Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Natural

nice bit of kit

bought this for my daughter and it is a pleasantly stunning guitar for the price,she is pretty slender and the bowl back has made easier for her to took in and play,very impressed with the quality and finish

Great sound

Sound was much better than expected. decently loud (if played with a pick) Setup was good out of the box. quality control was probably the worst harley benton i got. back of the neck is not got some bumps, and the fretboard was so dry that chipped a little bit. Fret work was good. Overall quite satisfied

Excellent Manufacturers of Bass Guitars

It is a brilliant addition to my homestudio. Just fits right in. No complications. Just pick it up .plug it in and start a bass session .

Lovely addition

As expected - recommended - you'll have to work on it a bit

I bought this because I am doing some acoustic gigs with a friend. No amps are allowed and I wanted to be able to use bass on a few of the tracks. I wanted something not too large and also didn't want to spend a lot. So what do I think of it?

The first thing that I noticed was that it looks the part. The second thing I noticed was how fragile the glued on scroll work is when a bit of it fell off. I just glued it back on - I wasn't going to send it back for something that trivial. The key thing is that it played well enough out of the box (for what it is). Even the neck relief was OK, but now it has acclimatised it does need a touch of 'righty tighty' to get it correct. Acoustically it sounds OK, if as one would expect a little toppy. I play quite hard so for me the volume against one western acoustic guitar is OK. If you are one of the gentle players you would need to amplify it.

The things I like - the body size and material. Sits on my lap easily and I'm sure it's going to be durable. On a strap there is obvious neck dive, to be expected when the neck is so long and the body so light. I have seen comments that the tuner is not usable - I beg to differ, I have found it perfectly OK as long as you tune to the octave harmonics.

Amplified I am not enamoured with the sound - it lacks depth without a lot of EQ being applied, even with the bass turned right up on the built in pre-amp. The fret edges are not perfect, a little scratchy in parts, but I didn't notice this when I was playing it until I did a glissando and cut three of my fingers. I immediately smoothed them off to avoid any further incidents.

To conclude, you really can't go far wrong with this instrument at this price. Don't expect it to be more than it is and you'll be quite happy with it. So I recommend it.

Excellent Value

This bass is superbly playable and has a present and bright tone. Great for practice and writing.

Superb quality for the price

No issues with my bass at all, machine heads have been touted as poor in previous reviews. I disagree...

I bought this for a knock around when it comes to camping etc... but i'll be using it in the studio too as it sounds great plugged in too.

Great sounding

I wanted a bass guitar to pick up at will and play without all the messing around with amps, cables and so on. This guitar fits the bill and sounds and looks great too. Very pleased.

Interesting Acoustic Bass

It plays well and holds tune. The volume throughout the scale (especially when using the pickup) is a little uneven but can be corrected /compensated for with effects. Without the pickup it is not as loud as other acoustic basses. It does have good tone.

Good Value roundback

I got this HB acoustic bass to practice in the Living Room without having to have amps cluttering my living space. It's well built, and good looking. Needed minor setup. I was not crazy about the strings that came with it...a little too "twangy", which is common with an acoustic bass. After talking with a musician at a local bar gig who was playing an acoustic bass...he said he had the same issue with his expensive acoustic bass and replaced the strings with nylon tape-wound strings. They are black, look cool and sound much better. The wood design pieces glued on could use some minor sanding or oiling. I like this bass...it's a great practice tool for me (I'm a beginner...my wife is the musician) and we also have the matching round back HB classical nylon string guitar, and just ordered the steel string round back version too. Outstanding values for a ridiculously small amount of money. Buy it!

Sounds good, easy to play, but the strings rattle with the default action.

Sounds fine plugged in, comfortable to play standing up but the curved back makes it slippy to hold sitting down. Lower strings can rattle quite a lot on the low frets.