Beatbass VS Vintage Series : Harley Benton Beatbass.

I was looking for a cheap violin bass and the Harley Benton wasn't too much of a risk, given its price. The first thing that struck me was how well put-together it was and how nice it looked in the flesh. Plugging it in, it certainly gives a certain vibe, especially with the neck pickup soloed and adding the bridge pickup allows it to cut through a bit more. The bridge pickup when soloed was quite useable too - usually on instruments with this pickup configuration, the bridge pickup doesn't sound too good on its own, but this one surprised me. I didn't like the stock strings and changed them for a set of flatwounds and this gave a lovely 60s vibe to the sound. The neck was comfortable to play and I encountered no problems with the frets and after a little tweak of the truss rod after changing strings, this became a much more playable bass. I'd heartily recommend one for the price - you already have an idea of what they sound like and I'm happy to confirm that it'll get you some way there, but at a fraction of the cost of the instruments that inspired it.