Thank you for all the comments and support! 2020 has really been a disaster and I've stopped onetakereviews as my town was hit by a series of earthquakes in early 2020 + aftershocks until late autumn 2020. Just as a last reminder that 2020 isn't finished yet, we had another pair of earthquakes in late December of 2020. + coronavirus and lockdowns. Working in those conditions was incredibly hard and I could not create quality content for you. But, fear not, 2021. is here, and I will be making more reviews (modded HBs, Sires, etc) for you. That is a promise. Thank you once again for all the love and support! See you soon! 🤗 Igor.
Very informative review! I especially like the information you provide about the rear pickup, the B-string-through-the-bridge issue, and the string-height fix. Two issues I'm always concerned with are the weight of the instrument, and (most importantly) the string spacing, as I'm a longtime Steinberger user and it has 16mm spacing. I've tried (and failed miserably) at 18mm spacing; at my age my muscle-memory is reluctant to adapt...
Great reviews sir, thank you. It would seem, and I can confirm, that a MM style pickup needs to be wired in parallel to get a more “vintage” tone. This is also effected by it being wired with another pickup (using the same preamp) So it can’t sound exactly like a Stingray. I have used a cheap Chinese MM style pickup (Wired with a series/parallel switch) and a mini humbucker neck pickup, on a Squier P bass, along with a cheap Chinese preamp. It sounds great.
hej! New pickup is great. but i've also sold the bass. Now i'm playing the 4 string version of MP with alnico V passive P and MM pickups. Imho, P sounds so good i don't even use the bridge pickup th-cam.com/video/Podfz6DEyI8/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=IgorVuk
Since I've got my own MP I found out what is the matter with the MM pickup on the bridge. It seems that Rosewell pickups are wired as single mode instead of parallel (which is the classic sound of Music Man). This means that ,even selecting both pickups in parallel, you get a lot of the MM pickup in the mix and sounds weird. Even though I discovered that if you blend the switch a little towards the P pickup from the middle position you get an awesome bridge sound perfect for soloing (kinda of jazzy soloist sound) I'm going to add a switch for the bridge pickup to select parallel or single mode and have the best of both worlds.
hey, what you said got me thinking, so , i tried wiring the MM pickup as single coil. i got 4 string MP enhanced and ran it passive (VVT) with cheapo no name alnico P pickup from aliexpress and also, no name alnico MM from alixpress. only one coil of MM is wired (the one closer to the P pickup). Sounds, hands down, like the best PJ bass i've played. next up, i'm going to wire the switch (i do have installed but it's dummy - not wired to anything), so i can have single - both - other single coil for MM pickup: check out the video on my private channel : th-cam.com/video/Podfz6DEyI8/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=IgorVuk
Try switching pickups. Put the neck pickup on the bridge position and the bridge pickup on the neck position. See if you like that. If you like how it sounds, great. next, try using some long lasting- coated strings, like elixirs 32-135. set up the bass, clean the fretboard, set the action as low as you can and then raise it until it's comfortable to play and it doesn't buzz. Try removing the preamp and running it passive (VVT). If that doesnt help, try playing around with compressor/limiter. i found out that using limiter, compresor and a bit of drive (set to 0,5 / 10) fixes almost every bass. older versions of ibanez sr-s with bartolini mk1 pickups had bartolini mk1 preamp that was just weird. for some strange reason, ibanez was putting neck pickup on bridge position and bridge pickup on the neck position for a while. that helps balance out the sound. last resort would be the pickups. now, see if these fit : www.aliexpress.com/item/4001165041423.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.5e2e349cY4Rkcj&algo_pvid=fb0abc94-3872-4869-9928-17867a22a48d&algo_expid=fb0abc94-3872-4869-9928-17867a22a48d-2&btsid=2100bb4716105255967241560e7814&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
@@parazitoffn9256 to get the best sound from that neck pickup my advice is to wire it in single coil mode. i'll post a video this week. stay tuned! i did it! i fixed the enhanced issues :D
First of all, great review and keep them coming! To the question...do you think it is worth to install some more expensive pickups(~150 euros), especially in bridge position, considering that bass itself is a keeper and quiet comfortable for playing?
yes and no. depends. first of all, imho aftermarket pickups are way overpriced. i had great experiences with 10$ aliexpress pickups. if you really want expensive pickups, go for it. this is a great modding platform.
Hi, thanks for the helpful review! i have a question. How do you notice that the bridge pu is out of fase? I bought a HB MM-85A SB Deluxe Series and I noticed a lot of difference in volume between the various pickup configurations which you can make with the 5-Way pickup switch. Could it be the same problem cause the bass has got the same MM pu's as the MJ 5MN.
I prefer a tapered B string. Used them for 20 years with my yamaha BBG5a and for the last 10 with my sandberg cali PM5. For through body I'd much rather have the A D G strings through body and the E and B through the back of bridge with tapered strings of you can find a set with tapered E and B (I use Warwick blacks).
Hey thanks for demo. I'm tossing up between this or a Marcus miller bass. Have you tried those as a comparison? I also have a Seymour Duncan mm pickup and eq kicking round so I'd be interested to see how those would go
i have v3 miller 2nd gen. They both are great basses, milky is much more "in your face agressive" has larger string spacing sire 5 string, v3 gen2 is a bit more refined, has better frets, tone that is all around more usefull and has less mids and is lighter. so it's up to you. imho if you play heavy music and or with a pick, get milky. if you need something more "jack of all trades", get sire.
@@onetakereviews7358 Cheers, thanks for the info. I think I'll go for a sire v7 vintage if I can get my hands on one. I'm in new Zealand now so no Thomann or Harley Benton. Also being a big Marcus miller fan having a good quality jazz bass seems appropriate
the pickup link is in the description but here you go: www.aliexpress.com/item/32854193401.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dsoGCy1 It's not noisy. have fun! :) also i reccomend replacing neck pickup. you can see here how it sounds with all passive (VVT) setup, and bridge pickup working in single coil mode: th-cam.com/video/Podfz6DEyI8/w-d-xo.html
I don't like hearing about instruments lacking basic features, and this one has 3 out of 3 strikes, it's out of the question. And really, it begs a question whether I should even consider Harley Benton at all? So far I've been playing Ibanez GSR180, I've been destroying that thing for good 12 years before it broke, fantastic bass, not a big sound, not a characteristic sounding bass either, but it was so easy and so versatile that I just learned to love it more than any other bass I tried, including $2000 Fender custom. So now that I'm looking for a replacement, I was looking at Sire V3 and M2 basses, at first I kinda liked them, but the more I listened to them and looked at them, the more I realized how expensive it would be if anything on them broke. So I cut my budget and started looking at the bare bones basses from Harley Benton, the JB 75MN NA Vintage series specifically, only 20 frets, I had to literally rewire my brain to imagine owning a 20 fret instrument, and when I did, I started digging, it's a great looker, seems like a classic, but it sounds like shit. I've looked at every other bass available on Thomann and frankly out of so many choices, there isn't one solid bass I could choose. Every single one of them has a specific flaw that just ruins the experience. So that eliminated the budget basses, the mid range basses and frankly I can't afford the high end basses so there's nothing left to do but go back to Ibanez, the old friend GSR180, no doubt it'll break in 10 years again, but at least its flaws aren't crucial instrument features, like frets, magnets and bridge. Ibanez's weakness are things like the amount of effort it takes to make it sound good, I'm good at that, I can make that bass sing better than any Fender. Then there's the shitty wood, not a problem, just glue it the fuck back on, then there's the electronics, oof, big fucking deal, takes 3 seconds of soldering, voila. No major flaws like Harley Bentons, Cort, Jackson, Dean and really any other bass in this low end-mid range price point. It took a long time, a lot of frustration and many, many hours of research to come to that conclusion, but with this video, it is concluded. The video was helpful, thanks!
yes. you are right, HB enhanced are not plug and play basses, they require a bit of work. right now i have 4 string version of this bass and i've replaced the P pickup with a standard alnico no name aliexpress. also, MM was replaced to standard alnico. i've removed the electronics to only VVT. now, thing is MM and P pickups don't work so well together, irelevant of the pickup brand it seems. so , get this, i've wired MM to only work as a single coil (single M, lol) + P. now i have thick, PJ on steroids sound. HB did fix the bridge issue in 2020 as i've odrered this one in august 2020. all in all, they've made a significant step up in quality, even the color is not the same. they are tinting the necks to "vintage yellow" and body is wither shade of cream. new video is coming up this week. stay tuned. Aside form that i would have to say that HB JB75 are imho best sounding jazz basses i've tried. maybe there was an issue with your bass in particular. i've had 4 of them, every one was great sounding. I've had other people try them and were impressed with how good they sounded. but then again, it could be that you like PJ more than JJ. But yeah, all in all, HB basses are allways lacking something. even JB75 have two major flaws; they are heavy AF and necks are really thick, closer to vintage P basses than to 70's J necks. their guitars on other hand are just crazy good. i have fusion 2 HH oct that's perfect .
@@igorvuk4454 It's nice of them that they improve their products with each batch, I did even more research and somehow landed on Sire M2 and Ibanez EB300, Ibanez is pricey considering that I know how flimsy the body wood is, and Sire might just be the thing I need. I need 22 frets and M2 has 24 and a ton of features same as V3, I think I'm leaning towards it because there's no other choice
well that would be great but i've gave it away (the bass) and i have few of them in line for reviews. considering it all, you can't go wrong even with stock pickup
@@onetakereviews7358 nice. I've ordered the blue one (I've already have jazz with ash body ;-)). And, already heard that bridge pickup doesn't sound very well, despite that the bass is very decent. Great tip, will order ali pickup ;-)
@@pawemartenka2748 i did a milky review. it has better sounding bridge picku imho, but still it could be upgraded. then i decied to put two single coils in it. as in jazz configuration. so i've ordered ceramic single coils that would fit from aliexpress (same retailer store, guitar family). I've had empty MM 5 string shell (without bobin holes) so i've put a J pickup in it, wired the milky in JJ config. it sounds like jazz bass should. a bit more mids and growl imho but that's just the sound i was looking for. that's what Thomann should have done, passive enhanced with those ceramic single coil pickups.
@@onetakereviews7358 I were thinking about that jazz-like model, but P-style with a bit of MM feeling is my choice. These guitars aren't perfect, but still very good ones. I look on thomann website from time to time, but not to often, 'cause I'm afraid of buying new model ;-)
@@pawemartenka2748 for the price they are unbeatable. if you like a bit of DIY go get one. If you are looking for a no fuss 4/5 string jazz get a sire V3 gen2 instead. tighter string spacing, great pickups and preamp, maybe a bit better fretjob (rounded frets) and really lightweight. thomann should look at sire and make a nice enhanced no fuss JJ passive bass. PJ also.
Nice review, thanks even though Ive never heard about issues with the MM pickup. The demos on YT dont mentioned and the Rosewell sound pretty good to me. I just cant believe how an Ali Express chinese pups can be better than the original.
@@onetakereviews7358 well, even certainly is not high tech, some brands prefere to handwound their pickups and select properly their components because it makes a difference. But this is not my point, I watched few demos of the HB Enhanced in YT and everyone were talking about how good the Rosewell MM pickup is. 🤔
i have v3 miller 2nd gen. They both are great basses, milky is much more "in your face agressive" has larger string spacing sire 5 string, v3 gen2 is a bit more refined, has better frets, tone that is all around more usefull and has less mids and is lighter. for heavy, pick and drive : milky for all around jack of all trades jazz bass: sire
@@neil___lien i do have live stream setup but that will come in time. also, milky review is recorded and ready to be released this friday. also, i've moded my milky :) so again, another video for friday after that.
They give TH-camrs perfectly made set up bass's but when you buy any bass or guitar from Thomanns they are ALL microphonic mess's,unplayable...KDH, another TH-camr, bought his pal a guitar without telling them he was a TH-camr....what a mess of an unplayable waste of a tree...that company should be sued for being full of BS...never heard a Harley Benton that worked yet...& no money back though the law says 6 months now not 14 days ?!?!?.... & were not even in the EU anymore...no wonder kids don't want to play guitar or bass anymore,the luv of music has gone replaced with cold hearted business....no more Youth Cults,no more playing with your mates unless your all rich already,no audience as ticket prices are so crazy to see 3 or 4 over aged ,overweight has beens 20 yrs later making a fool of themselves faking it to backing tracks...lol... kids have better things to waste £10,000 on in life....music will soon belong to the rich only...it already does that's why their is no interest anymore from kids as you need a minimum of £10,000+ worth of bass/guitar & another £10,000 min on other gear needed....music companies & guitar/bass makers are living on another planet....well done for destroying the thing we all luvved...crazy, anything for a quick buck ,i wonder how many Les Paul's Gibson sold last month...80 to a bunch of collectors trying to make money out of them by just keeping for a couple of years on a shelf...rock'n'roll is just a sweet memory now..thankfuly i got to live through the late '60's all of the'70's,'80's & '90's...before music died & became an expensive joke for rich kids only now...shame....
I don't like hearing about instruments lacking basic features, and this one has 3 out of 3 strikes, it's out of the question. And really, it begs a question whether I should even consider Harley Benton at all? So far I've been playing Ibanez GSR180, I've been destroying that thing for good 12 years before it broke, fantastic bass, not a big sound, not a characteristic sounding bass either, but it was so easy and so versatile that I just learned to love it more than any other bass I tried, including $2000 Fender custom. So now that I'm looking for a replacement, I was looking at Sire V3 and M2 basses, at first I kinda liked them, but the more I listened to them and looked at them, the more I realized how expensive it would be if anything on them broke. So I cut my budget and started looking at the bare bones basses from Harley Benton, the JB 75MN NA Vintage series specifically, only 20 frets, I had to literally rewire my brain to imagine owning a 20 fret instrument, and when I did, I started digging, it's a great looker, seems like a classic, but it sounds like shit. I've looked at every other bass available on Thomann and frankly out of so many choices, there isn't one solid bass I could choose. Every single one of them has a specific flaw that just ruins the experience. So that eliminated the budget basses, the mid range basses and frankly I can't afford the high end basses so there's nothing left to do but go back to Ibanez, the old friend GSR180, no doubt it'll break in 10 years again, but at least its flaws aren't crucial instrument features, like frets, magnets and bridge. Ibanez's weakness are things like the amount of effort it takes to make it sound good, I'm good at that, I can make that bass sing better than any Fender. Then there's the shitty wood, not a problem, just glue it the fuck back on, then there's the electronics, oof, big fucking deal, takes 3 seconds of soldering, voila. No major flaws like Harley Bentons, Cort, Jackson, Dean and really any other bass in this low end-mid range price point. It took a long time, a lot of frustration and many, many hours of research to come to that conclusion, but with this video, it is concluded. The video was helpful, thanks!
![โรงเรียนดัดสันดาน นักเรียนเถื่อน..!! [โรงเรียนไดเม่]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vRKPeXn4Fl4/mqdefault.jpg)
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for all the comments and support! 2020 has really been a disaster and I've stopped onetakereviews as my town was hit by a series of earthquakes in early 2020 + aftershocks until late autumn 2020. Just as a last reminder that 2020 isn't finished yet, we had another pair of earthquakes in late December of 2020. + coronavirus and lockdowns. Working in those conditions was incredibly hard and I could not create quality content for you.
But, fear not, 2021. is here, and I will be making more reviews (modded HBs, Sires, etc) for you. That is a promise. Thank you once again for all the love and support! See you soon!
🤗
Igor.
Just ordered 2 HB's! Love the zero fret, My students are gonna love these basses. Keep Bangn'. God speed.
Very informative review! I especially like the information you provide about the rear pickup, the B-string-through-the-bridge issue, and the string-height fix. Two issues I'm always concerned with are the weight of the instrument, and (most importantly) the string spacing, as I'm a longtime Steinberger user and it has 16mm spacing. I've tried (and failed miserably) at 18mm spacing; at my age my muscle-memory is reluctant to adapt...
Very good review and yes, we are paying too much for a number of so called premium parts but that is gradually changing.
That bass looks like a beast !
I most certainly want to buy one. 👍
Hi there,
A cheap amp like the line-6 spider flfl speaker would be a great choice regarding this instrument?
Thanks.
yes!
@@igorvuk4454 I mean,
"frfr speaker" a flat target or something, Do you agree with that?
Great reviews sir, thank you. It would seem, and I can confirm, that a MM style pickup needs to be wired in parallel to get a more “vintage” tone. This is also effected by it being wired with another pickup (using the same preamp) So it can’t sound exactly like a Stingray.
I have used a cheap Chinese MM style pickup (Wired with a series/parallel switch) and a mini humbucker neck pickup, on a Squier P bass, along with a cheap Chinese preamp. It sounds great.
oh! thnx! that's great input! :)
Could you give a wiring diagram how to rewire MM bridge pickup from series to parallel?
@@parazitoffn9256 It's been a while. I just Googled it. I'll look around to see if I wrote it down.
Great review!! Does it suffer from neck dive? Thanks!
Thanks for the review. Nice video 🙂👍🏻
Great tutorial/demo. Let us know about the new pickup. Cheers from Stockholm
hej!
New pickup is great. but i've also sold the bass. Now i'm playing the 4 string version of MP with alnico V passive P and MM pickups. Imho, P sounds so good i don't even use the bridge pickup
th-cam.com/video/Podfz6DEyI8/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=IgorVuk
Decent quality stuff coming out of Indonesia. Some Squiers & G&L Tributes are made there.
Hi man! Big up! Hope to see a new video with updated pickups in this HB beasts! Thank you!
Since I've got my own MP I found out what is the matter with the MM pickup on the bridge. It seems that Rosewell pickups are wired as single mode instead of parallel (which is the classic sound of Music Man). This means that ,even selecting both pickups in parallel, you get a lot of the MM pickup in the mix and sounds weird. Even though I discovered that if you blend the switch a little towards the P pickup from the middle position you get an awesome bridge sound perfect for soloing (kinda of jazzy soloist sound) I'm going to add a switch for the bridge pickup to select parallel or single mode and have the best of both worlds.
wow! thnx! :)
hey, what you said got me thinking, so , i tried wiring the MM pickup as single coil. i got 4 string MP enhanced and ran it passive (VVT) with cheapo no name alnico P pickup from aliexpress and also, no name alnico MM from alixpress. only one coil of MM is wired (the one closer to the P pickup). Sounds, hands down, like the best PJ bass i've played. next up, i'm going to wire the switch (i do have installed but it's dummy - not wired to anything), so i can have single - both - other single coil for MM pickup:
check out the video on my private channel :
th-cam.com/video/Podfz6DEyI8/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=IgorVuk
hey igor i have an ibanez bass Sr506 what pickup and wiring can you recomend for my bass from aliexpress?
Try switching pickups. Put the neck pickup on the bridge position and the bridge pickup on the neck position. See if you like that. If you like how it sounds, great. next, try using some long lasting- coated strings, like elixirs 32-135. set up the bass, clean the fretboard, set the action as low as you can and then raise it until it's comfortable to play and it doesn't buzz. Try removing the preamp and running it passive (VVT). If that doesnt help, try playing around with compressor/limiter. i found out that using limiter, compresor and a bit of drive (set to 0,5 / 10) fixes almost every bass.
older versions of ibanez sr-s with bartolini mk1 pickups had bartolini mk1 preamp that was just weird. for some strange reason, ibanez was putting neck pickup on bridge position and bridge pickup on the neck position for a while. that helps balance out the sound.
last resort would be the pickups. now, see if these fit :
www.aliexpress.com/item/4001165041423.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.5e2e349cY4Rkcj&algo_pvid=fb0abc94-3872-4869-9928-17867a22a48d&algo_expid=fb0abc94-3872-4869-9928-17867a22a48d-2&btsid=2100bb4716105255967241560e7814&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
Totally right about low cost upgrades I got a super tight b string on my Ibanez Mikro Bass 5 with a .142 string and a 16$ E-Bay Bridge
Do you still have the original humbucker? I've read some comments on different videos saying that the pickup isnt bad, just wired incorrectly
yes, I've rewired it and it does seem that they wired it wrong. Then again, this aliexpress pickup still sounds better imho.
Maybe you know how to fix the problem with a bridge pickup?
Or maybe you have a link where I can find the answer?
@@parazitoffn9256 to get the best sound from that neck pickup my advice is to wire it in single coil mode. i'll post a video this week. stay tuned! i did it! i fixed the enhanced issues :D
@@igorvuk4454 maybe we can discuss it in Russian?
@@parazitoffn9256 Я не знаю, как говорить по-русски, но мы можем говорить по-хорватски.
First of all, great review and keep them coming! To the question...do you think it is worth to install some more expensive pickups(~150 euros), especially in bridge position, considering that bass itself is a keeper and quiet comfortable for playing?
yes and no. depends. first of all, imho aftermarket pickups are way overpriced. i had great experiences with 10$ aliexpress pickups. if you really want expensive pickups, go for it. this is a great modding platform.
Hi, thanks for the helpful review! i have a question. How do you notice that the bridge pu is out of fase? I bought a HB MM-85A SB Deluxe Series and I noticed a lot of difference in volume between the various pickup configurations which you can make with the 5-Way pickup switch. Could it be the same problem cause the bass has got the same MM pu's as the MJ 5MN.
It sounded thin and not at all like MM should sound.
What is the weight, is it heavy?
On a 34 inch scale, the B string should go thru the body for more tension.
I prefer a tapered B string.
Used them for 20 years with my yamaha BBG5a and for the last 10 with my sandberg cali PM5.
For through body I'd much rather have the A D G strings through body and the E and B through the back of bridge with tapered strings of you can find a set with tapered E and B (I use Warwick blacks).
Dang I though my action was low (1.75mm) 😂🤷🏻♂️
Bridge pup sounds great! How much does this bass weigh?
4.5-4.7 kg
Hey thanks for demo. I'm tossing up between this or a Marcus miller bass. Have you tried those as a comparison?
I also have a Seymour Duncan mm pickup and eq kicking round so I'd be interested to see how those would go
i have v3 miller 2nd gen. They both are great basses, milky is much more "in your face agressive" has larger string spacing
sire 5 string, v3 gen2 is a bit more refined, has better frets, tone that is all around more usefull and has less mids and is lighter.
so it's up to you. imho if you play heavy music and or with a pick, get milky. if you need something more "jack of all trades", get sire.
@@onetakereviews7358 Cheers, thanks for the info.
I think I'll go for a sire v7 vintage if I can get my hands on one. I'm in new Zealand now so no Thomann or Harley Benton. Also being a big Marcus miller fan having a good quality jazz bass seems appropriate
@@arivaneerten548 yup, just keep in mind v7 are heavy basses. :) v3s are much much lighter.
my regards to the green paradise :) lucky you
Give me the link on Aliexpress's pickups you bought for this bass, please.
Is that pickup noisy in compare with stock one?
the pickup link is in the description but here you go:
www.aliexpress.com/item/32854193401.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dsoGCy1
It's not noisy. have fun! :) also i reccomend replacing neck pickup. you can see here how it sounds with all passive (VVT) setup, and bridge pickup working in single coil mode:
th-cam.com/video/Podfz6DEyI8/w-d-xo.html
You HAVE to have a nut prior to a zero fret to divide the string spacing. ALWAYS.
I don't like hearing about instruments lacking basic features, and this one has 3 out of 3 strikes, it's out of the question. And really, it begs a question whether I should even consider Harley Benton at all? So far I've been playing Ibanez GSR180, I've been destroying that thing for good 12 years before it broke, fantastic bass, not a big sound, not a characteristic sounding bass either, but it was so easy and so versatile that I just learned to love it more than any other bass I tried, including $2000 Fender custom.
So now that I'm looking for a replacement, I was looking at Sire V3 and M2 basses, at first I kinda liked them, but the more I listened to them and looked at them, the more I realized how expensive it would be if anything on them broke. So I cut my budget and started looking at the bare bones basses from Harley Benton, the JB 75MN NA Vintage series specifically, only 20 frets, I had to literally rewire my brain to imagine owning a 20 fret instrument, and when I did, I started digging, it's a great looker, seems like a classic, but it sounds like shit.
I've looked at every other bass available on Thomann and frankly out of so many choices, there isn't one solid bass I could choose.
Every single one of them has a specific flaw that just ruins the experience.
So that eliminated the budget basses, the mid range basses and frankly I can't afford the high end basses so there's nothing left to do but go back to Ibanez, the old friend GSR180, no doubt it'll break in 10 years again, but at least its flaws aren't crucial instrument features, like frets, magnets and bridge. Ibanez's weakness are things like the amount of effort it takes to make it sound good, I'm good at that, I can make that bass sing better than any Fender.
Then there's the shitty wood, not a problem, just glue it the fuck back on, then there's the electronics, oof, big fucking deal, takes 3 seconds of soldering, voila. No major flaws like Harley Bentons, Cort, Jackson, Dean and really any other bass in this low end-mid range price point. It took a long time, a lot of frustration and many, many hours of research to come to that conclusion, but with this video, it is concluded. The video was helpful, thanks!
yes. you are right, HB enhanced are not plug and play basses, they require a bit of work. right now i have 4 string version of this bass and i've replaced the P pickup with a standard alnico no name aliexpress. also, MM was replaced to standard alnico. i've removed the electronics to only VVT. now, thing is MM and P pickups don't work so well together, irelevant of the pickup brand it seems. so , get this, i've wired MM to only work as a single coil (single M, lol) + P. now i have thick, PJ on steroids sound. HB did fix the bridge issue in 2020 as i've odrered this one in august 2020. all in all, they've made a significant step up in quality, even the color is not the same. they are tinting the necks to "vintage yellow" and body is wither shade of cream. new video is coming up this week. stay tuned.
Aside form that i would have to say that HB JB75 are imho best sounding jazz basses i've tried. maybe there was an issue with your bass in particular. i've had 4 of them, every one was great sounding. I've had other people try them and were impressed with how good they sounded. but then again, it could be that you like PJ more than JJ.
But yeah, all in all, HB basses are allways lacking something. even JB75 have two major flaws; they are heavy AF and necks are really thick, closer to vintage P basses than to 70's J necks.
their guitars on other hand are just crazy good. i have fusion 2 HH oct that's perfect .
@@igorvuk4454 It's nice of them that they improve their products with each batch, I did even more research and somehow landed on Sire M2 and Ibanez EB300, Ibanez is pricey considering that I know how flimsy the body wood is, and Sire might just be the thing I need. I need 22 frets and M2 has 24 and a ton of features same as V3, I think I'm leaning towards it because there's no other choice
Two questions: 1) How heavy is that bass? 2) Does it have any neck dive?
1) around 4.5 kgs
2) negligible with propper strap
What make and model was the AliExpress pickup? Or can you link to it directly?
th-cam.com/users/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbVZIZEc1emstNFZaaEhDaHg3djZtdE5oT1N4d3xBQ3Jtc0ttVG8tbEJBZGZOME9lejdCRjBhLXdyS3pNb2JoSnAtd25iRmtjWVA4dThiSEFvYzZ6cm90TUhhQ09BN3NiZTBzaGVwOUhsRHh5Mnlnbm01TzVpYUM2cVQ2SlNwbU1NM2wyRzU4RnJ5LWhYZ0JTNldQdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aliexpress.com%2Fitem%2F32854193401.html%3Fspm%3Da2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dsoGCy1
Thank you!
What is the string spacing on this?
18mm i think
I would love to see a quick comparison with the aliexpress pickup installed!
well that would be great but i've gave it away (the bass) and i have few of them in line for reviews. considering it all, you can't go wrong even with stock pickup
That 19mm or 18mm at the bridge?
19mm it seems
The milky is the best looking one in my opinion.
it has matching fretboard :D
not headstock, matching fretboard!
better with the wilkinson bridge pickup
Any issues with changing the pickup? Any modifications in electronics?
no issues. except that aliexpress one is a bit taller and you have to remove a bit of sponge underneat the pickup
@@onetakereviews7358 nice. I've ordered the blue one (I've already have jazz with ash body ;-)). And, already heard that bridge pickup doesn't sound very well, despite that the bass is very decent. Great tip, will order ali pickup ;-)
@@pawemartenka2748 i did a milky review. it has better sounding bridge picku imho, but still it could be upgraded. then i decied to put two single coils in it. as in jazz configuration. so i've ordered ceramic single coils that would fit from aliexpress (same retailer store, guitar family). I've had empty MM 5 string shell (without bobin holes) so i've put a J pickup in it, wired the milky in JJ config. it sounds like jazz bass should. a bit more mids and growl imho but that's just the sound i was looking for. that's what Thomann should have done, passive enhanced with those ceramic single coil pickups.
@@onetakereviews7358 I were thinking about that jazz-like model, but P-style with a bit of MM feeling is my choice. These guitars aren't perfect, but still very good ones. I look on thomann website from time to time, but not to often, 'cause I'm afraid of buying new model ;-)
@@pawemartenka2748 for the price they are unbeatable. if you like a bit of DIY go get one. If you are looking for a no fuss 4/5 string jazz get a sire V3 gen2 instead. tighter string spacing, great pickups and preamp, maybe a bit better fretjob (rounded frets) and really lightweight.
thomann should look at sire and make a nice enhanced no fuss JJ passive bass. PJ also.
I hope this bass sounds good, yes it looks enhanced just like Harley Benton make their basses distributed through Thomann music.
Nice review, thanks even though Ive never heard about issues with the MM pickup. The demos on YT dont mentioned and the Rosewell sound pretty good to me. I just cant believe how an Ali Express chinese pups can be better than the original.
pickup is just a few magnets, wire and a platic case. it's not high tech.
@@onetakereviews7358 well, even certainly is not high tech, some brands prefere to handwound their pickups and select properly their components because it makes a difference. But this is not my point, I watched few demos of the HB Enhanced in YT and everyone were talking about how good the Rosewell MM pickup is. 🤔
@@LCA1985I habe an HB Enhanced with rosewell MM and it sounds absolutely great and stingrayish, mine is not out of phase.
thank mate
I'm sorry, somehow this got mixed up with a Sire M2 video
it's ok :)
Don’t use paper as a shim. Use plastic or wood veneer.
How's it compare to Sire?
i have v3 miller 2nd gen. They both are great basses, milky is much more "in your face agressive" has larger string spacing
sire 5 string, v3 gen2 is a bit more refined, has better frets, tone that is all around more usefull and has less mids and is lighter.
for heavy, pick and drive : milky
for all around jack of all trades jazz bass: sire
@@onetakereviews7358 thanks for responding, many don't.
@@brianstrom6649 sorry it took me 2 weeks. i haven't had the time :/ more reviews are in the making if i find some time :)
What is the string spacing on this bass?
18mm i think
Yeah, i want to hear the review of the Milky MJ!!!
Oops, i just saw U had a Live stream set up, so i activated notifications to be there when it streams!
@@neil___lien i do have live stream setup but that will come in time. also, milky review is recorded and ready to be released this friday. also, i've moded my milky :) so again, another video for friday after that.
One millimètre wow that must be set up well to be that low ... great sounding bass
thnx! :)
I want the swamp ash body.
467 people do the same thing. The result: abo-counter…….
А теперь все по-русски)
Kept skipping through the 11 minute video to actually hear the instrument. Must have clicked 20 times and didn't hear a single note played
ok, thnx for the input
They give TH-camrs perfectly made set up bass's but when you buy any bass or guitar from Thomanns they are ALL microphonic mess's,unplayable...KDH, another TH-camr, bought his pal a guitar without telling them he was a TH-camr....what a mess of an unplayable waste of a tree...that company should be sued for being full of BS...never heard a Harley Benton that worked yet...& no money back though the law says 6 months now not 14 days ?!?!?.... & were not even in the EU anymore...no wonder kids don't want to play guitar or bass anymore,the luv of music has gone replaced with cold hearted business....no more Youth Cults,no more playing with your mates unless your all rich already,no audience as ticket prices are so crazy to see 3 or 4 over aged ,overweight has beens 20 yrs later making a fool of themselves faking it to backing tracks...lol... kids have better things to waste £10,000 on in life....music will soon belong to the rich only...it already does that's why their is no interest anymore from kids as you need a minimum of £10,000+ worth of bass/guitar & another £10,000 min on other gear needed....music companies & guitar/bass makers are living on another planet....well done for destroying the thing we all luvved...crazy, anything for a quick buck ,i wonder how many Les Paul's Gibson sold last month...80 to a bunch of collectors trying to make money out of them by just keeping for a couple of years on a shelf...rock'n'roll is just a sweet memory now..thankfuly i got to live through the late '60's all of the'70's,'80's & '90's...before music died & became an expensive joke for rich kids only now...shame....
I don't like hearing about instruments lacking basic features, and this one has 3 out of 3 strikes, it's out of the question. And really, it begs a question whether I should even consider Harley Benton at all? So far I've been playing Ibanez GSR180, I've been destroying that thing for good 12 years before it broke, fantastic bass, not a big sound, not a characteristic sounding bass either, but it was so easy and so versatile that I just learned to love it more than any other bass I tried, including $2000 Fender custom.
So now that I'm looking for a replacement, I was looking at Sire V3 and M2 basses, at first I kinda liked them, but the more I listened to them and looked at them, the more I realized how expensive it would be if anything on them broke. So I cut my budget and started looking at the bare bones basses from Harley Benton, the JB 75MN NA Vintage series specifically, only 20 frets, I had to literally rewire my brain to imagine owning a 20 fret instrument, and when I did, I started digging, it's a great looker, seems like a classic, but it sounds like shit.
I've looked at every other bass available on Thomann and frankly out of so many choices, there isn't one solid bass I could choose.
Every single one of them has a specific flaw that just ruins the experience.
So that eliminated the budget basses, the mid range basses and frankly I can't afford the high end basses so there's nothing left to do but go back to Ibanez, the old friend GSR180, no doubt it'll break in 10 years again, but at least its flaws aren't crucial instrument features, like frets, magnets and bridge. Ibanez's weakness are things like the amount of effort it takes to make it sound good, I'm good at that, I can make that bass sing better than any Fender.
Then there's the shitty wood, not a problem, just glue it the fuck back on, then there's the electronics, oof, big fucking deal, takes 3 seconds of soldering, voila. No major flaws like Harley Bentons, Cort, Jackson, Dean and really any other bass in this low end-mid range price point. It took a long time, a lot of frustration and many, many hours of research to come to that conclusion, but with this video, it is concluded. The video was helpful, thanks!