id been looking at a promethean on ebay starting at £400.... but partly as a result of reading posts here, and elsewhere, i decided to go for the harley benton from thomann for £228... bit of a gamble as i couldnt check it in advance, but figured i could return it if i didnt like it... so only gambling the return postage really. anyway... im totally delighted with the harley!...
i play a vintage 80's bc rich custom bass ( badass bridge, grover heads... single-piece neck, 4 pickups [some italian make i forget!] great understated design from before bc rich went mental... its a fantastic guitar)
i normally borrow a friends orange terror bass to play through, and i reckon the harley benton 5110c sounds as good (going to do a side by side comparison next rehearsal). full rich tones, and great definition (10" driver helps). loses nothing when its loud enough to worry about structural damage to the house, and sounds full and mean even at real low volumes.
im not your typical bass player... i kind of do quite intricate, fast playing, and a lot of chords (think nomeansno, but bigger!)... i play solo sets, just bass and vocals, and in the band i play 'lead bass' and guitars are secondary to our sound. i play through a 'tech21 vt bass' pedal (reproduces the ampeg vt valve sound), giving a good hard overdriven sound... i like a quite mid-rangey sound so the single 10" suits me. other amps tend to muddy the sound (even the orange terror bass, a little), and havent given me the clarity and precision that i looked for. and when i get the sharpness of the midrange, the bass heft is lacking.... and vice versa. but not with this harley.
we dont do big gigs so the 250w output should be plenty... itll keep up with a drumkit.
i only got the amp this morning, so i cant say anything about long term stuff, but overall im delighted with it. perfect sharp clear sound with plenty of bass behind it... you can hear each string distinctly. overall the harley is full, mean, clear (and with my sound gives a good hard punch combined with good low-end growl) i cant recommend this amp enough... and for the price... wow! fantastic. if youre thinking about it, just get one and gamble the return postage fee... youd spend that much in fuel just to go try one out.
i fooled around with lots of sounds this morning... all the controls make a good difference and you can really tweak the sound. clean sounds good too, though i dont really use it myself, so thats for others to talk about.
i also do stuff with an acoustic bass (tanglewood) and that sounds lovely through it too.... full rich tones and the same clarity as with the electric.
and the size of it is a great bonus... i dont have to have big black boxes in my front room any more. its only a little bigger than the 15w peavy guitar practice amp i use (for 6 string guitar)!
price... 5 stars... sound... 5 stars... portability... 5 stars.................... get one!
and btw... i cant find any seriously negative posts about this amp anywhere on the web. (but do your own research!)
hope this opinion helps some... you might get the harley and disagree, but for me and the sound im looking for, this amp is a real pleasure, and im properly excited about it.
prometheus is dead!!
