Harley Benton B-450FL BK Progressive Series

Most excellent first-time fretless

I bought this as my first foray into fretless and am delighted in all respects. Necessarily my experience with fretless was zero but I changed the strings to flat wound and found it a delight to play. Having read earlier reviews about poor set-up and occasional buzzes, these seemed to have been addressed. The gain is less than on my regular base (so, adjust the volume a notch). My only primary observation is that the plastic bridge seems a bit frail, but does the job. Time will tell. Of course there are superior models but who can quibble with this value for money? Very happy

More than I expected

Easy to play, good tune, it worths to enjoy

does exactly what it should at a great price

I have quite a few HB basses, they are all worthy in their own right. This fretless model sounds really good, very much like my upright and at a fraction of the price. the pickups are quiet . I recorded a few songs with it in the studio and the artist I did it for was very pleased. Can't go wrong if the sound of a fretless is what you are looking for.

Not bad...

..but not as amazing as some reviewers suggest.

Not as impressive an instrument as the HB J-Bass for me.

The sound is alright. Hard to set up by comparison.

Still, good value for the money.

Just not an instrument I think I will ever fall in love with.

Perfect vehicle for learning fretless bass

I make a comprehensive review of this bass on my You Tube channel (search for "Harley Benton B450FL long term review - cool fretless bass.").

The only slight issue is neck dive - but I have this on almost every bass I have. Decent strap and cured.

At the time of my purchase it was £120 for a 4 string active pickup fretless bass. The key selling point for me was the humbucker pickups - which reject all sorts of noise in the church where I play. I then added some La Bella nylon coated strings - adjusted the truss rod (2 way!) and wow. But a lot of folks like the sound of normal strings - and at the price I doubt you need to worry about chewing up the fretboard - just buy another!

I have taken this bass apart, set it up multiple times. The tuners have a little bit of play but keep tune. I also did the "superglue" on the fretboard - worked fine. But it doesnt really need it - I just wanted to experiment.

The awesome thing about this active system - if your battery dies then pull out the volume knob and you go into passive mode. Not much difference in volume, master tone still works but the bass boost stops. This is a real bonus compared to EMG, where there is no such passive switch option.

Sure they are not EMG pickups - but they are very usable especially given I tend to add a Zoom B1XFour infront to shape the sounds more.

All in all a great bass - lovely neck - thin without feeling it will snap. Satin back. Rejects noise from induction loop - and with the La Bella's has the whole double bass tone and luxurious feel.

I followed Jim Stinnett's Real Bass Lessons/drills and was soon into fretless. Will look good on the wall too when you decide you need another fretless in your life - and once you get the hand of this bass you wont want to play fretted again!

My one regret? That I didnt buy the 5 string version. The 6 looks a little too plank like. 5 string to me is the most natural bass layout.

Yet Another Extraordinary Instrument

As my latest acquisition, a Harley Benton B-450FL BK, has just arrived, I can't tell you that much about this 4-string fretless, other than what can be garnered from my first impressions, in particular in comparison to my existing B-450 QTB and B-550 QTB models. It seems to be built to the same exacting standards, so I'm expecting great things from this machine when it gets used in anger, so to speak. That'll happen this week, on Tuesday, I think; but for now, the build quality looks great and it feels wonderful. The pickups and the controls also feel somewhat familiar, as I am already conversant the setup, owning, as I do, the two sister models specified above. I am, of course, assuming that what "looks" and "feels" the same, will "sound" the same; but perhaps not. But, what else can I say?; other than, get me to Tuesday ASAP! Let this latest Harley Benton adventure begin! Seriously, you want to get your hands on one or more of these basses; they are, quite frankly, incredible. Go on, treat yourself; it's Christmas!

Cheap active fretless

I ordered this bass just to mess around with a fretless out of curiosity. In Czech Republic you can get cheapest fretless bass for double the money (Squier JB). So I had basically no expectations. Also I own Harley Benton PB-50 which is fair but not a well made instrument.

When the fretless arrived, I was surprised. The build quality was significantly better then PB-50. The fingerboard was dry af, so I used fretboard conditioner oil when changing strings. The original roundwounds were nothing fancy and I was afraid of the damage they could do to the fretboard. Immediately I switched to fender flatwounds and the improvement was unbelievable. The sound is smooth, not limp, clear, the output on the thinner strings is higher than I'm used to which is nice. You don't get much high frequencies even if you try, The active treble pot makes zero to none difference.

What I don't like is the bridge. You have to take off the string in order to set it up and then see whether it's ok. If not, you have to take the string down again. Also the metal which it is made out of is cheap and soft.

The battery drains fast if you leave it on active mode and keep the jack in.

It is also very light compared to my jazz bass copy, which is nice af. Still it's balanced, it doesn't fall on the neck.

Great thing is that there are no lines on the fretboard. It's a bit more difficult to find the tones but as the wood hasn't been cut, the delivered tone is full and has a long sustain as the wood resonates better then fretboards with lines.

The neck is very comfortable to play. It's got satin finish and thin profile, ideal for fast playing.

For the price I think this is unbelievable instrument.

Surprising sound for a cheap bass

I was doubtful before buy this fretless because the low price. When I received the bass I forthwith noticed a very long and lovely sustain playing the strings without connect it to the amp, so I watched better the body and the neck and I thought that it's build very well for a so entry level gear. The strings though are not that good, give an idea about the bass power. Then I connect it on an Warwick Combo Sweet 15.2 and I tasted a surprising good sound from the pickups. After an hour of testing I changed the strings with D'Addario ECB81 flatwound that obviously give a more warm but a less brilliant sound, anyway the HB B-450FL returned an honest good sound. I think the B-450FL is a very deal for who want start to play a fretless and a battle or double for who just get a more professional fretless. I mean that the price/quality balance is WINNER!!!!

Very good for the price.

The shipping took a month from Germany to Netherlands.

Amazing Bass

Got this from reading all the comments so I took the plunge and ordered one.

I've had lined fretleses in the past but wanted to progress to an unlined one but without the expense in case it was not for me.

First impressions are that it's very well built and quite light. The pickups are good and the tone range is pretty good for what you pay. I may at some point change the pots to better quality ones to see how much improvement I can get.

The intonation out of the box was quite good and only a few minor adjustments were needed. I changed the strings to flats so it would preserve the fretboard plus flats have a better tone on a fretless (to me). The action was quite good too, but I think the nut supplied is adequate but not the greatest, but again this can be replaced later.

the only annoying thing is there is no instructions on what each knob does and how to change the intonation and string heights. Yes this can be figured out but time consuming.

All in all, this is worth every penny and more, would thoroughly recommend this bass if you want to dip your toes into the fretless world to see if you like it without risking a lot of money in the process.