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NBM: Harley Benton Enhanced MP-5EB

#201
And I said:
i thought i was smart because i knew to get the 1/2" and not the 3/8" post... i didn't realize bushing size was a thing, i didn't call hipshot i just ordered from their web site... is there really a downside? the thing holds its tuning well.
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I guess there is no reason to fix what is not broken but it would drive me nuts. Why not have the tuners be as stable as possible?

If you installed with the space there, no matter how small, there is the possibility the wood will eventually "bend" the with the string tension pulling it. Prob not a big deal...Anyway, it's an easy fix.
 
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#202
SgtHulka said:
I guess there is no reason to fix what is not broken but it would drive me nuts. Why not have the tuners be as stable as possible?

If you installed with the space there, no matter how small, there is the possibility the wood will eventually "bend" the with the string tension pulling it. Prob not a big deal...Anyway, it's an easy fix.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I am worried about.
 
#203
morrisonhendrix said:
That's exactly what I am worried about.
Click to expand...
There is something else I just though of.

Even though the tuner is holding, I don't think the connection to the end of the neck is optimum sonically. Instead of being solid, and effecting the entire bore, it is only connected from the front angle and the other side on the rear of the neck. I would expect more resonance with a full connection from all strings.

Of course we would have to take a Pepsi challenge but just hypothesizing here.
 
#204
SgtHulka said:
There is something else I just though of.

Even though the tuner is holding, I don't think the connection to the end of the neck is optimum sonically. Instead of being solid, and effecting the entire bore, it is only connected from the front angle and the other side on the rear of the neck. I would expect more resonance with a full connection from all strings.

Of course we would have to take a Pepsi challenge but just hypothesizing here.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've ruminated on that idea myself.
 
#207
I've got one of those $10 ali express MM pickups that I am going to replace the Rosewell with. I have come to like the rosewell P pickup but the MM is meh at best. After getting the neck relief and saddle heights right it's a very comfortable bass to play.
 
#212
The treble boost is a little noisy, that's normal for the stock preamp in this bass. But it should definitely not be cutting out like that! That's not good...

I'm no expert but it seems like bad pots... I'd bring it to someone who knows more about such things or send it back...
 
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#213
Good to know that the treble noise is “normal”.
Thank you.
Truthfully I actually made the decision to return it a few hours after I made my initial post so I am expecting a replacement tomorrow.

I’m really hoping everything will be ok with it.

I’m having a long, extended run of “life throwing crappy stuff at me” (poor health, deaths of multiple loved ones, career issues, cancer scares & of course the same CV19 stuff everyone has had) so I decided to buy my first five string to cheer myself up.
I thought I’d start with a cheap one so ordered the Harley Benton MB-5SB (the passive Music Man copy).

I loved it when it showed up - it played really well. But...... It had a fine crack running up one side of the neck.

I called Thomman who said “no problem. Send it back & we’ll replace it”. Then found that they had none in stock, they’ve got 250 of them on back order & only 200 scheduled to arrive from the factory in November. They’ve now taken it off the website.

So..... as they couldn’t send me a replacement I decided to pay the extra £200 or so and upgrade to a MP-5EB as the reviews were so great.

And when it arrived *that* had faulty electronics as you saw.

They’ve sold out of the P/MM in every variety except Lake Blue and now they are delivering me a replacement (tomorrow) there are only 11 of those left at Thomann with no more due until October.

This is my first experience with Harley Benton and Two Out of Two basses being faulty isn’t filling me with confidence :(
 
#214
You're not alone as far as life giving you a rough time... hang in there, living one day at a time is all we can do!

That's awful about Thomann sending you 2 bad basses in a row! 3rd time's a charm i hope? This was my first and only puechase from Thomann and mine went well. It was all before the world was dealing with a pandemic... perhaps they had to cut some employees and the QA team took a hit?
 
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#215
I am 6 Thomann purchases deep. The only bass that I received undamaged was the PJ-75, it was flawless. The other 5 I received were guitars that had binding cracked, a piece of wood in the headstock missing, bad switch, bad pots, fingerboard coming apart.. I sold the PJ-75 to buy the enhanced and when it came time, the one I wanted (creamy P) was on a 5-7 week wait.. so I just said fuggit and bought another PJ-75 instead and when I received it, it was wired up wrong where the bridge pup had no output no matter what I did.. I wonder if they send the USA purchases a majority of their UK returns sometimes..

I want an HBZ5000 and am really cautious to pull the trigger right now.. I've seen so many shipping stalls and just beat up instruments coming out, blamed on covid-19, IDK...
 
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#216
She’s here!
Everything seems to be working normally, the neck needed a bit of straightening but 1/8th turn fixed that.
The action can come down a touch but otherwise I’m satisfied.

One niggle you guys might be able to help me with?

It’s a tiny bit noisy on the P pup. Kinda like single coil noisy.

How can that be? Surely the P is hum cancelling???
 
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#219
Probably someone who knows will come along and check this thread, but you may want to post in hardware, setup and repair.

Bummer you can't enjoy this thing at its best. It is a nice instrument that really punches above its weight-class.
 
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#220
Has anyone exchanged the stock pickups with better ones? I'd like to find some reasonably priced ones (not going the 10 dollars aliexpress way tho ) and while I'm at that I would like to move the humbucker next to the P , to have the two classic sounds , no matter if it loses the combined pu's effect. I'm all ears for advices.
 

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