Harley Benton HBCE 990WH Electric Cello

...beim ersten Versuch, gleich nachdem ich von dem ansprechenden Korpus und dem "Haltegefühl" positiv überrascht war, ist beim vorsichtigen Stimmen der ersten Saite die Saite gerissen. Das ist mir zwar in 12 Jahren nie passiert, wäre aber kein Thema, da man als Musiker ohnehin seine eigenen Saiten-Vorlieben hat - allerdings halten die Wirbel die Saitenspannung nicht aus! (die D-Saite riss dann zwar nicht, drehte sich aber sogleich nach und hielt nicht.)

Das zweite gleich merkliche Manko: die Farbe des Birkengriffbretts färbt ab, so hat man innerhalb kurzer Zeit schwarze Fingerkuppen.

Ein weiteres, ähnliches "Schönheits"-Manko ist, dass der Korpus des weißen Modells eigenartige blau und braun verfärbte Flecken aufwies, die mit einem trockenen Tuch nicht zu entfernen waren.

Last but not least: Der AUX (Kopfhörer) Ausgang funktionierte nicht.

Fazit: Selbst bei unschlagbarem Preis und wirklich ansprechendem Design kann ich das Harley Benton HBCE 990WH Electric Cello aufgrund der aufgezählten Mankos (ausgenommen des "Schönheits"-Mankos) leider nicht weiterempfehlen. Weder (halbwegs) professionellen Musikern (wie mir, die es für Solo- und Bandauftritte nutzen wollen), noch Anfängern.

I've been wanting to take up Cello for quite some time but have never had the space or capital to actually make a purchase. I decided to take the plunge and go for the HB e-Cello (in white).

It arrived promptly, packaged well with plenty of bubble wrap. I was slightly nervous when unboxing. It comes in a disassembled state, strings are attached but loose and under the fingerboard. The thigh/back rests come in a pocket on the front of the "gig bag". Removing the headstock (box?) was a little tricky with the shape. The bag itself is a bit flimsy (I've got another case coming which'll mean I won't need to disassemble every time I want to travel with it).

Setup is straight forwards, couple of screw pins keep the rests in place, strings are easy to tune/fine tune and tuning pegs stay put. Comes with a bow but no rosin.

The onboard preamp appears to be decent enough, I was expecting issues with this but as far as I can tell there's no unwanted hisses or additional noise. There's an aux input for silent practice and a 1/4" jack headphone/amp output with a switch to go between the two (db cut). Also slide EQ/Volume which appears to be quite responsive.

So far I've been able to make some very cello like noises!

Overall I'm very impressed with it and would recommend to a beginner looking to pick up Cello for a fantastic price point.

I’m a 40 year old beginner, but I’ve been playing guitar and fretless bass for quite a while. I decided to dip my toe in electric cello and am so glad I did. While the absolute quality of the instrument isn’t the best out there it’s certainly not bad by any means. I’ve plugged it into my spark go and through my little 50W marshal, it sounds great clean and distorted with a bit of reverb to help fill out the sound. It’s by no means a top end instrument but it’s definitely not a fisher price toy either. I’d say it absolutely ideal for any beginner or even a more experienced player that doesn’t feel like paying a grand for something to do a bit of quiet practice on. Could you use it on stage 100% you could..
Now for the not so good stuff, there’s no major gripe with this at all and at the price it really is just nitpicking. The worst part is the strings, yeah I know you can’t expect any quality strings at this price point. So budget a set of D’addario’s or something if you aren’t an absolute beginner.
The screw on contact points are a little flimsy but they are plastic and have to have a certain amount of flexibility to not be brittle so in my opinion it can be forgiven in this area.
The bow seems ok, ish. Again it’ll do the job but definitely could do with a better balanced item. Again for the cost of the setup I can’t complain.
The gig bag is functional and of reasonable quality, I’ve seen better and a lot worse. I haven’t tried the rosin as I just used my son’s so can’t really comment on that.
All in all it is exceptionally good value for money and I really rate it high. The only reason I don’t give it 5 stars everywhere is the strings and bow really. I shouldn’t really mark it down for them as they are easily replaceable and for most, will be replaced fairly quickly.
So yeah, if you are in the market for a genuinely reasonable priced electric cello that does the job just fine and is punching well above its weight with everything you need to get started and then some don’t give it a miss