Harley Benton Valuestrings Bass 45-105

I acquired a few sets of these to string up some bases that weren't going to be regular players since £30+ per bass gets expensive when ones has multiple basses.

The big surprise was during a jazz bass stringing experiment when I actually found these to be a lot closer than their competition to the full on bright tone i was looking for.

This is clearly just a personal thing but at least one of my Jazz basses is going to be strung with these from now on.

Now, the only thing i don't love about these strings is the feel, especially when new but i generally use expensive strings and that these are not! I also felt they were a little brighter than I would like on a precision bass but please accept that as my opinion based on my personal preferences.

Worth the asking price, certainly, they are good, consistently made strings you can trust.

So I bought a stack of these for abot £4.50 a set (including the £10 postage).
I thought what the hell, if they're awful, I'll just pop them on some of the home use basses lying around.
I've waited untill they've been properly gigged before passing comment. I have used them on a couple of rehersals last week as well.

Tension/Feel
They're pretty slack but I quite lack that, they're also fairly rough on the fingers to start with but that sorted itself out after a couple of hours and they didn't feel any worse than other branded nicklewound strings that Ive used (rotos, La Bellas, Legacy)

Sound
Nice and bright to start, 2 rehersals and a gig later still zingy with lots of snap, how long they will last is the big question. Im not a sweaty player so we'll see. I did notice a dead spot on the bottom G (3rd fret E string) and Im hoping thats the strings and not the neck! They gigged fine, no one complained and even the guitarist who hated the Harley Guitar strings I got him was surprised how bright they still sounded.

Value
Well obviously good value

Overall conclusion
Early days but quite promising. Are they as good as my old Hard Rocking Steels? No. As good as the legacy (from strings direct), yes.
They're good enough to cut through in the racket we make and at that price I think Im going to give them a chance, even if they start to fade a few gigs down the road, just pop a fresh set on.

I've decided to re-write my review (and increase my rating), because some of my earlier criticisms were perhaps unjustified.
I'd pointed out excessive fret noise/ buzzing, however it turned out there was an issue with the bass I put them on! Once this was rectified, fret noise was minimal.
I also felt that they were a bit rough on the fingers. However, having played D'Addarios almost exclusively for over 35 years, I admit I was foolish to expect otherwise!
As an experiment, I decided to compare them with the cheapest strings on eBay & Amazon, and I can say without hesitation that the Harley Bentons are far superior.
After playing these strings for some time (and having the bass fixed!), my fingers are now accustomed to the different feel & they're actually not bad at all. I'll definitely be buying more.

I used these for way too long (over nine months) because I was broke before starting to buy more known brand, and these honestly work perfectly fine. When fresh they're quite zingy, not as much as bigger brands but that's a benefit if you like the old string tone. The end of the strings, the parts beyond the nut and the bridge saddles look sloppily wrapped but for the price it's not a big deal. Even after months of use, the biggest issue was some oxidation and feeling noticeably less tense.
For what it's worth you're paying pennies for a perfectly ok set of strings, wish they offered them in 50-110 too. Decent choice while you're still practicing and not recording, and at this price it's not a big deal to change them regularly.

These are very good strings. I put them on one of my basses and they sound just about right.

Tone-wise, they sound like good roundwound strings. They might not be as smooth as DRs, and chances are if you like higher tension such as that you would have with Ernie Balls you might be slightly disappointed. But for the price they're a total steal and you should try them ? you might like them a lot.

I would have no hesitation whatsoever in putting them on a high end instrument. In fact, I believe I will use the vouchers I have to buy some extra packages, so I can try to see how they fare on other instruments.

But then again, this is another proof that bass guitar strings are, generally speaking, severely overpriced. These work wonderfully for their price. And albeit they might not be as bright sounding out of the box as their more expensive counterparts, it's not a difference you would write home about, let alone one you would hear through an amp in a live setting with two guitarists and a loud drummer. I strongly advise trying these strings.

I've had them on for about a month, and even if they went completely dead by tomorrow, they would stil be worth their price and more.