Harley Benton MV-4JB Seafoam Green

Introduction.
I've been ordering my bass guitars from Thomman UK for the past 15yrs. Im a 64yr old recently retired (due to health... 50yrs of debauchery!! ).
I've been playing live for over 50yrs both pro and semi pro and been lucky enough to sustain a living. I've had Alembic, Musicman, Fender, Status and Warwick basses.
I stumbled across Harley Benson Basses on a bit of a whim really. I was on the Thomman site when I took a fancy to one and for the price thought, "Why not!?" If nothing else it could be a stage junker!
I gobsmacked when it arrived. The finish, setup and playability straight out of the box!
Suffice to say it made me curious, was it a one off? Did I just happen to get lucky.
Five Harley Bentons later i was hooked.
This latest one. The Harley Benton MV4JB has me totally baffled. I've played top line Precisions and Jazzes and this bugger (for less than 200 quid) will give the big boys a run for their money and (imho) blow them out of the water.
Its an absolute eye opener to see a quality instrument being produced with the same quality as the named big lads. I have (based on my own experiences) no problem singing the praises of this brand. During lockdown I was asked to provide the bass lines being recorded in New York (remotely). Played a HB bass that cost less than £150. Not one complaint from the engineer.
A quick addendum. I have never bought a HB bass with a Basswood body.. on those I can't make a comment but I'm willing to bet that they will be put together.
I hope this helps you to give one of this range of basses a go. Thomann has a policy whereby if you just don't get on with any of the instruments advertised you can send it back (this doesn't include custom built).
Good look and happy playing

What a buy! I've been playing electric guitars and basses for over 50 years of my life, and recently I thought why not give a Harley Benton Bass a try. So I bought the MV4 jazz bass in seafoam green. It came within a week of me ordering it and was shipped by DHL. Excellent service here.

It was well packaged with plenty of foam wrapping inside a Thomman box within a Thomann box

On first site I was wowed with the gorgeous finish and smoothness of the neck. The parchment coloured neck binding and silver block inlays with the matching coloured headstock make this instrument look something special. I liked straight away the modern looking block chrome string tree.

Before I plugged in, I adjusted the action slightly by lowering the saddles about half a turn of the saddle nuts. This is obviously my personal preference. Once plugged in to my 'house' amp, the tones oozed quality and fingering notes was effortless. What a feel. The two volume and single tone pots are very responsive. I like the jack socket on top of the guitar to take an angled jack plug. I see that there is a handy finger rest for 'thumb' bassists but I don't use this. This of course is personal choice.

This piece of kit is as good as, if not better than some of the high end basses I use. For less than 200 quid, well what can I say? I can't fault it. This is not entry level. It's certainly gig quality.

Phil Tennant
68 years
Belper
Derbyshire
England