Unboxing a Harley Benton MP-4MN Enhanced Bass Guitar - how can it be less than $400 USD?? Amazing!!

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I ordered this new Harley Benton MP-4MN Enhanced Pro Series bass new from the Thomann website. It has all the features that I like in a bass and the price is amazing: less than $400 USD ($500CDN) shipped to my door in less than 10 days! After unboxing the bass, I found that it is built very well and with no apparent flaws (although I do believe the bridge is misaligned slightly). The swamp Ash body is very nice and the maple Jazz neck is very comfortable. Features like a zero fret; stainless frets; reverser precision pickups and a Musicman style humbucker makes this bass pretty unique at this price point. It based on the Sandberg California series bass - a boutique German manufacturer. Would I recommend this bass? Absolutely! For the price you can play it as is or modify it and still pay a fraction of the price of a boutique bass. Enjoy the video.
-Steve Roy
Manotick StringWorks
Ottawa, Ontario
sroymsw@gmail.com
Intro music by Dave Williamson
davewilliamsonmusic.ca
Enhanced MP-4MN Bass
harleybenton.com/product/enha...

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Опубликовано:

5 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 60

@Asmuk 6 месяцев назад

That is the best review I've watched. Thank you so much, precious information.

@ManotickGuitarTech 6 месяцев назад

Thanks! I hope you have subbed to my channel too?

@bandicoot5412 2 месяца назад

Absolute works of art

@peekaboo4390 6 месяцев назад

I bought this bass about 3 years ago as my curiosity got to me considering all the great appointments Thomann/ Harley Benton have dressed this bass up with. Mine is one of the blue finished ones and yes for the money these are incredible. Mine arrived slightly damaged and my first sound impression was hmmm noise preamp and a very dark sounding bridge pup. I contacted Thomann about returning it back to Germany from Canada as I was not happy with the bass regardless of it's sexy looks and great appointments, Thomann made a deal with me That I was to keep the bass and they reimbursed me in full. Well ok if you insist... so I still have the bass. I do play it live from time to time and its ok, I haven't modded it (new pre and pups) yet but it is a modders dream bass.

@toddgleeson7997 Год назад

Cool looking bass to ad to the collection. Thanks for sharing. I may pick a HB up myself.

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

If you do, let me know what you think of it

@4stringz. 8 месяцев назад

GREAT review. I was about to buy this model when the 25th anniversary version came out. I couldn’t resist the satin firemist finish and the gorgeous Canadian roasted maple neck. The bass has wonderful tone, no fret sprout, sounds great in passive mode, and keeps intonation. Tuners and bridge are very nice. I won’t be swapping the pickups. They could’ve used a regular side jack instead of the Tele cup, but it’s not a biggie. She’s a keeper! I checked the bridge positioning in relation to the MM pickup and it appears straight.

@ManotickGuitarTech 8 месяцев назад

They are definitely worth the money! I hope you have subbed to my channel too?

@64jazz 7 месяцев назад

Great review; I have the Enhanced MJ-5 version and Absolutely Love it; Hands down the best Bass (under $500) that I've ever played/owned; a tad bit on the heavy side, but def. not a deal breaker for me. I've since replaced/upgraded the preamp with an Audere JZ3 Pro and Wow, a definite improvement in tone and bottom end, much punchier and now I have a passive tone control as well.

@ManotickGuitarTech 7 месяцев назад

I might try changing the preamp as well - good suggestion

@Obxhatman 11 месяцев назад

I got the 25th anniversary , excellent bass. Absolutely love almost everything about it , except the tuning keys. They are a bit eh , I will replace them soon. Everything else is wonderful.

@leesbassment6393 Год назад

I didn't read thru the comments, so someone may have already answered this, but in active mode, you were reading the output of the preamp. That's why the pickup pan didn't change anything. As far as the bridge humbucker being so low, they are wired in parallel, so that's what you'd expect. Great basses though. I have two of them, but five strings.

@J.C... 25 дней назад

In passive mode, the 3.xxk reading is with the pickups in parallel. That's why it's 3.85k but you can figure out what the other pickup measures at by solving for the missing number in the parallel resistance equation. (P1+P2)/(P1*P2) or whatever it is. You know what P1 is. (8.74k + x)/(8.74k * X) And solve for X or whatever.

@ManotickGuitarTech 25 дней назад

@@J.C... Thanks!

@lipptech1 Год назад

14:28 ...... Check pick up's in passive mode only as that way you can get the actual resistance load of each pick up with out the preamp being added to the meter reading. The issue you are having at the start of this time stamp is the preamp is not allowing you to see the true resistance reading of the pick up's when the bass's preamp is in active mode. Pull up on the volume knob to engage the Passive Mod to check the Ohms ! Also MM HB pu's always seem to be of low output for a humbucker p/u .

@jburtonca Год назад

There's really nothing to dislike about this bass. The features I really like are the stainless steel frets and the zero fret and the Musicman style truss rod wheel. You get the lowest possible action and you can use any gauge string without messing with the nut. I prefer a J Bass style body but this is OK. The only thing someone might consider upgrading is the pickups, but it's still a killer deal. I would get the Lake Placid Blue version.

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

They have Jazz bass version of this bass

@jburtonca Год назад

@@ManotickGuitarTech Do you know the model number? I prefer the J Bass shape above any other. The off set body makes it so comfortable when sitting.

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

@@jburtonca check out the Harley Benton website

@jburtonca Год назад

@@ManotickGuitarTech I found it. It's the Enhanced MJ-4EB Lake Blue

@everready19373 Месяц назад

I've been eyeing up their 1950's P bass. It's like $200.00 US dollars shipped. That's not bad at all.

@ManotickGuitarTech Месяц назад

A very good modding platform at the very least.

@restofthejunk01 Год назад

Even though I do own the usual 'High end' guitars, I'm very partial to the Harley Benton Fusion Pro's which are excellent value for money. They come with roasted flamed Maple necks and fingerboards, Stainless Steel frets, Locking Tuners, Wilkinson bridge and the only thing I would probably say needs upgrading would be the pickups, I have replaced the pups on a few of them with my preferred DiMarzio's (Tone Zone in the Bridge and neck with a FS-1 for the middle...they are in HSH configuration) and they are stellar. Now when gigging, the Fenders and Gibson's stay at home (probably safer there anyhow)

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

I think with some setup care and maybe a couple of small upgrades/mods, HB's are super playable. I played this bass last night at a gig and it sounded great and felt good to play through 3 sets.

@bernardm3066 8 месяцев назад

12:06 I have noticed the exact same thing in a Fusion III guitar. It is not that big of a deal but I ended up returning it because if you notice you can't unnotice :P It also had the same misalignment of the bass strings with respect to the top of the pole magnets. Maybe a mounting issue on their CNC machines idk.

@donnix1192 Год назад

Wonderful detailed review, you know your way around a bass guitar that is very apparent. It is amazing the quality you can get nowadays from overseas stuff for less than 400 dollars. I remember my first bass, a 1999 Squier P bass I got brand new from Sam Ash for around $115 and it was not a very playable instrument out of the box. Do you know if this Harley Benton bass has a 1.5 inch jazz nut width or the contemporary 1.625 inch precision nut width? Thanks

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

It is 39mm, just a little wider than a Jazz bass

@ileutur6863 Год назад

I had one for a year and impulsively sold it to fund an amp purchase. Big mistake, I have yet to find a budget bass that rivals it. I've played over a dozen budget brands and nothing rivals Harley Bentons "enhanced" line of models. My particular example had gorgeous grain too, much prettier than the models I see going around now

@wollace3125 9 месяцев назад

That is good to hear, I've been looking for ">1 year since purchase" reviews of the instrument. Did you have any fret sprout/fret popping off issues? Any QC/QA stuff that happened over time? Thanks for the info!

@J.C... 25 дней назад

How do they make them for that price? Easy. The company that builds these for Thomann's is an established company that's been around for like 4 or 5 decades already. They make guitars for Sterling by Music Man, Dean, Washburn, Ibanez, Aria, Harley Benton, Monoprice/Indio, and J&D Brothers Guitars, the house brand at The Music Store, also in Germany with Thomann's. If they were trying to build these themselves, they'd be a lot more because they'd have to build a factory, buy the machinery, hire workers, etc...and all of that gets priced into the guitars. When you use a company that's already established and builds 10s of thousands of guitars every year already, it keeps costs down for the company having their guitars built there.

@J.C... 25 дней назад

As a matter of fact, I have 5 guitars built by the company that builds those for Thomann's and they're absolutely phenomenal guitars. That's why I own 5 of them lol. 3 LP-style(Goldtop, burst, Goldtop with P90s), a 355-style, and a T-style with a solid ash body. I couldn't be happier tbh. And I didn't pay more than $285 for any of them.

@Garito75 5 месяцев назад

Hi! Thanks for the video! Im thinking about getting one of these. The color of the neck is very defferente? I hear you say tha is it is yellow. How yellow and differente is it? Do you think it could be a deal breaker? Thank you!

@ManotickGuitarTech 5 месяцев назад

It definitely has a yellow tinge to it... not a natural maple colour

@KrisperKenvue Год назад

The quality with Harley Benton is hit and miss. I had the exact same model and returned it. There were so many little finishing flaws that added up (the pickguard was cut very scaterred and not smoothed out, the inlays weren't real inlays but (badly) painted on, the battery compartment was screwed in with only 2 of 4 screws and the screws were screwed in crooked not straight). Maybe I just got a lemon, can happen in this price range. The sound and preamp was also a bit disappointing: in passive mode no tone control and in active mode the humbucker sounded very thin and weak compared to the split coil. The spec sheet reads fine and the looks are great - but in the end the total package was disappointing in my case. I also have a PJ-4 HTR from Harley Benton and that one is nearly perfect, especially for the price. Same for the Harley Benton guitars I have (a ST-62 and a SC-550 II) which only required a little setup work to fit my taste. Everything else is more than good for the money.

@gaoldias 2 месяца назад

Hi Steve. I'm thinking of buying one of these. I am a guitar player who is interested in transitioning to bass. I don't know much about active instruments. I'm assuming that if there is no battery installed, you can play in passive mode by pulling up the push/pull pot. Would that be accurate? Once mine arrives, I will contact you to get it inspected and set up. Cheers!

@ManotickGuitarTech 2 месяца назад

Passive mode bypasses the active battery circuit - cheers!

@rsaathoff 5 месяцев назад

I was doing a virtual build on the warmoth website of this same specs. Humm.

@aryehbarson 4 месяца назад

You're reading the preamp interface with the ohmmeter, not the pickups!

@ManotickGuitarTech 4 месяца назад

Thanks -figured as much

@jimh6763 Год назад

Nice looking bass....unrelated question. Do you know of a tramolo I can add to a Epiphone Les Paul that will utilize the studs for the string stop bar? Or at least cover up where it's attached?

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

Try the "Duesenberg Les Trem II."

@jimh6763 Год назад

@@ManotickGuitarTech oh, great. Thanks. I looked up a few videos on RU-vid,and found an install of the Duesenburg. Pretty slick

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

@@jimh6763 if you install one let me know how it goes

@robhaag6102 Год назад

Also the floyd rose fxr

@robhaag6102 Год назад

How would you compare it to a sterling mm in the same price point ?

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

Sterling humbug ker sounds better but the overall build and features of the HB are better

@charlieburns1385 10 месяцев назад

I have the jazz 4 in ash Sounds great but heavy Is your bass heavy?

@ManotickGuitarTech 10 месяцев назад

About 9.5lbs... not bad

@tommasopalacino3800 4 месяца назад

What do you think about buying this bass to upgrade perhaps with active EMG pickups?

@ManotickGuitarTech 4 месяца назад

I would reccomend it- the build quality is good.

@doug1844 Год назад

How much does it weigh?

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

9.5lbs

@Drpiwi 5 месяцев назад

"Not quite sure what to make of that" when measuring the pickups. Well it shows that resistance values of pickups are totally useless and do not say anything about a pickup. The only thing that can be deduced from that is whether a pickup is shorting when it has a low to zeroohm rating or it is broken when it has infinte resistance. In active mode what you measure is the output resistance of the pre amp. But agian this only resistive as a multi meter uses dc for resistance metering. To get a really meanigful number you would need a way to measure the ac output impedance to tell you any thing

@craigmoran893 Год назад

Its a copy of a Sandberg vm4

@precbass Год назад

Good review re the build quality etc but no review is complete without a comprehensive sound test.If you dont play yourself,then get someone who does and has a decent amp to let us HEAR the bass,which after all is the most important point.

@ManotickGuitarTech Год назад

I might add some sound tests in upcoming videos... I am more interested in the tech and build quality usually

@precbass 11 месяцев назад

I understand completely.BTW it would be more likely that the humbucker is badly sited rather than the bridge due to the string alignment compared to the P pickup which seems OK.😁