Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-Bass Ukulele

318 Customer ratings

4.2 / 5

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78 Reviews

Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-Bass Ukulele
479 AED 121,01 €
Plus 277 AED shipping
The price in AED is a guideline price only
Since we ship from Germany, additional costs through taxes and customs may be incurred
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Anonymous 12.02.2015
For the money this is a lovely little bass and despite being a little rough & ready in its setup and finish it can sound fantastic. I would prefer the option to spend a little more for a version with a better standard of finish.

The stock Aquila strings sound very full and punchy but can feel a little sticky on both the fretting and plucking fingers. This can be remedied by applying a little talc to the fingertips of both hands before playing. I have had success using 'simple' brand unscented talc and would be concerned that oils in scented talc might react with the strings and so weaken them.

The acoustic volume of the bass is loud enough for private practice in a quiet room, however it does need to be amplified once you're playing with other acoustic instruments no matter how quiet they are. The tuner built into the preamp is a nice addition and is useful if no other tuner is available. The strings have a tendency to stick in the nut when tuning, but getting into the habit of gently lifting and releasing them helps to equalise the tension each side of the nut. The preamp has just one volume and one tone control. The piezo pickup seems to accentuate some harsh-sounding treble frequencies. For me the most usable sound was obtained with the tone control turned all the way to the bass side. With this setting, the bass sounded massive played through either a small or large bass amps and sat well in the mix with both acoustic and electric instruments. I wasn't troubled by feedback even when playing fairly loud - possibly in part due to my preferred eq setting. The string to string balance is not even - the E string seems a little louder even when the eq is not boosting the bass response, but a limiter pedal is effective in improving this.
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A
Not amazed.
Abïri 29.08.2021
These are rubber strings, so don't expect it to give it a metal sound. This also is far from a double bass sound. It's something of its own.
The sounds of the demo are accurate, but having played it for a while, I think that i should have picked either an electric bass or the fretless version of this. I thought I would get more double bass vibes with this one, but if that's your objective go with the fretless one. The amp kills most of the interesting tone, so I prefer to play it unplugged, even being a very quiet sound. Better have a good mic to catch the sound if you're going this way, though.
It's hard to get a clean and prety sound from this one.
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OL
More fun than is good for you
Owen L. 27.08.2014
This is lots of fun, but also a serious musical instrument. It is great for playing on the sofa unamplified but really comes into it's own when put through an amp. The tone control lets you move through Precision bass type thud through to a Double Bass-esque air shifting whump. Does it sound exactly like a Double Bass? Obviously not, but it will sit really nicely within an ensemble and provide that low-mid, air shifting heft that the Double Bass does. Audience members and band mates think it is hilarious until they hear one being played and then everyone wants a piece of it. The strings it comes with are fine and dandy, but if you want lower tension and even more heft try the Pahoehoe strings. They are like playing on giant rubber bands. They take time to stretch to stability but are well worth it. You could also string it with roundwound string from Pyramid and it will make a more than passing imitation of a bass guitar. There is nothing not to love about these. The build quality is not absolutely stellar, but nothing a bit of TLC will not sort out. However, for the money these are unbeatable. Every bassist should have one.
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Z
Very nice
Zozzy 19.03.2019
A very nice portable instrument. The onboard tuner is very useful. The sound is "OK", especially when it is plugged in. Without an amp don't expect to be heard loud, but it is very logical for such a small bass instrument. The EQ is pretty good too. It sure is a value for money.
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RJM 29.10.2018
Sounds great plugged in and unplugged. Only slight problem is the strings but you get used to them after playing and stretching the strings. Currently looking to change the strings but apart from that, the ubass is good
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SR
Can't beat it at this prce
Stevie Ray Chang 16.04.2018
It plays pretty well out of the box and sounds great, but I would reccomend to change the strings and have a luthier set it up so it doesn't buzz.
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kt
Good instrument but lacks in some areas
kku tsu 11.05.2019
Got this instrument a long time ago, everything is great but tuning is quite difficult (doable but difficult), maybe consider a set of flats/rounds or just a change of strings, that might solve it.

The output level between strings varies a bit, with the D and G strings being the loudest.

Very good instrument for noodling around, the sound is obviously very weak so its not enough to play with other instruments that are not ukeleles unamplified. but the tone is great for latin/jazz or even old school funk music.

I do recommend it, but if you are willing to pay a little bit more, a long scale acoustic bass will be better.

Also, it sucks for slapping.
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A
Great bass uke for a small price
Aleksejs 29.03.2018
Can't really compare it to other bass ukes, as it's the only one I've tried, so going to compare what it feels like to a full sized bass. It sounds great acoustically, but only on the middle two strings (A and D) other two string will only sounds good when amplified. As expected, string don't hold tuning well, until they stretch properly. But bigger problem is tone offset by anything above 12th fret. For it's +0.25 tone of 12th fret for G string, which is a lot. Possibly can be fixed with other strings. But since barely possible to play on anything above 12th fret anyway, I'm not too fussy about it. Overall, it's a good instrument I enjoy playing when I don't want to connect my main bass guitar.
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SD
Good bass ukulele
Sara Drumair 02.12.2020
If you plan to use it mostly with amp buy it, it has good pickups for the price. If you plan to use it mostly as plain acoustic instrument, you might consider some other models.
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g
Interesting ukulele
gregor123 18.08.2020
I use it mainly for studio recording at home. It seems great, feels great, except for the A string, which seems to detune constantly. Otherwise, a great instrument with rich sound for beginners onward.
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Harley Benton Kahuna CLU-Bass Ukulele