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.

Having never owned a fretless, but having played bass guitar for almost 40 years, I was very late to the party in picking up a fretless bass for the first time. I already owned the HB MM 5-String Deluxe so I knew about the generally excellent quality and value of HB guitars. Thus, it was a no-brainer to pick up this fretless to plug the gap in my library of sound options.

I specifically wanted a few things:
- Jaco-like sound, thus a fretless JB was the only choice
- Fret markers vs a plain fingerboard (from a practical pov, not aesthetic)
- Reliable build quality
- Low price point to meet a budget

- Good review ratings and customer service are also an added factor

Honestly, this ticks all of these boxes. Will it sound exactly like a 70s beaten-up old original JB that Jaco plied his trade on? No - but it's loads of fun to try out and you get moments where that unfretted, trebly growl cuts through; it's essentially that well-known-brand's template anyway, with decent pickups and a nice heaviness to it. (By the way, I have no idea why people are mentioning how heavy it is. It isn't - I have a handmade JB that is heavier, plus a 1975 original JB that is heavier still).

If you read any review on HB guitars people seem really impressed with how "ready to go" they are straight out of the shipping boxes. Yes, the same is true here. Apart from some buzzing somewhere up the fretboard (so maybe the action needs a little fiddling), mine only needed a tuning correction and that was it - ready to play.

The finish is excellent and the build quality is great, so that obviously is well done before packaging. I think I would have preferred solid colour options rather than the typical tobacco sunburst but the colour finish is the least important thing in my use case, which is home recording - it might matter to you if you are a gigging player.

There are nice HB-branded machine heads that haven't slipped (they don't really on bass guitars anyway) and a nice bridge with brass saddles. Tone pots are fine, no crackling, and there is no buzz at all when amplified so the bass must be well shielded and grounded.

One minor criticism is that I don't think the black scratchplate is 3-ply, or of very well-constructed plastic. It marked incredibly easily after a few minutes of test play. I think this must have been from where I thumb-slapped to just try out what that sounded like on a fretless (hit and miss, BTW), but my nails have marked the scratchplate. Since this is most likely replaceable with something better, this isn't the greatest issue, and we are paying waaaaay less for these instruments vs anything else, so no stars dropped for that.

Really, if you want to try out a well-built and great-sounding fretless for something different in your bass playing, this is the ideal place to start.

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...