Now this has my attention. I wonder what the cost will be to import to US. Looks amazing. I might go for another jazz if the price is right.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Another Great Harley Benton Coming Soon
- Thread starter LadyLoveStingRay5
- Start date
My German cousins are floating the €600 tag. Looking like 720€ if they're coming from Indonesia, 780€ if from China.
I've no idea what shipping to the US costs this month but do know it'll carry a 10€/£ 'customs' fee along with 50 cents 'handling' fee. Discovered that yesterday when looking into sending a gift to New Mexico. Low value (£100) so below T word threshold for gifts, item's HSS code carries no additional fees or duties.
£16.50 to send a small box 8" x 8" x 2" weighing 2lbs + £10.50 in fees .
£27 on top of the £100 gift, stuff that. Will be sending a smiley face email instead
what's it gonna weigh? that's the million dollar qvestune. ...Yah. how many "freedom Kilos" ...LOL.
Looks awesome
My custom purple jazz with klopmann pickups is almost finished! Maybe I should have waited lol
But I prefer a p neck anyway (and mine will be wenge and ebony!)
My custom purple jazz with klopmann pickups is almost finished! Maybe I should have waited lol
But I prefer a p neck anyway (and mine will be wenge and ebony!)
I like it but find the choice of a top quality pickup to be a bit of a head scratcher because people generally have their own personal preferences..
D
The current Harley Benton MV-series are very nice instruments, and a fantastic bargain. They're easily as good as many "big brand" basses costing 3-4 times as much, and in many ways they're even comparable to some "big brand" basses that cost TEN times as much. I'm sure these new, upgraded MV-series basses will be great too.
Kloppmann's pickups are FANTASTIC. Both his P-bass and J-bass pickups are among my all-time favorites.
However, the information we get in this video raises some questions.
Is this "Plus"-version with the Kloppmann pickups going to be a very limited run, and also significantly more expensive than the "standard" version?
I mean, an MV-series Harley Benton J-bass costs around €200. A set of Kloppmann J-bass pickups costs around €300. Kloppmann has always marketed his pickups as individually handwound by Andreas Kloppmann himself, so basically a small one-man operation selling hand-made boutique pickups at boutique prices. How can this one-man boutique operation suddenly deliver the volumes needed for Harley Benton's hugely popular, mass manufactured, best-selling MV-series? And how can he do this at cost that won't price Harley Benton's MV-series right out of their own market?
There are just two answers that I can think of:
1) The MV "Plus" series with the Kloppmann pickups will be a very limited run, with a significantly higher price than the standard MV-series (at which point they will face much stiffer competition from other brands).
...or
2) The "Kloppmann" pickups in these new MV-series aren't the same, individually hand-made pickups that you can order from Kloppmann, but rather some kind of "Designed by Kloppmann" scenario, with the pickups being manufactured in Asia.
It just doesn't make sense to me that Kloppmann should have the capacity (or that it would be possible from a financial point of view) to ship huge batches of his individually hand-made €300 pickups to China, to be installed into Harley Benton's €200(ish) instruments.
I must stress that these are just speculations, but I honestly don't understand how a small, boutique manufacturers of hand-made €300 pickups can suddenly become the supplier of pickups to huge batches of mass-manufactured €200(ish) instruments.
I suspect we might be looking at a similar situation to when Fender(Squier) sold basses with Asian-made "Duncan Designed" pickups. And those pickups did most definitely NOT sound like actual Duncans.
As far as I can understand, it must either be that or a very limited edtion with a significantly higher price. I might be wrong of course.
On a side note... So, a seemingly respected reviewer of bass gear gets a "signature" model?!?!? Well, that's... interesting. He even says they've been "partners" with Harley Benton for "many, many years". For me personally this means that BassTheWorld and Gregor Fris' credibility goes straight down the drain, with the rest of the social media influencers. At least Mr Fris is honest and upfront about it, unlike most online, so-called "reviewers", I'll give him that.
Kloppmann's pickups are FANTASTIC. Both his P-bass and J-bass pickups are among my all-time favorites.
However, the information we get in this video raises some questions.
Is this "Plus"-version with the Kloppmann pickups going to be a very limited run, and also significantly more expensive than the "standard" version?
I mean, an MV-series Harley Benton J-bass costs around €200. A set of Kloppmann J-bass pickups costs around €300. Kloppmann has always marketed his pickups as individually handwound by Andreas Kloppmann himself, so basically a small one-man operation selling hand-made boutique pickups at boutique prices. How can this one-man boutique operation suddenly deliver the volumes needed for Harley Benton's hugely popular, mass manufactured, best-selling MV-series? And how can he do this at cost that won't price Harley Benton's MV-series right out of their own market?
There are just two answers that I can think of:
1) The MV "Plus" series with the Kloppmann pickups will be a very limited run, with a significantly higher price than the standard MV-series (at which point they will face much stiffer competition from other brands).
...or
2) The "Kloppmann" pickups in these new MV-series aren't the same, individually hand-made pickups that you can order from Kloppmann, but rather some kind of "Designed by Kloppmann" scenario, with the pickups being manufactured in Asia.
It just doesn't make sense to me that Kloppmann should have the capacity (or that it would be possible from a financial point of view) to ship huge batches of his individually hand-made €300 pickups to China, to be installed into Harley Benton's €200(ish) instruments.
I must stress that these are just speculations, but I honestly don't understand how a small, boutique manufacturers of hand-made €300 pickups can suddenly become the supplier of pickups to huge batches of mass-manufactured €200(ish) instruments.
I suspect we might be looking at a similar situation to when Fender(Squier) sold basses with Asian-made "Duncan Designed" pickups. And those pickups did most definitely NOT sound like actual Duncans.
As far as I can understand, it must either be that or a very limited edtion with a significantly higher price. I might be wrong of course.
On a side note... So, a seemingly respected reviewer of bass gear gets a "signature" model?!?!? Well, that's... interesting. He even says they've been "partners" with Harley Benton for "many, many years". For me personally this means that BassTheWorld and Gregor Fris' credibility goes straight down the drain, with the rest of the social media influencers. At least Mr Fris is honest and upfront about it, unlike most online, so-called "reviewers", I'll give him that.
I don't have an issue with it at all. Bass The World is a highly regarded resource in the bass community. They've had a Sandberg signature model for years and have been quite open about their relationship with Thomann and their HB brand. Gregor has simply taken the opportunity to put a more affordable of a bass designed by knowledgeable and experienced bassists in the hands of followers and fans.
Price is certainly going to be Interesting with the Bass the world version. I have a standard MV jazz bass, and for the price its a fantastic value for money instrument, but thats the whole aura surrounding the Harley Benton brand, quality instruments at affordable prices. I wonder if consumers will be willing to pay a higher premium, and also considering potential resale perception.
It would be great if they do a version without the pickups for a lower cost. The neck and the rosewood fingerboard would be nice. Make that the "Plus" version and brand the one show as the "Bass the World" LTD Edition of something along those lines.
It would be great if they do a version without the pickups for a lower cost. The neck and the rosewood fingerboard would be nice. Make that the "Plus" version and brand the one show as the "Bass the World" LTD Edition of something along those lines.
Bartolini makes all their own pickups in-house... except for the MK-1 used in Ibanez, Cort and (iirc) Sire basses. Nordstrand makes all their own pickups in-house... except for the Big Single and Big Break pickups used in Ibanez and etc.
If a third party can build pickups to a boutique builder's spec, I don't know why this requires any head-scratching. We've already seen boutique luthiers openly admit that selling lower-end models manufactured offshore has provided the capital they needed to keep their custom operations going. I'm sure pickup builders benefit in the same way.
That's pretty much what they are doing. Watch the video the OP attached
The U.S. currently imposes a 15% tariff on most goods imported from Europe, including guitars, as part of new trade agreements effective from July 2025. (EDIT: The U.S. applies ad valorem duties on string instruments from certain countries, e.g. 25 % on imports originating from China).
I don't know about other European retailers but Thomann has typically imposed a minimum $80 shipping charge (approximately), with much smaller increases for additional items added to the order - making larger purchases more affordable by spreading out the shipping charge.
Last edited:
Are you refering to the Pink one the other guy is holding? Thats just looks like the Standard MV4-JB. Lighter Laurel Fretboard, Standard tuners, standard brass saddle Sung Il bridge just white pickup covers and knobs look to be different?
They are making a version without the Kloppman pickups. They show it. It’s the shell pink one.
Yeah, but they didn't mention if it had the higher quality neck and hardware, they said it would be less spec to the "Plus version". To me it looks like the stock MV4-JV with the Skunk Stripe and Same Tuners and Bridge just with White Pickup Covers and Knobs, and minus the thumb bar.
Harley Benton continues to amaze me. I think the build quality of their instruments is as good as it gets for anything pitched in the sub £1k department, the only thing possibly lacking is quality of hardware and electronics (all an easy fix if you're handy and if you really want to upgrade) to keep the price down and concentrate of providing the best value for money foundation,
That said I've had 4 HB's and not one of them has been a dog, I have the JB-75, PB-50, had the RB 414 and the HBZ 2005 all of the fretwork has been fantastic, not problem with truss rods or twisted necks, material has always been as good as more expensive guitars and the HBZ wood was sublime for the price you pay.
Quite often their pickups are surprising too, the Roswells and Artec's are very capable units (though the Treble Pickup in the RB was pants and half as loud as the artec neck pup) the little PB-50 pickup was a true eye opener. Ditto with the 2005 un-named pickups which really shone in that guitar.
I honestly can't knock HB for bangs per buck, yeah they're budget but the overall quality is there in the box when it comes through the door.
So, looking at these new BTW offerings if those Klopmanns are genuine hand wound by him, and it has the usual trimmings then this bass will command a hefty price tag putting it in the £750 - £900 bracket I'd wager, which would lift Harley Benton's name out of the 'bargain basement' territory and much derided by cork sniffers to looking to being a serious contender to the CS offerings.
I would never be able to afford that Plus but I applaud them having cut their teeth on some of the best sub £300 basses ever to be produced and take that experience into making the leap to producing something that a professional player may need to consider. Time will tell whether it's as good as they are saying but it's Gregor and he's no fool so we'll wait for the demo's and reviews to start trickling out.
That said I've had 4 HB's and not one of them has been a dog, I have the JB-75, PB-50, had the RB 414 and the HBZ 2005 all of the fretwork has been fantastic, not problem with truss rods or twisted necks, material has always been as good as more expensive guitars and the HBZ wood was sublime for the price you pay.
Quite often their pickups are surprising too, the Roswells and Artec's are very capable units (though the Treble Pickup in the RB was pants and half as loud as the artec neck pup) the little PB-50 pickup was a true eye opener. Ditto with the 2005 un-named pickups which really shone in that guitar.
I honestly can't knock HB for bangs per buck, yeah they're budget but the overall quality is there in the box when it comes through the door.
So, looking at these new BTW offerings if those Klopmanns are genuine hand wound by him, and it has the usual trimmings then this bass will command a hefty price tag putting it in the £750 - £900 bracket I'd wager, which would lift Harley Benton's name out of the 'bargain basement' territory and much derided by cork sniffers to looking to being a serious contender to the CS offerings.
I would never be able to afford that Plus but I applaud them having cut their teeth on some of the best sub £300 basses ever to be produced and take that experience into making the leap to producing something that a professional player may need to consider. Time will tell whether it's as good as they are saying but it's Gregor and he's no fool so we'll wait for the demo's and reviews to start trickling out.
Yes they do and when filling out the CN23 you are asked 'Country of Origin' not 'Country of Export'.
For Harley Benton 'Country of Origin' is China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Gonna have to agree with you there, there appears to be no difference - maybe the pickups are different, or they have CTS pots, or better tuners? - if so why would BTW bother to put their name to it. I love the Plus version but it's companion is very curious and it doesn't seem to fit with the unveil
D
You don't have an issue with a "reviewer" of bass gear having a financial interest in the products he's giving great reviews?
A "review" by someone who has been paid to do it is utterly worthless. That's paid promotion, basically an advertisement. Definitely not a review. You might as well rely on the manufacturer's website for information.
I don't see what the problem is. This is a case where biases are obvious and presumed integral to the review. I strongly doubt Thomann would have agreed to a signature instrument if they weren't going to tout it, and I doubt they would be interested in a signature instrument that they couldn't promote.
D
The problem is that BTW has praised Harley Benton basses in their "reviews" in the past, without any disclaimers about being "partners" with Harley Benton for "many, many years". To me this means that none of BTWs so-called "reviews" of any product can ever be trusted to be anything more than paid product placement.
If a review isn't 100% unbiased, it is worthless, and not actually a review at all.
Personally I got fed up watching commercials in the days of linear TV. I'm amazed to see that lots of people now spend large parts of their life watching commercials on social media. Except it's not actually called commercials anymore, but "content".
