Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-Bass Ukulele Reviews

Fanrtastic Tenor Uke for less that 100 euros

This Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-50T Tenor ukulele must be one of the best buys of the year for me. Where in the UK can you get a tenor uke of this quality for under 100 euros? The answer is you can not. I bought it last year and now I can play it reasonably well as it is such an easy instrument to pick up.

I play in a 1960s Rock and Roll band as the bass player, but now I've got the hang of a few chords, some of the songs I play on the uke instead and it makes for great fun and it is something different.

By just swapping over the lead from my bass and plugging into the uke, the change over is seamless. The sound it gives out through the amp is amazing.

I find that the tenor uke is a lot easier to play than the soprano as the longer fretboard gives more finger room for some of the more awkward chords and also gives a far better sound.

If you are thinking about a ukulele then go for it. What have you got to lose. You can always sell it on if you can't get on with it.

Something different.

I bought one of these, after seeing videos of people playing much more expensive Kala Ubasses. The difference in price between this bass and the Kala is large. Is it justified, without playing a Kala, I probably shouldn't say. For the money though, you can get some interesting sounds out of this bass. There are some issues though.

My bass came with a very rough feel around the edges of the bass's body. A bit of light sandpapering pretty much fixed that. The strings it comes with seem to keep stretching for ages and keep need cutting back down to prevent too much overlap on the tuners, as well as the constant re-tuning. However when it is in tune, it does sound really good and the little pre-amp does a fair job.

I must admit, it has not become a regular feature in my gigging setup but I do occasionally get it out for when my band has an acoustic practice session.

For the price, I don't regret buying it and it is worth knowing (although this will no doubt invalidate the warranty - so beware) that it can be converted to leftie pretty easily, as the tuners can be dismantled and the capstans can be swapped over. A little reaming of the holes in the bridge piece is required though.

Love it

Electrics appeared to be buggered when I unboxed it but it was a case of flat batteries.

At less than half the price of the more expensive models it meant I could justify buying one and if I got on with it and move on to a more expensive make if I want to use it for gigging. However, it will be perfectly adequate to use at gigs.

Just don't assume that the batteries are good.

Great value!

I purchased this bass a week or two ago and I really like it. Its probably the cheapest bass uke on the market (I certainly haven't found any cheaper) and represents great value for money. I'm not a professional and although I've played guitars and ukes for around 40 years now as a hobby player I'm quite new to bass playing. Didn't want to spend too much for what it still just a pastime and my tenor uke is still my main instrument - but this bass is great as an intro and useful for home recording and supporting my local uke club. It may not suit the top end professionals but for people like me its great. Easier to pick up and just play along to CDs with than a full size bass guitar too. Delivery from Germany to England took less than a week - it arrived well packed and safe! I'm a delighted customer!

5 stars!!

Great Bass Uke, use it at gigs and it goes down well! The build is quality and the sound is fantastic , overall great fun and such value for money!

Great Value U-Bass

iv had the kahuna Ubass for around a month now and yet again i am amazed at the quality you get from Harley Benton guitars even though the price points are so low. this really is one of those instruments you find yourself picking up as they sound great and are so much fun to play.

out of the box the Ubass was ready for playing the action was fine and intonation is very good even though there is no adjust-ability, all it need was a fine tune which was easy thanks to the built in tuner that is actually surprisingly accurate!

un- amplified and played at the neck the Ubass has a nice round woody tone to it that is not unlike an upright bass, and it actually has a surprising amount of low end. but when played at the bridge it has a nice middly growl and can produce a good amount of punch.

unfortunately when ran though an amplifier or a DI into to mixer the bass is not as good, due to it only having a piezo pickup it sounds quite raspy and lacks some definition but it isn't terrible and would probably be more than usable in a live setting, the built in EQ for the pickup can get a verity of tonal option but it is no where near as good as when unplugged. if i were going to use this in a recording situation i would definitely mic it up instead of DI'ing.

the build quality is good and it feels solid with no rattles or loose tuners, the stock strings are great (i believe they are aguilar thunder guts) and once they are worn in a bit feel nice.

overall it is a very usable instrument that is portable and great fun to play.

Great value option

I really wanted to try a Kala ubass but they are 4 times the cost of the Harley Benton model.

I was expecting something pretty cheap and was impressed that even plugged in the sound is really usable.

Definitely a worthwhile purchase for someone wanting to try it out,

It's great fun

Wow! Just wow!

Based on various reviews and opinions, I've been wanting to try a Bass Ukulele for a number of years but couldn't see spending $400 or more on a Kala sight unseen. But the cost of the Harley Benton model was more in my comfort zone so I took a shot and I'm glad I did.

It's a fun switch from my normal basses. The build quality of the instrument is much better than I expected and the sound is really good (for an acoustic bass obviously). The only minor issue is that the pickup/preamp works fine but the tuner doesn't seem to register at all. I didn't really plan on using it so it's not a big deal. Other than minor problem, the instrument exceeded my expectations in every way.

This is the most fun $150 instrument I've purchased to date (and I have quite a few) and I already have a couple of the guys I play with thinking about buying one for themselves.

I have a better known make but...

Sent for this on a whim as I already have a "better know" Uke Bass -

When it arrived I was very pleased, so decided to play it that night at a local venue - another bass player (who had been after my "other" uke bass) borrowed it for the evening, and I had trouble getting it back! The next day he sent for one, I think that shows how impressed he was, it was only after he'd been playing and enthusing about it I told him the price... he thought I was joking.

Value for money, and a great little "Travel semi acoustic bass"

Outstanding buy

The kahuna bass is a true head turner! I bought on a whips I host open mics and often have a lot of kit to carry around. I thought this might come in handy, and boy did it!!

I'll get the negatives out the way early on. The build quality was very rough feeling, quite unfinished and rushed in terms of finishing, nothing five minutes with Polish and a cloth couldn't fix, but nonetheless there was a lot of saw dust and file marks.

The sound however is incredible! I used the kahuna to simulate double bass VERY effectively, and literally had a queue of people waiting to examine it after its first outing in public!

Later I used it in place of a jazz bass for a fast jazz funk jam, it was fine, both to play and in terms of sound. If you learn to work with it and get your head (well, fingers!) around the tight spacing it really can fill in for either electric or upright bass perfectly well .

The tone can be bright, as most piezoelectric pickups are, but the tone control is pretty wide ranging and you really can get great tones out of it!

Tuning is an experience! Takes a LOT of turning before anything happens, but you get there in the end.

A stunning buy.

Wow!

Received this morning, incredible speed of dispatch and delivery, Although this has been the case with everything I've ordered so maybe shouldn't be described as incredible. Exemplary packaging and protection for an instrument so arrived in first class condition. The strings are obviously stretchy and it took a bit of winding to get them into tune. One minor wrinkle which will probably resolve itself was that the on-board tuner didn't seem able to register the lowest string. Could easily be because I tended to over hit the string and cause it to rattle rather than sounding true. Even with my minimal ability in respect of bass playing it is sounding marvelous, Acoustically and amplified - I don't have a specific bass amp but it was coming out loud and clear when plugged direct to a 200w amp I use as a monitor. Great fun and highly recommended particularly at the price - go on, get yourself one, you won't regret it :-)

For the money this is a lovely little bass and despite being a little rough & ready in its setup and finish it can sound fantastic. I would prefer the option to spend a little more for a version with a better standard of finish.

The stock Aquila strings sound very full and punchy but can feel a little sticky on both the fretting and plucking fingers. This can be remedied by applying a little talc to the fingertips of both hands before playing. I have had success using 'simple' brand unscented talc and would be concerned that oils in scented talc might react with the strings and so weaken them.

The acoustic volume of the bass is loud enough for private practice in a quiet room, however it does need to be amplified once you're playing with other acoustic instruments no matter how quiet they are. The tuner built into the preamp is a nice addition and is useful if no other tuner is available. The strings have a tendency to stick in the nut when tuning, but getting into the habit of gently lifting and releasing them helps to equalise the tension each side of the nut. The preamp has just one volume and one tone control. The piezo pickup seems to accentuate some harsh-sounding treble frequencies. For me the most usable sound was obtained with the tone control turned all the way to the bass side. With this setting, the bass sounded massive played through either a small or large bass amps and sat well in the mix with both acoustic and electric instruments. I wasn't troubled by feedback even when playing fairly loud - possibly in part due to my preferred eq setting. The string to string balance is not even - the E string seems a little louder even when the eq is not boosting the bass response, but a limiter pedal is effective in improving this.

benton clu bass

nice bass for price, changed strings to pyramid bass strings,as i always say,you get what you pay for but suprisingly this bass is as good as more exspensive small basses that i,ve tried, build quality is of a medium standard but worth the money if you are just playing around the home or for practice at night so you don,t bother the neighbours, or if you play in acoustic band

More fun than is good for you

This is lots of fun, but also a serious musical instrument. It is great for playing on the sofa unamplified but really comes into it's own when put through an amp. The tone control lets you move through Precision bass type thud through to a Double Bass-esque air shifting whump. Does it sound exactly like a Double Bass? Obviously not, but it will sit really nicely within an ensemble and provide that low-mid, air shifting heft that the Double Bass does. Audience members and band mates think it is hilarious until they hear one being played and then everyone wants a piece of it. The strings it comes with are fine and dandy, but if you want lower tension and even more heft try the Pahoehoe strings. They are like playing on giant rubber bands. They take time to stretch to stability but are well worth it. You could also string it with roundwound string from Pyramid and it will make a more than passing imitation of a bass guitar. There is nothing not to love about these. The build quality is not absolutely stellar, but nothing a bit of TLC will not sort out. However, for the money these are unbeatable. Every bassist should have one.

Harley Benton Kahuna - try it!

I bought this last week and I really like it.

Its a little bit bigger than other ukuleles but much smaller than a normal guitar.

The sound´s really nice for the money.

Sadly the tuner isnt that great and the strings feel a bit weird.

But it sounds really great on my amp.