Harley Benton MB-4 SB Deluxe Series 5-stars Reviews

Buy it

I can't believe how do they make it and sell this so cheap.

I mean this is a very good instrument.

Finish,looks,sound,great comfortable neck...

Buy one,you will not regret it...

Everything I expected and more

When I unpacked the bass I was surprised by the quality of the finish. Because of the low price point I examined it closely trying to find fault but there were none!

Sunburst is not my first choice in colour schemes nor painted headstock but I have to say this bass looks impressive. The instrument is very solidly built and with six neck bolts I think it's the next best thing to a neck through. It plays out of the box though I had to tighten the truss rod a little. The neck is good, but for me the string spacing could be slightly closer as I prefer the E and G strings not quite so close to the outer edge of the neck but it plays well and I quickly got used to the feel. The action I was able to achieve without fret buss was not brilliant but definitely acceptably low enough.

The split coil pickup is a master stroke. Cutting the volume back the rear coil a little enables a more Rikki style tone. I may add later a single coil pick up half way between the 12th fret and the bridge to add to that although there is plenty of bass and mid response from the humbucker. Passive electrics means no fiddling with batterys and I have no problem dialing in a good tone. I have several basses and I bought this mainly as a back up but I am presently using this on all gigs .

All in all this is a Quality instrument at a bargain price

Couldn't have asked for more

I'm getting back into the bass after about 10-15 years and needed something to help me get my footing back. This bass is just the right combination of quality and value for someone in my position.

Came out of the box with a pretty good setup, good action, smooth fret ends, just the kind of quality you don't expect in this price range.

Had it shipped to the East Coast of USA and it arrived without issue. Not as well packed as some of the competitors but well enough that it survived unscathed. It took about 2 weeks, but considering it crossed an ocean I can deal with that.

If had to give it a con it'd be the weight. I've never been a "sit down" player, just something feels right about practicing standing up, but the sheer weight of this bass has forced me to sit for longer practice sessions. Even though it's heavy it's not unbalanced, the neck mostly stays where you want it while it's on a strap.

Bottom line: The bass is a pleasure to play, it's affordable without being cheaply made and it looks great.

This is my first exposure to Harley Benton and I think you've won yourselves a fan.

Yes! It worths!

I always wanted to have a really simple 4-string bass for some rock or heavy metal playing. And while I don't like the look of the most "P" or "Jazz" basses, as well as the huge price of Fenders or MusicMans, I was tempted by this Harley Benton look - a really cool MusicMan copy.

I've been following the Harley Benton brand in the last couple of years so I didn't have any doubts about their quality. This bass is not just looking cool, it sounds as cool. By tinkering the pickup knobs you can even make it sound like a "P" bass - it's versatile. I play mostly classic rock and Iron Maiden stuff. The instrument fully delivers soundwise. It is not as quiet as people might suggest for being a passive bass with a pickup brand they never heard of. It is a really nice bass!

Qualitywise it came to me with full setup - bridge action, truss rod, everything. Frets are leveled, the first fret is also fine. I had a little buzz on the "D" strings and had to raise the action a little bit, but after I change the stock strings with a new ones that might go away. The finish is also great, the machine heads are nice.

In overall this is a really nice bass, not only for beginners. Of course it's not a full copy of MusicMan but it doesn't have to be! It just a different bass with good sound. Cheers!

harley benton mb4-sb

Wow what can i say its great i love the neck and it sounds like a musicman.brilliant value for money

cheap parts but great sounding

overall does not inspire trust that the metal components will hold up normal gigging use. so it feels to me like a bedroom instrument.

Very tasty sound though, not too heavy, very playable. good looks also

Amazing Instrument for this price

Quality-awesome

Sound-awesome

Wood and other parts-awesome

Very good instrument for this price.

Superb bass!

Got it quite amazingly set up out of the box which was surprising to be honest! action not too high and the stock strings sound decent enough to work with.

Good punchy tones... simple controls just the split volumes and the tone control.

The neck is a tad bit fatter than im used to being an ibanez player all me life but its a standard musicman style neck so ive just got to get used to it.

All in all great bass that punches far outside its suggested price range and gives superb tones while recording direct line in too!

MB-4 Bass

Amazing bass for the money! I've played basses 4/5 times the price that arent as good as this one. set up very well out of the box. i use it with heavy gauge strings in drop c for a my band lead by lies, and its never failed me in both tuning and tone. I play all my Harley Benton instruments proudly whether its on my own or on stage.

Harley Benton MB-4

Good platform for Stingray modding!

Excellent for the money

Really nice bass for the money. This is my second, I foolishly sold the first and regretted it.

Visually- it looks great, very, very few minor cosmetic blemishes.

Frets are nicely rounded on the ends, no sharp ones when playing.

Checked the neck relief, it's pretty much straight. The action needs to go down a little at the saddles, it's a touch high for my liking.

Controls all work fine. The two volume knobs are slightly off axis, so they scrape a little as you turn them. I just pulled them up a touch on the shafts, now they're fine.

I'm a hobby player, so my expectations are for something that won't cut my hands (yes), holds tune (yes), easy to play (yes) doesn't weigh too much (yes- quite a light body), and it sounds good. The split coil function is in the form of two volume knobs, one for each coil. It works well and gives some variations. The tone knob doesn't do much, through most of the turn there is no change and then the treble is muffled lost at the end.

But, this bass is great for 119 euro. I bought it to play at home, my 14 y/o also wants to play so if he likes this one and can manage the size, I will be buying another.

Highly recommended for a beginner, or home player/ part-time bassist.

I don't think I could have picked a better bass to start

So first, let's get the bad out of the way, and there's not much.

1. I'd rather it have a master volume, coil blend, and master tone. Instead it has one volume for each coil and a master tone. Effectively the same, but in terms of how easy it is to use, if I want to mute the bass through the pots, I have to turn two of them. Very small nit pick, and really it's a point of preference.

2. The 18th fret is a bit high, which leads to some fret buzzing on the higher frets (14-17) for the E and A strings, but I'm not spending a lot of time, if any time at all up there on those strings anyway.

And that's really it for what I don't like. Now for the good.

1. This thing looks great. The burst finish with the matching headstock is something I'm very very happy with.

2. This thing sounds great. It looks like a music man stingray, and sounds a bit like it, though not exactly. It has some great bright presence, a lot of punch, and a lot of output despite being a passive bass.

3. The quality. I looked for any flaws in the finish and found none. The frets are not at all sharp, and the neck feels amazing. It's huge and fits my big mitts really well. Tuners work pretty well. They feel a bit tight, but don't seem to have any jumps or dead spots. The pots aren't scratchy (at least not yet), and the bridge seems sturdy and strong.

4. It's simple. Passive bass, one pickup, four strings. No nonsense. You pick this bass up and play, that's it. You don't spend time over-tweaking the EQ. You don't need to worry about the battery going dead. You don't really need to wonder if it would sound better on the neck or the bridge pickup, though you do get a little bit of flexibility there, but that's more of a "Would a single coil sound better than a humbucker?" choice than a bridge/neck choice. Most of the time the humbucker is all you need, though (see the nitpick about volume/blend/tone vs volume/volume/tone above).

5. It's balanced well. With a strap, there's a bit of neck dive, but it still stays with the headstock above the top horn of the body.

6. It came with a pretty good setup. Shipping over the ocean from Germany to the US, you expect a bit of an issue, and there was a little bit. I had to turn the truss rod about a quarter turn to get the fret buzz to go away, but after that I was able to lower the action a bit to where it's nice and comfortable.

adding new bass for my collection

this is another great deal that only Harley Benton can offer. this bass looks really amazing out of the box, with everything ready to play. the bass came well packaged with no need for any adjustment.

pros - the bass has great tone, nice playability, the neck feels good (little bit chunky).

cons - the knobs are not perfect, they need to be replaced, especially the tone control, because they are not as sensitive as they should be so, its a little bit difficult to get the exact tone.

A lot for little outlay

I bought this bass after checking out PreEB, EB, Sub sting ray Basses, I was looking for a budget bass that delivers and this one certainly does, I was curious after reading the shining reviews which cover most angles and definitely swayed my decision to buy. Delivery was quick and the bass well packaged, I also bought DM blue steels to replace the factory strings which seemed ok in fairness. I stuck on the DMs tuned her up, the setup was playable but not for me.

As in another review relieved the truss 1/4 turn, filed the nut slots, lowered the action and tweeked the intonation. It felt much better to play with a reasonable action, the fret work is pretty good with no sharps, when I plugged it into my combo I found the knob configuration was not the same as a standard 3 knob stingray. There was no manual included but it did come with an emergency lead a truss key and saddle Allen key. With some trial and error I found out that apparently the first(front) knob controls the front 4 poles the middle knob controls the back 4 poles of the pup and the rear is tone.

I would suggest to upgrade the pots at some stage as they?re not great. Yes this is a passive bass that sounds as if it?s actually active, quite punchy clear tones from low to high.

All in all with a set of strings (not essential) needle files a couple of Allan keys a tuner and two hours, you can have a professional feeling/sounding stingray style instrument for under ?150 and that?s quite incredible indeed folks.

Harley Benton MB-4 SB Deluxe Series

Perfect musicman copy for modding.

it's ray, you know it is!

So this is interesting piece of gear. my third benton. since i wanted to get that ray tone in my arsenal, i pulled the trigger on this one.

first glance, everything is great, finish is good, body wood is great, sunbrust looks good with that black pickguard and maple neck. also matching headstock is just extra sauce on the steak.

upon further inspection; neck is chunky/thick but comfortable! also maple on the neck looks quartersawn (!!!!!! WOW!) and neck is stable. out the box setup was good, medium - low. so i turned the trussrod 1/4 of the turn and got really low action, amazingly low for this price point. also no fretbuzz! imagine that. so more tweaking and i've got it even lower, and tuned E string to drop D. still no unwanted stringbuzz :)

and now to sound, frist of all, strings on this bass seem like some cheapo stuff and this bass really needs some good strings (elixir nickel or something similar). sound is stingray sound but a bit more ... warmer? could be because it's passive ,and tone pot really gives you something amazing in tone posibilites. i would descirbe basic sound as thick, phat with really deep but responsive low end and punchy defined mid-range but with subdued highs.

it's worth at least 4-5 times it's price imho. also, it's really light. so another plus!!

go get it!

Intro level "Musicman" clone...

I have recently played the Sterling Sub 4 and Sterling Classic basses and wanted a "Musicman" style bass for modding. This fits perfectly into that category and i was pleasantly surprised at the quality of fit and finish. This is a passive bass, two volume, one tone ( split coil) and i get a great range of sounds. I also wanted a maple neck for the brighter sound. This emulates the Sterling Sub 4 bass in as much as it has six bolts holding the neck in place nice and firmly.. Its not a super heavy bass, weight wise and is very comfortable to play.The neck has satin finish and is a good comfortable fit in the hand with a fast action. All in all a great bass for the money. Buy one...have some fun!