I absolutely LOVE this little bass, but you're right that the lack of the pickup selector is a bummer. I setup a push pull to run both pickups in series, and then pull for soloing the P pickup. Also swapped out the pickups with the new Dimarzio Relentless PJ, the bridge with an Albridge quick release unit, the strings with LaBella flats, and a new pickguard. This is one of my favorite shorties now (though the mods total like 2x the price of the bass... but it's FUN!)
I was going to post that Lobster had already done a push-pull mod on it, and here you are ✌🏼😂 also a small 3-way toggle switch shouldn't be too much issue to add
How about some info on that pickguard? I loved all the upgrade videos, and I ordered one myself, but that pickguard needs to go! Thanks for the great reviews!
Please PLEASE always do a Neckdive test! It's so hard to find info about how an instrument is balanced (sitting or standing with a strap) it's often overlooked but a very important detail
Fender Mustang basses suffer from neck dive, and this is the same shape and weight, so this will also suffer from it. Basically any bass where the strap button isn't in line with the 12th fret will have issues.
Interesting! May I suggest a chance of doing a conversion on the electronics to a stacked pot for vol/tone, then using the second spot (original tone knob) on the control panel for a pick up pan? Would be interested to hear this with the pick ups swapped out but still utilizing that bridge pickup to see what the real range of tonal possibilities are on this budget bass!
I love this bass. I put a push/pull in mine to select the Splitcoil solo. And put an black foil on the ugly pickguard. Now it's a killer bass. No need for other PUs.
I had a PJ bass with a blend knob. I played it for 12 years, I always left it in the middle. It sounded the best there for me. It’s cheap, I think it will be fine for beginners.
I got one and it was great out of the box but I wanted to be able to play with the P/J balance. Got a set of Geezer Butlers and drilled an extra hole in the control plate. Super easy install, no soldering at all, and now it sounds and plays beautifully. I tried it with just the split coil before doing the switch and it also sounded great, those Roswell Alnico pickups are pretty good. Get one if you still can (will probably be a sunburst)
A cool cheap trick with this crazy cheap bass with no pickup controls: Wire the bridge J pickup to the "ring" output on a stereo jack. You'll need a stereo cable, & with a regular cable you won't have volume control of the J bridge pickup. But it enables really cool stuff like running the J pickup clean & the P pickup through overdrive. For bonus points, replace the volume & tone pots with dual pots so both controls work on both pickups, but you still get stereo output
Put in a selector switch. All it takes is drilling the metal plate and adding the switch. Only 30 minutes more of work, compared to disabling the bridge pickup.
I usually don't use my tone control so it would be an easy mod for me to convert the tone to a second volume. That could be reversed later if some other method was desired 😊
Weird situation with the pots, but HB also has another "quirky" bass, the MB-4/5 that has...2 separate volume for each coil in the MM pickup and 1 tone.
I own a older Dr Tech bass that is a copy of a M M String Ray. 1 p/u 2 volumes 1 tone. Weird but only $80 for the bass and it's HEAVY. And LOUD. For just 1 cheap p /u. Got me 1 of those 300 wt 15 " speaker Ultrabass Behringer amps and.....
This bass sounds great for what it is! Agree about the pick ups though.... just ditch the jazz pick up! I never use mine on my pj - and it's a Fender Custom Shop!!
Easy enough to change the wiring, but as you say, a beginner is unlikely to have the knowledge to do it themselves. A friend bought a HB Bass recently & was quite impressed.
It sounds great as is. As long as the tone control has a good range of roll off it'll be fine. It looks cool and clean with just 2 knobs too. Another pot or switch would make it look too fussy for me. Loving the humour here very much! 😄
I'd just drill a hole or cutout, rewire it to have a pickup selector. I know that sounds super hard if you're not familiar with soldering but it's fairly simple to do. Then again you're correct it is a beginner bass, maybe that's why they didn't do it, to make it simple? Side note, it sounds amazing, I know the amp is a huge part of that but sounds dope.
I’m a Gemini, and apart from Geminis not believing in astrology, we also demand the best of all possible alternatives. I would have to either put a 3-way toggles pickup selector OR a stacked Volume/Blend OR a second volume pot.
First time watching your channel. I was very confused at the beginning because I thought you just looked older while playing but young when not playing!!🤣🤣🤣
I love short scale basses and I REALLY WANT ONE OF THESE! That roasted/caramelised neck is just gorgeous! If HB would make one with a fretless neck and stacked volume knobs or a PU selector switch like my Gretsch Junior Jet 2, I'd definitely buy one. And I'd like it in natural wood. Pretty please, Harley Benton? Where else am I supposed to find an affordable short scale fretless bass? Edit: I've gone and bought the amazing HB JB40FL. Beautiful instrument! Still thinking a natural wood MV-4MSB with PU-selector would look great in my humble collection...
Picked up a tele style w a reverse headstock....spent maybe an hr changing strings and setting it up....plays like butter!!! Harley Benton has serious potential!
I play a Fender Precision with additional bridge pickup (single coil) so exactly the same configuration. Mine has blend poti for the pickups which is actually always in middle position so I don't think it`s a letdown, you still have your fingers to decide where to pick. I absoutely love the design, wow! Conratulations HB =)
I'd like to see Harley Benton make a higher-end traditional P, J, or PJ bass with active electronics, nice bridge, etc. The price would still likely be 1/2 what most companies charge. I know their Pro series comes close but the humbucker pickups turn me off (my personal taste).
J’ai acheté le plus économique de basses à petite échelle Harley Benton , c’est un mini précision et il faut dire que je l’ adore. Après l’ avoir reçu, j’ ai redécouvert mon autre basse ( qui est une belle copie de jazz bass ) et j’ aime beaucoup les deux. Vous êtes très 🫶🏻.
At the time of this comment, I have one on the way & trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with it. Thinking on just snipping the J & running the P initially, then possibly stacking both knobs, but I suck at electronics(schematics at least), so I don't know if that's even a possiblity. My other thought was to drill a hole at the bottom for the input, routing out the cavity(if necessary), & running two volumes & a tone on the control plate. I run my P's wide open & my J at 40-50% on my PJ, that's been the sweet spot for my tone for ages, & would love to find a way to achieve it on this little honey. Any thoughts & suggestions are appreciated.
I love your bass tests. But, I think your friend Frank, who is still not your dad, can play a broomstick with a peice of twine on it and still sound incredible!
I can understand not having a blend pot to save on complexity and cost but, how much extra would a switch have cost? The good news is, it's a very easy thing for the user to add, but still, why should they have to do it in the first place?! Nice bass, though.
The conversion from metric to number of hamburgers definitely added value to the American audience :) :) :) Regarding no pickup switches - yep, it's strange, but it is the traditional P bass in this regard, innit?. Following this reasoning, it's more strange having an extra pickup - I definitely would watch you modding it with a single pickup. By the way, I'd disagree when you says"it's simply for beginners." Except for the pickups, it is a pretty good option for bassists in need of a short scale, or guitarists, synthesists or people with small hands (like me) that also play bass but would need a playable, good sounding short scale, for recording or even eventual gigs. Thanks for the review.
Looks like something I would buy for my daughter, but not with these controls. If I would find out after buying that there is no individual PU-control I would definitely send it back.
Hi Gregor @basstheworldofficial - have you thought about doing that modification to this bass? i must admit, I quite like the sound, but I think I would add a blend control, if I had one of these. Personally, I like a P/J pickup arrangement. I've watched this video a few times now, and I really shouldn't - because I don't "need" another bass... In fact I have a Fender Mustang with P/J pickups. However, I really really like the colour and look of this one. I like my Mustang, but I'd like to know how much difference this sort of modification would make. As I said, I think it sounds pretty good with the stock pickups. Thanks so much for sharing - I enjoy your videos. Hello from Wales :)
check our NEW Bass Pickup Merch here: bit.ly/3I5fe0O
I absolutely LOVE this little bass, but you're right that the lack of the pickup selector is a bummer. I setup a push pull to run both pickups in series, and then pull for soloing the P pickup. Also swapped out the pickups with the new Dimarzio Relentless PJ, the bridge with an Albridge quick release unit, the strings with LaBella flats, and a new pickguard. This is one of my favorite shorties now (though the mods total like 2x the price of the bass... but it's FUN!)
Your review and mods are killer Lobster!
@@thefool2007 Thank you! :)
I was going to post that Lobster had already done a push-pull mod on it, and here you are ✌🏼😂 also a small 3-way toggle switch shouldn't be too much issue to add
Salutations crustacean
How about some info on that pickguard? I loved all the upgrade videos, and I ordered one myself, but that pickguard needs to go! Thanks for the great reviews!
Please PLEASE always do a Neckdive test! It's so hard to find info about how an instrument is balanced (sitting or standing with a strap) it's often overlooked but a very important detail
Fender Mustang basses suffer from neck dive, and this is the same shape and weight, so this will also suffer from it. Basically any bass where the strap button isn't in line with the 12th fret will have issues.
Agreed.
@@fretlessman71 I have 3 mustang pj's and don't have neck dive...then again I have a wide strap
@@jasondorsey7110
Yes. Neck dive is a moot point. Wide strap negates neck dive. Thank you. I'm not sure why this is such an issue for people.
@@goodcitizen3780 A good strap is money well spent.
BRO THE COPYRIGHT FREE "COME TOGETHER" at the beginning had me cracking up
Come Together? Never heard of it ;)
"Frank Itt, who's still not my dad" --new bass the world t-shirt??
I have never bought merch for anything besides Bands and Ampeg, but I would wear that "Frank Itt; still not my dad"
come here for the bass, stay for the epic humor and the lovely east German accent
Interesting! May I suggest a chance of doing a conversion on the electronics to a stacked pot for vol/tone, then using the second spot (original tone knob) on the control panel for a pick up pan? Would be interested to hear this with the pick ups swapped out but still utilizing that bridge pickup to see what the real range of tonal possibilities are on this budget bass!
Look at him playing !!! I love it ... Him being himself and most of all enjoying himself.
I love this bass. I put a push/pull in mine to select the Splitcoil solo. And put an black foil on the ugly pickguard. Now it's a killer bass. No need for other PUs.
Do you think it would be a good idea to unplug the J pickup and just keep the P on this model ? (I own one) Thx 😊
Sounds really sweet when Frank's playing it, but then again every bass does.
I love your use of American weight unit of ChBr. How many strings does the bass have? 5 licorice sticks?
The only thing I can think is they wanted to set you up to put stacked pots on it like the vintage ones.
This is an HB I actually want. Even stock, it looks and sounds killer. Home run HB!
"Let me know if you want me to do that." Yes, we want you to do that!!!
I had a PJ bass with a blend knob. I played it for 12 years, I always left it in the middle. It sounded the best there for me. It’s cheap, I think it will be fine for beginners.
Thanks for the review! I would have immediately picked this up if it weren’t for the pickup selector, or even if it just had the P pickup.
I got one and it was great out of the box but I wanted to be able to play with the P/J balance. Got a set of Geezer Butlers and drilled an extra hole in the control plate. Super easy install, no soldering at all, and now it sounds and plays beautifully. I tried it with just the split coil before doing the switch and it also sounded great, those Roswell Alnico pickups are pretty good. Get one if you still can (will probably be a sunburst)
A cool cheap trick with this crazy cheap bass with no pickup controls:
Wire the bridge J pickup to the "ring" output on a stereo jack.
You'll need a stereo cable, & with a regular cable you won't have volume control of the J bridge pickup.
But it enables really cool stuff like running the J pickup clean & the P pickup through overdrive.
For bonus points, replace the volume & tone pots with dual pots so both controls work on both pickups, but you still get stereo output
Lobster did a mod for that, with a push/pull Pot.. works well
Yes..! I would love to see you upgrade the pots, etc. 👍🏻
Wie wäre es mit einem 3-Wege Mini-Schalter zwischen den Pots?
Hahaha - "Frank Itt - who is still not my Dad." lmao
Very cool finish & the tone was nice. ☮️
"Frank, can you please distract us?" That was absolutely golden.
Frank has the best bass "stank" face 🤣
Oh yeah!
... but is it a laurel fretboard, or a yani fretboard?
I would love to hear from someone at Thomann on why no pickup selector.
Put in a selector switch. All it takes is drilling the metal plate and adding the switch. Only 30 minutes more of work, compared to disabling the bridge pickup.
Yes for the project!
I usually don't use my tone control so it would be an easy mod for me to convert the tone to a second volume. That could be reversed later if some other method was desired 😊
When the bass neck covers the "B" on the sign in that back lol
We did that maybe a little bit on purpose 😂
Would love to see you mod it up, that would be a great project, to video. Thanks for sharing!
Frank's intro jams are a highlight of this channel.
Weird situation with the pots, but HB also has another "quirky" bass, the MB-4/5 that has...2 separate volume for each coil in the MM pickup and 1 tone.
I own a older Dr Tech bass that is a copy of a M M String Ray. 1 p/u 2 volumes 1 tone. Weird but only $80 for the bass and it's HEAVY. And LOUD. For just 1 cheap p /u. Got me 1 of those 300 wt 15 " speaker Ultrabass Behringer amps and.....
This bass sounds great for what it is! Agree about the pick ups though.... just ditch the jazz pick up! I never use mine on my pj - and it's a Fender Custom Shop!!
Hi Gregor! Why not leave the PUs as they are, and replace the Vol pot by a stacked pot?
Easy enough to change the wiring, but as you say, a beginner is unlikely to have the knowledge to do it themselves.
A friend bought a HB Bass recently & was quite impressed.
The one I ordered today has a toggle switch so they listened and lightweigt open tuners Fender style.
It sounds great as is. As long as the tone control has a good range of roll off it'll be fine.
It looks cool and clean with just 2 knobs too. Another pot or switch would make it look too fussy for me.
Loving the humour here very much! 😄
I want to pick one of those up and put 2 jazz pickups with stacked pots in
You can put a pickup toggle switch very easily. Drill a hole , solder some wires , done, piece of cake
For some of us yes but for a new player or someone without the skills it’s a pita. Personally for the price I could live with it as is, sounds great
@@Tangman4209
just go to professional guitar tech
I'd just drill a hole or cutout, rewire it to have a pickup selector. I know that sounds super hard if you're not familiar with soldering but it's fairly simple to do. Then again you're correct it is a beginner bass, maybe that's why they didn't do it, to make it simple?
Side note, it sounds amazing, I know the amp is a huge part of that but sounds dope.
QUESTION!!!
When you review these basses, are you using the HB factory strings, or do you replace them first, and if so, what kind of strings/ gauge?
I’m a Gemini, and apart from Geminis not believing in astrology, we also demand the best of all possible alternatives.
I would have to either put a 3-way toggles pickup selector OR a stacked Volume/Blend OR a second volume pot.
Yeah tell em ✌️😎
First time watching your channel. I was very confused at the beginning because I thought you just looked older while playing but young when not playing!!🤣🤣🤣
3 way pick up selector switch would be the mod I'd do to this bass
I love short scale basses and I REALLY WANT ONE OF THESE! That roasted/caramelised neck is just gorgeous!
If HB would make one with a fretless neck and stacked volume knobs or a PU selector switch like my Gretsch Junior Jet 2, I'd definitely buy one. And I'd like it in natural wood.
Pretty please, Harley Benton? Where else am I supposed to find an affordable short scale fretless bass?
Edit: I've gone and bought the amazing HB JB40FL. Beautiful instrument!
Still thinking a natural wood MV-4MSB with PU-selector would look great in my humble collection...
stylish!! colour matched!
Picked up a tele style w a reverse headstock....spent maybe an hr changing strings and setting it up....plays like butter!!! Harley Benton has serious potential!
Frank's Back!!
I play a Fender Precision with additional bridge pickup (single coil) so exactly the same configuration. Mine has blend poti for the pickups which is actually always in middle position so I don't think it`s a letdown, you still have your fingers to decide where to pick. I absoutely love the design, wow! Conratulations HB =)
Yes Gregor, great idea. Please improve that "confused" instrument!
Frank go gogo
Why not fit a blend control, or a dual level pot with master volume and blend?
Definitely the most pleasing accent
I'd like to see Harley Benton make a higher-end traditional P, J, or PJ bass with active electronics, nice bridge, etc. The price would still likely be 1/2 what most companies charge. I know their Pro series comes close but the humbucker pickups turn me off (my personal taste).
I didn’t know Gregor’s dad was so funky on bass 🤔
So cool!
A push/pull to deactivate the bridge pickup would be keen
The O.G. bass face 😎
J’ai acheté le plus économique de basses à petite échelle Harley Benton , c’est un mini précision et il faut dire que je l’ adore. Après l’ avoir reçu, j’ ai redécouvert mon autre basse ( qui est une belle copie de jazz bass ) et j’ aime beaucoup les deux. Vous êtes très 🫶🏻.
At the time of this comment, I have one on the way & trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with it. Thinking on just snipping the J & running the P initially, then possibly stacking both knobs, but I suck at electronics(schematics at least), so I don't know if that's even a possiblity. My other thought was to drill a hole at the bottom for the input, routing out the cavity(if necessary), & running two volumes & a tone on the control plate. I run my P's wide open & my J at 40-50% on my PJ, that's been the sweet spot for my tone for ages, & would love to find a way to achieve it on this little honey. Any thoughts & suggestions are appreciated.
33.6 cheeseburgers? What's that in spent machine gun shells? 😂 😂
I love your bass tests. But, I think your friend Frank, who is still not your dad, can play a broomstick with a peice of twine on it and still sound incredible!
I can understand not having a blend pot to save on complexity and cost but, how much extra would a switch have cost?
The good news is, it's a very easy thing for the user to add, but still, why should they have to do it in the first place?!
Nice bass, though.
Hearing Frank at the 5 second mark ==> one like, Faertsch !
I play the Ibanez GSRM-20 short scale bass and I always have the pu selector in the middle... So I would not bother when it would be missing...
A short scale Fender Mustang look alike with an arm contour? Yes please.
The conversion from metric to number of hamburgers definitely added value to the American audience :) :) :) Regarding no pickup switches - yep, it's strange, but it is the traditional P bass in this regard, innit?. Following this reasoning, it's more strange having an extra pickup - I definitely would watch you modding it with a single pickup. By the way, I'd disagree when you says"it's simply for beginners." Except for the pickups, it is a pretty good option for bassists in need of a short scale, or guitarists, synthesists or people with small hands (like me) that also play bass but would need a playable, good sounding short scale, for recording or even eventual gigs. Thanks for the review.
Why not the early jazz bass concentric knobs for both pickups...?!
The color is fantastic.
instal 2 stacked pots, now you get volume and tone for each pickup 😂.
also you need a new knob 😂
Please mod it. Would be nice to see a simpler mod than this of lobster.
I think it sounds great as it is.
Looks like something I would buy for my daughter, but not with these controls. If I would find out after buying that there is no individual PU-control I would definitely send it back.
I would add dual concentric pot like a 60 jazz bass
Hi Gregor @basstheworldofficial - have you thought about doing that modification to this bass? i must admit, I quite like the sound, but I think I would add a blend control, if I had one of these. Personally, I like a P/J pickup arrangement. I've watched this video a few times now, and I really shouldn't - because I don't "need" another bass... In fact I have a Fender Mustang with P/J pickups. However, I really really like the colour and look of this one. I like my Mustang, but I'd like to know how much difference this sort of modification would make.
As I said, I think it sounds pretty good with the stock pickups. Thanks so much for sharing - I enjoy your videos. Hello from Wales :)
Why not install a blend knob instead? Plenty of great bass players have found a use for that single coil bridge pickup
that purple painting got me
Didn't they do the exact same thing on their 2 pickup thunderbird copy?
The most beautiful accent indeed, dear host.
Frank is awesome! Love him! Best bass face EVER!
Das Ding sieht so verdammt gut aus!!! Aber eine Pickup-Steuerung wäre schon fein...
Somebody. know where we can find this bass? thank u !!!
I mean i want to watch every video featuring Frank
Replace the Volume- and Tone-Control by two Push-Pull-Pots to switch on and off each Pickup and everything is fine for a few $€!
Danke schön!!!!
Righteous dude
sounds like something Frank Itt's son would say 0:48
best bass face ever
tutorial on how to perform that bass riff please?
Good question...
I personally think most new players don’t need many options. Tone control is enough. Keep it simple.
You're really funny!
And your dad rocks!
Frank is a monster!
You answered your own question. It sounds great as it is. So why would you want to change anything?
looks super nice but whyyyyyyyyyyyy no switch so weird
A stacked volume pot would be an easy mod...
Do the project!!
Its weird not having the pickup selector, and not convenient buying a bass and needing to spend more just upgrading the hardware