Harley Benton MM-85A SB Deluxe Series 4-stars Reviews

A bang for your buck…if you know what to expect

This is truly an awesome bass, 24 frets, awesome sound, gives me music man vibes, however one thing to point out is the giant pickups, the neck pick-up is raised too high and in doing so makes slapping quite difficult, however fingerpicking is amazing

HB MM85A Deluxes series

It's an awesome 5 strings bass guitar & reasonable price. Highly recommended

Sounds great!

It sounds fantastic however when I played on the lower frets there was a ton of fret buzz on all the strings about from the first second and third fret but it’s nothing a little adjusting can’t fix but other than that it’s a very nice playing and sounding bass

Amazing bass for the price.

Build quality is very good. You get a neck joint with ferrules, decent-sounding pickups (they bark and bite), a decent fret-job, a nice neck IMHO, decent setup out of the box... Really... I cannot believe how good it is for the price. I should note that I am not a bass player. I am a guitarist, composer, producer... I use it for my little solo projects and for my band to demo initial song ideas.

One thing I did notice, slapping is a bit hard (popping to be more precise) because of the neck pickup size and placement.

It was love at the first sight

Let me start that I am a guitar player, but was always facinated with bass. I had seen and heard lots of cheep basses that were more expensive than this HB MM-85A (Cort, Ibanez, SX etc.) and this one beats them all with both price and sound.

I have not noticed and major flaws most people find in HB guitars, like not ideal fret job or woodwork. The battery was in a package and it serves well for well over 3 months with no need for replacement (keep in mind that I use this bass mostly to play at home or to record some demos on it).

The sound is fantastic. I was not expecting anything extraordinary, just wanted to try out MM-style bass as those are pretty rare in the place I live. And boy how satisfied I am with this one.

I have checked a nice demo of this bass in the video

>

And it gives the correct impression of the bass sound. I was affraid that due to the price it would be muffy and without sufficient low-end and those fears were BASSless (sorry for the pun).

The stock humbuckers are decent, the 3-way EQ provides versatility of tone, different pickup possitions change the overall tone up to the point what you can truely say that you have 5 different basses in 1 and that is exactly what I fell in love with in this bass.

The other day I have tried Yamaha TRBX and it felt miniscule in comparison to MM-85A. Their 5-way switch was only the variants of EQ and it made me even more happy that I went with Harley Benton MM-85A.

Might change pickups to new ones from a local brand. It proved a good strategy for my Harley Benton 8 string fanfret. So I anticipate even better sound on this guitar.

I could recomment it to anyone who is looking for a bass with tight budget.

amazing for the price

this bass is amazing for the price.

has a nice range of tones with the 4 way selector, pickups are good

the setup was decent

only 2 issues i found. The knobs were a little stiff/ wonky. but it is easy to fix. Also the bass is quite heavy.

I found no sharp edges on the frets and apart from the slightly stiff controls was put together very well, the bass looks great.

Good for the price

The bass is indeed good for the pricetag. It's not pro built quality, as you would expect, some of the frets were a bit over the edge of the fretboard and I had to replace one of the tuning pegs (B string), because it's top part (holding the string) was broken. Other than that feels and plays ok, output is hot and you get a nice range of tonal options with the 5 way selector.

Very happy

Just got it...but first the bad news, there was a bit confusion in the delivery but that got sorted out, when it came the packaging was damaged and opened (every customers worst nightmare when seeing before receiving their stuff ).

Now the good news, strangely and luckily the bass did not had any damage on it, not a scratch after checking the physical features and even strangely the neck is still straight. I may not be a pro but this bass does surprise me of its overall playability, sound and weight. My only problem with this bass is that i'm biased to passive pickup wiring but after trying and playing through the selector switch ( first time for me ), again did not disappoint me with the sounds i can get. All in all this is still a good bass and i recommend it for those in a budget.

Pure Music Man Copy

Hello!

I bought this bass a few days ago after having a 3 year break from bands and music. This was merely an interesting choice since it came out as a MM copy. It does not disappoint although it is not a perfect representation of a bass guitar.

Features - Do not get me wrong, this is heavy machinery, the all maple build is indeed something one might want to pick up. The neck of the bass is very thick and you really feel like you are in control of it, very much like the real Music Man product.

With the maple fretboard to accompany it it is not only a wonderful piece, but it produces a powerful sound. Even if you get to play it without an amp is makes enough noise for practice.

Build Quality - Not the best, but definitely sturdy. The nut is a bit troublesome, it looks like it's not properly fit at 90 degrees, but then again even the strings don't perfectly align with the pole pieces of the pick-ups. I do not think this is a deal breaker since it does not really make any difference in tone, so far at least, I had no problem with it.

You might want to adjust this if you want low action with no fret buzz and it is doable, lovely instrument. The electronics look good, very tidy inside of it, the knobs work perfectly, though you might want to screw them in a little bit more. The tuning machines work perfectly and seem really sturdy.

The bridge.. fully adjustable, not my favourite type of bridge and I'm thinking to make a little investment and get a different type of bridge. Also consider getting a new nut if you don't find yours good and want to get a really good action set-up. But let me tell you, the strings fit perfectly within it.

Its not ultra polished like a more expensive bass, but the essence is there, and the important bits are well put together. The 19th fret on the G and A string wasn't perfectly slotted but nothing that can't be fixed at home, Consider a fret polisher as well? I think this goes for every instrument.

SOUND - Oh my, where do I even start, the tone of this.. It is a pure monster. I wanted to record a little bit but the Active EQ is so strong I had to turn the knobs to the lowest position and only give it some volume. It bites and growls like nothing I ever had, Not BTBs not the Yamaha RBX775. I think this is really close to what a Music Man is really intended to be.

For 150 pounds this is a great investment, if you are a beginner or a professional player you could use it in any imaginable way. Lately Harley has produced some great instruments, so don't be afraid to get one! This thing was perfectly playable out of the box, you just need to tune it and you're set. But as a more experienced player I really had to spend time wit it and adjust it to my preferences.

Have one!