Harley Benton HBZ-2005 Deluxe Series

Beautiful instrument - fun to play

This bass is absolutely beautiful. It's a piece of art, especially for the price. Crazy The sounds are good, assuming that you're looking for that active Jazz tone. If that's your thing, then you're going to really like this. I'm usually more of a passive P-bass player, so this is great to give me something different. I chose to string this one with Elixirs and a high C to give me some better soloing options for when playing in a duo with an acoustic guitar, and I really like what I'm getting. I can see where one might want to change out the pickups, and I might look at that at some point, but I'm also struggling to find pickups which fit this 5 string configuration. It's not a big deal, but it could see where swapping out electronics could take this bass from good to great.

Amazing bass at an affordable price

This bass is fantastic. The neck is fast, and there's no B-string sag! The pickups sound great on their own, and when distortion is applied (Sansamp Bass Driver).

My only complaint is that I would've liked it to be string-through. The bridge is already setup for a string-through setup, but there were no holes in the body. I just personally prefer the tension of a string-through body.

Great Bass

Great cheap bass, only issue is one of the knobs being a little finicky. Other than that it sounds great.

Ok but not good enough.

I just did not like the feel. I could see that I would have ended up doing what I do with most Harley Benton guitars that I do not send back. That is replace tuners pups and all electrics, but only if I get a quality build. This was an OK bass but just not worth the upgrades for me.

Best value for my money

There's nothing not to like about this bass. At this price point I'm not sure you can get anything better.

Very good for the price

There is very little to complain about. The design is beautiful and in general it's very comfortable to play, especially for the price. The only "issue" I've noticed is a small bit of wood that bulges out a touch at the top of the neck, most likely due to the sanding process, but you don't notice it while playing. Overall, a gorgeous instrument that plays really well for its price.

High quality great price

So cheap considering instruments here in egypt and the quality is amazing!

Pleasantly surprised - great value for the price

I bought this bass over 10 years ago as my second 5 string bass and didn't regret it. I wanted a wooden natural looking neck thru body instrument to replace my old 4 string EKO/Camac (now quite rare) bass so I could move to the 5 string world with something I would also love aesthetically, and it ended up one of my best purchases in a long time.

It arrived in a cheap but well packed cardboard box; both string action and bridge were finely adjusted and all it needed to start playing was tuning the strings. The sound is clean and the electronics is versatile and quiet. Pots and knobs feel a bit cheap but they do their job and in many years they never crackled, however I usually don't make heavy use of them during play, so YMMV; tuning pegs work as expected and don't miss tuning even after over an hour of heavy playing.

Would I purchase it again? Yes, definitely, although the +50% price bump from back then could make it less appealing for others.

wow.

how do they make these so cheap. such great workmanship. would happy play one all day long. and I do

and I am

Good but a little too heavy

I like the sound and everything is on stock settings. A little noise when switching between pickups. On stock its silent.

Its heavy. I wish it was lighter.