freeman
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by freeman on Apr 22, 2018 18:05:06 GMT
Hi all, after getting the SC-450 LP style, I'm really quite impressed by Harley Benton, so... in my search for a bass for home recording I've narrowed it down to three HB basses. I'm not a bass player, so neck thickness will play a factor. I've read that the neck of the PB-50 is quite thick and maybe not right for guitarists. Is that right? What I need is a good allrounder for different styles, mainly in the style of Pink Floyd, Supertramp. I know Roger Waters plays a precision most of the time but he also played Jazz basses and Rickenbackers early on. I've also taken a shine to the B-450 Vintage white with the active pickups. Could I get the sound I'm looking for with this? Which bass would you recommend?
Cheers
|
|
|
freeman
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by freeman on Apr 23, 2018 10:33:07 GMT
Yeah, I've seen that. Just a pity it's so damn fugly. The pickguard just looks crap. I saw the Video by Henning and he wasn't really that impressed. Then again it's cheap und probably does the job. Does anyone know what it looks like under the pick guard? Is it possible to do away with the pick guard altogether? Couple of black screws in the holes. If that is possible I could probably live with it.
|
|
DefJef
THBC Moderator
Due to musical differences I've decided I can't work with myself any more.
|
Post by DefJef on Apr 23, 2018 11:09:44 GMT
HB torts always look like a slice of fatty meat. Shame really. There's always the white one...but the meat remains! blablas , can you help with any of freeman 's questions?
|
|
1,481 posts
Disclosures: Everything I don't like I can modify.
|
Post by blablas on Apr 23, 2018 13:38:44 GMT
I've got no first hand experience with the mentioned bass models so cant give any opinion on them. Underneath the P pickguard there will probably be a routing like this (without the shielding): This is basically the standard for P basses.
|
|
DefJef
THBC Moderator
Due to musical differences I've decided I can't work with myself any more.
|
Post by DefJef on Apr 23, 2018 13:43:07 GMT
Yeah, I've seen that. Just a pity it's so damn fugly. The pickguard just looks crap. I saw the Video by Henning and he wasn't really that impressed. Then again it's cheap und probably does the job. Does anyone know what it looks like under the pick guard? Is it possible to do away with the pick guard altogether? Couple of black screws in the holes. If that is possible I could probably live with it. I saw the video too. He seemed amazingly impressed for the price and seemed to think that only the pickguard let it down...as do we all! I seem to remember he thought the cap on the tone could do with changing too to take off more top if you need to. Personally I rather liked the sound coming from bass with the two Music Master type pickups on it. Not for the proggy metal he was playing though. Folk here have had success rubbing off the tort effect, though it probably leaves a rather bright white guard. Otherwise it's time to lean on blablas again for the source of some of his fine pickguard materials.
|
|
3,968 posts
|
Post by salteedog on Apr 23, 2018 15:59:38 GMT
You could always spray it...I've a long standing intention to paint the one on my JA60. It's a job near the bottom of my to-do list as all things being equal I don't really care about cosmetic issues.
|
|
|
3,968 posts
|
Post by salteedog on Apr 23, 2018 16:37:19 GMT
What? Ever after last week's heat wave?
|
|
DefJef
THBC Moderator
Due to musical differences I've decided I can't work with myself any more.
|
Post by DefJef on Apr 23, 2018 16:57:59 GMT
Wave? Barely a ripple. Reports of the 'the hottest marathon on record', as the BBC got so excited about at the weekend, turned out to be quite an oversell. What they meant was ' one of the warmest London marathons (i.e. one held in April) in the last 20 years.' I'm told I need to keep sniffing my guitar until there is no longer an odour to be certain it is truly dry. I have no problem with that.
|
|
freeman
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by freeman on Apr 23, 2018 18:22:21 GMT
True, the PJ-74 looks ok but the painted headstock ruins it for me. I've never been one for painted headstocks. The bridge looks good though. I've ordered the JB-20 and the B-450 Vintage white LTD and I'll see which one I'll keep.
Thanks for your help guys. I appreciate it.
Cheers
|
|
|
Post by JAC on Apr 26, 2018 16:04:26 GMT
Let us know your opinions once you have played them
|
|
freeman
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by freeman on Apr 27, 2018 17:27:46 GMT
Hi guys, the basses arrived at lunchtime today. Yayyyyy! Well packaged as usual. Straight to the point. I'll be keeping the JB-20. The B-450 looks good and it's almost flawless, apart from some really minor faults in the paint job, but somehow it doesn't feel right. The active pickups do a good job. I'm sure it's good instrument, but it's just not for me. It had a bit of frettbuzz, just like the JB-20, but I just raised the bridges a little with the supplied Allen-key.
JB-20 The JB-20 is absolutely flawless. The lacquer, the sunburst. I can't find a single blemish. I can hardly see how many pieces of wood it's made up of. I think it might be 3 pieces, maybe only 2. From a few feet away it looks a one piece body. The intonation was almost perfect out of the box, the action was, like I said, a bit low, which I sorted out. The neck feels silky smooth and quite thin, which is what I wanted. The pickups sound like a jazz bass should. Nice and round and funky at the same time. Plenty of low end even with the cheap old Thomann strings on it. They're not D'Addario's. A few fret-ends are a bit sharp and the fretboard and frets need a good polish, but I'll sort that out when I restring it with Rotosound roundwounds. Even the 3 layer pick guard looks good and it's quite well cut. The only things I'll change are the metal knobs for black Jazz Bass ones. This is a 99 Euro bass. I can hardly believe it. When I started playing in the mid 70's a bass like this would have been a Fender, maybe an upmarket Ibanez, when they were still copying.
I recommend this bass.
Cheers
Freeman
|
|
|
Post by JAC on May 1, 2018 8:43:09 GMT
Congrats on the keeper! (BTW, for some reason your photos of the bass aren't showing )
|
|
freeman
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
|
Post by freeman on Jun 30, 2018 8:44:21 GMT
Well guys, like I said, I kept the JB-20. I love it. Used it in the studio last week and the engineer couldn't believe it's a 99 Euro bass. Thought I'd mod the look a bit so I spent a grand total of about 10 Euros on new knobs and a Chinese pick guard from eBay. I think it's turned out quite nice. Before.....the good old.... After Not bad. Adds a touch of class.
|
|