Harley Benton PJ-4 HTR Deluxe Series 4-stars Reviews

Decent

I use it at home to practise.

Very decent bass for the price. Way better that some more expensive ones.

Not the best build quality, but soundwise it is awesome.

Standard Harley Benton Offering

This is my first bass so I let all my friends who play test it out in order to get a better opinion.

Over all they all said it is one on the OK-est basses out there. It needed a little set-up out of the box but nothing too major. The biggest issue was the pocket was not 100% level. The fit was tight we just had to shim it to get it perfectly level. The tuners were a bit wonky and will probably be the first think I replace. IT was a bit neck heavy but that is an issue with even more expensive basses. There were no problems with sharp or long fretts. All the fretts were passably level. The tone control was a fairly unresponsive with little difference between both extremes. The sound from both the P and J pickups were probably a little better than one would expect for the price. I absolutely LOVE the coloring and finish.

Great value but not a high end bass.

Attractive axe

Despite one minor finish flaw - alder body is perfect. Neck to body joint is good. Fret edges are not sharp. Roseacer is roseacer. Overall impression - fine!

Another great buy !

Great P bass copy for the price. Needs other pickups to sound like a real P bass sould sound... Great looks , freatboard similar to the prototype, with another set of pups and electronics it can be a workhorse !

A good starter PJ

The pickups and electronics are surprisingly good -a decent volume and nice and clean. The build quality is pretty good as well and after a little setup it played very nicely. For me, the neck seemed a little thick but then I'm used to a jazz. For the price, well worth trying.

Nice project Bass

I bought this as a little project, straight out the box it plays fine after a little truss rod adjustment. The neck is great and the fret work feels really nice. Looks however are a little garish especially the very plastic looking scratch plate.

I feel in love with the look of the road worn Sandberg California II VM4 RW BK HCA, but didn't have the cash, however with a road worn black paint job, a set of Seymour Duncan quarter pounders, a couple of switching pots and a bespoke new scratch plate this thing also looks great as well.

In time I may add some better machine heads or maybe a new bridge but for now I'm more than happy with it and it feels good to play, you would never know it was a £100 bass.

A great bass for beginners for its affordable and has good caracteristics.Very beutiful finish and no sharp ends on the neck. the machine heads arent very great but the bass itself for the price its very good.

great value for money

This bass is great value for money, it has all the features a standard bass has with all the adjustable features desired to get the perfect set up. Changing the strings and doing a proper set up really proved its worth and enhanced the bass. i would say this bass is great for someone who is starting out or for someone who plays regular. I would say that it would be good for gigs but maybe a good back up for serious players.

I personally used this bass as a project to strip it apart and upgrade all the parts. However i this review is based on as per issued. the paint work and the lacquer was really thick so it is robust for a long life.

I would be mindful of the frets and ensure that all they're all smooth. i had to lightly file one down as it was a little sharp.

I hope this helps.

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.

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 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.

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.