Harley Benton HBB400FLTBK

I don't know when mine was made. But I'm sure it was made in China. It is a FRETLESS BASS, with 4 strings. The fretboard is long enough for it to hold 24 frets, so one can go high on this instrument. The body is made of "basswood", and that means linden, they seem to have a lot of that in China. The neck is maple, and the fretboard is palisander. Harder than most rosewood. It has active electronics that work very well, and that's the first time I've bought an instrument with active stuff in it. It runs on a 9-V battery. The brigde is fully adjustable, and very solid. The tuners are none locking, appear to be the same as on my Yamaha fretted bas, that was made in Malaysia in 1997. The fretboard is arched, but not very much. So in conclusion the fretboard could be a little wider. Not that I have extremely large hands. My bass is transparent black. One can see the lines in the body's wood. It also features kind of a purple glow, especially in electric light. Oh yeah, and the neck is bolted on, with 5 individual screws, no plate. That means the bass could possibly break if you mess around like Pete Townshend once did. My bass came with a cheap cable.

The attack and decay of this bass i somewhat different from any passive instrument I've ever played. It seems very constant, or linear. An upright bass doesn't sound like that, and nor did Jaco Pastorius. Keep that in mind before buying. Other than that it sounds great! It's active, and I guess that translates into "very controlable": It has 4 knobs, 1 master volume, 1 pickup-selector that lets you blend between the J-style bridge and the P-style neck pups, and what appears to be 2 eq knobs. It can sound both boomy and warm, and trebly, snarling. And most in between. It's actually very nice.

I play ambient on mine, in my home studio, along with a synth, and sometimes a sampler loaded with concrete sounds. It is a good versatile fretless for that purpose, especially the eq lets me blend with other sounds, or drown in them, or float above them. Wish it sounded more like an upright, or EUB though. But for the price it's good.

The instrument was set up perfectly, for it's lame, thin roundwounds. I switched them out as soon as I could with semi-fat flatwounds. Also, it sounds better that way. The pickups were not well adjusted, and the screws holding them are of the cheapest kind. THEY BREAK IF YOU MESS WITH THEM! So you will need to change those tiny screws. Apart from that the instrument seems totally in order, and it's a beauty.

The bass is nicely balanced, won't bang it's head in the ground, if you let go of the neck. The bass is very light.

I've played live now and then, and it will withstand that, this bass. But no plate to support the neck/body assembly! If the crowd attacks you, you can't use this bass as a bat! It will break, even after only two or three heads, or ribcages have been smashed! Obviously this is no Black-Metal bass! The strap buttons are perfect, better than my old fretted Yamaha. The finish is very durable.

I have been playing guitar and bass for 16 years, I'm 31 years old. I also own a Yamaha fretted bass, I forget those Yamaha names "BB-XXX" or "RBX-XXX", or whatever. I play my own brand of ambient jazz-fusion. Also use some amps & DI-boxes. The Harley Benton sounds nice through all that apparel. Very playable, I mean VERY, very light, stays in tune. Wish it was a more dependable neck/body assembly though.

Made in China with nice flat fretless neck. Amazing value given that just over UK??100 delivered from Thomann in Germany has active pickups which give a nice versatile tone. Finish is a high gloss black but has a subtle purple undertone through which you can see the grain of the body.

Great sound with a large range of tones available throught the active pickups. I play anything, although mainly rock, and sounds good on anything - I admire Percy Jones as one of the greatest fretless bass players around and I can get a very similar buzz and slur to the notes that he achives on WAL basses. The circuitry is very quiet for such a cheap bass. I can achieve a really full sound with lots of sustain and also get a piano like sound off the E string with a nice cutting top twang.

Out of the box the action was almost perfect - certainly the 12th note harmonics were spot on - needed a little height adjustment on the E and A strings to stop buzzing on the first five notes but otherwise pretty good. The only minor fault was the varnish had split off the very top of the neck against the fretboard but with a little application of nail varnish has sorted it.

Reckon it will stand up to a heavy life without too many problems - havent needed to adjust the neck or tuning pegs.

No problems with Thomann - ordered Monday delivered Wednesday same week on international delivery - outstanding!

I have played on and off for nearly 30 years and decided to treat myself to a fretless to push my techinque and at the price that this little beauty was I havent regretted this at all. I have a 1976 Fender Jazz that I have gigged with from new and it still is the most amazing and versatile instrument ever made but the HB pushes it close! I would highly recommend this guitar to anyone from a new starter to a seasoned old pro.

Fretless bass with a rosewood neck and a basswood body. Colour is listed as black but I found it some kind of purple tingr to it which was kinda cool. Two pick ups 1 p-style and 1 J-style two volume two tone knobs. Nice size neck not as wide and fat as other basses I have played. Very hard get a fretless bass at this price especially one this good.

I play a lot of different styles of music and I like to play a nice clean sounding bass. This bass is very versatile due to its pickup setup and I find it wonderful to play alongside a piano giving a nice warm sound but if I want to FUNK IT UP!!!! turn up that J pick up to give it a bit of pop and brithness.

Found it to play quite well out of the box and any noise is probably from my amp have to play it on a different one to find out. There is a little annoying resonance at the 12th on the D but I think this down to my playing.

I think this would stand up to a lot but its not a bass that you would take to a ROCK!!!! gig this more of a laid back slow grooving pipe smoking bass that would do wonders in a studio because of its warm tone and versatility. I am a little worried about the tuners they dont appear great but I have had it four months and only tuned it once!

Thomann sold me this bass delivery was international took a week and they are more than helpful They replyed to my email 10 minutes after I sent it

I have been playing 7 years and own 4 other guitars and bought this as a second bass the other one is P-Bass. This bass has developed my feeling for notes on the neck and is brilliant for bass players looking to go to the next level of playing. If it were stolen (I would not lose it!!!) I would hunt the culprit down and severely injure him. I love this bass for relaxing smoking my pipe and jamming with a piano the only thing I wish it had is a holder for my pipe!!!