I played a 6 string in my local guitar shop and got a sudden, burning need to have one... but not that one. It was a piece of crap. After a lot of research, I came to the conclusion that Harley Benton has, hands down, the best spec to price ratio, even when you include shipping. Neck-through was something I REALLY wanted because I spend a lot of time at the high end of the neck and this was the only one in this price. You have to spend about double to get an Ibanez neck-through.
It's a 35" scale length, Neck through, active bass with passive mode. Oddly, there is no tone knob. In active mode, you have a 3 band EQ, in passive mode you only have volume and pickup select. After messing with it though, the pickup blend knob actually works quite well as a "tone" knob. It's not quite the same but it does let you brighten or darken your sound.
It has a brighter, rock sound than I was expecting. I tend to think of six string basses as having that "boutiquey" type of, fusion jazz bass sound. I'm sure if you messed with it, you could get something like that out of it but it really wants to lean into a much brighter, rock/metal sound. It's not what I was expecting but I actually quite like it. Maybe this is dumb but, the sound of it made me stop trying to be so pretentious about my approach to learning "the six string bass" and I just started playing it like any of my other basses and immediately fell in love.
My only three real complaints about the build quality are, one, the pots feel cheap but those can be replaced. The things that can't really be fixed are, the tuners don't seem to be aligned quite right. this isn't a problem with playability. it plays great and stays in tune. It just ruins the aesthetic of the headstock which already looks a bit plain to begin with. Like I said though, it doesn't actually effect anything, just annoying. However, it does have pretty bad neck dive when playing seated. It's fine with a strap (though heavy), but when playing sitting down, you have to lean hard on the body to balance it out. Not a deal breaker for me considering how much I otherwise like the instrument. But it is there.
It's my first six string and I've been loving it. In the end I'm glad I took a chance on a weird brand instead of just getting a known brand and compromising on the neck-through construction. It's a cool instrument with a unique look that I really like. I hope to throw some upgrades at it down the line. think I'll start with the electronics.
Harley Benton BZ-6000 II NT; 6-Saiter E-Bass; Deluxe Serie; Korpus: Mahagoni/Esche/Mahagoni/Esche; Decke: AAA geflammtes Ahorn Furnier; Hals: 5-tlg. kanadischer Ahorn/Nyatoh; Halsbefestigung: durchgehend; Halsform: C; Griffbrett: Ebenholz (Diospyros...
www.thomann.de
I have the 7 string version. Absolute stunning piece of work from Harley Benton.
