NBD (not again!) Harley Benton MSB-5 Flip Flop Blue

[DJ Bebop]

Well, in all honesty, it feels a little cumbersome past the 12th fret. I would have prefered a neckthrough rather than a bolt-on, as I think the transition looks smoother on those. But then again, a see Sadowsky also have a bolt-on single cut bass, so it's most likely a question of getting used to it.

Wow
I didn't realize Sadowsky has some goofy coupling of it's own going on there…

 

[dabbler]

Gee, seeing the backs of these other single cuts, makes the back of my Brice seem, umm, a little less weird.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Gee, seeing the backs of these other single cuts, makes the back of my Brice seem, umm, a little less weird.

View attachment 7184830

Compared to the Sadowsky, the HB doesn't look so bad now and closer to the Brice…

If the Brice was available now I might have gotten one. My HB is supposed to be here tomorrow 3/26. Waiting for the import fee hit

 

[DJ Bebop]

Compared to the Sadowsky, the HB doesn't look so bad now and closer to the Brice…
View attachment 7185099

If the Brice was available now I might have gotten one. My HB is supposed to be here tomorrow 3/26. Waiting for the import fee hit

Didn't arrive, still waiting. Maybe tomorrow…

 

[DJ Bebop]

Didn't arrive, still waiting. Maybe tomorrow…

View attachment 7186920

It's here!

Was a bit worried as the box showed some rough handling but it looked like it came through unscathed…

My next worry was that goofy neck attachment but when I went to fret it up high my hand fell right into place to get at the higher frets fine. Right under where the body meets the neck. It will be fine for me

Its the goofiness I was hoping for

 

[DJ Bebop]

So this bass took me off my path of getting a Fender Vintage II P bass. But that is a good thing.

I have a budget P bass that fills the role of a vintage P with flats that the Fender would be doing and another budget P for rounds. Then there is the P Bass of Doom the does what it does. So I didn't 'need' another P bass right away.

This popped up and I don't have anything like it and a Dingwall was not on my Bingo card, ever. This is a very nice niche filler that I would not have expected to be as good as it is, even for not having a 37" B string.

Maybe after that new car smell wears off I may pursue the Vintage II again, but not for a while

 

[Aric Bjorn]

This is a very nice niche filler that I would not have expected to be as good as it is, even for not having a 37" B string.

Maybe after that new car smell wears off I may pursue the Vintage II again, but not for a while

Now that you guys have had a few weeks with your hands on experience, any follow up thoughts? I'm starting to think about getting a fanned fret five string as my second bass, now that I've played on my 4 string long enough to understand the difference, and a msb-5 is on top of the short list for my limited budget at the moment. So, I'm curious if you're still satisfied a month+ later?

 

[DJ Bebop]

I am still digging mine

The only thing I would do is look hard at that neck joint. That is a make-or-break for some folks. It is no problem for me as I have not had an issue at all with it. I am one of those cats that play with my thumb in the middle of the back of the neck and as I shift up higher on the neck my thumb automatically shifts closer to the G-D side of the neck. My thing is I am still getting use to the angle of the fan frets up high. The direction they lay up there is a little odd for my fingers to get used to. I misfret sometimes because my fingers are used to going straight across instead of an angle, dumb fingers

My neck feel and frets were very good. The neck reminds me of my Carvin Bunny Brunel 5 string, even though the Carvin has an asymmetrical neck. There is some chunk there but not off-putting, for me anyway.

The fretwork on the HB was very nice, nice rounded sausage ends and leveled

The electronics are fine. Not outstanding but very serviceable. I am not looking to replace them. Although I have been thinking of the Tone Monster preamp if only for the variable midrange selection availability but I am lazy so

The pickups seem to be a common soap bar size, so there is that for the modders and upgraders

I am enjoying the modern soap bar sound. That pingy Ken Smith kinda thang I have been playing it exclusively since I got it other than pulling out the Carvin to compare it to. The HB is the only soap bar pickup bass I have. The rest are P and J with their appropriate pickups.

So I guess I'm enamored with the new one

Question?

 

[Aric Bjorn]

Question?

Thanks for the quick reply, I guess I do have a couple questions, not in any particular order. You mentioned the neck is chunky, you mean more like a P bass than a J, thicker? It says 45mm nut width on the HB website, which is bigger than a P, but it also has that B string to take up space, so it would be larger. I see it's just a hair larger than the Yamaha trbx 305, which is probably the closest five string model to my Yamaha trbx 174, which I like a lot. And how is it just in Passive mode, because I think I'd use it that way over 90% of the time. Really good to know about the fretwork being solid, and it's not surprising that at this price range the electronics would be 'good enough'. I guess that's all my questions for now, thanks

 

[DJ Bebop]

Thanks for the quick reply, I guess I do have a couple questions, not in any particular order. You mentioned the neck is chunky, you mean more like a P bass than a J, thicker? It says 45mm nut width on the HB website, which is bigger than a P, but it also has that B string to take up space, so it would be larger. I see it's just a hair larger than the Yamaha trbx 305, which is probably the closest five string model to my Yamaha trbx 174, which I like a lot. And how is it just in Passive mode, because I think I'd use it that way over 90% of the time. Really good to know about the fretwork being solid, and it's not surprising that at this price range the electronics would be 'good enough'. I guess that's all my questions for now, thanks

The neck is not wide, like my 62 P bass but it is not narrow or thin front to back like my 62. In the front to back dimension it is probably more like a later 60s to early 70s P neck or 70s Jazz front-to-back. Not anything most would find unusual.

The passive sound is nice. The preamp has an internal trim adjustment to turn up the volume of it or just using the EQ on the preamp can make the active volume louder than in passive mode. But the sound in passive is about the same as the preamp flat, maybe a little quieter depending on how the internal preamp trim is set. I play it in passive mode about 50% of the time. I do it like my WD 800. The WD has a three-band switchable midrange section that I set up with a different sound vs the sound with them off. I kinda do the same with the bass. Active setting different from the passive sound

 

[DJ Bebop]

Looks like the multi-scale is being offered at Harley Benton US…

https://reverb.com/item/87229802-harley-benton-msb-5-flip-flop-blue

That's only $20 more than I paid for my B stock shipped from Germany!