Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-Bass Ukulele 4-stars Reviews

Great for learning

I think this would be a great instrument for learning the bass. It's very easy on the fingers! I'm not a bassist and my ears are wood, so I don't want to comment on the sound too much, except that I think it sounds nice, acoustic or amplified.

Value for Money

I'm a bass player and I bought this to use "on the spot" just to have fun and practice songs without going thru the hassle cables etc. It's been a few weeks now and as a summary I enjoy playing it. It feels a bit weird with the strings first, especially the E and A strings' feeling is very different and sliding is not comfortable. Also I have to tune it every now and then, thanks to the built in tuner it's easier than usual. Overall the sound is OK. Also when plugged into amp it sounds nice. Obviously it's not top quality sound but delivers what is expected. I don't regret buying it and I would recommend anyone that has the same intentions.

Fun

Always fancied one of these just to pick up and noodle on in the garden or on my lunch break,it took quite a bit of setting up,adjusting the truss rod and ended up having to raise the nut a bit,eventually got it acceptable.very weird to play at first but after a while you adapt and it really is great fun to play,plugged in it does a great upright impersonation.I’m looking to replace the tuners (very cheap and un feasibly heavy) im sure there’s much better bass ukes out there but they’re 4/5 times the price of this one,if you’re handy at setting up I’d recommend if not they could be incredibly frustrating.

Not amazed.

These are rubber strings, so don't expect it to give it a metal sound. This also is far from a double bass sound. It's something of its own.

The sounds of the demo are accurate, but having played it for a while, I think that i should have picked either an electric bass or the fretless version of this. I thought I would get more double bass vibes with this one, but if that's your objective go with the fretless one. The amp kills most of the interesting tone, so I prefer to play it unplugged, even being a very quiet sound. Better have a good mic to catch the sound if you're going this way, though.

It's hard to get a clean and prety sound from this one.

Good bass ukulele

If you plan to use it mostly with amp buy it, it has good pickups for the price. If you plan to use it mostly as plain acoustic instrument, you might consider some other models.

Interesting ukulele

I use it mainly for studio recording at home. It seems great, feels great, except for the A string, which seems to detune constantly. Otherwise, a great instrument with rich sound for beginners onward.

Very nice

A very nice portable instrument. The onboard tuner is very useful. The sound is "OK", especially when it is plugged in. Without an amp don't expect to be heard loud, but it is very logical for such a small bass instrument. The EQ is pretty good too. It sure is a value for money.

Sounds great plugged in and unplugged. Only slight problem is the strings but you get used to them after playing and stretching the strings. Currently looking to change the strings but apart from that, the ubass is good

Can't beat it at this prce

It plays pretty well out of the box and sounds great, but I would reccomend to change the strings and have a luthier set it up so it doesn't buzz.

Great bass uke for a small price

Can't really compare it to other bass ukes, as it's the only one I've tried, so going to compare what it feels like to a full sized bass. It sounds great acoustically, but only on the middle two strings (A and D) other two string will only sounds good when amplified. As expected, string don't hold tuning well, until they stretch properly. But bigger problem is tone offset by anything above 12th fret. For it's +0.25 tone of 12th fret for G string, which is a lot. Possibly can be fixed with other strings. But since barely possible to play on anything above 12th fret anyway, I'm not too fussy about it. Overall, it's a good instrument I enjoy playing when I don't want to connect my main bass guitar.

Very good for the price!

Seems solidly built! All in all, a very good instrument for a very low price!

+

Low price

Solidly built

Sounds very good on amp/PA.

Decent output volume.

-

Hard to keep in tune, probably because the strings stick to the nut.

Treble filter on eq adds annoying scratching sounds and noises. Keep treble low, and it sounds great!

I enjoy this one very much, and have used it on many gigs!

i mean! for this price !

the price/quality ratio is good i think

i like it !

Good sound, good size, good price

I bought this bass mostly for its practical size, its smaler than a regular acoustic guitar!

I'm happy with the sound quality. It reminds me of a double bass when its pluged in to a speaker or an amp but in terms of acoustics don't expect a big sound to come from such a small box.

The strings are interesting, very thick and rubery. I guess its the material that makes it possible to achieve the sound in this size but it also makes it a bit harder to do slides for example, so its not going to be just like playing your regular bass, it has its own character!

Looks good to me, the acoustic wood look was what i wanted although the frets could have been beter sanded at the edges but i guess you cant ask much more for this price.

I'm a singer/song writer and play mostly guitar but was looking for a cheap and practical bass to use for looping live, recording, jamming and creating new music and i'm happy with this one!

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.

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.

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.