Harley Benton HB-60 WB

Been playing it for a few weeks now and I really, really, like the bass. Before I bought it I read reviews in various bass forums, usually from people who would never touch a semi hollow bass that cost less than 1000 Euros, that everything that is Chinese made and branded Harley Benton is utter crap.

Now I'm glad I didn't listen to that and bought it to form my own opinion. This is a well built beautiful bass. The neck is completely straight and the body feel and sound like good quality. The pickups sound just like I want them to sound, warm, deep and vintage 60's. The only flaw is the pickup toggle switch that I probably have to replace sooner or later. But that is a ~15 Euro component.

I replaced the stock strings with Fender flatwound 9050l strings and adjusted the neck bend and string action height. These are easy adjustments that you would normally do anyway to make the bass fit your playing style. Watch a "bass setup" youtube clip if you don't know how to. Now it sounds great and I highly recommend it.

It should be noted that this bass require medium or long scale strings even though it's a short scale bass.

Edit: I was a bit worried that the hollow body would produce a lot of feedback but when rehearsing I've had no problem with feedback even when it's really really loud.

UPDATED: after a few years I decided to give this bass a chance the third time. Finally, I received a good-looking and finely made bass guitar. Nice to look at, easy to play with, and sounds good.

.......the old comment below......

Loved the shape of the bass and the basic features it provides, but... had to return the instrument because of quality issues (loose potentiometer, cracks in the laquer etc.) and wait for 4 months (!) for the new one to arrive only to find out that the next one still has many problems with it, like bad laquering, cracks in the finishing and unatached potentiometer wires. So had to return the bass the second time.

Won't be bothering with this bass anymore. I bought many things from Thomann before and am very satisfied with the company, but the quality control with this particular bass is just non-existent.

Came beatifully made and finished! The neck is lovely, to play & quite narrow! Short scale is very comfortable.

Both pick ups sound very nice, with good definition despite its semi hollow body style based on a 50s' Gibbo, EB0/3!

A few caveats however, The frets needed some levelling T tapering, but most new guitars need some! Had it done, has a great action now.

Floating bridge is not the best, with the solid centre block HB should have used a sunk in bridge pinned thru the top into the block!

Apart from that, everything works AS it should!

A great, MUSICAL sounding bass!

Just BE prepared to do some minor work on it, but for such a build style, it punches WELL above its weight!

Recommended!

I bought this bass to use primarily for recording. Overall I'm very happy with the purchase and would recommend this instrument to anyone looking for an inexpensive semi-hollow bass, as long as they're willing to accept/fix some small defects.

Pros:
+ Looks great! Want to pick it up and play it every time I see it.
+ Decent pickups. Granted I'm not super picky in this regard, but I've found it to be by far the best sounding/most versatile of a few affordable basses I've played.
+ Great tuners. Easy to turn with no "dead zones".

Cons:
- Very loud buzz when turning up the tone knob. I'm not looking forward to having to investigate this, so I'm just using a noise reduction VST plugin for now.
- Intonation is tough. I know some people like floating bridges, but I wish this came with a tune-o-matic bridge instead.
- Frets are somewhat rough at the edge of the neck.
- Needed a setup out of the box (lots of fret buzz/super high action).

I think it's a great value - just don't expect complete perfection out of the box.

Overall a good bass , not great. Mine came with some pretty high action and the fret work isn’t very good.. I took some sandpaper and sanded the edges of the nut because the nut edges were very sharp! It needs fretwork done to smooth them out.
However the overall construction seems pretty good, The tuners aren’t the greatest also. However I do like the pickups and overall sound of this bass , slap some flats on it and this thing can thump with the best of them!

Conclusion: The price reflects its flaws, but with some work invested this bass can be a very nice instrument to play and own! Love its hollow body tone! And bonus … It’s a very nice looking bass, love its classic vibe!

I'm a guitar player and I bought this bass to have at home for fun and to compose some basslines for my band.

I have to admit it's not as great or at least as solid as other basses I've tried, but it's also the first hollow-body bass I've ever played.
I have always loved the looks of hollow-body basses, especially the 335 kind of body. This bass looks gorgeous and its finish is pretty good for its price. It sounds fat, warm and the 3 pickup positions leave many tonal possibilities. It's a cool bass for vintage sounds. It stays in tune nicely and it came well intonated.

So, what's wrong with it to cost around 200 bucks?
Well, the electronics are poor. The pickup selector came loose and failing sometimes. Pots are a bit noisy.

A great fun bass to have around and to try at the studio. I think it may be gig-worthy, but not without a proper set-up and electronics check-up.