Harley Benton PB-20 SBK Standard Series

I got this instrument because I was looking for an affordable bass that played ok. I loved the look on this bass and decided to give it a shot.

The first bass I received had an alright set up and looked nice at first, but I noticed after a few minutes playing it that there was a loud buzzing noise coming from the low e-string. I tried raising the strings and adjusting the truss rod. But the string buzzed on all notes on the e-string. I returned the bass in hope of getting a new one that didn’t buzz.

After weeks, I received the second bass. I was happy because this bass did not have the buzzing problem. However, when playing the bass with a pick, the a-string would jump out of the nut! After a closer inspection I saw that the nut string slot was shockingly bad cut. The a-string just slipped/jumped out while playing. After waiting weeks for this bass, I returned it and shipped it back to Thomann the next day.

All in all this instrument is massively overhyped with great reviews and YouTube videos. Both the instruments I played were frankly unplayable. I was really surprised how bad these Harley Benton’s bass guitar were.