that it might get loose, crack or fall off anytime soon. A really useful little feature is the wedged back, so you can optionally tilt it backwards like a stage monitor. I actually use it like that all the time. Another plus is the detachable power cable (with standard plug like you find on stage equipment or on pc power supplies), which makes it easier to transport.

The front panel looks quite timeless and actually nicer than on the product picture. The jacks make a good impression too. Input, AUX and Headphone jacks do exactly what they are supposed to do and work well. No crackling or rattling whatsoever.

Controls:

The controls are, in a positive sense as simple as it gets: The amp has one channel, master volume, gain, three-way EQ and an on/off switch for the compressor.

The pots turn with a decent amount of resistance, which gives them a more quality feel than the price would suggest and should prevent them from being knocked out of position easily.

The EQ controls have little detents at the 12 o‘clock position for easily setting them back to neutral (where I leave them most of the time anyway!). The only real complaint is that the master volume control is quite sensitive in the lower range which results in a quite sudden increase in loudness at between 2-3. Not a show stopper but a more even increase in volume would be nicer.

All-in-all the RB1 is a solid, straightforward and flawlessly put together piece of equipment.

Sound:

The RB1 delivers a crisp, well-balanced sound that doesn‘t ‘colour‘ as such, but instead brings out the natural characteristics of playing style and different instruments. This versatility and playing dynamics are really where it shines: From single coil to high output humbucker, from gentle stroking the strings to forceful slapping - the amp is wonderfully responsive and works well with a whole range of different sounds. Yes, please! Thats what I want from an amp!

Of course with 15 Watts through a 8“ Speaker the RB doesn‘t offer huge low-end ‘rumble‘. But does it need to? It is a practice amp after all.

When cranked up more than half way the built-in gain can sound quite harsh and exaggerate unwanted playing noises and fret-buzz. I play it mostly with the gain at around 3, which gives a clean, bright tone. To dirten the signal up, I prefer using an overdrive pedal instead. Besides the overdrive, I also sometimes use a compressor and a fuzz pedal, which both work really well with the amp.

Like the gain feature, I don‘t use the built-in compressor much. But what I can say so far is that it engages in a nicely moderate way without chopping too much of the signal away.

Conclusion:

Would I buy the same amp again? Yes, definitely. It is well built with some nifty quality-of-life details, has a great sound with a lot of versatility and is charmingly inexpensive. A brilliant little practice workhorse!