Harley Benton UkeBass Spalted Maple

I can't believe I waited so long to buy this. What wasted time! This is a FABULOUS ukulele bass. I got it because I play Ubass in a little folk band and we've gotten a couple of gigs. I've been playing a second-hand Kala Ubass that I bought used. I decided that I needed a 'backup' instrument in case something happened to my regular Kala at a gig. This was so reasonably priced that it seemed like a great choice for my 'backup' plus I've always loved the look of the spalted maple. Well, it arrived and I've been playing it NONSTOP, and this is definitely NOT going to be the BACKUP, this is going to be the main act! It's a beautiful, well-made instrument. I love the integrated tuner that mutes your amp when you are tuning. It's a very accurate tuner too. I love that it has a little built in EQ. I love the Aquila strings - so easy to play. They feel slightly different than my Road Toad strings that are on the Kala - less sticky. It is a BREEZE to play. The action is comfortable. The neck is a perfect width. The instrument is easy to transport and light to carry. I literally cannot say enough good things about this little ukulele bass. If you are: a bass player, a ukulele player, someone who wants to play either of those... this is for you. I cannot recommend this enough. Sounds GREAT! BIG tone. Perfect intonation... even all the way up the neck. I am extremely happy. Thank you!!!

Centuries ago I played bass guitar in an amateur swing band; about 10 years ago I took up the ukulele. Recently I became aware of uke basses. It seemed a match made in heaven. I was particularly interested in the thundergut strings. I toyed between the mahogany and the spalted maple and went with the spalted maple because it looked so unusual. It arrived very quickly and unusually for cheap instruments was playable out of the box: no sharp frets, no high action. The only set-up required was that the E and A strings should have been snipped a little shorter as they are wrapped too many times around the tuner posts, but that was quickly remedied. A quick tune up (courtesy of the built in tuner) and I was bomp, bomp, bomping away. Memories flooded back under my fingers and the shorter scale made it easy under my old, no-longer stretchy hands. I love that it can be played acousticly for practice which bothers no-one, and plugged into an amplifier and sound like an upright bass (ish) or an electric bass. I'm no expert on ukulele basses or bass guitars, but I think it sounds absolutely great. The thundergut strings are squidgy but you very quickly get used to them and for me they feel great to play. It's in tune up the keyboard, and once the strings had settled, stays in tune. The under saddle pickup is even across all strings. It is unbelievably light, I have soprano ukes that feel heavier to hold! The spalted maple is really unusual and very pretty, yes there's more spalt on the front than the back but you don't see the back when you're playing. It's great, cheap fun.

I’ve always wanted a Uke Bass, I love the idea of having a small bass that’s easy to travel with. I have to admit I wasn’t really wasn’t expecting to do anything much with it. When I saw the look of the Spalted Maple Uke Bass, and then saw the price I thought someone must of made a mistake, that there isnt much to loose. Delivery was ok, well packaged. I surprised at how good it looked when I took it out of packaging. The headstock looks amazing. But the biggest surprise came when I played it. It did take some tuning of course, but it sounds amazing. Then. I plugged it into an amp, just fantastic. You can gig with this the tone is so good. The sound and tone you can get is like a double bass, but also quite similar to the 60’s and 70s bass tone, if that makes any sense. It’s great little bass, you don’t have to leave home without it.

It is great fun to play and the perfect practice bass for when you're sitting on the Sofa, in fact, i tend to have a spot on the wall for every stringed instrument I own, this one doesn't have a spot there, since it's spot is either laying on the sofa right beside me, so it's quick to grab when I have an Idea or want to practice something, or just jam with whatever's on the Screen, or basically everywhere I go when I go out, it's small, and light and therefore it's easy to take anywhere and it has already been great in jam sessions, I do recommend a small amp though if you're playing with other acoustic instruments, especially steel string guitars as they are a bit louder than this little bass, I have so far used my JBL bluetooth speaker as an amp, but I have just ordered a small battery powered amp for this thing. The sound plugged and unplugged is great, I was actually pleasantly surprised with the plugged sound, so were my friends. I just recommend having your hand closer to the bridge, otherwise the Poly Urethane strings have too much travel.
Lastly the action is extremely low and very easy to play and fun, in fact the less you press on the strings with the left hand and the less you pluck with your right hand the better it sounds.