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NPBD Harley Benton Spaceship!


uk_lefty
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I've bored everyone enough about my Helix Stomp not being a one box solution... So my pedal board, a good quality Donner thing (now for sale) became too small.  I needed to add synth, expression pedal for the synth and space for a Smoothound.

 

I bought the Harley Benton because I like Thomann and Harley Benton gear. The Spaceship comes pre-carpeted which is nice, it's solid aluminium, the bag is well padded, and it has plenty of space. Hence the name. 

 

The only odd thing is it has slots underneath for a power supply which my cheap Caline box is too big for, sadly, as I do like powering from below, and the adjustable feet don't fix to the board, you stick em in each time you need them, which I find a bit unnecessary.

 

Anyways, for the cash I don't think you can beat it. There's nothing cheap or flimsy about it so it seems great value in comparison to most.

 

Obligatory pics ..

IMG20220203154958.jpg

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I've got one similar to this but with the hard case rather than the bag. Be warned that the hard cases aren't really road worthy, maybe ok for the boot of your car but if they're being put in the back of a band van or similar they're not really all that tough. I find board solid enough though. I'm actually trying to downsize and just go back to a wireless receiver and a Zoom B14x

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33 minutes ago, 2pods said:

Is there not import tax, duties etc buying from Thomann now ?

Otherwise I'd be interested, as they do quite a lot of handy stuff

No, their GB version of the site has it all costed in. So actually, yes, but it's not an extra surprise bill off the courier. What you see is what you pay. I've bought quite a lot off them since Brexit and it's always gone well.

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20 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

No, their GB version of the site has it all costed in. So actually, yes, but it's not an extra surprise bill off the courier. What you see is what you pay. I've bought quite a lot off them since Brexit and it's always gone well.

 

Thanks, that's good to know. So it's still Thomann.de then ?

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My one was a lockdown purchase and I've been using it since we were able to start giging again in August last year.

 

I bought the bundle which included the power supply which is the one designed to fit underneath. I've been using it to power 4 boss style pedals, Pitchblack tuner and my Behringer heaphone amplifier. I couldn't justify spending hundreds on a power supply when this one does the job and doesn't add any extra noise for such a low cost.

 

The only thing that it couldn't power was my Bassbone as it was 15v but I have recently sold this and will be using a Laney Digbeth preamp which will be able to be powered by this.

 

The feet screw into the base so you shouldn't have to attach them every time. They can unscrew themselves but only very occasionally. In fact when I get around to it I'll get a spanner and tighten them sufficiently so that they don't come off.

 

The bag itself seems decent enough. I don't have any worries about it falling apart. My gear only travels by car so I don't have to worry about it being thrown about in a van or something falling on top of it

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On 03/02/2022 at 17:34, King Tut said:

I've got one similar to this but with the hard case rather than the bag. Be warned that the hard cases aren't really road worthy, maybe ok for the boot of your car but if they're being put in the back of a band van or similar they're not really all that tough. I find board solid enough though. I'm actually trying to downsize and just go back to a wireless receiver and a Zoom B14x

I've got a little HB Spaceship 50M which is perfect for Zoom B14 / B14X pedals, powered with an excellent value HB IsoPro5 underneath:

 

PB - 2112mini.JPG

 

Agree with you about the hard cases, they also have more surplus head space than most of us need, so I ended up swapping mine for the cheaper and neater soft case which has the advantage of a front pocket to store cables.

 

@uk_lefty I'm also in need of a larger board and was super tempted to get the HB Spaceship 60 (which I think is the model you've got, or is yours the HB Spaceship 80?) and, as you say, it's just unbeatable value! But I wanted to try something a little different with a sturdier soft case so I've pulled the trigger on a Rockboard 4.2, as the Rockboards also seem to be getting a lot of positive comments from owners.

Edited by Al Krow
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I use the biggest Harley Benton SpaceShip 80 board, and as you say it's a great, solid, and all together well constructed and not too heavy pedal board solution.

 

I wish it would have come with a greater quality carrying shoulder back though, I would have been willing to pay more, which would still have kept the price bellow any competitors, for a higher quality properly padded bag and shoulder strap.

 

Not that big of an issue though, I just pack the board into a rug before placing in the bag and use a more comfortable shoulder strap from a gig bag. 

 

Here it is:

Bass-Pedal-Setup-041221-Mellem.jpg

(I since this picture was shot removed the Joyo American Sound from the board, as well as I swapped out the Behringer UT100 Ultra Tremolo with a Boss TR-2)

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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  • 4 weeks later...

One of the little things that make a difference with the HB Spaceship is that with their non angled boards, like my little HB Spaceship 50M, it's possible to unscrew the feet and insert washers to raise the feet height sufficient to get e.g. a Thumpinator underneath. Almost impossible to do that with the PT Metro series, although you can glue on some larger over-feet as the "hack" with those.

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22 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

One of the little things that make a difference with the HB Spaceship is that with their non angled boards, like my little HB Spaceship 50M, it's possible to unscrew the feet and insert washers to raise the feet height sufficient to get e.g. a Thumpinator underneath. Almost impossible to do that with the PT Metro series, although you can glue on some larger over-feet as the "hack" with those.

I've had no problems with raising the feet at the back end of my pedal board to a fitting angle, I think you might be doing it wrong.

 

The idea is having the nut tighten against the lower ledge of the back of the pedal board, holding the bolt that the feet are attached to in suspense and fixed where you set them.

 

Works perfectly fine. 

 

You just need to tighten the nuts instead of the bolts, the bolts doesn't have to go all way in bottomed out.

 

Hold the bolt at the length you want it and then tighten the nut while keeping a form hold on the bolt.

 

Sort of clamping the nut against the lower back ledge, holding the bolt in place where you want it. 

 

This is by the way how my Harley Benton SpaceShip 80 looks currently:

Bass-Pedal-Board-060322-Edit-666-smaller

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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19 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Hi @Baloney Balderdash- the mechanism is not the same on all the HB boards. Here's the underneath of mine with washers fitted, for reference:

 

PB - 2203B.JPG

Ah, I see.

 

I wasn't aware of that.

 

But guess the reasoning being that with such a narrow board people would only have a single line of pedals?

 

Sucks regardless though.

 

But good you found a solution to the issue.

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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