Harley Benton Beatbass VS Vintage Series

I've bought a few HB's over the years and this was the biggest surprise. It's not perfect, I'll explain below, but what you get for the price doesn't make sense, it's that good.

It's beautiful, it looks amazing. Let's face it, you're probably buying this for the image, it's not top of the list for 95% of Bass players. The finish is great, the binding is spot on, it's what you hope it will be.

The tuners are ok (that's good in Harley Benton language). The pots aren't scratchy, the switches are good (a little confusing at first), I had no fret sprout and the strings it arrived with were ok but will get changed in a week or two.

I knew it would need a setup and it got one. What did I have to do?

The fretboard was dry, unbelievably dry. It took me a bit of time to lemon oil it three times. Once it was done, it looks good. The end of the fretboard is roughly cut and finished and will need tidying, but it looks ok. The frets were a little rough and needed a good polish but there was no sprout so that only took 30 minutes. The intonation was ok so I marked it up, allowed for a little adjustment, and removed the bridge for a body polish. The neck was flat, way too flat, so I added a little relief which also lowered the action as it came really, really high. I tightened up the tuners although I will replace them soon although I really don't need to, they're fine. Finally, I lubed the nut (not like that) as it's plastic so a little lead is a good idea.

Once done, I tuned it up and left it for a few hours to settle. Now I can't stop playing it. There's a lot of neck dive, all violin basses do this, you'll need a strap, remember this is a hollow body bass and it's unavoidable.

I've always thought Harley Bentons were underpriced, this one doesn't make sense. It's that good.

If you can do the basics I listed above, get one. It's not even worth sparing a thought, just buy one. I promise you won't be disappointed.

I am a hobby guitarist who likes to do my own work on the guitars that I purchase, I currently own 11 electrics, 1 bass (this one), 3 acoustics and a ukulele.

This is a beautiful looking instrument and at approximately $186AUD ($142USD) is unbelievable value for money.

Pros:
1. Of the 3 guitars I ordered, this appears to have the best finish, I can't find a single thing wrong with it, no blemishes whatsoever.

2. The tuners work well and seem to hold tune fine, even after sitting around the house for a few weeks now.

3. All controls and pick ups are working.

4.The tail piece is a little more ornate than the original and going by images on the net, appears somewhat shorter as well.

5.The lovely burst finish is continued on both the back and the neck, a nice touch, especially at this price point. If the good people at Thomann don't remove this, you can search You Tube for "650Thunderbird" or ". Harley Benton Beat Bass Unboxing/1st Impressions" to see for yourself.

6. Flamed maple top is very well done, the join is barely visible, unless you look very hard.

7. Being a "short scale" bass, it will be easier for a guitarist to make the transition to bass with one of these, rather than with a "standard scale" bass.

8. Even with postage costs, it is cheaper to buy from Thomann, than to buy from my own country (AU). This is one of three guitars I have purchased (all in one order) and their quality control, in my case, is second to none.

Cons:

1. Being a hollow body, it suffers badly from the dreaded "neck dive" so even when seated, a strap is a must.

2. The shape does not make for comfortable lap placement.

In summary: I am completely satisfied with this bass guitar and would recommend it to anyone, anywhere in the world.

Cheers
650Thunderbird

All I can say is , "Harley Benton, you did it again". This is a great looking , well put together, good sounding bass. The finish is flawless, Everything works the way it should. And, you can get a variety of tones, from this guitar. It has decent pups, the tuners feel good, it stays in tune, the neck and bridge, and intonation came set. Frets were polished w/ no sprout or rough ends.{ I did have to detune to remove the piece of shipping cloth from under the bridge, but that was no problem. -(marked the top of the E and G strings with felt marker, where they sat on bridge , before detuning and removing cloth, Lined the marks back up , retuned, and intonation was right on.)-} I have a Fender P bass and I would rather play the Harley Benton . Its much lighter, and for me, it balances quite well. If you do any Beatles covers, or you just want to add some unique sounds to your tracks, this is a great instrument for it. The hollow body seems to produce some rich mellow tones, or you can get the standard bass punch, or highs and mids, also. I LIKE IT ! And like all The Harley Benton products I have,...Price, Price, Price ..Can't beat it. Check out these basses and guitars. What are you waiting for....

The HB Beatbass that i received had a fret issue and more. The D string rattled like hell on the 13th fret. Also two tuning pegs where of such poor quality that it felt like they where grinding instead of tuning. The instrument in the mean time looked beautifull and sounded promising. The low output pick-up's in combination with the hollow bass itself sounded real sixties. Thomann solved the problem fast without any problem. 5-stars for that. The HB Beatbass i have in my possession now is great. No rattle, reasonable tuning pegs. Beautifull instrument. Great sounding bass, ideal for a guitarplayer, singer/songwriter, who also play's bass on music, youtube productions and more. Lightweight, shortscale, easy to handle. With the pair of Hofner flat-wound strings i bought at Thomann as wel, i can imagine that even sir Paul wouldn't refuse to play it if a roady had a bad day and forgot to bring the Hofner to the gig.

I had borrowed a friends Jay Turser version of these style basses so I had a general idea in mind of what to expect. The Harley Benton is similar to better quality, maybe made by the same people who knows but the price is much less. The sound of this bass blows away the JT which had weak output in comparison as well as uneven output up and down the neck. Not the case with the Beatbass. Even tones and output up and down the entire neck. Wow!

I have 20 plus gigs on this already as my huge collection of Fender Precisions just sits. I thought I was just going to use this for a Beatles tribute but I'm using it in every situation now. Everyone wants this bass because is sounds so huge in the bottom end.

I purchased the HB hard case and highly recommend this as well.

I have been looking for a short scale bass for some time and I was also kicking around the idea of an acoustic bass....then of course the obvious hit's you, original might just be best!

Once it arrived, not at all disappointed, in fact very much the opposite. This is my third Harley Benton guitar (but first bass) and so my expectations were already high. As expected, it came pretty well set up, nearly in tune, well packaged and on time.

Somebody else reckoned this was the same as another Violin Bass that costs twice as much and I am inclined to agree. It looks amazing, plays really well, yes it neck dives (but it will) but in it has been a revelation, why didn't I buy one years ago! I also have a Ricky and between them, I have all bases covered for my style in terms of tone.

This bass plays so well, pick or finger style, has such a warm tone and is difficult to put down, I have just the smallest constructive criticism, the fret markers on the side of the neck are just a bit too "vintage" and so being small and overtly "yellowed", are difficult to see in anything other than daylight, bit brighter wouldn't go amiss, other than, just love it.

I didn't know what to expect when I held this instrument in my hands for the first time. But I was blown away right from the first note. I love retro, and playing Beatles and Beach boys songs on this bass throws me back to the past.
This bass comes with standard roundwound strings which are nice and bright. But for true retro sound I recommend changing them to flatwound. When I did that, the already retro sound became even more perfect.
I love this bass, it's completely different to anything I've played before, and being affordable doesn't mean it's bad. It sounds and looks absolutely awesome.

As for quality - the finish was quite good although there was one scuff marks and a few marks on the neck. But that might have happened during shipping. I also noticed one fret mark which is not aligned properly, but obviously that doesn't affect the sound. It's just visual.

Bottom line - if you're into 60s and 70s music like me, get it and don't forget to buy a flatwound set as well.

Good job Thomann! You made my dream come true.