Harley Benton MSB-5: Multiscale, 5-String-Bass with Humbuckers
The proggiest bass of them all!
4,8 / 5,0 | 
Harley Benton MSB-5: 5-String, Multiscale Bass with Humbuckers · Source: Harley Benton
The Harley Benton MSB-5 looks to be aimed at beginners who also love prog music. The MSB-5 DLX series included two active humbuckers, a multiscale neck, and four outrageous colors. Let’s check them out!
Harley Benton MSB-5 DLX: Sparkle, Sparkle, Little Bass
It’s a sparkling affair for the Harley Benton MSB-5 basses. Emerald Sparkle, Amethyst Sparkle, Black Burl, and Flip Flop Blue are the four new colors. And, boy, do they look funky. This beauty will fit right into any Prog, Disco, or 70s Rock band, no questions asked! Even the headstock comes in the respective color!
It might be aimed at beginners and hobbyists, but the Harley Benton MSB-5 still impresses with its stas. Okoume body, maple top, five-piece neck made of roasted maple and Okoume, Canadian maple fretboard – solid basics! For the fretboard, it’s either Canadian maple (Emerald Sparkle, Amethyst Sparkle, and Flip Flop Blue) or Amaranth (Black Burl).
It’s also a 5-string model, and, something unheard of in this price range, with a multiscale neck (846/889 mm (33.3″ & 35″) multiscale. You also get a varying neck thickness from 21.5 mm on the first fret to 22.5 mm on the twelfth thread, plus 3mm luminary glow-in-dark side dots and 24 stainless-steel frets.
Active Humbuckers
Each of the four basses comes with two 2x HBZ custom-wound humbucker ferrite pickups. These are active pickups, also a rarity in this price region, which allow for much higher output levels. There is also a switch to change their operational mode to passive if so desired.
As for controls on the Harley Benton MSB-5, you get master volume and master tone controls, with push/pull functionality and active/passive switching. There is also a three-band eq on the bass with controls for bass, mids, and treble.
As for the all-black hardware, there are Jinho die-cast tuners and four Rising BA-1011 fingernail bridges.
How much does the Harley Benton MSB-5 cost?
As Harley Benton has repeatedly proven, the HB MSB-5 DLX basses are respectable instruments at a very attractive price. The basses cost €349.00 and will soon be available here at Thomann*.
More on the Harley Benton MSB-5
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