Harley Benton MB22-2T

Made 2007 standard Jazz Bass clone i.e. two volume and one tone. 21 frets. 4 strings. Passive pick-ups. Neck might be maple.Doubtful if the fretboard is rosewood... but it is alright. Sunburst body with really good clear on it. No flaws. Good tuners- copy of Fender. I give it a seven since it it well done but not a lot of features. It's a copy of a Jazz Bass and a quite good one.

Well, it humms as most singlecoil Jazz basses will do but a little bit more than I epected. The sound quality is good however. I shielded all electronics, cut loos about 15-20 centimeters of excess cables from the PUs and added a series/paralell switch which made a great difference. I have not got rid of the hum but it has been less disturbing and when the switch turns the PUs into a humbucker I get a nice thunder much like a P-Bass. Very easy to do and also inexpensible make over. Of your will loose the three year warranty but what the heck - it is a cheap piece and its is well built. Rich in overtones as it is and I am sure if I put on a set of really good strings it will ring even brighter. The strings from the factory are quite good though and it keeps its tuning very well even though I play hard and even leave the bass in locales with quite dramatic temparature changes. I am more than satisfied. I have only used the bass for studio recordings and for that purpose it is a cheap way to get a good bass track. Due to the humming I only give this a seven. Slip in a couple of DiMarzio noiseless and it will be great I am sure. Yeah one more thing: Certain notes will be quite a bit louder than other so it is not fully even through out the scale when we talk volume. Not as bad as other basses I have played- not as good as an Aria Pro II 400 though which is the most even bass I have owned.

Quite good from the factory but a little to high action and the D string was slightly out of tune due to poor intonation. Not much and easy to fix. I lowered the action, set the neck as i want it and this is also an easy job.
No flaws what so ever on frets, fretboard, finish etc. It looked superb and still does a couple of months later.

Three year warranty. Bought it from Thomann (which is the company who has the brand as their house brand of basses and guitars). Thomann has excellent support and are very fast.

Been playing guitar for twenty some years and been adding bass off an to during this time. Had a number of basses through the years and this one is among the good ones.

Probably made in China, recently. Four strings, resembles real Jazz Bass surprisingly well. Even the head shape is exact. Body may be thinner than original. Two passive pickups. Maple neck, satin finish. Back of the neck soon wears glossy, which feels ok. Rosewood-looking fretboard. Real wood body (not plywood), nice grain.
Glossy sunburst finish. Fender type metal parts. Thin frets, soft metal. Plastic feeling potentiometer knobs as compared to smooth Fender knobs.
Bass is rather heavy.

Pickups are worst i have seen, output is really low. They pick more noise and hum than string sound if you stand too close to amplifier. Magnets seem to be unequal (random) strenght, and low E suffers from that. You can live with it, but the strig balance could be better. Sound is not bad, it sounds bright , not very full. Tone control cuts highs effectively, but then the sound gets boomy.

Sound-wise you could gig with that, but hum might be a problem.

All adjustments including intonation were fine right outta box. Some rattling against the frets, but nothing to worry about. Woodwork was neater than i expected. Feels like a real instrument. You can move nut from side to side, i wonder if it was glued at all, but string pressure keeps it still.
Strings feel coarse and rigid, obviously cheapest set you could find. But you get used to them. Must feel nice when you change smoother strings.

Oh yes, when i first tested the bass, the neck pickup did not work at all. I could have sent the whole instrument back, but i liked the wood and fretwork. I thought i could get worse example back, so i unscrewed the control plate and found one unsoldered wire! After soldering it in place, referring to Jazz Bass schematic in net, everything was ok.

I would not gig with this bass, hum from the pickups could ruin whole sound. I have thought of replacing pickups or at least shielding pickup and control cavities. Maybe winding some more copper wire to the pickups could give higher output.
Metal hardware seems ok, and wooden construction is solid. Finish feels durable.

Warranty was naturally broken when i did that pickup repair. I have not dealt with the company. I remember warranty being rather long.

I have been playing over 20 years, mainly guitar. I wanted a cheap long scale bass for rehearsal use, and this bass works fine when jamming with friends.
If it were stolen, i would not buy it again. I would spend a little more on cheapest Squier Jazz Bass with decent pickups. The price would be the same as Benton+new pickup set.
I was curious about the quality of HB, and i am positively surprised with everything except the pickups. You get the feel of real bass with this Euro 105 cheapie, so i can??t complain.

It's a JB style Bass, probably made in China or Korea.
This model is maybe a first of the Harley Benton I bought it used, 2 years before.
Body: solidbody from maple, with sunburst finish
Neck: Hardmaple
Fretboard: palisander 20frets
tuners: fender style
Electronics: 2xJ pickups, 2volume 1tone knobs

2 J style pickups, the sound is not bad on a good stuff(on a small combos its horrible),it has a fat, warm. but it's noisy the pickups have big hum.
The sound is good for punk, rock, for "lighter" metal.
The slap sound is a bit poor.

I changed the PUs, now I use the HB PUs in a custom made bass with Ash body and they are sounds better but the hum is still there.

The body is from 4 pieces, it isn't the best solution.
The neck was straight, but the frets were noisy the would need a sanding.
The tuning pegs are good.
One of the controls was really poor, it hummed when it was used.
There is a lot of space next to the neck pickup, but what don't see it will not bother you :)))
I've seen a worse basses for higher prices.

I didn't need to adjust anything. The wood is good enough, the weakest part could be the tuners (after the PUs of course).
I thint it could be a good reliable bass and it can last for at least 5-10years (depends on what you get).

I heard the Thomann has a good customer support but I didn't need to contact them.

I'm playing for 2 years. I own 3 basses and a guitar -also a HB-. I can say it is a very good stuff for a beginner, and with a bit of tuneing it can be good for intermediate too.

What would I do if it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? Hmm, firstly I must say I changed the PUs really quickly, after it I had a car accident, which in the neck had broken, but I get a new custommade neck for it, and I changedt the plastic pickguard to a chromedmetal and the tuners for Gotoh. But if there weren't the new PUs maybe I just try another brand/type. But this is my first Bass guitar, and I love it, and I use it today.
It's a very good guitar for this price, but I think. you have to pick a good one so see and try it before buying.

Made in China, in 2005. 4 strings, 20 frets, solid top.
2 J-style pickups, 2 volume, and a well working tone control. Passive electronics.
Jazz-bass style, really nice sunburnst color, every metal part is shining in chrome! Maple neck, ? body.
Frets are not the best quality.

I'm a biginner, I don't have any style jet, but I'm on the road to funk/jazz. The instrument have the ideal "fat" sound for it. I mean warm sound, with long sustain, if I want.

I bought it in a music store, in perfectly tuned condition. On the fingerboard, I found some esthetical problems, but not a big thing.
The hardwares are not fitted well.
There are a lot of space next to the pickups.

It look like a long lasting thing.

I'm playing it with a Peavey Microbass:
-very good sound(for me)
-loud enough
I bought it only as a starter bass, but now I think, I'll keep it for a long time.
Very-very good quality for this price!!