Harley Benton B-35NT Acoustic Bass Series

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.

I bought it as my first acoustic bass, curious what it's like to play that kind of instrument.
SOUND:
This bass isn't as loud as i thought, but it's louder than a 3 times more expensive Takamine acoustic bass, so it's pretty neat. The sound is clear and refined, altough there is a little fret buzz when you'll attack the string with more force. After plugging in to an amp it still has some acoustic tone, altough not as good as amplifying the sound through the microphone.

It's pretty well built for the price, altough on mine there's a little bit of tiny ditches on the side of neck, but it's ok. My biggest issue was when i removed it from the box, guitar was covered in shavings. Fortunetely after brief cleaning it's fine.

And i need to cover an issue, that some people before me noted - the string spaces AREN'T too wide, in fact, they are perfect, and I'm not exactly a hobbity bassplayer, more than orcish one.

Overal: I'm recomending that one!

I wanted an acoustic bass guitar primarily for use at home when I wanted to practice quietly so as not to bother others in the house, and didn't want to spend a lot of money. I was surprised by the quality and sound of the Harley Benton B-35NT when it arrived and I was able to play it.
As I have experienced with other orders from Thomann Music, it was delivered quickly and in excellent condition. I didn't even have to adjust the truss rod!
The sound of this bass is exactly what I expected and wanted. The volume when played acoustically is loud enough to be heard when played along with my friend playing an acoustic guitar, and when plugged into an amplifier, the bass more than "holds its own."
This acoustic bass guitar has 80% if the possible qualities of any acoustic bass guitar at only 20% of the price of the rest. I would buy it again.

Although I play double bass and electric bass for concerts for many years I wanted to dabble into the acoustic bass guitar world and decided to buy this bass just to see what I could expect. Although the delivery time was not up to usual standards of Thomann I was very happy with the rest of the experience. I wasn't expecting much but was blown away with the bass. The sound is a lot better than I expected. The construction whilst not the stuff of dreams is more quality than I could expect at this price. It sounds very clear in middle and tops range. Its a great little purchase. The only improvement I could have make would be better string quality. Given a chance again I would have bought the four string version as the strings are a little too close for my personal liking on the five string version. A lot of bass and features for the price! Highly recommended.