It started life as an SX SJMB-62 (before Kurt dubbed all SX basses "Ursa"), that I bought 12 years ago, and modded the hell out of it. Including reshaping the headstock... and then replacing the neck about 10 years later (these are old photos).
I paid $150 for the bass and about that much again in upgrades, and it sounds and plays better than the American Standard Jazz that I paid $1,100 for... So I sold the Fender. I literally get excited about playing this bass, even after all these years. Sometimes when I practice, I find myself enjoying the tone so much that I stop paying attention to what I'm playing!
So, in case I haven't driven the point home enough... I absolutely love this bass. My problem is; I love the way it sounds with flatwound strings, and I love the way it sounds with roundwound strings. With flats, it totally cops the John Paul Jones tone, and it still sounds growly and aggressive (though some of that I attribute to the Ernie Ball Cobalt flats). With rounds on, though, it can't be beat... It's a legit monster. But I find myself going back and forth between flats and rounds. When I have rounds on it, I miss the way it sounds with flats and vice versa. I've never thought that the tension differential between rounds and flats could be good for the neck, and it's probably part of the reason why I had to replace the first one.
Since I've replaced the neck, it's only had rounds on it, and I figured that some day, I'll pick up a cheap Jazz Bass and put the same pickups in it that are in the Jag (Fender Pure Vintage '74s), and put flats on that. I know it probably won't sound exactly the same, but I figure it'll sound close enough to satisfy me.
I've been working some extra hours the last few weeks, so I have a little expendable income, and thought this would be a good time to make a frivolous purchase.
Now if Kurt were not laboring under the impression that the world has abandoned bass guitar for bass ukulele, I'd have an SX Ursa 2 on the way from New Hampshire as we speak... No doubt. But since that's not the case, I was forced to look elsewhere.I like some of the Squire CV basses, but I don't even want to spend that much money, and trolling the usual used sources proved unrewarding and tedious. The ones I'm interested in are either too new, or too precious to make much of an appearance on the used market. Plenty of Affinities and VMs, but barely any CVs.
So then I thought: "What about Harley Benton?". I know they're good guitars, and everybody loves them, but I haven't seen a guitar that they offer that I've had more than a passing interest in, and I don't think I've ever even looked at their basses. So went on Thomann to see what they had, and this caught my eye:
A Harley Benton JB-75... I've always wanted a Jazz Bass (or a Strat) in natural ash, and I would have ordered the SX version from Rondo if they had it. This bass costs $152 (cheaper even than Rondo), so I went to YouTube to see what people had to say about it. Turns out, everybody loves it...
And I think it sounds great too (as much as you can tell from a YouTube video, anyway). I listened to a blind comparison of this bass, a Fender 75 Jazz Bass (I don't know if that's a model, or a Jazz Bass made in 1975), a Sire Marcus Miller V7, and a Sandberg California II, and it turns out I liked the sound of the HB the best with the Fender a close second (I actually thought the HB was the Fender).
So, mind made up right? Well, not really. Because while I was on YouTube, I came across this:
A Harley Benton Enhanced MP-4
It's not a Jazz Bass, but I really like that body shape. Like a sleeker, more streamlined version of a P-bass. There is a Jazz Bass version of it too (MJ-4) but I think I like the MP-4 body style better. Both of these are licensed copies of the Sandberg California Series basses, BTW.
Here's a video where they compared the MJ-5 to the Sandberg it's modeled after. While the HB doesn't sound quite as good as the Sandberg, they don't sound worlds apart, either:
They cost $300 and have a lot of top-shelf features that I would never dream of finding on a bass of that price, like a pre-amp with 3-band EQ, STAINLESS STEEL frets, wheel truss-rod adjustment, etc. I know this takes me away from my original goal to make a tonal clone of my #1, but the premium accoutrements and the aesthetics of the MP-4 (P-bass version) are having a strong pull on me.
There are some caveats, though. A lot of people complained that the output of the MM humbucker and split P pickup are imbalanced. That doesn't concern me so much, as I'll probably change the pickups anyway, but another complaint is that the bridge pickup is very bright due to its close proximity to the bridge... That does bother me, as I have run into that problem before with an SX Ursa 4 Hum. I can't post any more pictures, but it also has an MM humbucker rather close to the bridge, and I went through a lot of trouble trying different pickups before I found one that tamed those highs. That pickup wouldn't be appropriate for an active bass, though (way high output), and I think a pickup with lower wind count and impedance would sound brighter by nature, which would contribute to the problem.
The only active basses I've ever liked were Musicman Stingrays and Sterlings (not to be confused with their unfortunately named budget brand), so I may likely ditch the pre-amp, especially if it's of budget Chinese quality. But it still won't sound like a Jazz bass. I'd also like to knw what the rout looks like under the pickguard. If it's specifically routed for a P-bass pickup, or if it's more of a generic hole.
I suppose the only person around here who would know anything about these basses is [mention]dabbler[/mention] (hell, he probably owns half a dozen of each model in every finish they come in
), and I probably could have just brought this up in a PM, but I know there's at least a handful among us who play bass, and content is good for the forum's SEO. So, has anyone played/owned any of these three Harley Benton basses?
I agree about the nat ash black block bass lust. I've been on the edge of getting that 10 times from rondo. I will tell you so far I'm not a fan of my jbass pickups. I love the pbass thump. My fav bass is my kawaii p-j combo and that makes for a nice combo of sounds. That's what kept me from buying the sx. I was waiting for the p-j ver to come back.
$135 Glarry bass in burley wood 