Harley Benton MM-85A SB Deluxe Series

I received my MM-85A a couple of weeks ago. Shipping from Europe to California took two weeks between DHL, customs and the USPS. The bass was double boxed with bags of air filling the empty space in the outer box. The outer box had taken a beating and was even a little damp from recent rainstorms but the inner box and bass were undamaged.

The bass came with truss rod and bridge adjustment tools and a very thin 3-meter instrument cable. Strings were set at maximum height, probably because there was no relief in the neck?it was perfectly flat. Even with strings up high, there was fret buzz so a quick adjustment of the truss rod to add some relief took care of the buzz. The pickups were screwed down as far as they would go, and I prefer them closer to the strings, so I raised them. I had to add a bit of foam underneath each pickup to provide lift because the existing blocks of foam had been compressed so much they didn?t spring back. Intonation was decent and required only small adjustments. Notes on the lower frets were stretching sharp on the B and E strings so I filed the nut a little to bring the strings down closer to the frets to avoid stretching. I probably still need to file the slots a little bit more but it?s best to take these adjustments slowly and see how the bass plays.

The neck is a little thicker than I?m used to (a D profile and my other basses are shallow C's) but my fretting hand adapted immediately and the neck feels very comfortable. The bass weighs about 9.5 pounds, not my lightest nor heaviest bass; it?s right in the middle. There is some neck dive but a 2.5 inch wide suede strap stops it from diving.

The fret work is beautiful, perfectly beveled and comfortable up and down the neck. There are no dead spots. The finish is satin and very smooth. It?s a wonderful neck, held on with six screws.

The glossy poly finish on the body is well done. The bass looks really nice. I prefer it without a pickguard and the pickup routes are neat and tight enough around the pickups that I can leave it off. However, I had to loosen a few of the neck screws to get the pickguard out from under the end of the neck, which clamps down on top of it.

The 5-way pickup selector switch has three humbucking combinations and two that hum. Study the graphic PDF on the product page (under Free Downloads ? Specs) and you?ll see that one of the switch positions combines the two south coils, which have the same polarity, so they hum. The other switch position is the south coil on the bridge pickup only, so it hums as well. The three humbucking combinations are what you?d expect?bridge only, neck only and both humbuckers.

I wanted to get rid of the two humming combinations and instead have combinations of the outer coils and the inner coils. I unsoldered the connections on the switch and tested which terminals were active in each switch position using a multimeter. The active terminals did not match up with diagrams I've seen on the internet for four other types of 5-way switches, so there is variability among similar-looking switches and you cannot follow a diagram you find on the internet. The diagram I drew up showed me that I could have each of the combinations I wanted, but they would be in a unique position on the switch that I would need to become familiar with. That's no problem; I can already switch to whichever combination quickly in mid-song. The order of combinations on my particular switch (starting from the position closest to the bridge pickup is: (1) outer coils; (2) neck HB; (3) bridge HB; (4) both HBs; and (5) inner coils. There might be other ways to wire these five combinations but I'm fine with this order. There is no hum in any position. :)

The other modification I did was to bypass the preamp. I?m not fond of batteries in basses that can die on the gig (it?s happened to me with a brand new battery). I left the existing wiring harness in place and simply replaced the volume pot, with output from the pickup selector switch going directly to the new pot and from there to the output jack. (The original volume pot is laying inside the control cavity, still connected to everything except the selector switch.) I could put it all back to stock in a few minutes but why? I have plenty of tone controls on my amp and it's the coil switching that makes this bass sound unique.

So how does it sound? Great! :) The pickups have a very even, strong sound from lows to highs with a lot of midrange, more than my other basses. With my other basses, particularly the jazzes, I boost midrange on the amplifier but with this bass I can leave the midrange flat, or boost it if I need more cut. Perfect! It?s going on its first gig tonight. :) The five coil combinations produce the sounds you'd expect. Solo the neck and it's like a precision on steroids. The inner coils are like a precision with pickups a little closer to the bridge. The outer coils are like a jazz bass. Solo the bridge for a more trebly sound. Combine all coils for a very even balanced sound.

I can strongly recommend this bass as it comes from the factory if you don?t mind the single coil hum or are only interested in the three humbucking combinations. From the factory, I give it four stars, deducting one star for the hum, the quirky pickguard clamped under the neck, and the excessively long fretboard that comes too close to the neck pickup (so you can?t get your finger in there to pluck if you're a slapper; I don't slap so it's no problem for me except that it looks strange). With the simple mods I made, it?s a five-star bass for me. The super reasonable price was just icing on the cake. Well done and thank you, Thomann.

Edit after 9+ months: I finally bought an Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray HH and can now comment on the similarities in tone between my Stingray and this Harley Benton bass. The Harley Benton delivers 95% of the sound of the Musicman at 10% of the cost. This is absolutely amazing. I'm glad I took the plunge to order the Harley Benton, and I'm keeping both basses since it's useful to have a less expensive bass to keep at rehearsals or to use when you don't want to take out your expensive bass. I like the Harley Benton more and more over time. Go ahead, get one--you won't regret it. -Bob

Hello!

I bought this bass a few days ago after having a 3 year break from bands and music. This was merely an interesting choice since it came out as a MM copy. It does not disappoint although it is not a perfect representation of a bass guitar.

Features - Do not get me wrong, this is heavy machinery, the all maple build is indeed something one might want to pick up. The neck of the bass is very thick and you really feel like you are in control of it, very much like the real Music Man product.

With the maple fretboard to accompany it it is not only a wonderful piece, but it produces a powerful sound. Even if you get to play it without an amp is makes enough noise for practice.

Build Quality - Not the best, but definitely sturdy. The nut is a bit troublesome, it looks like it's not properly fit at 90 degrees, but then again even the strings don't perfectly align with the pole pieces of the pick-ups. I do not think this is a deal breaker since it does not really make any difference in tone, so far at least, I had no problem with it.
You might want to adjust this if you want low action with no fret buzz and it is doable, lovely instrument. The electronics look good, very tidy inside of it, the knobs work perfectly, though you might want to screw them in a little bit more. The tuning machines work perfectly and seem really sturdy.
The bridge.. fully adjustable, not my favourite type of bridge and I'm thinking to make a little investment and get a different type of bridge. Also consider getting a new nut if you don't find yours good and want to get a really good action set-up. But let me tell you, the strings fit perfectly within it.
Its not ultra polished like a more expensive bass, but the essence is there, and the important bits are well put together. The 19th fret on the G and A string wasn't perfectly slotted but nothing that can't be fixed at home, Consider a fret polisher as well? I think this goes for every instrument.

SOUND - Oh my, where do I even start, the tone of this.. It is a pure monster. I wanted to record a little bit but the Active EQ is so strong I had to turn the knobs to the lowest position and only give it some volume. It bites and growls like nothing I ever had, Not BTBs not the Yamaha RBX775. I think this is really close to what a Music Man is really intended to be.

For 150 pounds this is a great investment, if you are a beginner or a professional player you could use it in any imaginable way. Lately Harley has produced some great instruments, so don't be afraid to get one! This thing was perfectly playable out of the box, you just need to tune it and you're set. But as a more experienced player I really had to spend time wit it and adjust it to my preferences.

Have one!

Let me start that I am a guitar player, but was always facinated with bass. I had seen and heard lots of cheep basses that were more expensive than this HB MM-85A (Cort, Ibanez, SX etc.) and this one beats them all with both price and sound.

I have not noticed and major flaws most people find in HB guitars, like not ideal fret job or woodwork. The battery was in a package and it serves well for well over 3 months with no need for replacement (keep in mind that I use this bass mostly to play at home or to record some demos on it).

The sound is fantastic. I was not expecting anything extraordinary, just wanted to try out MM-style bass as those are pretty rare in the place I live. And boy how satisfied I am with this one.

I have checked a nice demo of this bass in the video
it gives the correct impression of the bass sound. I was affraid that due to the price it would be muffy and without sufficient low-end and those fears were BASSless (sorry for the pun).

The stock humbuckers are decent, the 3-way EQ provides versatility of tone, different pickup possitions change the overall tone up to the point what you can truely say that you have 5 different basses in 1 and that is exactly what I fell in love with in this bass.

The other day I have tried Yamaha TRBX and it felt miniscule in comparison to MM-85A. Their 5-way switch was only the variants of EQ and it made me even more happy that I went with Harley Benton MM-85A.

Might change pickups to new ones from a local brand. It proved a good strategy for my Harley Benton 8 string fanfret. So I anticipate even better sound on this guitar.

I could recomment it to anyone who is looking for a bass with tight budget.

Just got it...but first the bad news, there was a bit confusion in the delivery but that got sorted out, when it came the packaging was damaged and opened (every customers worst nightmare when seeing before receiving their stuff ).
Now the good news, strangely and luckily the bass did not had any damage on it, not a scratch after checking the physical features and even strangely the neck is still straight. I may not be a pro but this bass does surprise me of its overall playability, sound and weight. My only problem with this bass is that i'm biased to passive pickup wiring but after trying and playing through the selector switch ( first time for me ), again did not disappoint me with the sounds i can get. All in all this is still a good bass and i recommend it for those in a budget.