Harley Benton RB-414CS Classic Series

I have a love-hate relationship with this guitar.

I love the design, as it is very clearly inspired by a certain other guitar. Compared to the stylized aesthetic of its source of inspiration, the subdued headstock and more symmetric body shape give it a more grounded vibe that I prefer. The dark color of the neck and headstock provide a nice contrast to the body's bright sunburst, white pickguard, and shiny chrome bridge. Granted, my sunburst is more of an orange-golden-tobacco than the depicted orange-cherry-red but I love it all the same. As a whole, this charming instrument looks like it came straight out of the 1960's.

The bass needed a setup on arrival, but after a few adjustments, it was very playable. As its description promises, the combination of a mini-humbucker and a single-coil pickup allows it to produce a diverse range of sounds, from growly, trebly highs to warm, punchy lows. My only gripe is that the pickup cover was a nuisance that I quickly removed, but aside from that, it's wonderfully versatile.

My problem with this bass is that the manufacturer's lack of quality control gives this thing an unpolished feel. The pickguard felt a bit rough around the edges, and there were flecks of white plastic where it was cut. The black outlines that run along the binding sloppily fades as it runs along the edges of the body, and there is a natural dark mark in the wood on the front that I'm not too fond of; could they not have used a different cut of wood? There was also a rough texture in the finish on one side of the neck where it meets the body, in addition to slight traces of what looked like white glop on the edges of one or two frets. I really wish that the factory did more to address these before they were shipped out.

The bridge is another issue as well, which has a proprietary design that echoes the guitar it's inspired by, but it's done to a fault. The bridge includes two knurled head screws that serve no actual purpose, and actually gets in the way of the E and G saddles. Replacement parts are also not easy to come by, should you lose any part of those tiny two-piece saddles. For all of its faults though, it's not horrible; in fact, it feels sturdy, the saddle slots are cut to match the fretboard radius, and it does look the part. Maybe this is a good thing because since it's shaped to this bass's 34" (864 mm) scale, it's also impossible to find an aftermarket bridge that doesn't compromise the aesthetic, and even if I were to get a different shape, there's still the matter of patching up the two screw holes that hold the stock bridge in place.

Despite its cons, the pros outweigh them enough for me to recommend it. For the price, you are getting an excellent bass that plays well, sounds good, looks good, and has decent hardware. I really wish the factory had done a little more work to polish out rough spots, but aside from that, it's an excellent instrument.

It’s a beautiful bass, with really great tone right out of the box. Pretty decent setup for the most part. I however got a bit unlucky and got one with not the greatest fret leveling. I like my action pretty low, and I can’t get there due to 5 high frets especially on the E string. No problem for me as I will just do a fret leveling and re-crown. On a bass this price I expected something like this. Just be aware if you don’t have the skills to do this, you might have to pay someone to do it for you. It’s worth it to me since it’s a real looker. The finish and edge binding is wonderful, and no sharp fret edges. The sound is very good, especially the neck pickup, huge and ballsy. One last thing of note is that the electronics are a bit of a mystery. There are some strange oddities with how the pickups work together with volume and tone controls. I have to open her up and check out what is going on. However I get a great Geddy tone with both tones up full and the bridge pickup rolled off slightly and the neck full.
Update: I determined why the Rick tone is not quite there. The pickup placement is off a few cm from the Rick as they are both moved towards the bridge. The bridge pickup is approx 1.1cm closer to the bridge, and the neck pickup is 2 cm closer to the bridge. Not only that the more important thing is that the stock Rick pickup spacing of 11.2cm, but on this bass it’s narrower, at 10.2cm. I fixed this by converting the humbucker pickup to single coil using the coil closest to the neck, now the spacing is correct at 11.2cm, much improving the tone and thump by getting the phase of the pickups right on.

This is a very nice bass! It really sounds close to the classic model it was inspired from. With a few effects (a little bit of drive and a fast tremolo), it feels like a Chris Squire tone.
I found 2 minor inconveniences, that might just be on my particular unit:
-There is a bit more ground hum than other basses with the same amp rig.
-There is a small notch on the top of the neck, at the 19th fret. It's hard to see but can be felt with a finger, but this is not a place where you would put your fingers anyway.
Otherwise, the neck is very well adjusted out of the box and frets are well cut / filed, no issue there.
Overall, I'm very happy

After a long wait, my HB RB-414CS finally arrived! This is a great looking bass. Very nice finish - almost flawless. I only found 1 tiny bubble in the clear-coating, on the back of the neck, near the binding. That's it. No other flaws in the finish or painted areas. The cut of wood for the body on mine has a dark streak, which affects the sunburst. It has a weird dark-to-light-to-dark streak across the top end which makes it look like it has a racing stripe. Originally, I thought I might have to take it to my luthier for a setup, but it is very playable out of the box. Maybe needs a tiny tweak with the truss rod. I need to see how it settles in its new climate. It came with low action, easy to play. No high frets, no buzzing. The gloss coating on the neck is not as sticky as others have pointed out. I may take some steel wool to it at some point, but is fine for now.
All in all. Very happy with this bass. It looks fantastic and sounds great, and very high quality for the price!

Changes: I will remove the pickup cover, which gets in the way sometimes with my style of playing. New strings of course. I have some gear tuners that I will add on at some point. and maybe some strap locks. I have a zero mod thumb rest from a rick that fits. Not perfectly flush with the pick guard, but close enough.

My assessment: If this bass is in stock, get one!

Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting buying a bass at this price point but this is what I have noticed.
Pros:
-Sounds unique
-looks great
-Made of solid mahogany
Cons:
-The bridge is confusing at best
-Frets had to be leveled the day the bass arrived
-The overall feel falls short compared to other brands around the same price range.

In all, have I spent more and gotten less in a bass? Absolutely. Would I say this bass is objectively good? Maybe. Depending on what you want in an instrument, this could be a very interesting mod project but I would not buy this if you are looking for something you can pick up and play.
It will take work (and a lot of it!) to keep up with brands like Squier. What this bass does offer however is something truly unique and a true blank canvas for creating something that is truly your own. Would recommend it as a project but not as your only bass!

I'm sure I'm just seconding what other people have said. It's a beautiful bass. The finish is gorgeous if you ignore some slightly sharp frets (nothing emergency room inducing). There's a sweet spot in setting the action where you can find a decent growl and a minimum of fret buzz. The middle position on the 3 way switch kills all sound if you've got either volume down to zero. We've all heard about this stuff, right? All of the issues are easy to remedy and none of them stop this from being an outstanding value. It is very playable and beautiful looking. While this won't be my number one bass, it will definitely have a spot in heavy rotation.