Harley Benton Enhanced MJ-4MN Natural

Bought this bass for its characteristics: J neck pickup and a bridge humbucker with a single-coil switch option, active electronics, natural finish and many positive reviews. Unfortunately, this bass turned out to be a disappointment, not for these characteristics but for the poor manufacturing quality: the bridge was screwed in in the wrong location and the strings were completely missing the pickup poles. It was so extreme and visible that I didn't even plug in the bass to an amp (had to rate the sound for this review, so I give it a middle score, i.e., three stars but did not test it). It is amazing how such fault was not detected in the factory. Anyways, sent the bass back to Thomann and the return was accepted. Getting another model now...

This is simply a great bass, its comparable to a bass 3x the cost. Every other bass under 1k usd i compared it to i was dissapointed with. There are some minor typo issues with specs, pickups, and the active circuit does nothing for me. Removed the active circuitry (-1 star for active circuit) and added a DPDT on-on-on switch to select the humbucker in single neck, parallel, single bridge I'm totally happy with how this guitar sounds now. The selectable MM coils line up perfectly with 60s or 70s jazz position.

Still planning to swap the pickups for Bartolini's to make this setup similar to a Lakland. Although this bass plays just fine and has completely serviceable tones from the factory the factory pickups aren't matched well and there are huge volume differences even in passive between the neck/bridge but it still sounds really good once you dial something in.

If you are going to mess with the pickups be advised that the wiring diagram on the Roswell site is incorrect. the red/green start and end wires are reversed, I verified this with a DMM on the pickups. I suspect this out of phase wiring was responsible for the MM tone that I wasn't happy with (and the reason I re-wired the bass).

If they released the 25th anniversary in the J model i would have ordered it to replace mine no question.

I bought this bass approx. 2 and a half years ago, I play almost every day at home, never had serious problems with it. I must say that this bass doesn't look as cheap and plays well (after 2 years of actually playing it), it is also very versatile (active, humbucker and pickup, treble, bass, mix + switch for different pickup positions) for every music genre. When I got the professional setup done it was very stable and after the strings wore out, I bought new and the sound was priceless. When you buy a decent amplifier, you won't be disappointed. I like to play more rock and metal stuff in drop tunings and the strings are quite loose and touch the fingerboard while playing (even when you increase the action), the neck pickup has a difficult time 'catching sound' when you tune down below D. Also, if you buy E string in 120 gauge you may experience hard time keeping it in the nut slot (when you tune it down it buzzes) - you either have to file it a bit or just press the string down every once in a while. It sounds good even while slapping or popping.

Pros: price, quality, battery included, sound and versatility (both in playing techniques and music genres), good factory finish and setup, beautiful natural matte wood finish (+ I really like the revolutionary shape of the headstock - so cool, D'Addario strings, tools included, optional bundle with gigbag, very good for beginners, stable tuning pegs, truss rod (good position).

Cons: it is very heavy- at least for me - (approx. 5 kg) - I can't imagine child playing it, and it doesn't have such a good balance on you while you play (I'm not able to play it standing up for more than hour because my shoulder just dies), after your battery's energy level gets lower, you may experience certain buzz or constant beeping when playing in active mode (just change the battery for new one and the buzz is gone), there were certain parts of the bass (knob and screw) that were dismantled when delivered to me, so I had to fix it; the humbucker doesn't sound so good - it's toylike and when you play with a pick it sounds silly.

All in all, excellent bass for god money, worth it!