Harley Benton PJ-4 HTR Deluxe Series Reviews

Good good good

Initially i was just looking for a cheap instrument so I bought this one (no claims).

When I tried it for the first time with no amp I feel well immediately.

With amp it has a superb sound: during a recording session in studio, my producer thought the bass value was 700-800 euros at least.

So I really raccomand it if you want to start playing the instrument.

It's.....okay

It's cheap and for the money, it's fine. It lacks output though, no punch behind it. Fine for practice, actually plays and feels quite nice but that's all it is good for.

whallop!

I was going to join a rock band and wanted a P-J just for that. I could've got the 5 string for a few extra shillings but wanted the 4 to make myself work harder, but it's anything but hard work, this bass is a joy to play.

straight out of the box, good set up, good balance, no LX problems, both pick-ups being very lively and a great, big sound from both - I use the J up full with the P dialled in a little for warmth and it's right there, the exact sound I want.

looks cool, good weight, put together very well, no faults with the finish or build, love it. tres happy.

Pretty good.

I bought this as I wanted a cheap bass I could modify. Out of the box it was in good condition, the finish on the body was excellent and the neck was pretty decent.

The one quarrel I have about this bass is the pickups. They don't sound that great, but I'll be swapping mine out anyway so I'm not too concerned.

If you are a beginner or want something to modify, this is a great bass to start with.

Great beginner bass

Great beginner bass

Sound: The overall tone is great, no hissing at all. Fine tone control.

Build quality: A very solid bass. The action is a bit high without adjusting though.

Colors: The colors does not match the ones on the picture. The body is a more bright red while the pickguard is a more dark red. This results in the pickguard being darker than the body. I bought this bass five years ago, so this might have changed in newer batches.

Great little Bass

This is a unbelievable bass for the money..!!! Build quality is much better than other named brands at a third of there price..!!! If your looking for a a studio work horse with just a simple pickup change you've got one..!!

Great P bass copy, mine was damaged in transit, so awaiting a replacement.

Nothing too bad with this bass, looks similar quality to the HB JB-75, but with cheaper strings and pick ups.

Mine arrived with a smashed in end pin. Had to think long and hard about keeping it and using it as a sit down bass or returning it to get a replacement. In the end decided on a return. Otherwise the bass is well constructed. Nice wide P bass neck with a satin finish on the back. A nice piece of rosewood for the fretboard, some "pearl" like inlays. The body is well finished translucent red showing the solid Alder body (I could see an obvious line in the top of the body so mine's a two piece). The machine heads had a nit of play in them, but nothing to worry about unless you need to change tunings a lot. The pickups sound just fine as is, but my inner tinkerer would want to swap out the P bass for a more genuine vintage one.

Got some great tones from it out of the box and just needed a simple setup on the truss rod and bridge.

Was planning to put some heavy gauge flats for some rock/Motown, but haven't been able to try it out with flats yet.

I'll see if I can post an updated review once I get the replacement through. Just giving this 3 stars for quality because of the damage on arrival, but I'll revise this once I get the replacement.

exception value

I'm a 6 string guitarist who occasionally play bass about 10% of the time. I'm no connoisseur of 4 stringers but have owned many guitars and was very pleased with the quality, playability and sound of this 'budget' instrument.

The setup was spot on out of the box and the finish was far better than I expected for a sub £100 guitar. Recommended!

Perfect for beginners

I would definitely recommend this bass for beginners!! Although it is cheap, it has great sound!!

I mostly play the guitar but I needed a bass for some recordings.. I made lots of recordings with it, played on rehearsals and live concerts!! Everybody got mad when I told them the price I paid for it!!

I would replace the factory tuners with some better ones, because they seem "fake", and maybe the pickups.. Although they are great for what you pay for, if they will be replaced, the bass would be a "beast"!!

A lot for the money

At a price you cannot beat, this instrument is very very decent. A small oversight in quality control (the jack was feeling a little loose and didn't connect properly) are nothing compared to what this instrument offers at such a price. I would definitely buy it again.

Cheap bass and it has its problems

First of all it shouldn't even be possible to sell a bass this cheap. The price comes with downsides in terms of QC. My bass had several problems including loose input jack, loose pots and pick guard screws that were very poorly angled. The bass was on the other hand playable but the action was a tad high and it required some extensive care to make it fully comfortable. I hade to level the frets and tighten most of the electronic before getting it to play comfortable. I'm still a bit impressed a bass can be this cheap at all. The neck felt a bit flimsy and required a lot of truss rod adjustments over time but the tuners work just fine.

Ideal first bass

This was my first bass. I am a huge rock fan and i wanted something that looked good and that had a sound quality that would allowed me to play live gigs and this seemed to fit my requests.

The neck is really confortable, your hand can go up and down easily. The pickups configuration allows you to get a lot of different sounds from it, wich make this bass pretty good to fit in any stile of music. The woods seem to have good quality too, once the bass looks to have a cool sound too even when it's not pluged in into an amp.

Seems to be a solid bass in general.

It's not the best bass in the world but it is a great bass to start.

Deluxe?

Hi

I've been a guitar player for 15 years, but this was my first bass guitar. The PJ 4 is a very good instrument for the money, but as you could expect, it's not the same quality as a 1000euro Fender; the built quality is good and the lacquer finish looks nice;

My main concern is the sound; it's not as versatile as on higher range products, and there is a hum which can be quite annoying when recording straight into a DI.

Maybe I'll change the mics one day and put a set of active mics.