Harley Benton JB-20 SB Standard Series 4-stars Reviews

A great first bass

As I wanted to start learning and don't have a big budget, I opted for this. Setting up was a breeze: only the intonation needed tinkering. However on my unit the tone knob has a large dead zone, only a small part of the turn affects tone. And also the frets are a bit sharp on the ends. But I guess it is to be expected at this price point and other than that, it has served me well this past few months. Recommended for beginners.

Decent quality for the price

Bought this bass as a cheap entry level one and it shipped fast and sounded great, however, the fret edges were quite sharp - much sharper than the ones on other Harley Bentons I'd bought before. Luckily, it was a 10 minute fix with some cheap 400 grit sandpaper and it plays and sounds amazing. Would recommend, but expect some minor setup requirements

Good for this price, but....

Overall, good bass for the money. But there are some minor flaws in build quality. Frets cut hands, but can be easily corrected on their own, requires a little refinement. I also didn't like the fingerboard material, it looked very cheap. In general, the sound is not bad for the money, the sound is good, well suited for those who are just starting to play the bass guitar and do not know if they will play in the future. Also suitable for a small school group. But if you want to play like a pro, this bass is not for you.

Good for the price, a lot of noise

Obviously for such a low price point there are some draw backs expected. For me it was the noise. Luckily I am handy and have ordered some shielding tape to try and fix the issue. Otherwise everything else is good.

Solid

Good weight to the instrument. Neck straight and intonation good. Tone on both pickups good especially at this price point. No problems with electronics.

Quality/Price

Can't find better at this price, best quality ever for this range of price, I'm really amazed how is this possible...

Good bass for starters

It's a good bass guitar, well built and finished.

The only problem I found with this bass was that it tends to neck dive which can be really annoying but for the price you can't ask for a better instrument.

Overall, would recommend.

Good beginner's bass.

Needed setup. Has a very light body, so has lots of neckdive. Feels cheap also. But plays good, sounds good, looks good and is extremely affordable.

Solid bass

Overall, a very solid bass for beginners, or someone who simply needs to record a bass part for a demo etc. Very easy to be scared by the low price, but in this case, it is better quality than the price suggests

Get the job done

Well, for the money you can't expect a flawless instrument, however it get the job done. The fret sides are sharp and you have to smooth 'em unless you want left a good amount of your left hand skin there. No shielding which means 60-cycle hum but, again, nothing you can't fix. Overall weight is nice, tuners and bridge are decent, sound is ok. A beginner's bass you can cut your teeth on..

Great value, but few tweaks needed

Needed a setup with the neck truss rod tweaking and nut filing slightly - but those are minor, for the money, great bass

Incredible value for money

Got this as my first bass and although I know more about guitars than basses, I am amazed by the quality. For a hundred bucks you get an instrument that stays in tune and plays decently after a setup. This is a perfect bass for beginners.

While the overall build quality is good enough (decent hardware, a little pokey but ok frets etc), the main flaws I've found on mine are aesthetic:

- Pickguard is cut poorly (jagged edges, noticeably sloppy cutting on some spots)

- The rout for the bridge pickup is sloppy an chipped on one side. It also isn't centered but just close enough for the pole pieces to more or less align with the strings.

The only thing that really bothers me about the instrument is the not-so-great electronics. Pickups are rather low output and the tone pot barely does anything until 0 at which point it suddenly cuts all high end. For the money, however, it's to be expected.

I'll probably upgrade the electronics in the future but otherwise it is a very solid starter bass.

Fine Bass

I was looking for a bass guitar for my home studio but I was tight on the budget. I listened to the demo sounds of various basses and decide to go with the HB JB 20. The result is that I?m not disappointed at all.

This bass is solid, the sound is clear and noiseless

The construction is fine. Finish is ok, The neck is thin but feels Great.

Overall, this is a good deal for the price. I highly recommend this bass to those that want a bass that can do the job but are tight on a budget.

As a full-on cheapskate, I was surprisingly taken aback by the quality of this bass. A lot of bang for the buck, I believe, is the expression.

Sound wise - typical jazz. Or with one pickup on, a bit of P. A bit of distortion and upping the treble had a fairly decent Entwistle sound. Which was probably helped by the twang from the rather decent strings.

Quality - well admittedly one pickup stopped working; a wire had come off the pot which was a bit odd. No biggie but odd.

The slab of wood, not really bothered by the genus of tree to be honest, was rather nice. Underneath a lovely burst finish was a nice nicely figured grain.

Frets good, tuners good.

In fact, so taken by Mr Benton and his products, I've just ordered a Beatbass.

Great value

I simply wanted something affordable as a beginner on bass, given that I was very uncertain as to whether I'd end up enjoying bass or not. It sounds good, my only complaints are the weight (then again, it's a bass) and the buzzing above the nut, which is difficult to get rid of even after tying elastic bands around the strings.

All around a solid instrument, especially for a beginner, though I would probably.

It's the best bass for this price

I needed the cheapest bass guitar for my rehearsal studio, just in case if someone forgot instrument of broke the string. So I have tried this bass and it's just a blast for 99 Euro! Sound is quite OK, it's playable, and looks like fender )) What else do you want from 99 Euro bass? Even the cheapest Squire used on Ebay is more expensive. But the sound and quality is the same. So took it if you are OK with the label, and don't de affraid if it would be broken one day (but my bass is still running and running good!)

prijs/kwaliteit is dit niet te toppen.

Sounds good and looks good

I feel like the sound this guitar produce is kind of similar to an acoustic bass guitar and I kind of like it because I do a lot of covers and I prefere the natural sound than studio one.

Guitar looks good.The tuners don't look very premium but they do their job.

What it bothers me sometime is that the strings are making a sound when they touch the frets but maybe it is because being a new guitar I have to do some modifications.

Excellent entry model

I play guitar and wanted a bass for song writing purposes, just to try and play the basics so I got this model. It has worked great for me, nice action, the tone is good and the feel is fine. A bass player mate tried it and felt it was not as well made as his Fender but otherwise liked it too. For a beginner or young student its a perfect introduction to the instrument. Very happy with it.

Surprisingly good budget jazz bass

Interesting one this! First can say amazing value and a very playable, great sounding bass with honestly most of the typical jazz bass sounds and feel (from experience). Impressed with the poplar body, very nice resonance and sustain - pickups are pretty good too, finish all good. Couple of weird things - the bridge is mounted at a slight angle. Unscrewing revealed the reason, to cover previous holes caused by even more innacurate attempts at siting the bridge! The guy responsible needs telling! I bought this though as a project bass, so repositioned the bridge (old holes filled) and aligned pickups better , also levelled frets - will refinish and will be be a great bass!