Harley Benton Enhanced MP-5EB Lake Blue

A lot of bass for the money

Ok - so I'm a Fender p-bass man and currently own a pair of Deluxe series I'm for the most part happy about. When I went exploring for a 5-string bass this item caught my attention. At the price point I honestly wasn't expecting much, but seeing reviews giving it praise I had hopes for a decent instrument.

What I recieved by far surpassed my expectations. Nice finish, tons of adjustability, far more features than'd be expected at this price point. The only flaws I could find were the angle of the neck on the body (I found it had a slight forward slant) and rough frets.

Once plugged inn I found it a bit loud compared to my other P-basses, which mainly makes it a pain swithcing between basses. The tone it delivers...well, it depends. It delivers tons of adjustability with the three tone knobs and the pick-up splitter to pretty much leave anyone satisfied.

My drummer prefers me using the Harley Benton over any of my two p-basses as he feels it's more defined and delivers a tighter punch.

Fantastic Bass! 🤟

Harley benton have come a long way when it comes to the quality of their products! Always love playing this bass for music production or learning new songs! Love the balance between appearance and sound quality! Both are amazing! 🤟🤟

No money for a Lakland.... no problem

I've been an activity giging bassist for 20 years, from dive bars, to dance halls, playing every thing from Country and western to ska and reggae. The latter is why I got this bass, as I was filling in for a 2tone ska band who also played some reggae. So while my Stingray was poppy enough, it didn't have the low end I wanted for this mix of music. Enter this bass and its P style and MM style puckups!

I got it thinking worst case I can keep it at rehearsal and leave it at the space and not have to pack a bass around, best case I'd gig with it. Long story short I giged with it!

Lots of reviews on this bass complain about the "hot output" of the pickups. And yes they can be a bit much, however I liked the active pickups for parts of the set I needed to be louder, and I loved the passive sound for the more groove parts of the set. It all depends on the sound you like. But I had no issues with the pick ups being "noisy".

The bass did need a little set up but nothing a beginner couldn't do with a youtube tutorial. And give the features of this bass (active pickups, pull knob to passive, 0-fret, binding, string through body, ect) this bass is worth every penny!

My only gripes on this bass is first of all the weight. I'm a bigger guy, 6'0 230lbs, and I did have some shoulder fatigue after a night of playing. However any bass like this would be similar. It is a little less comfortable than let's say a lakland skyline or similar, but at 1/4 the price you can over look that easily. Also, the neck is a little bit of a "baseball bat" very wide and little thicker then my liking, even for a 5 string. I do wish the neck was a bit more comfortable.

Overall, for what this bass is, and it's price, it's a very good value. I've used it a hand full of times in other bands as well, but wouldn't call it my go to bass. However, I'm very pleased with this bass and would recommend it to anyone In the market for this type of instrument. It is gig worthy and could be the perfect bass in many circumstances.

Totally Amazed

This is by far the best bass you'll find in this price range and it easily exceeds instruments nearly twice it's price. The fit and finish are absolutely fantastic and it arrived to me quickly and safely shipped. Out of the box the action was set nice and low and ready to gig. Seriously, I'm simply blown away and if you're looking for a 5 string p-bass then you cannot go wrong.

Lots of bass for the bucks

First impression: a beautiful and completely serviceable bass that I could roll into a gig tomorrow with and be perfectly comfortable. I think it will be a great backup bass--which is why I got it. With a little setup work, higher end 3-band eq preamp, and ultra lite tuners I would have a tough time choosing between this guy and my main player that costs 4x as much.

There is a bit of neck dive, and it looks like it will require some drilling in the back of the headstock to drop in replacement tuners.

The balance between pickups is good. P pup is a bit louder and significantly bassier than the MM. Blended they sound best. The P itself is kinda dark, bordering on a little muddy. The MM is nice and barky but a bit thin on its own. The active setting is MUCH louder than the passive setting. No tone control in passive mode.

It will need a little setup work to take care of some slight fret buzz. A few simple tweaks should do it. No sharp fret ends, the neck feels great.

Definitely worth!

That's the professional series of Harley Benton. I really love the pickup configuration (Music Man style and Precision). It sounds very very well. No neck-dive. Recommended!

Pretty awesome bass

Can?t complain about this bass for the price.