Hi all, nice to meet you all. This is my first post so I thought I would review my first (and only) bass (so far... I hope). I used the search function and did found posts about the Harley Benton Shorty bass but most of them were comments or very cool Mod diaries but with no sound samples. So as I could not find a post about this bass in its stock condition, here it is:
This is a Chinese made short scale p-Bass. Scale length is 762 mm, decent maple neck with thin rosewood fretboard, medium jumbo frets that need leveling and are VERY sharp on the sides and a very rough plastic nut. Tuners tune smoothly, but are very crudely mounted to the headstock, the screws in mine were not all the way in. Body is poplar and super light, making it neck heavy. The pickup and electronics are Ok. The pickup has been mounted very crudely, no pickup height adjustment possible in mine, screws wont turn. Bridge is Ok, top loader. Price: 80€.
So... should you buy it?
If you want an instrument and have very little money it will get you there.
If you want it as a project bass, it is cool.
If you are a guitarist and want a cheap bass to record tracks but cant deal with normal bass scale lengths, definitely!
Other reasons... not really...
So what does it sound like? Is it decent at least? I believe that the tone of a bass is better appreciated in a mix than alone. Some awesome bass tones just sound messy in a full mix.
So here are some tone samples of the Harley Benton Shorty bass going straight to the interfase, no post procesing.
First sample, volume and tone full blast:
Second sample, tone 80% off, using a DI into the interfase with no eq or any post processing.
So what do you think about this bass? If you have questions about it I will gladly answer.
Thank you and see you soon.
This is a Chinese made short scale p-Bass. Scale length is 762 mm, decent maple neck with thin rosewood fretboard, medium jumbo frets that need leveling and are VERY sharp on the sides and a very rough plastic nut. Tuners tune smoothly, but are very crudely mounted to the headstock, the screws in mine were not all the way in. Body is poplar and super light, making it neck heavy. The pickup and electronics are Ok. The pickup has been mounted very crudely, no pickup height adjustment possible in mine, screws wont turn. Bridge is Ok, top loader. Price: 80€.
So... should you buy it?
If you want an instrument and have very little money it will get you there.
If you want it as a project bass, it is cool.
If you are a guitarist and want a cheap bass to record tracks but cant deal with normal bass scale lengths, definitely!
Other reasons... not really...
So what does it sound like? Is it decent at least? I believe that the tone of a bass is better appreciated in a mix than alone. Some awesome bass tones just sound messy in a full mix.
So here are some tone samples of the Harley Benton Shorty bass going straight to the interfase, no post procesing.
First sample, volume and tone full blast:
Second sample, tone 80% off, using a DI into the interfase with no eq or any post processing.
So what do you think about this bass? If you have questions about it I will gladly answer.
Thank you and see you soon.
