Harley Benton HBMA-100E- VS 4-stars Reviews

If you own this item for a while and already published a review somewhere on the internet, you can publish it again here with a custom past date :

3 years ago

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!

4 years ago

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.

5 years ago

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.

7 years ago

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.

11 years ago

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.

12 years ago