Harley Benton MM-84A SB Deluxe Series Reviews

I dont have words......

The short version

Looking for a great active bass for a reasonable price? Look no further! You have found it. This 4 kg guitar Sounds extremely good. For the price it is a no-brainer. Go get it! Read the tip at the end!

Features: It has a bunch of cool features, and you can get pretty much any sound you would like from it. The lever that lets you choose between the pickups work great and it has five settings. This in combination with the 3-band eq gives you an AMAZING amount of flexibility. For the price this is amazing. But the eq does not work as well as the stingrays. But that is a bass guitar that costs 13 times as much. The eq on this bass is more then enough for the price.

The only sound i could not get from it is a very low almost sine wave like filler. But for that is what i have my jazz bass with old strings for!

Sound: To be honest i was kinda disappointed about the sound on this thing. That was until i figured out that the strings that came with it sucks major .......... (Fill in the blank). So i jumped right on my bike and went to get some new ones. MAN AM I GLAD THAT I DID. This thing sounds so freaking good for the money it is unbelievable. I compare it to guitars that costs 1200-1600 dollars.

Quality: This is where i have to give it 4/5 stars. The nobs for eq and volume are really bad put together on my guitar. It must be a production error or something. They do work perfectly fine, but they are not fitted correctly and are not horisontal to the body. Also they do feel kinda cheap when you turn them.

There was also a little chip on the neck where you can see it got manhandled.

Other than this it looks amazing! Much better then on the pictures here. In real life it is a bit darker. I was actually worried about the looks because i really wanted this guitar, but for the features and sound. I thought it looked kinda ugly on the picture to be honest. But when it came i saw that it is a real beauty.

Summery: Run and buy, or løp and kjøp as we say in Norway.

IMPORTANT TIP: The strings that comes with this guitar. Change them. When i put some Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on it.... It made all the difference. I was looking for the sound of a stingray for less money when i bought this guitar. And i knew stingrays came with super slinky strings. It sounds amazing now.

very high output

The active pickup is no joke.

The neck itself will cost probably the same amount you pay for the whole bass if you buy one separately.

Wish it is body-through though.

I'm in awe... Seriously.

I've played for over 30 years and I can honestly say this is the highest quality instrument I've ever owned.

Pros - Finish and look (flame top of the body) is crazy awesome. Tuners are totally solid and work fine. Pots feel great and have a "middle" area they click into. Fretwork on the neck was just about perfect and it has a satin finish on the back. The width of the neck feels like a Pbass but maybe like 1mm skinnier??? Super solid 6 bolt neck. --- THE TONES YOU CAN GET ARE CLASSIC MM STING RAY. I mean, it sounds incredible. Bridge is fine.

Cons - Frets could use a little bit of polish. The nut is a tiny bit too tall so I will have file the slots down. This normally wouldn't affect 90% of other people and doesn't cause the notes to go out of tune when played. I'm just picky. 24 frets is cool but weird to play and it took a day to get used to the notes being where they are. Even though it's 34" scale, it feels a tiny bit longer.

Awesome Versatile Bass!!

Wound up giving to family member. Very nice range of tones. Another 1st rate HB bass:-)

Great playability, very good sound, suitable both for lighter and heavier styles on different settings.

It was very disappointing to hear radio (literally, music and voices of local radio station) when first plugging the bass in, but as it turns out one of ground wires wasn't properly connected, after soldering it in place the problem was fixed.

Amazing bass

Highlights:

+ Feels on-par if not better than my €700 Epiphone Flying V Brent Hinds Signature guitar.

+ The neck is amazing — really smooth back and great fret job.

+ Easy to set up

+ Knobs and switches feel substantial and smooth

+ Lots of variation in tone from just two humbuckers

+ Paint job looks nice and even

Nitpicks

- There is a small bump underneath the paint on the left horn

- Battery compartment feels really cheap compared to the rest

- Pickguard had some rough edges

- Had to scratch away a bit of glue on the side neck with my nails

Great value for mone

This bass looks and sounds great. I've had no problem with hum from the pickups. The different configurations provide a lot of tone options. The bass sounds very full when recorded. It came in pretty good shape, it just needed a tiny tweak to the intonation and it was ready to go. I'm very happy with my purchase.

Beautifully finished MM-84A SB is a great choice.

I have to be honest, I'm impressed!

Incredible value for money considering the overall quality.

5-Way pickup switch and 3 band EQ provide you a variety of different tones.

UnBelievable!!! MM-84A SB Deluxe

I am the owner of numerous basses. What the hell, who is Harley Benton? This bass caught my eye! Ordered it, played it and is now my go to gigging bass! Phenomenal sound, (anything from a Ric to a Fender). VERY well balanced for a long scale, and relatively light weight. Eye-popping looks and craftmanship-construction beyond belief for the price! I have played over 25 gigs and no issues at all! This bass is well worth the price just in the looks, sound and construction! It turns a lot of heads and compliments are a plenty. So amazed just ordered another 5 string version. Well done Harley!

Just WOW!!!

Astounding value! Not even going to say "for the money", because this guitar stands on it's own merits. I would put this up against any $1000.00 bass on the market. Absolute perfection. I don't have a single complaint about this one. The active EQ is amazing, the tones are incredible, unreal playability....just fantastic. It is VERY heavy and the neck pickup may interfere with slap players, but this is a BEAST!

Extreme Versatility

Sounds and plays great with no sharp fret ends. between the EQ and the 5 position HH the amount of different tones available is outstanding. setup could have been better as the nut needs filing and the action was high, but that's it for the negatives.

Pros: Beautiful fit and finish. It's a looker! With the two hum buckers and the 5 way switch, there are infinitesimal combinations of tonality. Well balanced, but a bit on the heavy side.

Cons: Neck is large, but I then I have smaller hands. Would have been a plus if they had designed it with a passive/ active switch.

This is a beautiful bass guitar. Get yourself one today.

A bargain!

First time buying a bass or guitar without trying first. Did some research on the MM-84A Deluxe and all the reviews were very positive. My overall opinion, having just put it through its paces, is that it's a well made bass and plays really well. The active pickups are powerful and with there being treble, middle and bass controls, you can tailor the sound to your preferences. All in all initial impressions are that this is not really a bass for a total beginner but maybe as a backup for a semi pro/pro gigging musician. It's a very good, inexpensive bass.

Amazing bass for it's price

I'll start off with the not so nice stuff, which is very little.

- When unboxing it, there was plastic covering the metal plate beneath the rod and covering the pickguard that wasn't easy to remove.

- The fingerboard is flat. This isn't a problem in any way, although it might put some people off.

Now onto the good stuff.

- It sounds amazing.

- The different combinations of pickups literally allow it to sound like a variety of different basses.

- Personally, I'm into basses that sound fat, and have a very powerful sound. I was not disappointed.

Delivery was quicker than I expected, which was a nice surprise.

This bass is a dream come true.

Musicman style for a little money

Packed out plugged in and shocked. A bassguitar for that amount of money?

1st of all it's stunning. The sunburst is a bit brighter than the photos: more like a red to a yellow to a natural wood tone. The neck grain is a general maple, not much lacker on it. Fast neck. The frets a bit high for me, i preffer the smaller ones like a Jazzbass style but overall not a huge problem. The tuners are great, hold the tune. The only thing that got my eyes is the nut: made out of strawberry bouble gum lollipop neck plastic. It's going to be change to tusk or bone.

The sound: After 2-3 hours of setup (neck adjustment, string height and pickup height) the bass is pretty much as playable as my Cort A5 bass but this one has the classic musicman style of sound wich one i preffer. RaM to Jaco or classic active jazz bass tone all useable. Like a swiss nife. Alnico 5 Rosewell pickups are awesome!

I'm going to buy the 5 string as well and sell my Cort A5 (if i can after this review). Don't hesitate to buy this one if you are looking for a great bass!

Great Bass

This Bass is way more than I expected for the price I paid for it. The only thing I would change is a shorter radius on the fretboard, but even that is something that doesn't effect playability.

One of the best basses

This guitar looks very very good and sound-vise it is outstanding. Bass is nicely put together and nothing seems to be loose. And it was very well packaged!

Nice bass for the money

I was not sure what to expect from a budget bass, but having read reviews of other HB basses (mostly good), I decided to take a chance. On arrival I carefully looked it over for damage and not a mark found. I then looked at the build quality mindful of what others had remarked on the HB brand, and found no real problems considering its price tag. You really need to look very close and be very critical to find fault. I am very happy with the quality. The only thing I have done is finish the fret ends a little better and only took 10 minutes to do. The neck feels very chunky and is 2mm thicker than my Fender P but I soon got used to it and my hands are on the small side too. It is a bit narrow up at the body end for my liking. I had to adjust the truss rod a little but nothing to worry about, and not at all unusual. All the frets were fine. Output from the two Wilkinson pickups was huge and had to back off the volume but the split coil 5 way switching works well as does the 3 band EQ. No balance but have not found that a problem. A bit more hum than expensive bass's but not excessive when some top end is taken off. This is a big bass and youngsters might struggle but I am not that big myself and manage fine. You will need a big bag or case too (won,t fit any of mine). A novice may find a thinner neck better for them than this one. Over all I am very happy with this bass and is well worth the money. I play in a band with a Fender P and Schecter Riot, and got this to re string B,E,A,D for those "odd" numbers. "Job done"