I Bought 5 Cheap A$$ Basses (To See if They Sucked)
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- Опубліковано 8 тра 2021
- 👉 My full beginner bass course: yeah.bassbuzz.com/cheapass
Do $100 basses actually work? Find out in this cheap bass shootout. No affiliates, no sponsors, no punches pulled.
Here are the five cheap basses I reviewed, in order, with some ‘interesting’ highlights from their product pages:
Glarry GP - www.glarrymusic.com/glarry-pr...
Good source for tech specs, plus more reviews. However, I clearly read this - “Buy a guitar and we will send a rich gift package.” Still waiting on my treasure chest, guys!
Harley Benton PB-20 - www.thomann.de/gb/harley_bent...
You can read a bunch more reviews on this page, which largely reflect my experience with this instrument in the video. Kudos to Harley Benton (and Glarry) for posting detailed specs on an instrument this cheap.
Z ZTDM - www.amazon.com/ZTDM-Electric-...
“A perfect instrument for emitting wonderful bass effect” - I read this sentence weeks ago and I still think about it sometimes. My main goal is life is just to emit a wonderful bass effect.
Polar Aurora - www.amazon.com/Polar-Aurora-S...
Tired of basses made out of rubber and foam that bend when you’re trying to play? Fear not - “the electric bass guitar is made up of a wooden body, which is characterized by firmness that allows you to play freely.” Revolutionary!
(note: this company has already disappeared since I did these reviews)
Ebay “New Professional” Bass - www.ebay.com/itm/New-Professi...
The cheapest of the bunch. According to this page, “To create faultless bass effect, you can not lack a professional bass guitar during guitar performance.” Can’t argue with that! Usually “professional” bass guitars have a brand name though…
In this video, I’ll take you through detailed tone demos for each bass, plus talk about playability and build quality (which is just as important as tone).
Then I’ll pick a winner, and battle it against a more expensive bass to see it’s true that “you get what you pay for.”
Finally I’ll wrap up with some closing thoughts on whether cheapos are worth it, if you should buy used instead of new, and other general bass buying tips.
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What do you think? Are any of these $100 basses worth it, or should you stick to brand names? 🎸
Timestamps for this lesson:
0:00 - Do you get what you pay for?
0:48 - How I Reviewed the Basses
1:45 - Tone Battle: Rock
2:14 - Tone Battle: Motown
2:54 - Tone Battle: Pick
3:32 - Tone Battle: Slap
4:45 - Glarry GP
5:39 - Harley Benton PB-20
6:37 - Z ZTDM
7:31 - Polar Aurora
8:42 - Ebay Mystery Bass
9:14 - And the Winner Is… (+Why)
10:33 - Blind “Tone-Off” with Pricier Bass
11:32 - The Reveal: Did You Guess Right?
12:10 - Were They Any Good?
13:05 - Why Not Buy Used?
14:04 - General Buying Tips
First
From what I've heard the Harley Bentons used to be pretty bad in the past but not anymore
I own a glarry as my first bass and i see the gap between the neck and body. It was the best option i had considering the music shop is about three hours away
After this , they all just doubled in price.
I'm inspired by this video. I'm going to make one of me making $3000+ basses sound like sub $100 basses.
Honestly, they all provide an acceptable tone.
The Glarry sounded actually very good to my ears in the Rock and Motown songs! For pick and slap not that much imo, I think the Polar Aurora was better for those styles. The others were fine too.
Cheap P basses are the only thing I've ever found that can really capture that growly burpy Chili Peppers/Iron Maiden tone.
The expensive ones just have too *good* a setup y'know it kinda removes the character
I love the tone of my Glarry.
I once bought a secondhand Squier Affinity P-Bass (not one of the nicer ones. We're talking the "baby's first bass" pieces of shite that usually come bundled with a crap practice amp) from Gumtree for £50 and use it to track bass parts on any songs I've written. By the time it's sat in a mix with multi tracked guitars, drums and vocals, you'd honestly think it was a proper American P-Bass.
Would the build quality of the instrument be able to keep up with the rigours of gigging and touring if I were to throw it into the hands of my band's bassist? Probably not. That's the reason you buy a proper Fender. But that thing will be my recording bass for life.
@@easygarden777 Why is acceptable for a beginner to sound less-than?
A good bass player can make any bass sound good as long as it is set up properly. Too many people fool themselves into thinking that an instrument upgrade will make them better bass players.
but the quality of the bass will be beneficial on the long term.
Yeah. I have a musicman and I suck
Rev Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top said pretty much the same thing about guitars.
True but if you have a bass that doesn’t sound good or has A very high action, then no matter how good you maybe on it. It’s not gonna sound right and it may tire you out. Most likely, you aren’t going to enjoy playing it.
well, it makes us more motivated at least
I’ve got a Glary and I love it. It’s sounds great to me. Not the model he reviewed but I still only paid 100 bucks for it. I’m not here to impress anyone. Just to contribute a little low end thump to my dad band.
I love cheap instruments. They are fun to hack up and customize
I have the same feeling with cheap instruments… they are super fun to hack and play
I've gotten ukuleles from glarry- not impressed at all
So your positive comments help me to keep a bass from them on the radar.
what I did for one of those that I got for like 90$, was to turn it into a bass dulcimer. I replaced the nut so that the 2 highest strings would be paired like a mandolin, while the other 2 strings were single (so 4 strings in 3 courses), changed the strings to guitar strings, and gave it an open tuning to DADd. The 2 paired strings were same gauge and tuned in unison btw. then I removed the sharp and flat frets so I would have diatonic frets only. I play it like the traditional dulcimers, with just the paired strings fretted, and the 2 single (not paired) strings as unfretted 'drone' strings (so like playing a one-string instrument but with paired strings and 2 extra strings to strum). Then I used a wooden thimble to slide-style play the paired strings to re-create the 'noter drone' style play of a regular mountain dulcimer. Super fun! Sounds great in heavy metal.
100% agree on the “hack up” bit. I’ve always enjoyed taking things apart to learn stuff and customizing my item. I’ve learned a ton about all kinds of instruments (not just guitar or bass) by watching surface level guitar tech type videos. It’s given me a broader and more wholistic understanding of instruments and how they function and how they can be improved. Plus, if I ruin a $100 bass messing with stuff it’s not as bad as a $300 bass.
I have a 5 string bass from glarry and mines buzzy asf and it sucks ass :( so now I’m getting a new bass
I've bought loads of cheap Harley Benton instruments and they always seem to be the best in the budget price range. I think a big part of it is that they are one of Thomann's in house brands (Thomann is a huge online music shop) so they essentially have their own distribution network and can cut out a bunch of middlemen, like Amazon but less evil. Really makes a difference at the lower levels of the price range.
Yes def less evil lol. I’m actually about to buy one from them rather than amazon’s “professional bass” garbage things 😂
I bought a HB Jazz bass recently. I put flatwounds on it and a couple of ashtrays. Sounds great now and looks good too, well pleased.
I have played few basses from Harley Benton in the 100€ to 130€ price range and they have been really good for their price!
I have a top of the line HB guitar and it's comparable to my LTD and Gibson that cost 1k and 1.5k... SC550 + EMG. Even the intonation was spot on. So since I want to learn bass guitar I will try one. Obviously in the 100-150€ range it won't be like the other Harley Benton that was almost 400 bucks but still, that has 170€ pickups in it, so the instrument itself was only around 200 bucks. Definetly curious what they can do at that price but if it wasn't a bass guitar, I would go for a higher end model, they seem to increase in value. It really is beautifully made and the neck and frets feel as good as my LTD (which is better than the more pricey Gibson). Though same factory, Cort in Indonesia, they make a lot of stuff. Cheaper Ibanez too. Probably the China made HBs aren't on that level, that would be ridiculous but I'm a noob guitarist so what do I need a fancy bass for... maybe change the bridge, tuners and at some point the pickups and if the neck and body is decent it'll be a great deal that I can upgrade as I improve and as my wallet recovers from more impending guitar and amp buys. But if I was a real bassist I would try the HBs forr 250-400 bucks. The 6 strings at that price point are too good to be true. Though Thomann owns HB do they spend nothing on distributors which take a healthy cut for Epis, Fenders etc... that's a good 30% easy. And instead of a big network it ships to one place, Thomann in DE and from there through an already existing shipping system. Then the profit doesn't have to be taken twice (manufacturer and seller) so we can take another 20% off, not made in the US or Japan so that's another 20% or more, no import premium for us EU guys, that we pay on Fender etc... it's Germany so shipping is free.
If we add all that up, the 400 dollar guitar would be above a grand. That makes a lot more sense for the instrument I got at 350 bucks (B stock). I mean not even the frets on my Ibanez are good enough to allow such insanely low action. And incredible sustain and no buzz. If the 150€ basses are even 10% as good it's an incredible deal and more than enough for an idiot like me. But actual bassists should try the higher end stuff, you basically get 60% off at least through the whole stuff I described above and we let out brand name premium. You easily pay another 20% on top of all that just for the headstock to say Fender (or 50% if you want it to say Gibson). Besides you can send them back to Thomann for free so I'd give it a try before spending big bucks on a known brand.
Not big differences but Polar Aurora seemed to have the best tone of all of them.
I concur.
Agreed
Agreed little crisper with better aftertones
Agreeddd
Agreed
I was a young teenager looking for a cheap bass. I found a used one for $100, including a hard case. I had never heard of the brand and it looked a little strange, but I bought it anyway. After taking a few lessons, I realized that I couldn't learn how to play it. But I kept it anyway, which was a good thing, because my Vox Constellation IV is worth a lot more now.
That's so Dope😄. I stole my sister's pink ukulele she bought on Amazon for 20 euro.
Then I ended up selling my debs(prom) ticket to buy my first guitar😂
@@jamescanjuggle I hope since then you repayed her at least.
Good decision. I bought a Vox strat copy from a neighbor in the 70s....for $25. Wish I had kept it.
@@ArgaJacint not really, she's refused to go near string instruments cause she hates her tiny hands and seems to be happy the ukuleles gone😅
I wish I still had my Vox Phantom IV
They all sound damn good to me right out of the box. A beginning bass player has nothing to complain about with any of these.
I found a copy of my first bass Epiphone jazz-copy, totally thin with no weight or tone
i cant believe I ever thought it was good
I’ve watched a couple of videos and reviews with cheaper basses. The main con seems to be build quality. There’s a lot of missed attention to detail as well as, like he mentioned here, sunken pickups, cheap/loose pegs, sharp frets, opposite neck to body weight ratio and other things like tight truss rods, buzzing frets even after a setup, cheap pick ups that sound real quiet, etc. They may sound good, but those little things can be very uncomfortable and discouraging for a beginner.
I recall when I started playing guitar in 1970 you had Fenders, Gibsons, and crap. I started on a Sears Silvertone (335 almost) and, it was crap, but I actually gigged with it for a couple of years! Today there are thousands of starter guitars (and basses) that rock, right out of the box. Kids don't know what they've got today.
The amount of RELIEF I felt that my glarry bass was okay is unimaginable. I was so scared that I’d gotten a bad bass, but I didn’t so I’m glad!
One thing that is pretty much true is... A bass always seems to sound good in the hands of a good player.
In the 80s if you bought a new bass for under $100 it would most likely be almost unplayable. Back in those days there was no way for a company to steal outright a digital file of the design and program a cc machine to make them pretty much exact as expensive guitars. So most of them had the frets eyeballed into the wrong place, bodies made of plywood or worse, no truss rod, pickups that were just made to appear correct but under the cover were actually a crude bar magnet wrapped with wire which were microphonic as hell, random scale length, and tuners that would seize or strip out. Oh and necks that were warped in two directions at the same time. It’s a great time for beginners to find gear these days.
OMG,.. I remember. And, even a B brand like my AMPEG Lil' Stud P-Bass copy was a nightmare. It weighed like 16 lbs, had a multi laminate body, and was just not cool. It was expensive then. Cheaper than a FENDER. Today, I have a collection of Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese instruments, some of which BLOW the BIG NAMES out of the water!!! Almost a dozen. Several 5 and 6 string fretless and fretted basses from rondomusic, thomannmusic, and a few others, almost all for under $300 each. Unheard of when we were young!!!
I've seen pickups so bad you could talk into them and it would actually put your voice out over the amp..
@@hatbpto5180 Seriously???!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@MrClassicmetal Yes! It was a two dollar plywood body electric guitar bought at the flea market. You could barely make out the voice on the amplifier, but it was there. Crazy but it really happened.
1985, People used to beat me up over cheap bass guitars. When finally I had the money to get something decent, I chose and NJ BC Rich Iron Bird since I played metal. The guy behind the counter tried to talk me into purchasing this 1972 Fender P bass, he said it would retain or go up in value. Yea right.....Fast forward 10 years, I dumped my life savings into Blockbuster video.....Another 15 years, some guy tried to talk me into purchasing bitcoin...:(
Polar Aurora had the most distinct tone. I hesitate to say better, just a punchier quality. The others sounded similar enough as to be indistinguishable.
I really liked it.
Its got a bit of grit to it
Yeah definitely my favorite tone out of all of these.
I agree
agree
You were probably just hearing the difference in output level, not necessarily tone
I purchased a Squier P-Bass package for just under $400 that came with the bass, strap, cable and a 15W Rumble amp, which is quite loud! The bass out of the box was playable but I ended up getting it set up, which made a big difference! I would recommend looking at that package for a beginner, like me. It got me off to a good start!
I did the same thing!! Highly recommended for beginners just starting out
I just got back into playing after selling my 84 jazz bass ten years ago and got a copy which plays a lot better than the price tag would lead you to believe, what's even better is the guy that set up my bass is still there and remembers how he did it and all I'll have to do is pay for the pickups I want
I did the same thing, but bought it used and saved 1/2 the price. Then saved up some bucks and bought a Gretsch small bass to add to the collection, so have one full size traditional p-bass and then a short scale to play with, all for about the same as your new package. But I understand people get mixed results with used and new is a safer bet and your package is a great deal.
right now its on sale for less than 300
its almost not even worth looking at used market
What do you mean got it set up? I just bought a kit also
I actually thought the Polar Aurora sounded pretty damn good
that was also my opinion.
This is the comment I was looking for 😂
me too
The Polar Arora stood out the second I heard it.
Agreed. With the tone up it sounds great. Definitely has its own sound compared to the rest
I’d love to see a follow up video where the basses are properly set up. To compare what they can be, at their best
Dave’s World of Fun Stuff did a proper setup on a Glarry and he actually liked it a lot
Though, so did I. It was a fantastic starter instrument!
@@IPv6Freely it looks pretty good. And I’ve heard consistent great things about Harley Bentons too
@@LeglessWonder Harley Benton seems to be a good cheap option. I picked up a seven string guitar from them in December, and although it's not perfect, it plays well enough for the price
A follow-up video a couple years from now would be helpful to see how well the instruments held together (or didn’t) in that time.
I have used cheap basses mostly my entire career. When I was a relatively new bassist with only a year in, I got an SR1000e for $1200 and LOVED it.. It felt right.
Since then, I have used Squier P Basses, Cort Basses, Peavy Foundation (and Fury), and the Ibby SR 200 (with aftermarket Dimarzio pups) and SR300 with the EMG P/J set up. (which was what the SR1000e used) which is my current show bass and can be seen in my photo. I have played that bass in front of multiple multi-thousand theater and outdoor gigs, and in front of too many "name" bands to count. The ONLY person to give me grief was a price queen/brand whore who tried to give me shot for using a $300 and a $200 bass because his Daddy bought him a $1500 bass and $2500 rig. Of course, the ONLY thing anyone noticed about the difference in our bass rigs was I could play better than he could. His $4000 outfit couldn't outdo my $300 bass and Behringer amp/cab (also being used in the photo). A decent inexpensive bass is all anyone needs.
I like the Harley Benton. It had a consistent clarity of tone in each piece.
Love that you donated them all. You're a damn decent bloke, Josh.
He ate those kids. Don't be fooled! Oh wait, josh? Yeah nah he's ok. Hasn't eaten any kids that I personally know of but I'll look into it.
Let's be honest... what else could get do with them?? 😅
I am a Harley-Benton bass and guitar player and I confess I find these instruments are of a really high quality/price ratio. And the seller (Thomann) pays attention to their customers and always finds a solution when there are issues with their products.
Nice try Thomann
Harley Benton's more expensive basses are great. After my experience I would buy that brand because there is an actual music company behind the equipment. If I need a cheap bass for a new player I am going to buy one of these. Also, I have 4 Squiers. Also very good for the price and easy to upgrade.
I picked up a couple of Harley Bentons. The MusicMan copy had a problem receiving 102.7 FM. I swapped out the active preamp with a Bartolini and shielded the cavities and now it's a real player. But Thomann gave me credit for it so I got a PJ too. Both needed a lot of fret TLC.
I have a Harley Benton CST-24T. Great guitar, but it definitely needed setup work out of the box. The string action was fine for about the first five frets, but it got progressively worse the farther up the neck you went. By the 15th fret, it was almost unplayable. Lowered the saddles, and there was fret buzz between the 12th and 17th frets. Lots of truss rod and string saddle adjustments later, and it's fantastic. Granted, a fret level and recrown would probably make it even better, but for now, it's great. I think I have the action at roughly 1.3mm, which is still very, very low.
I would agree. I have the T-50 guitar and the PB-50 bass and they are both excellently built.
I feel like the harley was definitely fuller and easier to hear and feel in the tone downs, but the polar aurora was pretty distinguishable in the tone ups
Marvelous editing! I couldn't spot the edit points, except that the basses changed. Great playing, too.
I actually liked the sound of Polar Aurora best. It sounded aggressive,punchy,and clear.
Definitely
Sometimes cheap light bodies sound more punchy and beautiful than high-end basses. My friend have some American fender, a great German Warwick and.. but his favorite bass and also my favorite one of his basses, is a cheap p body with a jazz bass neck, (a roasted maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and mandolin fret) that bass resonate very weak but it's not bad it's a feature and make it more punchy. some people say kind of wood can't change the sound but it's not true at least about basses although I think fancy woods necessarily don't sound better.
It's a good punk/metal bass for sure ^-^
Same
@@Bonk12381Might that be because many punk bands started out with cheap instruments?
"neck-heavy is bad"
cries in thunderbird shape
I have an Epiphone Thunderbird Vintage Pro, white. And it doesn't head dive, it drops like a bomb. I searched a lot for a strap that could help me, finally found one.
@@fideethonore138 what strap helped?
Yep, got 2 Thunderbird Goths, they dive like mad, but I love them.
haha got a gibson sg bass and i know your pain
@@ZaneDalton look on amazon, find a real sheepskin car seatbelt cushion (Ogland?) and they make "seatbelt" guitar straps that are nice looking and those two together look and feel great together. my PRS Kingfisher is a boat anchor. this is a stylish and super comfy solution. I also saw some harnesses that you strap to your chest. Haven't used it but would imagine it's better.
I got a Glarry about 18 months ago and I really like it. Apart from the weirdness of how light the body is (solved with the right strap) I think it’s nice to play and sounds ok to me. I just play casually at home these days so it might have issues for anyone playing in a band.
what strap did you get?
I knew a guy who played bass in like 5 bands and had the CHEAPEST bass ive ever seen.
Like a little-kid bass that cost 80 bucks. It just looked wrong
@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 how does it sound though?
@@thatonestar1437 Any wide strap with a rough material on the inner side works ok.
@thatonestar1437 I got a glarry amd was having neck dive so bad I couldn't play it standing up.
I found metal bridge and pickup covers on Amazon. Knockoff fender parts for 20 bucks.
Adds around 1.1 lbs to the body and now it balances perfectly on the 19th fret
Very helpful. Well written, great playing, good editing. Very easy to watch and learn from.
Dude, please review guitars in this same way. This is literally the best side by side comparison video I've EVER SEEN you could teach a thing or two to these musicians on YT about how to properly compare and contrast lol!
Thank you! I'll save the guitar playing for other people though, I would magically make them all sound bad. :P
i think this format is much better because a lot of people either play each one for too long at a time or have a gap between demos both thing meaning you may forget about what the first one sounds like
That Polar Aurora bass actually had quite an aggressive, good sound. I like it. :D
Might be cool to add a really heavy bridge to compensate for the neck dive and reposition the end pin on the horn but yeah the Polar had a nice edge to it. Could be strings and pickup height though - hard to tell without actually being there.
I have one, same color
I bought a cheap Harley Benton PJ-4 for $100, the frets were okay. I was not sure whether I'd stick to bass and love it so I wanted to invest as less as possible. It's been great so far!
Edit after 1 year of use: During this time I replaced the strings and brought it to a shop for setup. And it's still very enjoyable to play. Totally recommend for new players!
All of them provide a pretty good tone, however, I gotta give it to the harley benton just based on the kind of sound I usually aim for. As for the fret edges, while that can be annoying, it's a really simple fix if you're willing to put in the time to do it, and you can do it with a file if you're on a budget
The Harley stuck out to me as best tone and intonation. You’re a killer player which makes them all pretty workable IMO. If got a couple killer cheap basses. An SX Jazz that played and sounded better than my Marcus Miller Jazz. I have a Douglas 5 string that I actually us for certain recording tones.
Definitely had the most depth although I did like the bright sound of the glarry bass.
Definitely. It just sounded a bit more....bassy
Yes! I have an SX PJ bass and I think, "It looks great, sounds great, plays great.. what more would I get if I spent more?"
@@sobrevida157 I gutted and replaced the electronics, put a nice bridge and strap locks on it and did a little bit of nut work. Prob have $500 into it and it’s awesome. Most of my basses are $2000-$5000 and I have no hesitation using the SX for any gig that needs a jazz 4-string
Harley Bentons are very solid for their price, and that goes for bass and guitar.
Conclusion: If you're going to get a bass or guitar on the cheap cheap, Harley Benton is the best option by far.
Nice comparison. You had all the high points, the important issues. I have a squire J Bass as well as a Mustang and to be quite honest, I started out with the 66 fender jazz bass that I paid $600 for back in 1967. To lay hands on a jazz bass deluxe of that hero would cost me around $10-$15,000 hence the squire. I never should’ve sold that bass😔
Just came across this video, I happen to own a secondhand Harley Benton, because I play lefthanded which dramatically decreases the offers in the secondhand market. I think it's a decent bass to just learn basics. It actually holds tone judging by my tuner and it doesn't feel that heavy to me. Only downside I've experienced so far is no matter how i change the setup the E-string keeps having some weird extra vibration which is kinda hard to explain. Other than that, solid learner bass, will upgrade as soon as I can play half decent.
Polar aurora sounds soooo good honestly
I own that bass and I agree
Yeah, I liked the sound. But I played with a bass with neck diving. And is annoying after 2 songs.
My bass is a cheap one (about 280 us dollars) but has a good solid wood and the frets are not sharp. But he came with bad strings.
@@GMMephisto damn really? He made it look flawless playing it
@@MHamdy-gw2ox He just recorded a small bit of time. It's not impossible to play with neck diving. But is annoying when you have a 2 hour performance to deliver. You fell unbalanced all the time.
I agree. Th he Aurora kept standing out to me.
They all sound very good to my untrained ear but I consistently liked the sound of the Benton.
Had a bit of that nice growl on the low end.
I've just bought one, never having played Bass before, and I love it. Left handed, £80. Brilliant.
Love your sense of humor. I've done a little purchasing on line recently, not basses, and found the following. Monoprice Indio Telecaster - had fret sprout out of the box, but was very playable otherwise, and sounded good. Did a bit of fret filing on it, and replaced the strings with lighter ones and the neck bowed on it. Am still wrestling with that. Grote ES 335 copy - also had some fret sprout and needed set up. (BTW, I'm a newbie at set up) I did that and I love this guitar. I also have an old Gibson ES which I love and I am enjoying the slight difference in the tones. The Gibson is a bit brighter sounding. The Grote has a sweet darker tone. I also bought a used Squire J-Bass from a music store (full disclosure, I am not a Bassman although I have played bass in a group), The J-Bass needed truss rod adjustment which I didn't notice in the store. (I bought the Bass for recording) I've still got some adjusting to do on it, but it works fine for setting down basic bass tracks on my DAW. I truly think buying the cheap guitars online is a great deal as long as you are willing to do the set up, or have it done afterwards. (PS: on the recording I liked the sound of the Harley-Benton better than the Squire.)
I happen to have bought both a Glarry P-bass and a Squier P-Bass of the types you compared, for about those prices in 2022. Both required a substantial amount of work to make them feel right, include carving the back of the neck to get a decent non-baseball-bat profile.
The final action and playability of the Glarry ended up noticeably BETTER than the Squier. I found that the action on the Squier could not be lowered very much without buzzing, regardless of how I set the relief. No amount of fret-rocking ever revealed where the problem was. The Glarry felt (after, as I say, a lot of work) very close to my 1965 Fender P-Bass in profile and action, and I could never get the Squier to that point.
My solution for the Glarry neckdive problem was a three-point strap, with one strap-end connected at the head. Made it from two cheap nylon straps. Looks like hell, but works well.
A oddity of the Glarry was that it had a sort of lump on the back of the neck, treble side, so that the profile was not symmetrical. If had not been my intention to carve the neck down anyway, that would have been a deal-breaker.
Been playing bass for 25 years, had many high value basses. Bought a HB Jazz bass for around 200 cad, beats most of the 1000$ basses I had.
I play guitar mainly but wanted a cheap bass for making home recordings on GarageBand. Bought a HB Jazz bass. Ash body, Wilkinson pickups. Plays and sounds great. Heavy because of the ash body but it’s just a great instrument for the price. I’ve played gigs on worse basses.
Lucky you!
I tried a bunch of cheap HB basses and they've been the worst basses I've ever played.
@@maldivirdragonwitch probably set up poorly. Even fenders play shit if the set up isn't done right
@@maldivirdragonwitch I have Harley Benton MP-4EB and it is awesome. It's a higher model, but still very cheap considering the features you get for the money. Cheers!
@@maldivirdragonwitch I’ve only played the one I bought. Couldn’t fault it. No idea what the rest are like.
Before watching this, I said to myself, "There's got to be a Harley Benton on here". That was the bass that I was planning to buy before I found a lovely Yamaha BBN5 on ebay! Good to hear I was going to make a sensible choice haha
You can buy a new TBRX or a Ibanez Talman for the price they are asking for a BBN5, even the BB234 new is around the same price range I'm seeing the BBN's being sold. Don't buy used at this prices... makes no sense.
@@josearaujo8616 I managed to snag a really good deal at around £130 for it! Plus I think the BBN5 is much nicer and classy-looking than the Talman or TBRX ever could be ;)
@@pdalmao No that long ago you could buy a bbn5 for around $100, which is less than £80. I think guitars and basses have evolved a lot quality wise, specially the budget instruments.
Most important is that you liked it, I was just ranting about the used market.
@@josearaujo8616 Ah, now I see! Sorry for the misunderstanding haha, I thought you were just being rude. Have a good day mate!
Also watch for stock offers on music stores or online stores. After searching i found a Cort jazz bass which normally retails for 300 bucks for sale at about 200 because it was an older model and it is incredible. Fretwork is amazing it was setup correctly out of the box it even was in tune when i plugged it in. Always search for bargains especially of you are a beginner
This past Friday I purchased my first bass! It's a Cort Action Plus 4 which is incredible for its $200 price. ($215 Aafter taxes) and it plays like something you would pay $600-$800 for. An absolute steal for anyone who wants to dive into the beginner bass market. Highly recommend
Great basses
Never underestimate the skill of the player to make anything sound good 👍🏻
"Whatever wood - or 'wood-like' substance - they use." Ha! Like that phrase. It's the same red flag when you see something described as 'chocolate-y' vs 'chocolate'.
Or just "chocolate flavour"
I have a no-name P-Bass I picked up at Goodwill. The body is three layers that appear to be sheetrock with a veneer top. It's not routed-- each layer has the cavity molded into it. I set it up, replaced the nut, the pots, and the jack, and it plays okay.
@@lucasoheyze4597 True. TBH even worse than ‘chocolate-flavoured’, is the combo of the two - “chocolate-y flavoured.” I had literally never read that on a box or packet of anything before I moved the the US. It would be illegal in Europe due to the min%. cocoa powder & food safety laws. Hmmm... Going back to this video, maybe they should have the same law for ‘wood-like’ bodies or un-filed frets on basses, eh?!
Hey, they use seriously high quality cardboard for those bodies! And they taste like real chocolate!
I recently got into bass guitar and I love your videos man, thanks for the incredible content 😍
I started on a $100 glarry and am currently on a $1.5k ibanez. I will always love my first bass as it started my love for the bass. It wasn't the best, but it was magical at the time. Now I have 5 bass guitars (and 1 uke bass) and I never play the glarry, but I keep it for the memories.
Bought a Harley Benton 5-string (left-handed) for $160 a couple of months ago (ok, another $80 for shipping...). It came in tune, fully set up: I took it to my local shoppe and they didn't have to do *anything* to it. I didn't experience the sharp frets Josh speaks of, but I know that mine was newly built so hadn't sat in a shop before being shipped.
I'm a total beginner at playing any instrument so can't speak to playability/etc, but it makes the sounds I'm trying to and stays in tune.. what more could one ask at this price? Oh, yeah: almost no neckdive. Seriously, this is a great purchase.
And big ups to Josh's Beginner to Badass course: it's well-paced, challenging, effective. Can't recommend it enough.
No sponsors, no affiliates, no b.s. Good man. 👍👍👍👍👍
I've been a guitarist for 35ish years, and recently (the start of the month) bought a Harley Benton jazz bass kit.
I was honestly blown away by it.
It only took 15 minutes to put together, and the playability was a revelation.
I didn't have the slightest issue with fret-sprout, balance or finish problems.
I'm yet to get an amp, I've just been using my audio interface, which, with my daw, can be manipulated as I wish, so haven't found an issue with the pups either.
I'm 100% pointing people their way.
I don't expect every instrument they send out will be as good as what I received, but at the price, I can't see how it's not a no-brainer!
The first tune I learned on it was Schism, followed by Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, which was a bit more of a workout, but still felt very comfortable.
Thank you very much for this video! I am currently in the research phase for getting my first bass which I need to do on a budget and have been looking at Harley Benton already. I actually want a fretless instrument because that's the sound I've fallen in love with and they do a range between £163-£169 depending on how many strings you want. I really need at least the five string version because I mainly already play seven string guitar and I need that B string for working on corresponding bass lines for what I'm already writing. I'm intrigued by the six string though for versatility. My biggest concern is how much jumping in at the deep end starting bass on both six string and fretless would be.
The Polar aurora sounded the best by far in all playing examples in my opinion.
All are acceptable for the price though.
I got myself a Harley Benton PB-20 because I needed a cheap simple bass to have some fun recording at home with. Since I'm nickel allergic I knew that new strings was needed so I got myself a decent set of coated strings which made a huge difference soundwise. Ok so I'm wellversed when it comes to setting up instruments I was prepared for that. But all I needed was some finegrain sandpaper to fix the fretsprouts, some fine steelwool for fretpolish and some lemonoil for the fretboard and after that some stringheight adjustments and now I'm a happy camper with a nice awesome looking wellplaying bass(satin black is sooo beautiful). And I would add that all of these adjustments are so easy for even a beginner to do it's a non issue really.
UA-cam is full of great videos explaining and showing how to do some basic setup.
Anyway great video:)
I think the Harley Benton and Polar Aurora have better tones having bottom end while allowing a warm, distinct mid and crisp highs with all of the overtone harmonics throughout.
Definitely the same ones I picked
That’s what I heard too. They have the same warmth as my SGR promo model
tbh u guys do an amazing job not only did you help me in the buying process but u also helped me learn the bass i havent even had a bass for over a month now i started playing 3 weeks ago and ive come so far thnx to u
my first bass was that same exact harley benton bass, and while it served me well for my early days of learning and playing bass, filing down the frets is a must, and my neck was no where near set the right way, lucky i had a friend who had been playing electric guitar for quite some years when i started playing bass and he imidiately noticed and helped me fix the issue.
my best advise if you only have about $100 to spend on a beginner bass, get the harley benton, take it to you local guitar store, and have them service it for your or look up online how to service and fix those common issues.
once its set up, its a good beginner bass
I have a Harley Benton PB-50 and love it. Substantial weight, plays great and looks excellent.
I’ve had mid-range basses in the past and holds up pretty well. I used to love the tone of my Epiphone Thunderbird but absolutely hated the ridiculous neck dive.
I’ve had two Warwick’s that were obviously both amazing but I’m not sure I would pay the price difference now.
let me tell a story. About 20 years ago i went shopping around for a bass just to lay down tracks with. I found a PB copy called a Probe. Still no idea where it was manufactured, but I thought I could improve the sound with better pickups. I bought Fender pickups for it, but discovered that the original pickups sounded better than the Fender replacement ones!
Unless you live in Germany, it's hard to walk into a store and test out any Harley B. products.
They do not have any retail network in my experience.
HOWEVER,
I have been buying HB guitars regularly for the past 8 years and they have ALL been VERY
good guitars...WAY better than their price tags would indicate.
Thinking back, I have owned 11 HB guitars and currently own 2...
They have ALL been super nice players and I've never had a problem trying to sell
HB's on the used market...Superb values IMO...
True, but you can have a HB shipped to your location and return it. I have shipped stuff back to Thomann with no issue, and the same should be true in at least some other EU countries.
And they now have a reverb store for dedicated sales in the US w/free shipping
11? wow
I have a Harley Benton PB 50 and it's fantastic! It's a 51 P-bass style affair (single pickup, non-staggered, a bit like Sting's nice 51) and it was ordered online. It has fantastic tone and lot of low end and output... plus I personally like the tone of that single coil very much. But I had to do minor setup - lowering the strings a wee bit, lowering the pickup to allow for reduced action, and had to compensate a bit with the trussrod- mostly because I changed the whole geometry as I like real low action even on basses. The most dramatic difference in output was after I changed strings. Got some nice flatwounds.. it is heaven now. I can directly compare it to my other cheapo basses : a second hand short scale EB-0 - that one has a particular pickup, the sidewinder (or mudbucker) and I heard it described as a "dark thumper", and has a lot more low end and mids but a lower output - but I also enjoy its sounds- and to a Cort JB bass - this one has weaker pickups but with nice tones with a pre also. Compared to my last bass, a Hora HS 6 string , its output is lower but has great clarity. So yeah, a Harley Benton with nice lows and rich mids, a bit heavy overall, no fret sprout or mechanical issues.. electrics are okay too...I should just compare it to a real P from 51 to know more, but I expect it to be higher output and a little bit more tight in the mids compared to most other cheap ones.
I got the Harley Benton Model in stealth black and it's an absolute bang for the buck. Playability is great and it sounds very decent for the price. And with the all black hardware it just looks incredible. Greetings from Germany 👋🙂
Wake up babe. New BassBuzz video!
Thanks. Excellent review as always. Wow, a set up for $25 or $30. That seems like the price from 10 year ago or longer ago.
yeah, try three times that
a buddy of mine turned me on to a bass learning program, which got me thinking of an affordable bass. several videos later I realize you're the guy in those videos. You rock. I still haven't decided on a bass yet, but You rock!.
Some really good bass playing on this demo. I didn't notice any tonal difference among all of them. So that's a good thing, so it comes down to neck and set-up.
You know, they all sounded pretty decent. Pretty amazing actually. A long time ago cheap instruments really used to sound cheap. Nice comparison. I almost bought one of the Glarry basses but instead I found a used Squier J (display model) at Guitar Center for nearly the same price and am really happy with it.
I think some of these cheap basses are great for a beginner. my first bass was like a $120 rogue 4 string, and it got me into playing bass. ended up switching from a being a low brass player to bass in my high school jazz band. these cheap basses get something into new players hands that they can mess around with without a lot of initial investment, and its good enough to work for hobby players. i only sold mine cause i needed money for a plane ticket when i moved
Polar Aurora: love at first sound... WHAT A ROAR!!!! Great video Josh, as usual!!!!
Squier PJ Affinity is my first (and still my only) bass, and it's been working great so far! There are some minor issues here and there (certain frets buzz more than others) but for a $220 bass, its really good.
I have that bass, it wasn’t my first but it works like a charm, especially for its price
The Affinity and Classic Vibe series are both awesome across the board.
That was my first too, and don’t get me wrong it still does the job. However, I do distinctly remember something always feeling a bit “off” about the feel of it. Once I got my first upgrade (Squier Classic Vibe, so still pretty budget) this bass has always just felt a million times better than the affinity, but I still can’t really put my finger on exactly what it was that bugged me about it.
Last October I bought the Squier PJ bass. It was my first after playing guitar for many years. It took me less than two weeks to have a good groove to play.
Its a great instrument. Ive had a fret or two that I've hit the wrong angle and almost cut me. It went from America out to the dry desert of Kuwait. After 2-3 months, I had changed the strings to an Ernie Ball, adjusted the neck, and saddles. The most impressive thing is that it holds the tune better than any guitar I've owned.
Great reviews and great advice as always!
Loved your 5 cheap bass comparison video. I have a Glarry 5 string bass last year, and, yes, it does have that neck-dive feature due to the lightness of the wood used for the body. My Glarry did not have any problems at all with sharp frets jutting out from the fingerboard, thus the instrument presented no cut or shredding hazards. Its setup right out of the box was very good. Intonation only needed work on the A and D strings. It has two pickups. While attempting to adjust pickup height, the bridge pickup apparently came unglued from the plastic housing making it sink into the body a bit, but it's still playable. I'll order two better p/u's from Stew Mack and when I install new ones I'll add some foil paper in the rheostat compartment and insure that the instrument has a grounding wire connected to the bridge and strings. There's too much hum when the instrument is connected to the church's PA analog mixer even using a passive direct box. Its strings have a nice Nashville twanginess, but they're round-wound with lots of zips and zings from finger movements, which I'll correct with some flat-wound strings to yield a more mellow tone.
Last time I was this early Jacos bass still had frets
this is actually original!
You won the internet today, very clever
Jaco played a fretted Jazz quite a bit
I recently bought a Glarry J bass just to mess around with and the first thing I did was pull it apart and line the electronics cavities with foil tape. I do that to all my basses to eliminate hum. Try it, it works! Also replaced the tuners, put a Hipshot kick ass bridge ( cost almost as much as the bass lol ) for more sustain and to add some weight. Lastly I strung it up with some DR Black Beauties 45-105. Oh, new string tree as well. The pickups that came in it actually aren't that bad, so I put em back in. The frets were fine so I left them alone too. I know I spent way more modding it than it's worth, lol, but it actually sounds as good as my Japanese made Jazz at probably a third of the price.
I got two Harley-Bentons myself and they are worth the money, even better i must say.Well built, well adjusted.
I own a Harley Benton PJ-5 HTR Deluxe Series and it plays great!
I love the juicy split coil sound, love the 5th string
And this bass also sounds great with tons of distortion
Harley Benton is so underrated (also the guitars)
I don't even own a bass but loooove this channel
Well he just showed you some affordable options......git in there!! 🤘
Been there some time ago, now I gave the step of buying one and I'm deeply in love whit it, save some and get one, I know you want it ;)
Haha I’m the same, just discovering this channel though. My girlfriend bought a Yamaha bass years and years ago, never played it. So, weirdly I’m just looking into basses and I’m realising how solid a bass it is
Nobody EVER truly owns a bass, we just use them until it's time for another to use them. ♻️
Paving never heard of the brand until just a few minutes ago, I have to say the Polar Aurora is my favorite by sound. I like my bass being out front and in it (unless the song/style needs a more subdued tone), and the PA just seemed to be out there with more presence....
Overall, they all sound pretty decent.
I bought a glarry to hold me over while I was away on military duty for 3 months. It did it's job but the frets were sharp and the tuning keys were loose like he said. I bought a squier maple neck and fretboard with lacquer finish on it and slapped it on the glarry. Also changed the pickups out and added a thumb rest and it's amazing now. So great mod bass if anyone is interested
My 1st Bass was a $100 epiphone that I bought at my local Daddy's Junky Music. Almost a dozen years later I bought a brand new Schecter. $100 bucks is definitely worth it for a starter instrument, especially when you still need to buy an amp.
Oooh, shiny! I started with an Ibanez last year and I'm also looking at a Schecter. (They have an excellent lefty selection) which model did you choose?
One of the best basses I've ever had was a Squier VM Jazz bass. It had really great action and sounded good too. IMO, Squier makes a great bass!
My first bass was a Harley Benton like this, bought from the money I earned during a summer work in highschool. Years after I switched to a Cort Curbow. What a difference :) But still kept the old Harley, just for the memories :)
Great job ! A fun and informative video. CNC is the game changer that made "cheap" basses and guitars playable.
Fit and finish is always labor intensive and so skimped on with super cheap instruments. I would not be surprised
to find most of these using the exact same pickup bulk supplier. Would like to see a "shootout" like this with
affordable ($350-$550 or so) basses and $1500 plus ones of the same model type. (yes - I own both myself)
The super light bodies are mostly Basswood and sometimes Agathis. With my bad back I actually like them!
My heaviest is a 1978 Fender P Bass with a custom body made of Shedua - 12 lbs!
Born to rock! What is there left to say about THE classic bass sound? With its lush black finish and powerful sound, Harley Benton PB-20 BK is built for rock and roll. The poplar body ensures a wonderfully light weight while the maple neck gives you a snappy attack. The signal from the HB PB Ceramic split-coil pickups is sculpted via the onboard passive electronics, delivering a thundering rock tone like the one that’s graced thousands of legendary recordings from decades of rock history!
Every appearance by Noob Josh just makes me laugh so hard.
dorky nerd
Noob Josh is Pee Wee Hermann's son for sure.
I love Noob Josh. I hope the character never retires.
As a noob player named Josh I find these videos super personalised
I bought a Harley Benton MB4 (Sterling Ray4 copy) and it is a nice bass and not just for the price. It did need a good setup (which cost about $60). The fret ends were sharp and the nut was cut too high, but after the setup it's a nice giggable bass. I'm really impressed with the quality.
I have 4 different glarry basses. They all played and sounded great out of the box. Plus I also have some higher end model basses. After a long night of gigging the glarry basses are alot easier on the shoulder. 😁
Back when I was a kid in 1966 I went to Manny’s on 47th st in NYC. I was looking for a good bass to replace my Fire engine red Hagstrom. Henry showed me this sunburst thing with a really wide neck. He said it was a very good instrument that I would enjoy for years to come. So plunked down my hard earned $160 + tax and walked out with this fantastic Fender precision bass with a heavy hardshell case. How times change.
My favorite sounds were definitely the first two. The Glarry and the Harley Benton. I also feel that they’d be the best to play, based on all the positive reviews. Plus, they’re actually brands and not weird Ebay no-names lol.
I got a Glarry five string. Replaced the pickups and bridge. It needed fretwork and of course a setup and sounds great. I have about $350 in it.
I bought the Polar Aura one on Amazon around 2017 when I was just learning how to play the bass. It has a good enough tone and playability to really get you into playing, but I did end up getting something better. I never actually broke or changed the strings on it and after about 6 years it still holds up to a good slapping lol
After 50 years of playing, I found that the setup and strings count the most over price. I'm pretty sure the higher price basses reflect the extra time for setup which is something you can do on your own. I owned a 1960 Fender Precision in the 70s, sold it in the 80s. Then in the 2000s, got back into bass playing and bought a used Squier bass. Did a thorough setup, installed light gauge flat wound strings and it sounded as good and played better then my 1960 Fender Precision. Since then I've had a Squire fretless jazz bass (great bass), Fender Precision, Gibson EB0 which I didn't like the sound, 5 string ESP with active pickups and a few others. All were inexpensive basses and played very well after setup. One bass that I really didn't like was the original Hofner "Beatle" bass that I had briefly in the 70s. It had horrible sound and action. If you plucked the string a little too much, it would overdrive your amp with a "blyat" (to appropriately use a Russian expression). It was passed around from musician to musician for $50 because that was all it was worth.
Dude the polar tone was awesome. Makes me want to get one. Cut nicely
$20 or $30 for a setup?????? Not around here! A bass setup is $80. Also, I actually do recommend a cheap instrument to start with. By the time that you notice that it does not sound and play the way that you want, you will also have a better idea of what kind of bass fits you. And, some people cannot afford a $200 to $350 set up. Your kid wants to play the bass, but will he/she? I have three Glarry basses and six Firefly guitars. There is something to be said for all of these and it is not negative by a long shot. There are bad cheap instruments out there for sure, but these are lightyears better than the cheap instruments that I faced 30 years ago.
Just do the setup yourself
bro, where do you live... I live in Los Angeles and can get a bass or guitar setup for 40-50 bux. Also why do you own 3 Glarry basses?
I live in Peoria Illinois. I misspoke, I have bought three Garry bassas, I have one standard P bass and a fretless P bass. The other I gave to a friends granddaughter for Christmas. The standard P bass I bought to try a P bass out. I had never played one before, also I wanted a bass just for upstairs. The fretless was to try out and for that price.... why not?
Try a luther
@@teemoleague907 I do. Josh's Guitars in Pekin, IL. Great work, still expensive.
Would've liked to see you mess with a Rogue. My first bass was a Rogue that was barely a hundred bucks and I still play it and love the tone and playability.
I"m with you on the sound, all sound fine for the price. I am a noob and bought a brand new Glarry jazz bass for 53 bucks, i had to for that price and the reviews were surprisingly good. It also came with a little amp and strap. Thank you for making this video so alot of us beginers and people leaning towards picking up playing bass can choose something cheap but decent to play and not be out hundreds of dollars if it doesnt work out.
That polar aurora bass was my first bass. I got it as a christmas gift combined with my then upcoming 14th birthday. Was better than my current one
6:18 Wynona's Big Brown Beaver! I love this bassline!
Primus sucks
Primus is amazing
Always brilliant advice. I got my first base from a company outside London (Dartford) called Axe. It was an awful piece of detritus to be honest but cost £60 new.
Nice playing, you're grooving hard bro
Not a big gear guy (despite making instruments in my free time), but I loved the Polar Aurora, with the Harley Benton as a close second. I liked how the Polar cut through the mix better (maybe a bit more treble?)
Differences in sound were really subtle. Having dealt with neck dive in my early years of playing this is key for me.
I I wonder whether they were made in the same factory and then labelled up.
Ding you win the prize! They probably were
During the first part of the blind test, my impression was that the tone was actually pretty similar but the second bass was being played in a more precise way and the first was played more inconsistently. I guess you did this test thoroughly, so this is surely due to the overall build quality. Then on round 2 I didn't really like the "zingy" sound of bass 2, but it should be easy to tone down in EQ, I believe.
I purchased a $100 used Rogue LX205B 5-string 10 years ago, and immediately put GHS Boomer Mediums and a proper setup on it. I'm happy with it.
Josh you got me to actually put my bass down(I was oddly playing my Glarry 5 string,lol)and pay attention,lol 😆😆