Harley Benton JB-75FL SB Vintage Series

Decided to give a fretless a try for the first time and have read generally positive reviews about Harley Benton so thought it made perfect sense to give one a try.

Everything about the purchasing experience was excellent. Thomann does it right. Excellent communication and I received the bass 3 days after purchasing it. The bass was packed extremely well. Double boxed, plenty of foam packing, the fingerboard was protected, the pickguard, chrome cover-plate and pick-ups were also protected. I was genuinely surprised how well it was packed.

The action was very low out of the box and I've kept it that way. Had to do some minor saddle adjustments to get the intonation right and the bridge is definitely a place where an upgrade would probably be worth it. Its not terrible but the saddles are a little sticky . But I was able to get spot-on intonation without having to adjust the truss rod so a bridge upgrade isn't a priority for me.

Playing a fretless for the first time was pretty awesome. Should have picked one up sooner. Took a little getting used to but in a cool way as I immediately started liking how easily I could manipulate pitch with my left-hand. The pick-ups on the Harley Benton are pretty lively, seem a bit hotter than my Geddy jazz stock pick-ups. Pick-up volume and tone pots are all smooth and responsive. Love the overall sound of the bass and the neck is smooth and easy to play.

The bass is heavy (mine is about 12 pounds) so a wide, padded strap is helpful. It plays unbelievably well given this price point.

Bottom line, the Harley Benton impressed me completely. Extreme bang for the buck. Its almost hard to believe how good this instrument is for this price. This was also my first purchase with Thomann and I'm completely satisfied with the purchasing experience. So satisfied in fact, that I just ordered another bass.

Really enjoying this guitar. The neck feels wonderful and mine has a lovely flamed maple back that I really wasn't expecting. Bought as a mod project and will probably swap out the pickguard, which does feel cheap, but there's really not much room for improvement otherwise. The pickups are better than I expected, but could easily be upgraded. Gears feel basic, but it holds tune fine. Truss rod needed a tweak because the neck was too straight and the fingerboard needs a bit of oil to darken and and moisturise it. Fit and finish is perfect though. If you want an inexpensive fretless bass, this is a great pick. Going to have to seriously consider buying more HB guitars...

Purchased as I fancied having a go at fretless and didn't want to go to deep in my pockets. Reviews decided the matter.
Excellent buying experience with Thomann and courier. Well packaged and had obviously been handled with respect, arrived when scheduled .
First impressions on unboxing, really nice finish and nicely put together. Packed with the strings backed off a bit, as they should be. No lacquer cracks, buzzes or rattles. So far so good,tune up and give it a go. The action is low out the box, but a little buzzy in the middle of the neck particularly on the G, but playable with a gentle touch. Lived with it for a few days, then got a rainy Saturday so had a proper look.
I knew it would come with round wounds on it, so ordered a set of flats with it and put them on. Tuned up and had a look at the neck relief on the E string, on mine it was zero, maybe even a little convex, a half turn or so anti clockwise of the truss rod with Allen key supplied and that looks good. Now the action looks a bit high overall, a quick tweek of the bridge saddles gets us 2mm on G and 2.4mm on E. For me it feels about right for a small amount of effort setting it up, set up is personal preference after all.
A connoisseur could probably pick holes in the hardware and pick ups, but they'll probably outperform my playing ability.
Overall, outstanding value. Just be prepared to get it set up either by a tech or find out how to do it yourself. The information is out there and you'll understand your instrument better. Based on this guitar alone, I would recommend anyone on a budget to have a look at any of the Harley Benton range.

For the price this is unbelievable. Sounds like a real jazz bass. I personally may not be able to tell the difference hearing it on a record or live.
Everything works fine: no intonation issues, fretboard well done (I managed to achieve the same action as on a Sire V7fl), puckups may lack the bottom end of some more pricey options but they are not weak and muffled as in some cheap basses, they do their job great. The strings it came with were perfectly good.
There are two things to be aware: one is the neck, which is chunkier than a standard jazz bass, and the other, unfortunately, is the weight. 5.4kg on my bathroom scale and also a bit neck-heavy.
It is a real pity because for a lot of people, including me, this means that the bass would mostly be a couch instrument.

Under-200€ JB?!?...c'mon,be serious...
...BUT....
This cheapie really DELIVERS.A happy combination between chosen woods and the rest of the hardware,surprisingly WITHOUT any neck's dead notes and,voila,fretless sound in spades!
One (tiny) remark regarding the PU's,though: beside the above-than-average sound ,sweet-sounding (not so common for some "no-names"eh? - plus,they' re not very sensitive to external magnetic fields,though they're clearly singles,not humbuckers),the pole-pieces' edges are sharp enough and become uncomfortable if you raise the PUs too much and play straight upon them.Otherwise,no complain.
For a cheap but efficient upgrade,I reccomend a set of DiMarzio DP123.It's a plug-and-play (dimensions-wise) replacement for the original Roswells and puts this cheap bass into entire another league (OK,Alnico-vs-ceramic is a debatable preference).Also,replace the tone capacitor with a 22nF and you're set.

I'm part of a band that was looking for a fretless bass sound, but I didn't want to invest a lot of money into one since I lacked experience with fretless instruments. I ended up choosing this bass, and I'm genuinely impressed by the quality HB managed to achieve at this price point. I had read some positive reviews beforehand, so I took the plunge, and I'm glad I did.

Pros:
It delivers a fantastic Jazz bass sound.
The bass played well straight out of the box, just needed a tuning.
The pickups produce decent sound.
The tuners are reliable.

Cons:
It's worth noting that this bass is quite heavy, so keep that in mind before making your purchase.