Harley Benton TB-70VS Deluxe Series

Overview:
I picked up this bass to complement my HB JB-75. I wanted somthing that looked and sounded completely different. After looking at all of the available HB basses, the BT-70 seemed to be exactly what I needed. Already being the owner of a FB, I was accustomed to the body shape and the way it balanced. As I recall, it shipped quickly and arrived well packed.

Looks:
The first thing I noticed after opening the box was how nice the finish on the body looked. The mahogony body had beutiful grain showing through the transparent parts of the burst finish. Although this bass is set neck, the raised center section gives it the appearence of a neck through design. There were no blemishes that I could find in the finish on either the neck or the body.

Build Quality:
I can't find anything to complain about here. The tuners were all put in stright, the frets aren't sharp, and the pickguard isn't bad. The poly finish seems a little thick on the neck (I prefer thin satin finishes), but at this price point that seems to be the norm rather than the exception. Nothing I can't live with. As for the electronics, all of the pots turn smoothly and without any audible noise. The push-pull pot snaps cleanly into each position.

Sound:
This bass is capable of producing a pretty wide range of sounds. I have never owned a guitar or bass with active electronics before. Each pickup has its own unique voice. The bridge is bright and punchy while the neck provides great lows. I like to keep the mix around 60% neck 40% bridge.

Conclusion:
If you are looking for an inexpensive bass that stands out from all of the PBs and JBs out there, this might be the bass for you. Its a bit on the heavy side, and the body sits a little odd (if you are not used to a FB/TB style body), but if those aren't deal breakers this guitar is worth it.

I got one of these because I'd like to have a Thunderbird without paying the Thunderbird price. These guitars are equivalent to the Epiphone models, and maybe a little better in terms of how they sound.

What you won't be getting out of these is that more vintage Gibson T-bird tone (not without some effects modeling and tone shaping at least), so as long as you have those expectations you'll be very pleased with this bass.

The bass is absolutley beautiful. Fit and finish are fantastic, and like normal with HB, the bass was set up perfectly out of the box. Neck relief and action height were already right where I like them, all I had to do was tune it! That's super impressive and it speaks very highly not just of HB's QC process but also of how stabile this guitar is if it can traverse half the world and be exposed to a variety of climates and still be set perfectly out of the box.

Tone is awesome. It's got a very thumpy, rich low end and a throaty, growly, almost MM-esque high end. If you want to get rid of that high end and try for a more vintage TB tone, you can roll off the treble a bit and get pretty close. Crank in some mids and OD on an amp or a pedal board and you're in the ballpark of the vintage TB tone used by people like Jared Followill from Kings of Leon.

The volume knob is push-pull. Pushed in runs both pickups in series and pulled out runs the bridge pickup.

This bass does a great job at capturing the TB tone and feel, but not the TB price. I highly recommend it if that's what you're looking for.

First the good: This bass is very comfortable to play sitting down. The finish is lovely and without blemishes. The shape is unique and cool. The reverse head stock helps with drop tuning. The active preamp gives this instrument a lot of range which makes it appropriate for a wide variety of styles. The sound is clear and punchy and it responds very well to a variety of effects.

Now the bad: The gunmetal chrome looks cheap and scratches easily. Regular silver chrome or black looks much better. The pickguard doesn't look great, and the lines don't match up with the lines of the lower horn. The controls don't allow for using the bridge pickup on its own. This could be fixed with a second volume control or a blend control. The strap button locations are terrible, the bass neck dives and makes playing standing up very challenging. This is fixed by moving one button to the heel, and the other higher up, about half way between the center line and the top of the upper rear point. The branding on the head stock looks incredibly cheesy. "Progressive series" should be omitted, and the HB logo should be about twice the size, and in either white or gold. The fixes are fairly simple, and I think they would make this bass a great instrument.