Harley Benton Marquess-4 Blue Stain

I fell in love instantly when I saw this bass for the very first time. The next day, I ordered it. I couldn't resist!
I use this bass mostly for playing Heavy Metal and Rock. I use it with all knobs turned fully clockwise, but I want to experiment more with its tonal options in the future.
The finish is flawless and really beautiful. I love the neck with the stripes of darker wood. The bridge is easy to adjust. The action was set as it should from the factory, but I lowered it a bit more for fitting my style. The tuning stability is great. Fretboard has a really dark and nice colour, and frets are shinny and perfect (without buzzing or other issues). The pickups sound really good, and powerful in a large frequency spectrum. The strap buttons are large and the strap stays on, so I won't replace them with strap locks.
In conclusion, this is a perfectly made instrument, with amazing look and sound. I totally recommend it!
Thank you very much Thomann and Harley Benton!

As soon as the new Marquess line was unveiled I knew I wanted one. I also expected it to be a solid well made good sounding and preforming bass. Because I already own four other Harley Benton basses. Those all compare favorably to my USA Fenders, Korean Spector and V9 Sire.
I play mostly Hard, Classic, Alt Rock, and a little bit of 70's prog.
The first Marquess that I was sent took some damage from rough handling in shipping. Thomann Customer Service was 5 stars! They arraigned for the pickup of the damaged bass and I had the replacement in my hands (to the southeast USA) in five days.
This is a very well made bass. The fit and finish are without any flaws. The pickups sound terrific. I play through a Hartke LH 1000 with a 410 & 115 cabs and a Ampeg BA210 with an additional Hartke 410 extension cab. The bass is articulate, clear and full sounding. It is equally comfortable in my lap seated or for long (90 min.) sets on a strap. In fact it balances so well on a strap it deserves a special mention.
The tuners are (at this point) just average. They hold tuning nicely but feel a bit sludgy
The areas that I would have liked to see improvement on is in the controls and the bridge. Please use centering detents on all of the pots Just so we have a point of reference. While the bridge is nice I'd prefer a traditional screw and spring saddle setup. Loose saddles are an invitation to disaster on a darkened stage area. Even if it doesn't fall off during a string change. You are very likely to need to do a complete intonation. Which may well keep me from bringing it to a live setting.
I had been thinkin since I first saw the initial announcement of the Marquess that it would look stunning in a Fender Green Burst. I still do. But, as I see it on the hanger right now, the blue looks really nice.

I took some time to get to know this instrument before I wrote this because my initial motivation was just to buy a halfway decent bass without spending a fortune. My expectations were therefore somewhat low. It arrived in perfect condition and my first thought was: What a gorgeous build. I have since played Marquess 4 through a bassman model, a Fender Mustang (clean), a Zoom L12 digital mixer directly to the DAW, and through a Line 6 POD Go in a variety of configurations, to both Amp and Daw and finally, even an Orange Crush Mini. To my astonishment, tone and playability are amazing. Intonation was perfect and there was just a minor slap to the E string in the upper register, something it took only seconds to fix. Whether this thing shipped from the UK or a US warehouse, that alone is a small miracle. The pickups are responsive, well balanced and without noise. I mostly use it for recording purposes and to sum it up: It plays and sounds like a bass costing 3x as much. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.