Harley Benton HBMA-100E- VS Reviews
Awesome Mandolin at an unbelievable price!!
I am a lifelong musician this was my first mandolin. I have already recorded with it the sound is great plugged or unplugged. Fit and finish are better than many more expensive brands. I would recommend this to beginners or accomplished players.
HBMA - 100E VS 8 String F style mandolin
Packed well , Fast shipping , Arrived perfect condition , Action slightly high , will have to lower bridge , sounds fantastic , intonation good , nut position good , Definately will purchase more from HB
My first Mandolin!
I'm a guitarist, of over 40 years now. I have more guitars than any sane person probably should have (don't tell my wife I said that!!). Until I bought this instrument though, I didn't own any mandolins. I decided to buy it because it wasn't expensive, and I wanted to learn how to play it.
I've owned it for a few months now. My initial impression is very good. The acoustic sound is very loud for such a small body! Plugged in, the sound is quite lovely. I love the bell-like quality of the instrument.
For the price-point, the build quality is everything I had hoped it would be. My only real complaint is a small bit of blemish in the binding, around one of the F holes. To be honest, I have to put my glasses on and go searching for it, to be able to spot it. Otherwise, the fit and finish are good and I have no complaints.
I did have to do some setup, on the instrument. By that I mean, I adjusted the bridge to fix the intonation, which was noticeably off when it got to me. I also adjusted the bridge downwards because I thought the action was a bit too high. Also, the tuners feel a bit cheap, to me. Maybe that's common on a Mandolin? I don't know. In any event, I may change those, at some point.
Otherwise, it's a great first Mandolin!
Honestly fantastic for the price. I guarantee you won't find a mando of this quality and features for less. Its well made and does the job completely. I know instruments well as I play music for a living. Is it a £5000 Gibson. No. Is it fantastic for the price YES!
Decent.
It's a nice little mandolin. The sound is good but you might need a little bit of adjustment to get the best out of it. The finish overall is good but could be better. I noticed a few spots where the binding isn't perfect for instance, and the inner parts of the F holes are a little rough, and the liquer inside the scroll also feels unfinished. Overall though, I would recommend for anyone on a budget or a beginner dipping their toes in.
Real SURPRISE - a fine instrument for a quarter price!
Ive been looking for a F-style mandoline, so test this first - GOOD CHOICE!
1. Tone & sound - high, clear, almost cut-through-stone (high freq.) rest frequencies=0. But with such a drillin voice you shouldnt be overheard!
2. Tunning machines and tunning generally at high possitions: so-so to well. No miracle, no tragedy. Good enough.
3. Electronics - eeeh... single pickup. High, little silent, with some noise - minihumbucker would be a better choice; think evryone pay cheerly some euros more for clear, non-affected sound.. Tone potentiometer generate only two colours - high and dark. Nothing between.
But electronics should be changed...
4. Touch and neck - really good.Easy+fine to play.Great possitive surprise!
5. Look and processing - fine. No considerable reservations at this price level.. Antique burst with dark. Cognac yellow.
6. MINUS: dot frets - tiny and flimsy. I dont wait long durability.
CONCLUSION: at its price a VERY FINE INSTRUMENT for beginners and also experienced players. 4me a surprise of year - I love this arrow!
You"ll too!
Great looking mandolin
Great looking but mandolin very hard to keep in tune
Excellent value
Excellent value good quality and sound
I like it, but.....
I love playing the instrument, but there was a few things I wasn't happy with.
It's great to play, and I love it, but, when I first tuned it one of the strings wasn't in the right part of the bridge and I had to move it a little up to get it in the right place. No big deal really.
Secondly, this is the thing that annoys me, the pick up is terrible. It's so quiet I can barely hear it. I going to have to buy a new pick up, which is a shame.
The price is good, so I get what I pay for, but it would have been nice to have a better pick up.
A very good mandolin
Again great playability after very minor adjustment of the bridge, great intonation, holds tuning, fantastic instrument.
passable, lacks QC
It is a mandolin, it has strings, it can be tuned and set up, however the fit and finish was poor, the bridge needed a lot of additional setup (which should've beend done by manufacturers with proper tools), the finish was lacking, with paint missing in many spots, assuming laziness in painting the instrument.
For the price, it's a nice instrument. I am still happy to have it, bought it a year or so ago.
Pros:
Good price.
Very usable (requires the setup, like any instrument with this kind of bridge).
Nice, balanced sound.
Reasonable craftsmanship (it's not the best, the F-holes weren't cut properly, but the fretwork on mine is flawless.
Cons:
The pickup is not the best, as you could imagine, but it gives you the option to record it with a DI for something.
Not resonant enough acoustically (as most acoustic instruments
below a certain price point). If you want a truly great resonant instrument - prepare to cash out much bigger sum.
Conclusion: it's a good instrument if you need a mandolin sound for something other than your livelihood and playing huge gigs.
First Mandolin
After a little problem with the first mandolin I was sent I must say this is pretty much what I was after for my first mandolin.
It was easy to set up and tune, thankfully no strings broke as seems to happen often to me. The adjustable bridge is a really nice feature if you're looking to change the action of the strings. The sound is pretty good, if you want a slightly sweeter tone I guess you need to look at more expensive options, but as an instrument to learn on I have no complaints and I think it sounds really lovely when playing with other people on guitar etc. It adds a really nice sound dimension to group playing.
The pickup works fine, sounds a little muddy at high volume but I bet you can get around that if you're really into amp settings or using a regular mic etc. I tend mostly to play it in acoustic settings anyway.
I've been playing this for a couple of years now and it's followed me around various countries because of its size and ease of transport. If you do plan on travelling with it I would recommend getting a small padded case.
Keeps its tuning better than I would've expected and it's small enough that you can keep it out around the house to have a play when you feel like it.
I don't anticipate becoming a professional mandolin player so this mandolin should cover the rest of my playing career. I've heard nicer sounding mandolins (which are more expensive) but if it broke or got smashed tomorrow I'd get the exact same one again.
Good deal
Great wee instrument for the money, I only use it for 4 or 5 songs so didn't want to pay too much. As per usual I changed the strings on a new buy but if you're happy with what's on it, it is playable out of the box. Can't really say there is a downside
Harley Benton HBMA-100E- VS
After playing guitar for a while I thought I'd pick up this Harley Benton mandolin for some variety. Overall I've been pretty impressed given the price.
The mandolin itself looks good and sounds good. The strings are nothing special, however, and it feels a tad cheaply built. The tuners for the E strings, moreover, do not inspire much confidence, even if they all do stay in tune reasonably well.
So for a cheap mandolin with a pickup it's hard to feel too hard done by. With a string change and a comfortable strap it certainly does the trick. You may wish to spend a little more for the extra quality, but you get what you pay for.
why?â¦pay £7000's odd!!!
Can't fault this mandolin and it looks and plays like the real Gibbo!!…and worth getting a hard case for….
Aa good beginners instrument
For a first time mandolin you could do worse than buy a Harley Benton. The finish is superb and the set up is ok.
