Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Deluxe Series 3-stars Reviews

Overall Good budget bass-with issues

I bought this with the expectation of making it a project bass. It is a very attractive neck-thru bass. There were some minor finish issues, uneven lacquer,some small dings, nothing drastic. However on loosening the strings the nut fell right off the bass! The barrel input jack is also at a very odd angle and needing tightening to stop noise. The action was too high and the set screws were too long had to replace them after scraping my hand on it. The bridge is very cheap with sharp corners. Paint comes off easy. The pickups are a bit noisy and odd sized and set way too far from the bridge. The neck is slightly thicker than I like but plays very well.

All this sounds like its not a good bass. It most certainly is good for the money. It plays (and looks) better the something like a Fender Squire.

I could have sent it back but nothing bad enough to go to the trouble since I'm in the USA ,they probably know that.

As a project bass it first got a Lustihand Twin filter preamp,upgraded shielding. New pickups on the way, Delano skinny soapbars.

Next will be a Schaller Bridge. This turns a budget bass into a more expensive bass. For me worth it to have a unique fun ,project bass as I have done this to other low and midpriced basses.

Slightly dissapointing

After reading all these rad reviews I was really expecting something good from this bass. Sadly, it is not as good as expected.

The guitar itself is beautiful of course, but the craftmanship is poor - the nuts and bolts were drilled in crookedly, making it hard to take them out and generally making it look a bit sloppy. It already came with string buzz which did not go away after adjusting the truss rod.

Also a major problem is that the first and third string emitted a slight pop in the amp when you let go of them, which is very noticeable when playing on low volume and very annoying. Tried with different amps - it's the guitar's problem.

After about 9 months of playing a 10cm long crack appeared in the body where the battery is located. Note - the guitar was never dropped and never hit any hard objects.

The tone control is pretty good, lots of different tones can be found after tinkering with the knobs.

Overall it's a good guitar for learning the bass, but if you were planning to keep your first bass and use it for more than just learning i'd recommend to save a hundred or more euros and just buy a Fender.