Update - Had this bass for 5 months or so now. That giddy 'new gear' soft focus honeymoon period has gone, and.. dammit it's still a great instrument, and (at this price point) a total no-brainer for any parents looking for a 'try out' bass for their kid (I'll be getting the 'shorty' version for my boy this year come Christmas, no problem).
Yes, I did put a new pickguard on it (with a bit of a struggle). Other than that and some strap locks it's still completely stock. So far I've used it loads for recording, learning bass (I'm a guitarist) and just jamming around for fun, but I would have ZERO QUALMS about gigging this if the need arose. It sounds great and the neck feels even better than when it was new now it's been played in a bit.
THE ONE ISSUE I have is after I had had the bass a while I discovered there are some missing notes courtesy of a low 16th fret. OK so I rarely (read: never) play up there, but it's kind of a shame. It does also raise concerns about Thomann's quality control, but hopefully it would not have passed QC if the low fret was anywhere below 12th fret.
**original review**
As a non-pro musician doing some home recording, I needed a cheap-but-good bass to DI direct into my recording PC as I can't abide spending time programming overly clinical midi basslines. I read and watched many on-line reviews on the PB-20 BK prior to purchase and on the whole I can happily report that they were completely accurate. The build and finish (one mine) is flawless and exactly as it appears in Thomann's catalogue. The components are cheap but very functional and the electrics are really surprisingly good - certainly more than good enough for my purposes. My hands are on the small size of average, but the neck shape and profile and the satin finish help make the bass very easy for me to play. Overall it is comparatively light and comfortable to play either sat down or on a strap - yes, it *is* slightly neck heavy, but a half decent strap fixes it. In fact, I'd agree with everyone else and add that the PB-20 is fun to play and sounds great straight out of the box with nothing but a tune-up.
All that said, if it was my 'main' instrument I'd certainly look into getting the frets polished and the ends filed and shaped as they are a bit rough. Nothing seriously off-putting, but they do feel a bit unfinished.
Like all lefty 'F****r' style guitars, the audio taper tone pot has been reverse wired and as a result is a bit 'all or nothing'. It's not as bad as some Mexican built guitars I've had (that were 5 times the price of this) but it's there. Fortunately, this is also easy to fix.
Just a personal preference but I think the 'whiter-than-white' (I really can't remember when I saw anything quite that white) three-ply pickguard the PB-20 BK ships with lets down the aesthetics a bit. Its marketed as a beginner instrument and with the black and white thing going on I'm afraid to say it looks very much the part. An aftermarket black or tortoiseshell pickguard would become a necessity if I were planning to take it out in public. Strangely, there are 12 screw holes for the pickguard here (count them) while most modern P-Basses (even the right handed version of this one!) have 13 holes.. odd. This doesn't bother me much, but it means a new pickguard will almost certainly require some drilling. I do like the headstock design on these Harley Benton basses though, it's a good take on the classic four-a-side P and J bass design in my view and looks a good deal better than the ones found on a lot of other brands of beginner guitars.
To summarise, the HB P-20 BK is a great value beginner bass that does well as a recording instrument and is giggable out of the box. With a bit of a setup and a few mods, it could become a real 'bass for all seasons' offering a great proposition as a base (geddit?) product for customisation and experimentation. I wonder what it would sound like with flats and an EMG GZR pickup in there... ?
