Review of the Harley Benton MV-4MSB Shortscale bass. Price: 229€
Finally, I have the bass that fits best to my specific requirements.
I have played quite a few short scales in the last few months, ranging from 400€ to 1500€, and this one is the best for my needs, all in all.
From an ergonomic point of view this bass is perfect (at least for me), except weight perhaps.
It has some details (body and neck shape) that surpass the Fender original – Harley Benton has really put some thought into improving an existing classic.
Since I have it I could not stop playing. I thoroughly enjoy it and it feels just right…
For those who don’t know: I’m a beginner and even worse: a modder by heart.
So a bass needs to be good, cheap – and good platform to mod!
Cause it’s so cheap, I have purchased two basses of the same model in different colours. One for on my sofa and one for “outside” (park/travel/etc). The “outside” bass will be used for stupid experiments too (fretless, anyone?).
First of all, the “Burgundy Mist” colour is beautiful. I had a lot of prejudices about that colour, but I absolutely love it – and my girlfriend assured me that it doesn’t make me less manly (maybe even MORE!) 
The general design is cool and the workmanship of the body and neck is truly perfect. Much better than most basses I had in my hands (Ibanez and ESP being the positive exception).
I did not notice any neck dive too. The neck feels less smooth than an Ibanez EHB (which has this nice satin feel), but much better than any Fender I tested.
It has a 38mm nut that really starts to grow on me. Size matters, but sometimes smaller is better! This is one of those cases…
For the ones that like big buts, here they are – there is a lot to like, but:
- Manufacturer setup on the Burgundy Mist model s#cked totally, on the black model it was soso. That’s quite unusual for Harley Bentons nowadays, but easy to resolve myself.
- The China tuners look better than I thought. The previous model had good old Gotoh GB707s, and I know why: the China tuners have problems keeping their tuning over a 24 hour period. Also, tuning the bass is a little cumbersome, as it feels like there is a delay between turning the peg and change in tune. At the start of a turn it feels “harder”, than very light and then quite right. I am planning to replace the China tuners with the Gotoh GB707, and already found a solution to fit 14mm tuners in 17mm holes (or so I hope).
- The pickups are soso. That was expected. The precision pickup sounds muddy in lower frequencies and I hear a slight hiss (but no humming"). I planned to replace those anyway, so I don’t care. For a beginner it is OK though, I guess. Oh, one more thing: I found the sound of the EHB EHB1005SMS also muddy in lower frequencies, so maybe it’s just me? My old ESP sounded perfect though!
- At last this model has a pickup selection switch, which it didn’t have before. On the Burgundy Mist I felt that I could select J and P mode only (no difference between P and PJ). On the black one there is J, P and PJ mode. Strange. Will change that to jazz volume, precision volume and tone pots anyway.
- Strings sounded and felt worse than the same string type on the Sire U5. They also look different. Still ok, but on the Sire my fingers felt right at home.
- The pickguard is tortoise and I cannot eat enough to keep up with barfing about this! Oh, how much I look forward to change that!
VERDICT
I would recommend this bass 100% to a beginner with a small budget or a modder that needs a good platform (neck and body) and ignores all the China stuff on it as it will be replaced anyway. I am sure this bass could bring a lot of joy to advanced players too!
Pretty picture:
Link with the story of my modding adventure and the usual chaos happening when I comment on stuff: