I've owned quite a few acoustic and electric-acoustic basses in the past (full scale) and have always been disappointed with either the acoustic or electric sound. This time I'm not, this bass is great.
The Harley Benton GS-Travel-E Bass (Spruce) arrived as quickly as possible, nicely packed and with a hardy gig-bag. It is smaller that expected (which is a plus) but 100% corresponding to the specifications on the site, great sound, very light and aesthetically pleasing.
Pros:
- Great acoustic sound for daily practice and even acoustic jams. Have already duo-ed with an acoustic guitarist and it was loud enough.
- Excellent plugged sound on small and medium amps without any feedback (even inside a small improvised recording studio).
- Unmatched portability, with a high quality beautiful gig-bag and due to it's size/weight you can pretty much take it anywhere without hassle.
- Quality materials, it feels sturdy, well glued and hardy.
- Aesthetically pleasing, the different woods' contrast and a simple rosetta makes this bass very well balanced visually, smooth and elegant.
- The smaller scale neck is a plus, might be difficult for some users to get used to but i got to it quickly, the fret navigation is smooth and fast.
- Frets are well cornered, it doesn't cut you
- Nicely calibrated and responsiveness to harmonics
Cons:
- The factory strings are a bit "meh"
- Action is a bit high (not excessive like many other acoustic basses), but easily fixable by pulling out the white bridge plastic and file it down a bit.
- The neck's head sticker's glue is hard to remove! careful not to scratch your bass with your nails when removing it.
- Very minor details in the finishes like an extremely small scratch near the neck/rosetta under the varnish
- The varnish is Matte! not my favorite but not a big deal, just keep that in mind.
- The tuning knobs are not top of the line but they do their job well
- Very minor micro-smudges of glue near the neck connection and bridge, something that wouldn't happen with a top tier luthier but it is to be expected for the price range (not really perceivable for most untrained eyes).
- The sticker inside the body is not very visually pleasing, just a matter of tastes but I don't like the plain white rectangle.
Conclusion: The bass is fantastic, my favorite acoustic ever, the PROS are way heavier than the CONS, and the cons are just minor picky things that i noticed that don't really affect the instrument's general feel, just wanted to be fair and add some balance to my positives.
Absolutely worth it, recommended and even encouraged to buy. Even if the price was higher it would still be worth it.
Thanks Thomann!
