Harley Benton HBZ-2004 - Overview and Best Prices

Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Review
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  • 1 Prices - New from €299 >
  • From Harley Benton's 2022 Deluxe series
  • Made in China
  • 4 strings
  • 34"'' scale
  • 12" Fretboard Radius
  • Ovangkol body
  • Maple, Nato neck
  • Black Walnut fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: ceramic bar single coil (Single Coil/Passive)
  • Neck pickup: ceramic bar single coil (Single Coil/Passive)
  • 2 volume and 2 tone Dome knobs
  • Fixed bridge
  • Bass C Neck-Through neck
  • 24 Medium frets
  • Diecast Machine Heads tuners
  • Side-By-Side Comparison
Show Specs
Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Specifications
Harley Benton HBZ-2004
General
Brand: Harley Benton
Year: 2022
Configuration: SS
Strings: 4
Made in: China
Series: Deluxe
Colors: Natural
Left-Handed Version: No
Body
Type: Solid Body
Body Material: Ovangkol
Bridge: Fixed
Neck
Neck Joint: Neck-Through
Tuners: Diecast Machine Heads
Fretboard: Black Walnut
Neck Material: Maple, Nato
Decoration: Oval abalone
Scale Size: 34"
Shape: Bass C
Frets: 24 Medium
Fretboard Radius: 12"
Nut: Plastic
Nut Width: 40mm (1.575'')
Electronics
Bridge Pickups: ceramic bar single coil (Single Coil / Passive)
Neck Pickup: ceramic bar single coil (Single Coil / Passive)
Switch: 0
Knobs: Dome
Volume Controls: 2
Tone Controls: 2
Hardware
Strap Lock: No
Hardware Color: Black

Our Scores and Tone Evaluation

Playability 78
Sound 71
Build quality 59
Value for money 79
Overall Score 69
Tone Evaluation
  • Heavy Metal
  • Hard Rock
  • Jazz
  • Blues
  • Funk
  • Country
Strengths & Weaknesses
Harley Benton HBZ-2004
  • Neck-Through Build
  • Active Preamp
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • Made in China
  • No Expensive Woods
  • No High-Quality Nut
  • No Top Brand Pickups
  • No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Retainer Bar
  • No Strap Lock

Price Overview

Its average competitor's price is $240, which means that the Harley Benton HBZ-2004 is within the average price asked for this kind of bass. This takes into account all instruments of the same category in our database with 4 strings and Fixed bridge that are made in China.

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User Reviews & Feedback

Not all instruments are created equally. That's why it's important to have different opinions. Here's what our users who have played this instrument say. If you've played it before, help others by voting below!

Weight

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Tuning stability

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Neck speed (thickness)

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Neck access to high frets

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Neck profile shape

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Fret edges

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Pickups noise

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Pickups power

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Hand Size Comfortability

After taking into account the neck profile, scale size, fretboard radius, and nut width, we can conclude that the Harley Benton HBZ-2004's construction is balanced for most hand sizes.

Nevertheless, this comes down in the end to personal preference. Make sure you test this bass—or another one with similar characteristics—before buying.

Big Hands
Small Hands

Beginner Friendliness

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004 meets 2 out of our 6 criteria items for beginner friendliness, which means that it's not recommended for complete beginners. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players to get used to.

New Player Friendliness

Harley Benton HBZ-2004
  • Tall frets
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable shape
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale

Videos

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Introducing the HBZ 2005 deluxe series from Harley Benton. This bass sounds good.
Harley Benton HBZ-2005 Review and Demo
Harley Benton - HBZ-2005 - 5 Strings - Neck Through

Playability

Scale Length

Scale length is the distance the strings will span between the bridge and the nut. It can tell you a lot about the overall playability and tone of the instrument. A longer scale length means longer distance between frets, brighter tone and more string tension—which means lower action, but more difficult bending of the strings.

Here's the Harley Benton HBZ-2004's 34" scale length compared to other common sizes:

Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Scale Length Comparison
Harley Benton HBZ-2004's scale length (at the top) compared to other popular sizes

This is considered a long scale bass, and it's the most popular choice for several reasons. Even though it might be more difficult to play than short scale basses due to their increased string tension, their punchier low-end results in a clear and defined bass tone that can cut through in a mix, making them well-suited for genres like rock, metal, and funk.

Neck Profile

Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Neck Profile
Harley Benton HBZ-2004's neck profile

The neck profile tells you the thickness (neck depth) and shape in cross section. Every difference will completely change the feeling and comfortability of the neck. This is a highly subjective thing, but most players indeed prefer certain types of necks (like Cs and Ds) because they feel nice in most hands.

It has a C type neck. C-shaped necks like this have been the most popular for the last years. The reason is that they feel good in most hands. It's generally a thin neck that doesn't get in your way when playing fast, but that also has enough mass to give your hands a comfortable grip for chords if they aren't too big.

Thin necks like this make it easier to move your hand across the neck and it helps when playing fast solos, especially if you like to leave your thumb free while playing high on the fretboard. However, thinner necks are also weaker and will need adjustment more often than a thicker neck.

Fretboard Radius

When it comes to fingerboard radius, personal preference will dictate which one is better for you. However, most people seem to agree that a more curved (lower) radius will make it easier to play chords while a less curved (higher) radius is better for soloing and bending.

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004 has a 12" fingerboard radius.

Here's an image comparing this fretboard radius to other popular choices:

Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Fretboard Radius Comparison with Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul
Harley Benton HBZ-2004's fretboard radius compared to others

This is the same radius that Gibson uses in most of their guitars. When compare to the other popular radius of Fender Stratocasters, you can see that it's a lot flatter. Guitars with this radius are usually made to bring a good balance between single-note and chord playing.

Compound radius fingerboards give the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, the Harley Benton HBZ-2004 has the same radius across the board.

Playability compared to main competitors

34'' Scale Length
C Neck Profile
1.575'' Nut Width
12'' Fretboard Radius
34'' Scale Length
C Neck Profile
1.693'' Nut Width
12'' Fretboard Radius

Nut Width

Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Nut Width
Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Nut Width

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004 has a nut width of 40mm (1.575''). This is considered a wide width for a 4-string bass. A wider nut provides more space between the strings, making it easier for players to execute techniques like slap bass and tapping, which require extra room for precision. However, players with smaller hands might find it challenging to comfortably reach across the wider fretboard, as it requires a wider stretch between the fingers.

Frets

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004 has 24 frets. A lot of people mistakenly believe that having more frets will always be better because it gives you a higher octave. This is certainly an advantage, but there's also a disadvantage to this.

Since the fretboard will be longer, the neck pickup will need to be placed closer to the bridge. And as you may know, the further away the neck pickup is from the bridge, the warmer it sounds. This means you'll have a brighter-sounding neck pickup when using a 24-fret bass, even if you use the same pickup on a 22-fret bass.

It comes with nickel silver frets, so they won't last as long as stainless steel frets. If you use your instrument a lot, you might need to replace the frets after a few years. But this is unlikely as most people change instruments before this happens.

Fret Size

Harley Benton HBZ-2004 Fret Size Comparison
Harley Benton HBZ-2004's fret size (in orange) compared to other popular sizes

Finally, let's talk about fret size. Some people prefer tall frets because it's easier to press the strings and perform bends since there's less friction against the fretboard. On the other hand, some people like shorter frets because they like to touch the fretboard when playing, or because they got heavy hands and tend to press too much on the string and alter the of the note pitch accidently.

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004's frets are Medium size. With medium frets, you can feel the fretboard more than with jumbo frets, but it's still easier to press the strings cleanly than with small frets; notes might change their pitch just slightly if you press hard on the fret. Also, if you need to do some fret leveling after years of playing, you'll have some room to sand them down without having to replace them.

Playability Score

Bending & Vibrato Ease 75
Chord Playability 70
Solo Playability 90
Playability 78

Tone

Wood will have little influence in the final tone of an electric guitar or bass. Instead, the hardware, especially the pickups, will be the most important thing to look at. Bur first, let's see the quality of the wood.

Wood

Ovangkol wood pattern used for guitar building
Ovangkol Body
Maple wood pattern used for guitar building
Maple Neck
Walnut wood pattern used for guitar building
Walnut Fretboard

Ovangkol Body: It's a beautiful wood that's popular for acoustic guitars. Its tone sits somewhere between rosewood and mahogany, meaning it has a punchy low-end and nice mid-range.

Maple Neck: This is one of the most popular types of wood used in all kinds of guitars. It's heavy, strong and compact, which makes it great for necks. However, it's also used for fretboards, bodies and tops due to its light color, resistance and beautiful patterns. When it comes to tone, it highlights the mid and high frequencies.

Walnut Fretboard: It's a hard wood with a chocolate color that is often used to give an elegant finish. Since it's quite expensive and rare, it's mostly used for guitar tops.

Pickups

Unfortunately, it doesn't come with pickups from one of the top brands. This doesn't mean you will get bad pickups, but you might want to consider a pickup upgrade after some time.

These are passive pickups, so you can expect a rounder sound and a moderade level of output.

Preamp

The preamp is an electronic circuit that serves as an intermediary between the bass's pickups and the amplifier. Its primary function is to boost and shape the bass's raw signal before it reaches the amplifier. This allows for greater control over the bass's tone, volume, and other sound characteristics. Preamps often include tone controls, equalization settings, and sometimes even onboard effects, enabling bassists to tailor their sound to their preferences and the musical context.

This bass has a Active preamp. Unlike passive basses, which rely solely on passive pickups and tone controls, active preamps require a power source, typically a 9-volt battery, to operate. The active preamp offers several advantages, including the ability to boost or cut specific frequencies, resulting in a more versatile and customizable tonal palette. Active basses are favored in genres where precise tonal sculpting and extended tonal options are essential, such as jazz fusion or progressive rock. However, they do require occasional battery replacement or recharging to ensure optimal performance.

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004's configuration is SS. This is the classic Telecaster configuration and it's used mainly for playing clean or with low-gain distortion. It doesn't give you as much versatility as a Strat SSS configuration, but you might like the cleaner look of a guitar body with fewer pickups.

More with the same pickups

24 Frets
Fixed Bridge
ceramic bar single coil Bridge Pickup
ceramic bar single coil Neck Pickup
24 Frets
Fixed Bridge
ceramic bar single coil Bridge Pickup
ceramic bar single coil Neck Pickup
0 Frets
Fixed Bridge
ceramic bar single coil Bridge Pickup
ceramic bar single coil Neck Pickup

Versatility

Unfortunately, it doesn't come with more options for coil split or coil tapping. This makes it less versatile than some competitors.

What music genre is it good for?

As a 4 strings, Solid Body bass with SS configuration and Passive pickups, we'd recommend it for genres like Hard Rock or similar. However, you can use almost any bass for any genre. This is just the typical type of music for this particular one.

Sound Score

Pickups 70
Sustain 60
Versatility 79
Tuning Stability 75
Sound 71

Build Quality

Country of Origin

Knowing where the instrument is produced is a good way to know how well it's built. Some manufacturing countries are known for having higher quality standards. For example, most expensive instruments are made in the US or Japan, but there are some exceptionally great countries—like South Korea—that are building a good reputation.

The Harley Benton HBZ-2004 is made in China. So you can expect lower build quality when compared to others made in Korea, Japan or the United States. Guitars made in this country are meant for mass production, which translates into less attention to detail and quality control. This doesn't mean the product is made poorly at all. Chinese products have a bad reputation since long ago, but they've definitely improved a lot the last few years.

Still, remember that we're taking about Harley Benton here, which is a brand with good renown. They know how to use cheap labor in this country without sacrificing too much quality. So you shouldn't end up receiving a useless or ugly instrument.

Bridge

Fixed: The advantage of fixed bridges is that they don't require any kind of set-up. This makes it extremely easy when changing strings because you don't need to adjust anything besides tuning the guitar. Also, the fact that the bridge is directly attached to the body will help to increase sustain. The disadvantage is the lack of versatility since you can't create the same vibrato effects as with tremolo bridges.

Nut Material

Another important thing to analyze is the nut material, as it's one of the most important aspects that can affect the sound and playability of your bass. A well-cut nut will make sure it stays in tune and will make it more comfortable to play.

In this case, the Harley Benton HBZ-2004 has a Plastic nut. This is a low-quality nut that you might want to consider upgrading soon. Bone and TUSQ nuts are the best for guitars with a fixed or simple tremolo bridge.

Neck Joint

The neck joint is the part where the neck of the bass meets the body. There are three main techniques to attach both parts together: Set-In, Bolt-On and Neck-Through. The latter two provide different advantages, although neck-throughs are the most expensive.

This bass has a Neck-Through neck joint. Many people believe a neck-through build delivers the best sustain because some of the vibrations from the neck aren't lost like with other neck joints. However, no one has been able to prove this. What we know is that a neck-through build is usually the most comfortable when playing the upper frets because there's nothing on your way at the neck-body joint.

Build Quality Score

Quality of materials 41
Features 80
Quality Control 55
Build Quality 59