Harley Benton PB-Shorty BK Standard Series Reviews

Amazing Quality.

I play in a ukulele band and have been using a Ubass. I decided it was time to go the whole hog and switch to a 'proper' bass.

I tried unsuccessfully to play a full size instrument but being used to the Ubass's short scale it was too much of a jump for me. A friend suggested a short scale bass, so not wanting to waste money I googled cheapest bass guitar.

It arrived a week ago. I have to say the quality of the instrument is amazing, apart from tuning it played straight out of the box.

I've made a couple of changes, I fitted a bone nut and changed the strings to flatwound (my poor amateur fingers suffered with the roundwounds) A slight tweek of the truss rod to lower the action and I also adjusted the intonation.

I'm gigging with it on Friday and believe it or not I'm looking forward to showing off my £75 bass!

Excellent value.

Well made guitar. Ideal for the smaller person.

Amazing

Decide to return to bass after many years - so I wasn't really expecting much for the price but when it arrived I was amazed - no set up needed just a quick tune and away we go - its not a fender but then again I didn't pay for one - very pleased!

Great for the money, totally functional as a bass.

I'm not a bass player. I'll just open with that. I'm a rhythm player with a bass guitar.

Picked this up for £75 plus P and P on a whim just because I can, I own a collection of budget guitars (Squiers, Indies, a StarForce, a... Thing) and fancied trying Bass again.

Out of the box, my first impression was how TINY this is, barely any longer than an Affinity Strat and if anything with a smaller body. It has strings and tuners, you turn the tuners and the pitch of the strings changes. Two knobs, one for volume and one for tone. They both work. Out of the box the action and intonation are both fine. Tuning stability is better than any Squier I've encountered, it does slip a touch but especially having new strings it's pretty good really. Build quality is completely acceptable without being exceptional in any way, it's £75 so I wasn't expecting anything life-changing and didn't get it. The fretwork stands out as being the worst part (sharpish ends and not the smoothest frets) but far from a deal breaker. The neck finish stands out for me as the best part. Almost a semi-satin, shiny enough to be fast with dry hands yet satin enough to not stick to sweaty mitts.

It sounds perfectly acceptable to my ears, I'm not a bassist so I can't compare it to others I own, but it sounds more pleasing to my ears than my Affinity Strat or Standard Tele did with stock pickups.

I'm not crazy about the string tension, it feels a little bit loose for my personal preference, again I'm a guitarist which probably skews my judgement. I'll put some heavier strings on at some point to mitigate this.

In conclusion, if you're looking for a bass to learn, or to do a bit of home recording, this thing is absolutely fine. Given what £75 would buy you back in the day it's a revelation. Don't worry about buying something that's essentially unusable, this is a perfectly good instrument. If you're coming from guitar, the short scale length is really easy to get used to, too.

great guitar for that price

I am not disapointed, great finish, great sound and great value.

Good fun at a little over half the price of it's closest competitor

It arrived needing a little set up and the strings are kind of pants but that's all an easy fix even for a beginner. I put some flatwounds on and it feels great to play.

Neck feels good, no fret sprouting and nice and straight out of the box.

The pickups aren't great to be honest, they're not the worst i've heard but they're going to be the first thing i upgrade, plenty of thump to get started though. There is a buzzing sound when you aren't touching the strings but i suspect that some copper tape or something lining the cavity would help greatly, again a nice easy job for a beginner.

Even though i wouldn't rate the performance of the bass very highly i'm giving this a 5 star because the price is just so damn accessible, such a low cost of entry to start playing bass or, if you're like me, to experiment with shortscale.

UPDATE: I have lined the cavity and the underside of the scratchplate with copper tape and the hum has totally gone, it might be all in my head but the pickups sound better too. Fun little bass!

Great little Bass

I bought this for my daughter and I was amazed at how good it plays and sounds .

Good starter bass

I bought this bass in 2020 and it is OKAY. It is the most average bass guitar, really nothing to write to home about, but it gets the job done.

In conclusion, this is the type of bass that you want to start with. Great price, and very reliable.

Get band aids close in hand

Frets ends are terrible.

After I have filed it, I still get scratches in my hand after playing. Beside the frets, this is a deasent guitar with a deasent sound.

Quality Product

Ordered and received this last month, and for the price, you just cannot beat it. Straight from the box, instantly playable and for £85 GBP delivered to the UK,that's an incredible deal. It is what it is, hard to find fault with it for that price. For a short scale, it is excellent to play and if like me, it is only for occasional house house, then this is for you. Well weighted with a good neck and fretboard. Would recommend to everyone with good customer service.

Great bass for the money

great bass for the price and is comfortable for people with small hands.

Wow

This was purchased by my wife as she wanted a smaller bass. I was against the purchase it as it was the cheapest bass on the entire site and you get what you pay for, but she was adamant that she didn't want to waste money, so against my advice born of 30 years experience, this was the one that she bought.

Was I wrong.

It's an absolute bargain. Straight and true with a nice action and responsive electronics. It has a great sound which is perfectly acceptable. Start to directly compare it against a Fender Precision and it sounds less defined, but not £500 less defined.

I couldn't recommend it highly enough

quality bass for cheap price.

Very good bass to start practicing with a little bit of setting and change of pick-ups you can even use it for a wide variety of genres. Haven't changed pick-ups but I am still using it for my recordings/demos.

Value for money project instrument.

By no means perfect but for the price of this bass and requisite upgrades, the hardware is naff i will be honest, it stands up to bigger names very easily.

Otherwise very nice. Nice wood, nice frets and the pickup is surprisingly capable and shall be my last upgrade.

Ideal Project Bass

I was looking for a cheap basic bass I could upgrade in the future.

The finish is nice, the bass looks good and has no distinct visual issues. The paint is nice and even throughout the body, the neck is feels smooth and the headstock also looks good.

For me the best features are the low weight and the short scale, which make it a really comfortable sitting-at-home instrument.

However, this is a very cheap bass, thus it comes with some flaws:

- The pickups are just straight up bad, both their sound and their adjustability.

- The frets have some sprouting.

- There's a lot of string buzz.

I had a JB-75 NA which sounds and plays a ton better than this one. If you are a beginner, with no plans of upgrading this very instrument in the future, I would suggest getting either that, or any other HB bass.

Short scale Bass from HB

Very nice sounding and very playable short scale bass from HB.

Not the best in the world but it works just fine for the money.

:)

After a small amound of time setting this bass up and changing the tuning keys with Squier's and the strings, it was perfect, i was surprised with the sound! Very fun bass to play, the action is nice and low. Be sure to buy some tuning keys, mine arrived with one broken.. don't expect the perfect quality. Overall its a nice instrument, a bass that you can grab anytime, travel with it and dont worry much..

This is fantastic

I’ve recently taken up guitar maintenance. Done three, and changed over pickups. For the price, I thought this would be basic, and again, would change the pickups over.....but...it sounds fantastic. I found out Harvey-Benson use an American brand electrics. Pretty damned good. I’m leaving it as it is. 👍👍👍

SHARP FRETS!

Great bass...Great value...SHARP FRETS! What a pity for this is a simple fix! The frets actually cut my fingers, so I will have to get something done with them . A real shame as if quality control were on duty the day it was made ..it couldn't possibly have passed!!! OR could it????? Having checked the QC label...QC 5 should be sacked!