Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black

119

Acoustic Bass

Design: Roundback with cutaway
Top: Spruce
Body: ABS Super Shallow Bowl
Neck: Mahogany
Neck profile: Modern C
Fingerboard: Roseacer
Fingerboard radius: 400 mm
20 Frets
Multi-ply ABS body binding
ABS neck binding
Scale: 869 mm
Nut width: 42 mm
Bridge: Blackwood
Die-cast machine heads
Dual-Action truss rod
Factory strings: HB .040 - .100
Pickup system with 4-band EQ
Colour: Black, high-gloss

30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

3-Year Thomann Warranty

Available since September 2017

Item number 410339

Sales Unit 1 piece(s)

Colour Black

Top Spruce

Back and Sides Plastics, Synthetics

Neck Mahogany

Fretboard Roseacer

Incl. Pickup System Yes

Incl. Case No

Includes Gigbag No

Scale Longscale

B-Stock from £108 available

£117

Including VAT; Excluding £10 shipping

Sales Rank

in 4-String Acoustic Basses

Bundles & offers

Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black B-Stock
May have slight traces of use

£108

Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black Bundle

£133

Create your own bundle

starting from £145

Up to 8% discount

An afforable start for unplugged musicians

acoustic bass Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black

The Harley Benton HBO-850 is a four-string acoustic bass that offers an affordable point of entry into the world of unplugged music. The instrument's round back ensures comfortable playability without the player needing much time to get used to it, even if they are coming from the electric bass. Even a pickup including a four-band EQ and a tuner are included. The HBO-850 is an attractive and flexible companion for all those looking for an acoustic bass that they can start playing right away without having to dig too deep into their pocket.

Preamp in the ABS body of the Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black

Smart combination of materials

The top of the HBO-850 is made of spruce and the body of a composite material called ABS. The latter is shaped into a curved "Super Shallow Bowl" form which fits comfortably against the upper body and arm and makes for comfortable playability as well as perfect ergonomics. ABS is of course also mostly unaffected by climatic fluctuations, which is particularly important when playing outdoors. For easy access to the upper registers and to fully utilise the potential of all 20 frets on the roseacer fingerboard, the HBO-850 also features a cutaway for the fretting hand. The mahogany neck sports a modern C-profile, making you quickly feel at home as well. The HBO-850 cuts a fine figure when amplified thanks to its pickup system and four-band EQ. This allows the sound to be adjusted to suit the individual needs of the player, and annoying feedback can be avoided as well. All the while, the integrated tuner keeps everything at the right pitch.

black spruce top on the Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black

Acoustic or amplified? Or both?

The Harley Benton HBO-850 is clearly aimed at musicians who appreciate an acoustic instrument with an authentic look and sound. The HBO-850 features a pickup system with an integrated four-band EQ should you need to use an amplifier, but it's otherwise loud enough for use at home or around the campfire - so you are well-prepared for any situation. Since acoustic basses are often used as second instruments, you won't want to re-acclimatise yourself too much or invest a lot of money, and all of this has been taken into account in the design and pricing of the HBO-850.

About Harley Benton

Since 1998, the Harley Benton brand has been catering for the needs of numerous guitarists and bassists. In addition to an extensive range of stringed instruments, Thomann's house brand also offers a wide choice of amplifiers, speakers, effect pedals, and other accessories. In total, the range includes over 1,500 products. Built by established names in the industry, all Harley Benton products combine quality and reliability at attractive and affordable prices. The continuous expansion of the range ensures that Harley Benton always provides new, exciting, and innovative products that keep players perfectly in tune with the musical world, day after day.

Built to last

For more than 20 years now, there has been no end to the popularity of unplugged music. Hardly any concert can do without an acoustic set, and live on stage both the sound and the look have to match. The HBO-850 provides both, and thanks to its ABS body, it is also resistant to the rigours of everyday life on stage, where climatic changes and minor bumps are inevitable. But don't worry, the HBO-850 is built to take it.

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119 Customer ratings

5 69 Customers 4 33 Customers 3 13 Customers 2 4 Customers 1 0 Customers

4.4 / 5

features

sound

quality

Review guidelines

88 Reviews

A very good option for beginners

Mamede 24.07.2020

For the price range, I can say that it was a great surprise.
When I tried it for the first time, I has some buzz on the 5th and 6th fret for the 2nd and 3rd string. After adjusting the truss rod I got it working just fine.
The wood overlay over the body was quite rough, so I used a very thin sand paper to smoothen it out, and the result was just fantastic. Now it is so smooth that many times I am using the holes to rest my thumb while I play.

The tuner doesn’t work that well, but since I use my phone to tune the bass, I do not find that a negative point, but I do understand that it may be a problem for some people.

The inlays on the neck are just beautiful.

The sound of the bass is great and after you get used to the round body back, it feels very comfortable.

For a beginners bass, I would never give more than 4 stars, and I can tell you that this bass goes up to the max. If I hadn’t fix the buzz by adjusting the truss rod It would be 3 star bass; and by sanding that body overlay gave the finishing of the bass a near 5 star.
Overall, and if you are just looking for a bass to start, I do recommend it.

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Great Bass

Cino 02.04.2022

Great Amazing Bass For The Price Point

the tuner's are however complete and utter garbage

here's a better idea harley benton
ur guitars and bass's are a great upgrade platform value

how about u keep the junk pot metal tuners next time and just discount the bass accordingly,i think u would be suprised how many orders you would get for guitars without tuners, pickups, or even bridges because players tend to swap these components out regardless and we're just filling up landfills with poor quality pot metal hardware that shouldn't be wasted in the first place

maybe offer 1 or 2 models to guage the interest

but offer them finished but without the low quality electronics/tuners

allowing the customer to add there own

however make stipulations where customer's can't modify the tuner peg hole's stuff like that for your return etc

or make the product non returnable

but offer one strat or single cut style guitar but without the low quality stuff loaded and have that also be reflected in the price of the product and i think you would be suprised

it would be like opening up a harley benton custom shop
but on a reasonably priced scale

so long story short the stock tuner's are about to go in the trash in canada

had to replace them with Profile tuners, bass plays amazingly well after i oiled the fretboard and it's time to slappa da bass

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Not a bad place to start

Big J 04.02.2022

It's a beautiful looking instrument!
It plays okay, some fun buzzy noises on various frets. Anything around the 12th fret sounds a little tinny. Decent tone for the price.

If you're looking for a place to start, it isn't bad. You could learn a few things and save on the cost of an amp upfront.

I picked this up as something to have in the car for the odd impromptu acoustic jams and it's been decent for that.

Tuner and pick up are nice to have, wouldn't want to be relying on the tuner too much, however.
When I've gone into my amp, in fairness, it sounds pretty epic and much better than I expected.

Some EQ settings on there too which is kinda cool I suppose, can't say I've used em.

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For the price? Yeah, great!

The Geoff 04.09.2023

I've been learning for about a year now, starting with a cheap electric rescued from a skip and then a Cort Action PJ, but I wanted an acoustic for general practice/travel where I didn't have to be plugged in to an amp. Several people warned me off acoustic bass guitars ("too quiet", "you need an upright to play acoustically with a band"), but for my purposes this is just what I was after. Nope, not hugely loud and resonant, but for practising on your own with minimal faff it's great. Finish isn't perfect, but decent enough. Fretboard is a bit noisy on unintended taps , but it's my first day with it, and I've already found a technique to minimise that that may help my electric technique (finger ON the frets, not behind them).

Plus you can plug it it...it sounds...louder! And there's a built in tuner that is close enough to my newbie's ear.

The best acoustic you can buy? I seriously doubt it. A perfectly good acoustic bass for £129? Totally, I'm very happy with it.

Bonus point to Thomann for excellent service, cheap delivery to the Scottish Highlands (UK companies frequently add £30 for that), and not pestering me for a review...which is why I'm unusually doing a review.

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Harley Benton HBO-850 Bass Black

Acoustic Bass