Harley Benton HBB1975

[TRBboy]

Fair enough, if Thomann pay for all the costs and organise collection there's nothing to lose really!

[redstriper]

[quote name='clauster' post='1167400' date='Mar 18 2011, 04:54 PM']So you're getting the authentic Jazz Bass experience for a fraction of the cost? Bargian! [/quote]

Exactly !

And to my intelligent Norwegian ally I extend warm felicitations - you may also be interested in [url="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=steve"]this[/url]

Edited March 18, 2011 by redstriper

[cameltoe]

No what I actually think is happening here, is a case of 'you don't agree with me then you're wrong'.

People have given their opinions, and instead of offering yours (which may be different, and I would respect that) you're are actually doing nothing but arguing with them.

It's incredibily disrespectful, and you're even jumping to conclusions and now making judgments about the characters of the people who have taken the time to offer advice to the OP, just because it doesn't fit in with the way you think.

Again, if you have a different opinion, then by all means voice it, but just trying to belittle everyone else's perfectly valid advice to the OP isn't helping anyone.

Have you tried this guitar? It's a bit hypocritical if not.

[simon1964]

[quote name='BottomE' post='1166180' date='Mar 17 2011, 07:48 PM']There is a local retailer that stocks some of this brand.[/quote]

I thought Harley Benton was Thomann's own in house brand, so I'm surprised they're being sold at a local retailer.

I've never played any of the HB stuff, so can't comment on the quality, but FWIW Harley Benton guitars are made in China by Saein, who also make Chinese branded Epiphone, Ibanez and Peavey models.

[redstriper]

[quote name='cameltoe' post='1167463' date='Mar 18 2011, 06:17 PM']No what I actually think is happening here, is a case of 'you don't agree with me then you're wrong'.

[color="#000000"]I don't see in any of my posts that I have given the impression that if 'you don't agree with me then you're wrong'. (your quotations, I have not said or thought any such thing).[/color]

People have given their opinions, and instead of offering yours (which may be different, and I would respect that) you're are actually doing nothing but arguing with them.

[color="#000000"]I don't have an opinion about this instrument and I have simply advised open mindedness and not to believe that this bass is crap just because some people here who have never seen one say so.
I'm sorry if you see that as arguing, but it is just my view which I'm as entitled to express as anyone else.[/color]

It's incredibily disrespectful, and you're even jumping to conclusions and now making judgments about the characters of the people who have taken the time to offer advice to the OP, just because it doesn't fit in with the way you think.

[color="#000000"]I have not meant to disrespect anyone and I offer my sincere apologies to anyone who feels that to be the case - I humbly submit that you may be confusing disagreement with disrespect.[/color]

Again, if you have a different opinion, then by all means voice it, but just trying to belittle everyone else's perfectly valid advice to the OP isn't helping anyone.

[color="#000000"]Thanks for the advice and I apologise again for offering an alternative and unhelpful view.
Fortunately we have your much more balanced and useful insights to counteract the rubbish I spout. [/color]

Have you tried this guitar? It's a bit hypocritical if not.

[color="#000000"]No - have you?[/color][/quote]

[SteveO]

I can't see anyone arguing with your opinions, but rather pointing out that "Oh, it'll be crap, for that price." is a bit of an assumption, and an unfounded one at that. HB make cheap, but decent quality instruments, as do quite a few other budget manufacturers. This observation is made on owning and playing several of their products. You have played some HB stuff and found it to be crap. nothing wrong with that. Either your standards are higher than mine (quite possible) or i've been lucky. either way up there are 2 differing opinions on the quality of HB gear by people that have tried. the gripe is that the only comments concerning the bass in question are [i]'I've not tried one, but its cheap so it must be crap'[/i] which I don't think can fall into the category of valid advice to the OP. I actually thought that your comment (if you'll forgive me for paraphrasing your first post) of [i]"It's an unknown bass. It's better to go for a cheap bass that has a good reputation"[/i] is a very good one, and one that I agree with, however I can't see the point of getting defensive when someone points out that none of the people who says they're crap seems to have tried one.



Oh and I'm from Teesside (Just live over ere), and that'll be my defense for pushing in and getting involved with someone else's argument


Anyway, I'm off back to lurkers corner... see you all in another 3 months.

[tomb]

if the bass is anything like their amps it crap, BIG crap

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='redstriper' post='1166533' date='Mar 18 2011, 12:46 AM']Plastikote Krystal gloss for neck + [s]brush[/s] + wet&dry + time + effort etc. + delivery with no return option.[/quote]
It's a spray can FWIW, my point was not the initial cost. I agree the HB's cheaper and probably a perfectly adequate bass. But it [i]will [/i]depreciate more, IMO.

Buy a Squier off BC and you'd probably get your money back if you decide to chop it in. Just a thought.

Edited March 18, 2011 by skankdelvar

[mcnach]

[quote name='tomb' post='1167534' date='Mar 18 2011, 07:06 PM']if the bass is anything like their amps it crap, BIG crap[/quote]

[redstriper]

[quote name='tomb' post='1167534' date='Mar 18 2011, 07:06 PM']if the bass is anything like their amps it crap, BIG crap[/quote]

If only you'd told us earlier - it would've saved an awful lot of trouble...........



and as for their motorbikes - don't get me started !!!!!!!

[chrismuzz]

That Peavey's still for sale? I say go for it, they play amazingly well!

[BottomE]

[quote name='Johnston' post='1167477' date='Mar 18 2011, 06:29 PM']I thought the same about HB being Thomanns. But we don't see many brands so thought it was maybe balls.

Saien also have their own brand Shine. [url="http://www.saein.co.kr/2007/bass/rk2000nt.php"]http://www.saein.co.kr/2007/bass/rk2000nt.php[/url][/quote]

The shop i went to deals in secondhand guitars mainly. Its run by a really nice guy who has a pretty high turnover of gear. I pop in every now and again for a chinwag and to see if anything interesting has turned up.
He had 3 HB's that were Precision clones. I tried one of them out of curiosity so didn't inspect it as if i were going to buy it. Just plugged it in to a decent amp and had a play. I stand by my original critique that it sounded and felt sh*te.

If the OP is asking for some advice i would say spend a bit more and get a Yammy or an Ibanez as the ones i have played at that price point are much better instruments. Theres no science in my opinion just quite a few years of playing bass.

BTW just played a stonking gig!

[hillbilly deluxe]

I think you'll find that the "big name" brands wont cost the factory significantly more to construct,labour costs will be a big factor.

[SteveO]

[quote name='Johnston' post='1167963' date='Mar 19 2011, 10:11 AM']...Before Duties, on that day with the exchange rate to dollars £30 a unit [/quote]

Not that surprising really. A decent mp3 player gan be bought new for 15 quid that has vastly superior electronics than a bass. A decent chair can be bought new for 20 quid that has much more wood and more intricate joints than on a bass. There's no reason that a factory can't stamp out basses to the same quality as these 2 items for similar manufacturing costs.

Of course the higher quality instruments will cost a great deal more to make both in raw materials and in labour, but I'm sure that the likes of fender mark up their mass produced basses by a staggering amount, purely because they can based on their brand name. Obviously I'm not saying that the mass produced instruments are as good as the hand crafted ones, just as the IKEA chair that i'm sitting on is not as good as the leather and mahogany one in my grandad's study, I'm just saying that low price is not necessarily an indication of bad quality. It occurs to me that it could also be an indication of a seller that has a low profit margin on their goods which isn't inflated due to brand name.

anyway, this is all semantics on justifying conclusions based on assumptions. The most valid opinion so far for the OP was BottomE's who has tried an HB bass and found it to be wanting.

[cameltoe]

[quote name='SteveO' post='1167529' date='Mar 18 2011, 07:03 PM']I can't see anyone arguing with your opinions, but rather pointing out that "Oh, it'll be crap, for that price." is a bit of an assumption, and an unfounded one at that. HB make cheap, but decent quality instruments, as do quite a few other budget manufacturers. This observation is made on owning and playing several of their products. You have played some HB stuff and found it to be crap. nothing wrong with that. Either your standards are higher than mine (quite possible) or i've been lucky. either way up there are 2 differing opinions on the quality of HB gear by people that have tried. the gripe is that the only comments concerning the bass in question are [i]'I've not tried one, but its cheap so it must be crap'[/i] which I don't think can fall into the category of valid advice to the OP. I actually thought that your comment (if you'll forgive me for paraphrasing your first post) of [i]"It's an unknown bass. It's better to go for a cheap bass that has a good reputation"[/i] is a very good one, and one that I agree with, however I can't see the point of getting defensive when someone points out that none of the people who says they're crap seems to have tried one.



Oh and I'm from Teesside (Just live over ere), and that'll be my defense for pushing in and getting involved with someone else's argument


Anyway, I'm off back to lurkers corner... see you all in another 3 months. [/quote]

Fair enough, but then your posts have actually been a good counter argument and would actually help the OP to make a decision. What I didn't like about redstripers posts was the assumption that anyone who had said anything negative a) considered themselves to be experts b ) had no experience of the guitar or brand c) were obviously those type of people who just automatically assume cheap=crap d) were not giving any relevant advice. I don't think this is the case.

I've tried Harley Benton stuff and it's not been good. Ok, maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'Crap', but then if you re-read my original post I think you'd find I didn't necessarily think this mattered. Crap to me means cheap materials, cheap electronics, cheap labour, lacklustre QC, and poor finishing. I think we can agree that for the money you won't be getting the best of any of those. In fact for that price, you'll probably be getting some of the worst.

However, I placed much more emphasis on how well the instrument would play. If you can get a guitar that looks that good for that price and it plays [i]well[/i] then by all means go for it. This is impossible to tell when ordering online though, and would represent a risk.

The reason I suggested fender over Harley Benton is that the OP mentioned he would like to modify the bass. I understand what you're saying about Fender marking up prices based on brand, but I actually think this works both ways. Fender have a reputation to protect, and hence will spend more on QC and finishing. However I don't actually think that cheaper fenders are up to much at all (with the exception of the Classic Vibe series), and actually tried a vintage modified Jazz recently and thought it was [i]horrible[/i]. Thin sounding, heavy, poorly finished, and played appalingly. However, if the OP was to buy something like a Squier over this, then given that fender parts are interchangable it wouldn't take much for him to float about in the Parts section and eventually pick up some decent pickups and maybe even a MIJ neck and end up with a killer bitsa.

To be fair, it's not like we've all piled on and said 'It's Crap!' and dissapeared again. I could understand if so. But almost everyone has offered great alternatives that they [i]know[/i] play well and are made well, and offer far better potential than their own experiences with Harley Benton. I myself suggested the Peavey BXP that was in the For Sale section for the same price as this bass. I tried one very recently and thought it was amazing to play and sounded great. Against the Harley Benton gear I've tried, it would be a no-brainer.

I guess this is why it's escalated to an argument (we all like a good tear-up on here don't we ). Ok, we may have made assumptions on [i]this particular[/i] guitar based on our experiences with other Harley Benton gear, and also with the retail price, but we've also actually offered the OP some very good advice based on our experiences with other budget instruments, whereas I don't see how anything mr. redstriper has said so far has actually helped the OP in any way.

Like I said, it may well be better than the sum of it's parts and may play fairly well indeed. Do I think it's the next JV series? No. Are there better options out there for a beginner? Definitely.

Edited March 19, 2011 by cameltoe

[tom1946]

[quote name='Johnston' post='1167963' date='Mar 19 2011, 09:11 AM']I got a pricelist from a Chinese factory recently on a few of their things. It is scary how low they can build stuff for .

On the face of it the specs look half decent duncan designed pups etc etc. The what I would class as a budget starter, standard P pups genericish shape (think korean made basses mid nineties like washburn) High Mass bridge rather than the BBOT.

Before Duties, on that day with the exchange rate to dollars £30 a unit [/quote]

2 years ago before I retired you could buy strat copies for $15 each! Trouble is you bought 10 grands worth minimum unseen. Too much of a gamble.

[cachao]

Just bought one of the standard Jazz copies. better than I thought it would be TBH. Some adjustment will be needed to get it how I want it to be, but it plays OK, and sounds fine.

i just wanted it to string with flats.

OK, the action is not right as yet, but I am confident that it will be with a bit of effort.

[iconic]

Pink westfield p bass fa 40 quid new plus pnp float ya boat?

[Thunderbird]

[size=4]I myself have never tried the HB gear but I would rather save the hundred odd quid it cost towards something I really wanted but at the end of the day it is up to the individual what they want and what they are happy with. I have had cheap stuff in the past that has been awful but then on the flip side I have had cheap stuff that has been OK and is still going strong guess it is just the luck of the draw and at the end of the day what you buy comes down to what you can afford I guess but I would never knock someone if there gear was cheap if they like it and are happy with it fair play to them I say [/size]

[paul h]

[quote name='tomb' timestamp='1300475206' post='1167534']
if the bass is anything like their amps it crap, BIG crap
[/quote]

I have a Harley Benton Ba500H.

It's great.

[gafbass02]

Every piece of Harley Benton I've owned has been fantastic quality and great vfm. Two guitar cabs and an acoustic bass.

[stevie]

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1300462422' post='1167292']
I think people are right to voice their opinions, especially considering that's exactly what the OP wanted us to do.
[/quote]

I think that when someobody asks for an opinion on here there is an assumption that they'd prefer an informed opinion based on something a bit more useful than 'it's cheap it must be crap'. Otherwise, what's the point of asking?

The reviews on the interweb from people who have actually played or own one of these basses are quite positive. A Google search could prove fruitful.

[neepheid]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

[stevie]

Ha! As they say, it ain't over till it's over.......

[paul h]

Hahaha. I didn't even notice

There must be a thread somewhere about the cold war I can comment in