I really like the rich, dark, rosewood fretboard in contrast with the honey ash of the body, and with the pearloid inlays and binding, it gives the bass a classy look.
I was hoping for some more remarkable grain than the Harley Benton (like the pics on the Rondo site), but oh well, I've seen ash-body Fender Jazz basses that looked plainer than this. I'm just glad that the pieces are relatively well matched, and there isn't one piece that's darker than the others.
Most importantly, it's noticeably lighter than the Harley Benton. Kurt's advertised weight of 10 lbs. didn't turn out to be a lie this time.
However, the advertised body thickness is... I was expecting it to be 1.5", because that's what it said on the website, and that's how thick the other Ash (painted) SX Jazz Bass I own is (and it weighs 9 lbs.), but the body on this bass is full thickness. Maybe they got some lighter Ash and decided there was no need to make the bass noticeably thinner? Ten pounds is pretty standard for a bass. Most of my basses weigh/weighed 9 to 10 lbs. I had a MIM Fender Jazz that weighed 11.5 lbs, and I thought that bass was a load. My American Standard wasn't much lighter (maybe 10.5 lbs? I never weighed it). The MIM was made of Poplar and the USA was Alder. A 10 lb. bass doesn't feel as oppressive as a 10 lb. guitar, but once you go past 11 lbs., it starts feeling heavy.The quality of this bass is just what I've come to expect from SX in recent years... They're a lot better now than when I bought my first one back in 2008 (and that one was pretty decent). I may do another head-to-head review thread comparing the SX to the Harley Benton, like I did with the Epiphone LP Custom vs Agile 3100MCC thread on the old forum, but I can tell you right now, I've gone over both of these basses with a fine-tooth comb and they're both pretty flawless. Construction, finish, fretwork are rock solid on both basses, and the quality of hardware is identical.
Like the HB, the SX has a super tight neck pocket too:
The neck pocket of my American Standard had a gap you could fit a credit card in!
I don't see any tool marks, or signs of sloppy work on either bass. The neck profiles feel the same, and I think the fretboard radii are the same. I like the way they both feel despite the SX having a gloss neck (gloss or satin, I'm not bothered either way), they both have just the right amount of girth. I wouldn't be surprised if Harley Bentons were made in the same factory as SX. Disregarding the weight difference, it's a pretty tough call to say which is the superior instrument, but I would give the SX just the slightest edge over the HB just due to the neck. I think the Rosewood fretboard, inlays and binding give the SX a more premium look than the painted-on inlays and thin, matte finish of the HB, but that's just aesthetics and personal preference. They both look great!
In terms of tone and over-all sound, however... When I played them back to back, the Harley Benton ate the SX's lunch six days a week and twice on Sundays! It's not that the SX sounds bad, it's just that the HB sounds so much better (Roswell pickups are FOR REAL y'all!), but with a little tweaking, the SX can be made to sound really good (good enough to gig or record with), with zero mods. Unlike the HB, the SX came with cheap, generic strings, which are part of the problem, but I noticed that the bass sounded better today than it did yesterday, as the strings have lost some of their "zing" (I expect them to be fully dead by Sunday
). Also, some EQ and compression does it wonders. I'm going to replace the pickups though... These pickups don't have enough bottom and mid-range growl for me. They're probably more suited for slapping, like all the kids are into these days... I like my basses to sound like an angry monster, so I scored a used set of Fender Custom Shop '60s pickups on fleabay today that I think will suit me better.
