Harley Benton PJ-4 HTR Deluxe Series

First thing first, this is my first bass. I bought it in September because I wanted to learn to play bass on a tight budget. I use it mostly to play by myself and for the occasional jam session.

In short, I agree with most of the positive reviews. This is a great instrument for a beginner. It sounds in most cases really good. The bridge pickup can have too low input. That's only something I've noticed at separate times. the PJ combo is a really easy way to get a wide range of sounds. I love how the neck feels as well!

Sadly, I don't have as much control over the sound as I'd like. The tone knob, for example, is rather dull and could be more sensitive. That goes the same for the tuning mechanism, I can't seem to tune it exactly as in tune as I want it. On the other hand, it stays in-tune rather well. Also, keep in mind: the bass can be quite heavy.

To summarize: this is a great instrument to buy when you're short on cash. Just be ready to accept the eventual one or two quirks that might need fixing.

The bass came in needing a setup; the strings were sitting on the frets, the pickups were set too high and the electrical wasn't grounded properly, as the solo P pickup had a hum. I'm a novice with a limited budget, so it took me some time and learning to set up the bass before getting to playing. I had the time to figure it out on my own but I can see the necessary setup being a challenging barrier for some, if not most, beginners. I had to make at least a full turn of the truss rod and I took it a quarter turn per day, making the setup take a few days before it was playable. That's certainly enough time to dampen any enthusiasm.

Once the bass was setup, it played fine. P pickup sounded great, while the J pickup sounded shrill. The neck barely had a finish, with no sharp frets, making it easy to play. Shielding the cavities and ensuring the ground wire was making contact with the bridge dealt with the errant hum.

I've recently sold this bass after owning it for just under 2 years but there was nothing wrong with the bass overall. In that time, I've just come to prefer the thinner, Jazz-style necks. This bass is an easy recommendation, provided the necessary setup isn't restrictive.

Greetings from Canada.

The bad:

Bass came with malfunctioning P (neck) pickup. However after contacting customer service they agreed to send me a spare one. (Thomann customer service is great) It came quickly, but it was larger that original so filing and sanding the pickguard was necessary. After installing it sound great! Punchy deep bass sound.

One pickguard screw hole did not match the one drilled in the body so one screw is a bit angled.

Tone pot was a bit scrachy and was fixed with contact spray during pickup swap.

Neck volume pot loses contact every now and then. Is going to be switched soon,

There is a little frett buzz along the fretboard. Wether it is from too deep cut on the nut or incomplete fret work i don't know. I haven't got the tool to check string action so no comments on that

The Good:

Price!

Came with 3m cable

The bass is B-E-A-Utiful! Workmanship is overall very good. As soon as i opened the package i was amazed. Finish is done very well, i could not find any imperfections on that. 3 ply pickguard looks good and the edge is filed fine. Neck is sanded smooth and fret ends are filed good. Neck came straight as arrow and required no trussrod adjustments. Intonation also was set up well. Tuners look good and hold tone very well.

Jazz (bridge) pickup sounds good, noisy with tone up but single coil pickups does that.

Precision (neck) pickup sounds deep and thumpy just the way i like it.

Strings that came with it sound OK , but i am going to change them to flatwounds sometime soon

Overall:

You can't get any better for the money. I recommend this bass to anyone looking for a tonally versatile bass for a little cash! However be ready to meet some imperfections. I say, give it a try! You may get a very nice bass, if you don't - you can always send it back.

I bought this bass mostly for my son, as he wants to learn to play. I figured, what better place to start than a P-bass, but perhaps something with a bit more tonal flexibility for when he's older. This bass nails it - great tone, great set up, really excellent build quality for the price. I mean, that's pretty much the definition of Harley Benton, with the obvious sacrifices for those prices (nickel frets instead of steel, etc...).

One issue that was quickly cured with a rubber band of all things - the low E string tuner had a REALLY annoying rattle, like the paddle of the tuner was loose in the tuner shaft. Remedied by basically wrapping the rubber band around the joint of the paddle and shaft a few times. At some point I might replace the tuners, but it's not a huge deal as it still sounds and plays great.