It's new bass day for me! I purchased a Harley Benton B-650 from Thomman Music. I'm really impressed in the fast shipping as it took three days to get to the US from Germany.
My first impressions are that it is a great six-string bass for the $169 cost. I don't care for whatever strings they shipped on it. But I'll remedy that soon with a set of Ernie Ball strings. Out of the box, the intonation was spot on and even though I'll have to tweak it, the set up was very playable. The preamp is definitely a cheap one but I was able to dial in good tones on both the active and passive settings.
The first knob is a push/pull toggling the bass from active to passive. I like the battery compartment as the battery holder is a flip lid where you slide in the battery and go. No having to mess with wires or any of that sort of thing as I have to do on my Ibanez SR-405. Pickups sounded good. I always blend both when playing on basses with humbuckers. The weight of the B-650 is comparible to my Ibanez five-string. I haven't tried it with a strap yet as I'm still in the testing phases.
The bass itself came out of the box clean with no finish or quality issues at all. The only thing I don't like is that I haven't played a six-string bass in years so my muting skills are a bit rusty but constant practice will help remedy that. Is it as quality of a bass as my SR-405? Not quite. But the Harley Benton B-650 could easily go for a price higher than $169. In fact, I like it better than the Douglas WOB six-string bass I purchased from Rondo Music years ago at a cheaper price.
With small tweaks here and there, along with better quality strings, I could see myself gigging with the Harley Benton at some point in the future. For a budget six-string, this thing is an absolute steal. And it will not be my only Harley Benton bass. There will be more in the future.
My first impressions are that it is a great six-string bass for the $169 cost. I don't care for whatever strings they shipped on it. But I'll remedy that soon with a set of Ernie Ball strings. Out of the box, the intonation was spot on and even though I'll have to tweak it, the set up was very playable. The preamp is definitely a cheap one but I was able to dial in good tones on both the active and passive settings.
The first knob is a push/pull toggling the bass from active to passive. I like the battery compartment as the battery holder is a flip lid where you slide in the battery and go. No having to mess with wires or any of that sort of thing as I have to do on my Ibanez SR-405. Pickups sounded good. I always blend both when playing on basses with humbuckers. The weight of the B-650 is comparible to my Ibanez five-string. I haven't tried it with a strap yet as I'm still in the testing phases.
The bass itself came out of the box clean with no finish or quality issues at all. The only thing I don't like is that I haven't played a six-string bass in years so my muting skills are a bit rusty but constant practice will help remedy that. Is it as quality of a bass as my SR-405? Not quite. But the Harley Benton B-650 could easily go for a price higher than $169. In fact, I like it better than the Douglas WOB six-string bass I purchased from Rondo Music years ago at a cheaper price.
With small tweaks here and there, along with better quality strings, I could see myself gigging with the Harley Benton at some point in the future. For a budget six-string, this thing is an absolute steal. And it will not be my only Harley Benton bass. There will be more in the future.
Harley Benton B-35BK Acoustic Bass Series
