Harley Benton PB-Shorty BK Standard Series Reviews

Great apart from one bridge grub screw was faulty.

He just needs to be around

I had no doubts about its quality when I learned that the company belongs to tomann.d

Having received the tool, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the packaging.

The bass itself is impeccable.

But later some shortcomings came to light.

First, the peg bushings began to come out. At the factory, they were dressed with a chip.

Secondly, the bar anchor was at the adjustment limit.

Third, the frets are not even enough to lower the strings further.

Despite these shortcomings, the bass sounds great and allows you to fully practice both at home and at rehearsals.

Separately, I will mention the strings, on my bass there were short-range D`ADDARIO, they are very good and durable.

Many thanks to tomann for the great tool and great service.

Neck Dive

Pros: Great action, great sound.

Cons: Horrible neck dive. Very awkward to play even sitting down.

Cheap bass = cut hands?

My band needed a bass for the new bassist, and we figured that this one is affordable and a short-scale, which would be perfect for a teenage girl who just started playing bass.

The bass sounds great, but when it comes to playing there was an issue... the frets were sharp, and cut up the bassists hands, but I just used some sandpaper and all was well. So in general, I recommend it, it just requires to be set up and fixed in a few places (frets). Other than that the quality of it is not an issue eather.

Sounds Like A Bass But Needs Work

This Bass sounds great for what it is. Cheapy little tone pots and overall cheap construction and it still manages to sound nice. The major issue with mine was the frets. They weren't just rough they were absolutely rusted. I quickly polished them to make the bass to a playable level. Tuners are also just blah. For 87$ what more do you want? Honestly, if I got a bass without rusted frets it would be 5 stars.

Fine instrument for practicing

Using it for practicing, learning.

It is a light instrument. No complaints at all, for the price it's unbeatable.

The short neck is good for young bassists, kids, women with smaller hands. The initial setup was quite fine, no need additional adjustment.

It sounds good to me, but you can easily upgrade the pickups if you want.

Verdict: recommended first or practice instrument.

What a great little bass for very little cash.

I restrung this with Fender short scale bass string. Transformed the feel and the sound. Easy to play, easy to transport and a good uncomplicated bass tone. Would recommend to any aspiring bass players looking for an easy to play instrument.

Considering the price, it's 5 star

Surprisingly well built, considering the money you pay. I bought it just to have a bass to play around at home but I'm using it in professional recordings.

Wonderful mini retro P bass

I bought this as a project bass to learn how to do things like levelling frets, setup, wiring etc.

This is was a complete surprise. 80 euro and a little setting up and it is a dream. I have put flatwounds on it, lowered the action and it is one of the easiest basses i have ever played. I have basses of 20-30 times the cost which do not play as well.

Yes the frets are a little sharp and the setup from the factory wasnt not good, but that didnt take long to fix.

With flatwound strings on it has wonderful retro Pbass tone and a great passive sound from it. I use it for recording and live play and it is one of my favourites. I made a mirror scratchplate for it and added a thumbrest. Now it's a baby Phil Lynott P-bass.

Just for context, I have been playing bass for 25 years, I studied music in UK & Los Angeles, bass as the main instrument, I have played semi-professional & taught bass. Would recommend this bass in a heartbeat as long as they can get it setup properly once it arrives.

great sound and good handling

amazing sound and really nice to handle

Excellent

I see the price has just gone up 10 euro,but not surprised.Still the best 89 euro you'll ever spend.Perfect setup out of box,etc,If you are a guitar player like me,learning the bass will teach you so much about rhythm,song structure,etc.Don't think about it...Just buy it!!

Surprisingly good bass

This review is somewhat late, as I believe I bought this bass in 2010.

I have had a bass at hand for most of the time I have been playing guitar for songwriting purposes.

My previous bass (an unbranded plywood-bodied P-copy) was retired when I had taken it apart to respray the body and I realised that it was a long-scale neck on a short-scale body! I had stopped writing music at this time and saw no need to replace it.

However, we moved to a different area and I wanted to get back into playing in bands and, after a long time of failing to find a band as a guitarist, bought this bass in the home that it would be easier to get gigs as a bassist. It was!

The bass was light, solid and held tune really well. I wasn't particularly impressed with the rosewood fingerboard (if it actually was rosewood I am not sure), but that's been a problem for me fo years.

The pickup sounded ok, but the bass needed a good setup (intonation, trussrod adjustment and string height) which I did myself. All sounded good and I used this bass until I started gigging when I had moved on the a Squier VM Jazz.

When I sent the Squier off to a luthier for a pro setup I used the HB for a couple of rehearsals and was REALLY impressed with the bass! There was no actual need to have moved on.

The bass has subsequently been sold on, but I have recommended HB instruments to anybody looking instrument suggestions within this budget.

Nicely made and finished

Bought as a back up my main Ibanez.

Well set up.

Strings were a bit heavy duty for my liking, but sound is good.

Nice and simple with one volume and one "tone" control.

Good Quality machine heads.

Easier to transport.

Very happy with this bass.

Budget short scale Bass

I like a short scale Bass, so I took a chance on this joker and do you know what, it’s superb, not just, for the money superb, it really is superb.

No sharp fret ends, paint is flawless, setup out of the box was fine. The only thing I changed was the strings, only because I prefer flat wound....

Sounds? It sounds like a Bass! Really!

If you fancy trying a short scale I don’t think you will be disappointed!

Great for the Price

I have used this bass for many gigs and practice sessions alike. I started on a full-scale bass and although it was not uncomfortable for my hand size, as a long time guitar player I was much more comfortable with the shorter scale. For a relatively low pice, the bass sounds as good as any higher end bass. However, it is not the most durable piece of equipment I've ever bought. It's light weight accounts for a slight weakness and the intonation has become slightly flat at the higher frets. It is likely not a tool for the heavy handed. However, for a low price it is 100% worth it as this is an easy fix with the right knowledge (or a good technician) and I will always vouch for tis bass.

Bit unlucky I guess

Bought this for home use, hobby only. Had to stop fingerpicking acoustic due to problems in both hands so thought I’d try a bass with less fancy hand movement. Delivery was fast up to local depot, but then got a message saying the address was incomplete. This proved untrue, but it was Friday afternoon and Valentine’s Day so a late trip to our remote village may have seemed unappetising. Got it on Monday.

It looks fine, body unblemished. Took several days before it would stay in tune, probably because of front pickup, which was badly fitted with one corner significantly higher than the rest. The adjusting screw had a stripped head so I guess someone had noticed. Eventually lowered it. Two bridge Allen key sockets didn’t work, one seems to have no hexagonal interior at all. Truss rod is jammed solid. The intonation screws worked fine as did the tuners. So not the best review, sadly.

If, after a month, my hands are coping, I’ll get that American Mustang in Aubergine. Wouldn’t that be nice?!!

Very good.

I needed a bass for bashing out ideas at home and, as this one had pretty good reviews, I thought I'd give it a try.

It arrived well packaged and well set-up. I only had to tune it and adjust the intonation on 2 strings and it was ready to play.

The tuners are basic but hold tune well, the electrics seem fine and it plays and sounds great. The fretwork and finish are perfect, even the included strings are pretty decent.

Overall I'm impressed with the build quality of such an inexpensive instrument. I can't find a fault with it.

Good for projects and practice

I got this bass so i can have something sitting next to me that i could just pickup and practice with no worries.

My review of the bass right out of the box:

1) Finish - looks great. there were no problems with the finish on the body, the pickguard or the neck.

2) Hardware - the harley benton shorty comes with a vintage bridge and open back tuners, much in the style of an old school p bass. the tuners are fine, they hold the tune and do their job. the bridge however was not mounted correctly and i had to make some adjustments to it. the knobs all work fine.

3) sound - out of the box the sound was not impressive at all but after installing flatwound strings by GHS the sound improved alot. i intend to replace to pickup in the future.

all in all the bass required a good setup + changing the strings in order to play well and sound well but for the price i think it's worth it.

Super for non-bass players

I got this for doing demo recordings. I'm not a bass player, just a guitarist. So, for my purposes it's perfect. It came set up very well—great action and the strings seem adequate, but I bought some flat-wounds I will install soon since I do mainly jazz songs. I also got it so I can have song-writing, jam sessions in my home and folks can just grab an instrument. I've bought several Harley Benton instruments for this purpose. All have been shockingly good for the price. How do they do it?

good inexpensive starter bass

Bought this to record with. I'm Been playing guitar for 40 years but Not a bass player so preferred the shorter scale. Just used for recording ideas for songs. Did not expect too much for the price but was pleasantly surprised. Adjusted the action a little and the pick up height and off I went. Works fine but has a few difficulties with tuning. I'm just going to see if replacing the nut with a better quality one helps. If you need something to start with or what I amusing it for cant really go wrong