Harley Benton B-35NT Acoustic Bass Series

Sound:
Overall sound is actually quite good. The purely acoustic sound from the body is really nice and fat and the little metallic buzz from strings and frets add a bit of sharper edge or "presence" to it.

But the bad thing is, that the buzz from frets and strings becomes a bit annoying when played through amp or PA, because the buzzing sound cuts over the top of everything. But that can be overcome by cutting the high frequencies with EQ or some high-gating, so it doesn't become that much of an issue.

Features:
Features are better than good, when compared to the low price.
To have both, plug and XLR-connections is a really nice feature.
Built-in tuner is also a very convenient, with LED's helping to tune when playing in a dark corner of a some smoky pub. The tuners display is not lit, but that is something you can live with.

Also the 5-band equalizer is really good thing to have. When playing in those pub's, where you have to do the mixing by yourself, you can make adjustments to the sound straight from the bass itself and you don't need to tumble your way to the mixer.

Only bad thing in features is, that the battery is drained really fast if left in it's socket. And when the battery is dead, so is all the electronics including the pickup. But you should always have an extra battery in the gig bag anyway.

What comes to the dimensions and measures of the instrument, that is always a personal matter. What comes to my preferences, I really like the quite thin neck profile. The neck overall felt really comfortable and "fits" to my hand perfectly. The space between the strings is a bit narrower than in my two electric basses, but that is something I got used to really quick.

Quality:
Price-quality ratio is really good in this one. The crafting and finishing is good, no flaws, no sharp ends on frets or anything. It needed no adjustments, I basically took it to a gig fresh out of box and had no troubles. Well, new battery was needed, but that was it.

Overall:
Good instrument with balanced and unbalanced outputs, built-in tuner and 5-band EQ. Well worth the price. Best for home playing and occasional live performing. When played through pickups, needs cutting in high frequencies.

After a month of ownership, let's leave a review. The price/value is a 5 star. The build quality and finish is really pretty good. The looks are good. The sound is ok, not very loud. It totally qualifies for the job: a practice and acoustic bass guitar that can also be plugged in. Oh, and 5 string, that was my excuse to buy it because i got tired of drop-D.

Some remarks though:

* The strings are brass round wound. They have quite some finger and fret noise. The good part: as practice guitar, you really learn to control it. Both avoid and (ab)use string/fret/picking noise. But it can be a bit too much. Luckily the 4-band equalizer is perfectly capable of making it totally acceptable in any amplified situation, and for acoustic situation it is just fine. But it is very tempting to put flat-wound strings or even synthetics, just for sound balancing.

* There is no documentation, at all. Not even a single piece of paper. Also not online. And why this is relevant is because, well, it has electronics. So, by experiment: your battery will not drain if you leave it unplugged and the tuner powered off. However, as soon as you plug a cable the battery will last for any limited time. Also, just a nice guide about maintaining, tuning, that weird extra button on the tuner, storing, using and possibly playing the guitar would be nice at virtually zero added cost.

* The logo. I happen to have another HB. And the font of the logo is totally different. Yes, somewhat similar, this fancy font but. It's a little something that bugs me. How can you have a big factory producing fine guitars, but, the logo is a knockoff. It's just a detail.

Also some positive remarks:
The tuning stays totally fine over time. In-built tuner is adequate but you hardly need it, maybe after transport or on occasion, but not daily.

I nagged about the strings but on the other hand i also like them. They play well, yes the sound is bit sharp at times but then again they provide a lot of feedback. How you pick the string has big influence on the sound.

The tuner is handy and accurate

The amplifier output is really quite. It is way cleaner than i expected an acoustic guitar to be. This is really quite useable, to the point it could actually replace an electric bass. With some equalizer. And with the feel and touch of course.


Conclusion
Are there better guitars. Sure. Does it play comfortable. Yes. Do i like to play it better than my electrical bass. Yes. Is it acceptable build quality. Yes, more than. Does it sound ok. Yes. Can i use it plugged in and out. Yes. Is it on my lap every night. Yes.