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Cheap + Cheap = Experiment

Hey TALKBASS!

Hope You are all right!



I love those elitarists talks about the gear. If You don't have bass for 1000 bucks/EUR You can't eeven start playing instrument.


WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PLAY BASSS AND NOT SPEND "minimum a grand as a beginner on bass" ???

******************************************************************************

Check this out.



********************************************************************************

20EUR - combo (preowned (!) Harley Benton Jamster BASS - it was dirty)

45EUR - 666demonfx666 - DarkGlass - Harmonic Booster ripoff

50EUR - BASS - the MIGHTY Harley Benton! CHEAP pre-owned

********************************************************************************

115EUR together...



*** and this combo is on batteries - can play for 4 hours MAXED (!!!)

It is loud to the point with demonfx it can't go 50% at home. (!!!!!!!!!!)


*****************************************************************************

TEST is on batteries.


BREATHE-IN/ OUT - Sorry Talkbass - I growl and I was just getting ready myself before the gig. Sorry for that :D This small rig helped me to improve breathing and getting ready to GROWL before the gig - hope you will understand. PEACE!@



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Hey TALKBASS!

Hope You are all right!



I love those elitarists talks about the gear. If You don't have bass for 1000 bucks/EUR You can't eeven start playing instrument.


WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PLAY BASSS AND NOT SPEND "minimum a grand as a beginner on bass" ???

******************************************************************************

Check this out.



********************************************************************************

20EUR - combo (preowned (!) Harley Benton Jamster BASS - it was dirty)

45EUR - 666demonfx666 - DarkGlass - Harmonic Booster ripoff

50EUR - BASS - the MIGHTY Harley Benton! CHEAP pre-owned

********************************************************************************

115EUR together...



*** and this combo is on batteries - can play for 4 hours MAXED (!!!)

It is loud to the point with demonfx it can't go 50% at home. (!!!!!!!!!!)


*****************************************************************************

TEST is on batteries.


BREATHE-IN/ OUT - Sorry Talkbass - I growl and I was just getting ready myself before the gig. Sorry for that :D This small rig helped me to improve breathing and getting ready to GROWL before the gig - hope you will understand. PEACE!@



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No law that says you have to spend a lot of money on a rig. Just about everything I own was bought used. I may have spent a good deal more than your post, but it’s suitable for just about any sort of application I run or likely to run into.
 
The only issue I have with this is the DemonFX knock-off of a Darkglass product. It's a lot easier to be cheaper when you let other companies do the development of a product for you and not pay them for their effort.
 
Nice try, but be aware: here we love ALL basses, the cheap ones as well as the most expensive ones.

I have gigged with an Harley Benton MB4 already more than once.
I have even used it to record some bass parts for an Album .... if I like how it sounds, I don't care how much I paid for it

You may say that I am a CHEAPKSATE, but I am not the only one ;)
 
I have no idea what's going on in here.
A crank, what they call a nutter in Blighty. (Briton) No elitarists here, never seen it. I Do enjoy seeing invented new words though, unless there is a regular word they are replacing.
I just bought a Caline Wine Cellar preamp and I love it, $44. I also have a ssbs Mini on the board I will never sell, but I can ask over $300 for it now.
 
Cheap basses have become insanely good in recent years and Harley Benton is perhaps THE best brand for cheap basses. At least as long as you avoid their cheapest Standard series. Those are generally rather poor IMO.

Harley Benton's Deluxe and Vintage series basses can be VERY good instruments though. The main "problem" with Harley Benton is that if you get one as a mod platform, with the intention of upgrading the pickups/hardware, you can easily end up paying 2-3 times more for the parts than you paid for the bass. At that point if might make sense to buy a more expensive bass instead.

It's also worth mentioning that some parts on HB basses, like necks/pickguards, aren't generally "Fender compatible" (whereas Harley Benton branded replacement parts ARE Fender compatible and won't necessarily be compatible with Harley Benton's own basses/guitars...).

It wasn't always like this though. Cheap basses used to be rubbish. With the average age of Talkbass members probably around 50 (at least based on a poll I remember from a couple of years ago) we can probably assume that lots of Talkbass members started playing on a JUNK cheap bass. This might explain any prejudice against cheap basses here on Talkbass, even today.

Having said that, it seems to me that Talkbass members generally have a very positive attitude towards at least SOME cheap brands today. There are certainly lots of threads praising Harley Benton basses.

Cheap bass amps are a different matter. You can get somewhat decent cheap GUITAR amps today, but with bass amps you tend to get what you pay for. I have yet to play a cheap bass amp I liked. Of course, cheap bass amps can work fine for practising at home or warming up before a gig, but a GOOD bass amp for gigging/recording is still rather expensive.
 
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Cheap basses have become insanely good in recent years and Harley Benton is perhaps THE best brand for cheap basses. At least as long as you avoid their cheapest Standard series. Those are generally rather poor IMO.

Harley Benton's Deluxe and Vintage series basses can be VERY good instruments though. The main "problem" with Harley Benton is that if you get one as a mod platform, with the intention of upgrading the pickups/hardware, you can easily end up paying 2-3 times more for the parts than you paid for the bass. At that point if might make sense to buy a more expensive bass instead.

It's also worth mentioning that some parts on HB basses, like necks/pickguards, aren't generally "Fender compatible" (whereas Harley Benton branded replacement parts ARE Fender compatible and won't necessarily be compatible with Harley Benton's own basses/guitars...).

It wasn't always like this though. Cheap basses used to be rubbish. With the average age of Talkbass members probably around 50 (at least based on a poll I remember from a couple of years ago) we can probably assume that lots of Talkbass members started playing on a JUNK cheap bass. This might explain any prejudice against cheap basses here on Talkbass, even today.

Having said that, it seems to me that Talkbass members generally have a very positive attitude towards at least SOME cheap brands today. There are certainly lots of threads praising Harley Benton basses.

Cheap bass amps are a different matter. You can get somewhat decent cheap GUITAR amps today, but with bass amps you tend to get what you pay for. I have yet to play a cheap bass amp I liked. Of course, cheap bass amps can work fine for practising at home or warming up before a gig, but a GOOD bass amp for gigging/recording is still rather expensive.
Totally agree about using quality amps and cabs. Doesn’t matter if you are playing the cheapest usable bass on the planet or an Alembic, it’s going to sound like crap or worse yet, potentially unreliable.
 
I'm not entirely sure what OP is onnabout I have a £1600 Fender P and a £100 Harley Benton PB-50 both of those guitars are fine in their own right and both I would gig with. I get that there are a lot of ppl here that are badge slaves, but there are also a lot of people on here that champion budget guitars. That's all. There is no right way of doing things or wrong way of doing things. Or has the whole point of this post just "wooshed" over my head? ;)
 
Hey TALKBASS!

Hope You are all right!



I love those elitarists talks about the gear. If You don't have bass for 1000 bucks/EUR You can't eeven start playing instrument.


WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PLAY BASSS AND NOT SPEND "minimum a grand as a beginner on bass" ???

******************************************************************************

Check this out.



********************************************************************************

20EUR - combo (preowned (!) Harley Benton Jamster BASS - it was dirty)

45EUR - 666demonfx666 - DarkGlass - Harmonic Booster ripoff

50EUR - BASS - the MIGHTY Harley Benton! CHEAP pre-owned

********************************************************************************

115EUR together...



*** and this combo is on batteries - can play for 4 hours MAXED (!!!)

It is loud to the point with demonfx it can't go 50% at home. (!!!!!!!!!!)


*****************************************************************************

TEST is on batteries.


BREATHE-IN/ OUT - Sorry Talkbass - I growl and I was just getting ready myself before the gig. Sorry for that :D This small rig helped me to improve breathing and getting ready to GROWL before the gig - hope you will understand. PEACE!@



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