Harley Benton PB-50 SB Vintage Series Reviews

Amazing

It sounds great, properly set up out of the box, no major flaws. Little visual flaws, but nothing relevant. It feels like a semi pro instrument, and sound like an instrument way above it's price point.

amazing bass

I can't believe that i got this bass for that price. Very well build structure and of course with efficient but inexpensive parts. If you play the guitar and do regordings at home get one now :)

Good value for money but needs work as standard.

Bought this as a gift for my younger brother who is a long-time guitar player.

Out of the box the tuners were a bit rubbish, but functional.

Fretwork left a bit to be desired. Worked just fine for a higher action, but for anything vaguely low it would need a decent fret job.

Neck is substantial. Width is fairly standard modern P bass, but it's deeper than any other bass I've played which may be an issue for some.

Pickup sounds very good.

Nice Bass

Strings were slightly misaligned. But I can live with it for the price. Everything else above expectation.

Excellent Bass for the price!

I really LOVE this bass! It?s just perfect for what I needed. I?m mainly a guitarist but I needed a bass for some recording and this is exactly what I wanted. I have been having so much fun writing and playing this bass over the past few weeks.

Pros

1) When the bass arrived it had a lovely action. It is very easy to play in my opinion. I actually really like the neck shape too. It is a thick neck but comfortable to play.

2) I tested the electronics and everything worked fine, no problems.

3) The intonation was spot on.

4) The finish is absolutely beautiful!

5) I really like the pickup on this guitar. It has a nice clear sound but you can turn down the tone knob and it will warm the tone nicely. It's a very versatile bass.

6) Seems to keep in tune really well too.

Cons - Not many!

The scratch plate and chrome hardware looks/feels a bit cheap but it has not let me down.

Don't be fooled by the price, the quality of this bass is amazing. I would definitely recommend this bass for beginners and those like myself who needed a great sounding, cheap bass for recording. Although I would definitely gig with this bass too! And to top it all off it also included allen keys, sticker, picks and a lead! You can?t go wrong with this bass, go for it!

Great deal

For the price, this bass is a great deal! Comes with a perfect setup, straight neck and fine action. Wilkinson pickup does a great job. A fine workhorse for cheap!

VERY IMPRESSED!!!!

I have been looking for a vintage bass for a long time to use in my band Jasper Dan and after I had a really bad experience with another company I decided to research HB. The PB-50 caught my eye. Not only for it's price but satisfaction of all the other owners.

I received my PB-50 only 8 days after the order was placed (Since I stay in South-Africa that's impressive). I was a bit concerned when I saw the state the box was in when receiving the package (probably thanks to customs) but on closer inspection the bass itself was very well protected.

The bass is beautifully build and sounds amazing! The only tiny niggles are that the tone knob was put on a fraction skew (Almost unnoticeable) and the hole for the truss-rod was machined a little rough. Other than that it's perfect.The machine heads keeps tune beautifully, The bridge is exceptionally. Bar one single fret, the neck is exquisitely manufactured. Neck is chunky but very easy to get used to. The bass came set-up near perfectly and thanks to the D'adario strings I could literally just plug it in and play. The finish is stunning and it's very light.

Doesn't matter how professional a musician you are. This is a bass that will hold it's own in any scenario.

This was the best decision I ever made. GET ONE!!!!

Absolutely brilliant!!!

Simply cannot fault this bass , for the money it is absolutely amazing. Plays faultless and only needed minor adjustments for the height of the strings.

Plugged in and played like an absolute dream , and for what I need a bass for I didn't want to spend a fortune and this ticks all the boxes.

The pickup gives a good tonal range and you can get an amazing array of sounds through the single coil.

The unfinished neck isn't to big or wide and your hands can fly up and doe with ease.

For the price this is an absolute must buy for beginners or even more advanced players! 5 stars

Excellent bass for the money

I just updated the pick up for a Seymour Duncan and the strings. it sounds great!, warm and deep and punchy. great sustain as well. great bass for the price. By the way, if you like to do the same. keep in mind that the Seymour Duncan pick up is a little bit bigger, so you must adjust the pickup cavity. Cheers

Perfect for the price

Ok, guys, first of all - I'm not a bassist, but I've looked for a cheap precision bass guitar for home studio recording. So, what I need from bass - is just support rhythm of drums and to have deep background. This bass sounds like a Fender Strat for $200-$300, but it's a bit thud (maybe I would change pickup/electric part soon). Now, what I have found very positive and was surprised - it's sustain of this guitar, its nicely long! I think this caused by great quality of wood. Finally, I can simply change strings, electric part and pickup, tune it and have the sound I'm looking for; but the neck and body - they are really great. By the way - it comes with d'Addario strings (I'm also using d'Addario for acoustic and electric guitars because of nice quality). So, if you need cheap, great and working bass - you can buy it without doubts; and I just can advice to tune it well.

It is a great bass

I bought this as my first ever bass. I played guitar for quite the long time now and I decided that I want to venture into bass playing and generaly have a bass for backing tracks, writing songs etc. and this bass is everything I wanted it to be. It is easy to play out of the box, it came set up, and it was almost in tune (that was probably because the temperature changes during the shipping procces). As a beginner bass it is fenomenal and I belive that it would hold it's ground on stage as well. The only thing I maybe could bring up as a con is that it's only has one single coil pickup and 2 knobs and for someone who wants to tweak their bass all the time THis might be a turn of (not for me though, i like the simplicity) but that is part of the design and also gives it it's charm. I have tried to use it for everything from blues to rock to metal and it didn't fail me once.

Excellent value for money

Great first bass, very fast delivery time.

Very fast delivery , 5 days to Croatia and no scratches .

This bass gives more than you think when you see this low price .

It is very cheap and it has excellent sound and looks great.

Great for beginners , but also for everybody , because if it's cheap doesn't mean it's for beginners . Money well spent !

Pros- sound , look , low price..

Cons- nothing special , price too low to talk about cons .

I bought it for decorative reasons (to look nice on the wall of my room :) )

Turns out, it's a very nice 54 p bass copy. Hardware is solid, wood is nice, the neck is straight and the bass has a very low action without fretbuzz (mine does at least).

All in all, a solid instrument that could be priced a lot higher, and i play it a lot at home. It would make for one hell of a beginner bass, although, most beginners should choose the traditional p or jazz models IMO

A bargain, even post Brexit ;-)

I would happily pay more for a bass of this quality, it's genuinely worth twice as much. The pickup and strings alone would set you back about £70 if bought apart from the bass.

It really looks the part, I've wanted an 'old-style' P-Bass since forever and this doesn't disappoint (although I have ditched the huge plastic pickguard, it just looks nicer without it).

I will re-string it with flatwounds but the supplied D'Addarios are well worth having (I just prefer flats is all).

I took it out and gigged it the day after it arrived, it played perfectly, did the job, stayed in tune, sounded great. Couldn't be happier with it.

Just a shame that recent current events have de-valued the pound, adding about a tenner to the price of this bass since June 24th.

Still worth every penny though.

Incredible Value

Just received the bass today. I am staggered at the quality of this instrument. Set up almost perfect , just a tiny tweak needed to the E string saddle but otherwise spot on. Intonation dead right , neck relief perfect , balance good, strings good quality roundwounds , Build quality and finish excellent. I have had many basses over the years including Fenders , Warwicks, Wal, etc. and the quality is well up there with the best

In my opinion whether you are a beginner or advanced player you'll be delighted with this instrument. It has to be the finest value for money bass on the market. I can't wait to gig with it.

As a beginner i believe it a really good and affordable choice as well.

It is my first bass and I think it has more than enough for a beginner like me. Cheap but considerable and easy to customize as well.GREAT CHOISE ,again.

Surprisingly good!!

Overall, very impressed for the money.

The body is very good, nice feel and finish, some nice grain coming through, all of the hardware is relatively neat and wobble free. Controls are solid and work well, if a little "on/off", but I'm not surprised and didn't think these would be much good anyway. The pickguard is a bit roughly cut, but again nothing too bad and this may or may not end up going. The bridge and tuners are surprisingly quite good for the price, and I thought these would be essentially useless and clearly where money had been saved.

The most interesting thing about this bass is the fact that it's a Wilkinson pickup. Soundwise it does what it's meant to do. Not the most characterful pickup, does solid rock/pop and quite good for funk sounds. Bassier than I thought it would be, but definitely happiest with lower mids. Great build quality,good range of sounds,well balanced,quick easy set-up and we were good to go.This comes with D'ddario strings and a thumb rest so you can pluck with your thumb.

The bottom line is this:If you like Fender P bass's you will like the PB-50.

For it`s price I `d recommend this bass to anyone.Fantastic value.

What a bargain

For the money, you can't fault this bass. Sounds fantastic, with a lovely chunky neck. It even comes with D'addario strings. Would definitely recommend this bass.

Low Budget? Don't worry...

...because this is a good bass. Nice burst finish - it is Foto-Flame, but that's not a negative... more importantly, the satin-finish maple neck is straight and true and plays very nicely. No rough or sharp fret-ends, tuners hold tune, bridge is a high-mass item with grooves for the saddle screws... after a few minutes adjusting the intonation and action (with the supplied hex key) we're away.

The Wilkinson single-coil does a fairly plausible impersonation of Leo's 1951 pickup and has the fast attack associated with the original. It's at least as good as the name-brand upgrades that are available. The stock strings are D'Addario XL Nickel Rounds. I don't like these strings, they're somehow not as good as the D'Addarios you buy elsewhere - and in any case rounds aren't really appropriate for this bass. It far prefers flats, and fitting them makes a HUGE positive difference to the sound and playability.

So if you fancy the 50s vibe but don't want to break the bank, or if you just don't have the wherewithal or the inclination to spend hundreds on a more upmarket instrument, this bass will do you well enough. There is nothing wrong with it that a few minutes of fettling can't sort and it could easily be your main bass if necessary. My only gripe is that it would be far better out of the box if it came with flats already fitted.