Harley Benton Beatbass FL VS Vintage Series Reviews

Bang for your buck

If you are looking for a hollow body fretless bass at an affordable price, I can't think of any other option. And that's OK, because this bass punches way above it's price point. My only complaint is the knobs/controls. They are confusing, initially, and ugly. Screw the nostalgia vibe, just use knobs, like Hofner does on the Greenline models. Would be way better functionally and aesthetically.

Great fretless bass, value for money

I dont have experience with fretless bass and decided to try. Both Harley Benton beatbass and i am surprised by quality and sound of this bass guitar. Really value for money.

Real bang for the buck!

To be honest for 200 Euro I wasn't expecting that much, just something to mess with. I was so impressed with the one I bought to have a bass in Germany to play when visiting my brother that I bought another for here in the states! Sounded decent out of the box but with little tweaking ( DiAdario half round strings and properly setting the bridge for correct intonation ) I have a bass that is truly a marvel! Sound and play ability are 1st rate! Have recently sold my Godin A4 that I had since '96 as the Beatbass can't be beat! Love it.

very good

It was the only choice since Hofner has not released any fretless version of violin bass. the instrument is above my expectations! Very good vintage sound. And comfortable fretboard

Nice to play now and then

I've had one of these a long while now, apart from using it on the odd song to try and impersonate a double bass, I've not really got on well with it.

As usual with HB can't fault the quality for the money, the bridge is a bit of a pain to adjust but it is the same as it would be on a Hofner.. Dots aren't all that helpful.

Bit of a disappointment...

On the whole these are well made, but even at this price point my particular copy came with a few let downs:

1: the sunburst finish on mine is rather crudely applied, heavy black outer and sudden change to amber centre, and the 'flame maple' top shows barely any figuring at all, nothing like the website images.

2: the fingerboard was dry as a bone and pale grey looking, and took four coats of lemon oil applied over a couple of days to get it looking and feeling respectable.

3: the pickup switches are wired incorrectly (and I don't mean in the quirky original Hofner sense) - bass 'on' actually switches the bridge pickup on, and treble 'on' switches the neck pickup on. Not a huge issue for me as I always have them both on and use the volumes to balance the tone, but still not up to scratch.

3: as many have said, the strings supplied with the bass are dreadful - why bother? I have replaced them with genuine Hofner flat wounds.

I get the feeling I have received a 'Friday afternoon' copy of what would otherwise be a great value instrument...

very good for the spectacular price

It is my first bass, so keep in mind I don't have any experience with other bass instrument. But I own several acoustic and electric guitar, so I imagine I can evaluate this instrument reasonnably...

5 stars, because it is a pretty good instrument for a very low price. If like me you are just starting bass, and just want a simple fretless instrument to see if you like it, don't hesitate this one will do the job.

Just a quick note, I didn't experience the original strings, I put some Pyramid Gold Flatwound 040-100, as I do with every guitars I buy (spending a little much for good strings! This is, in my opinion, the easiest upgrade to do with any instrument, and never regrets doing it)

A good choice for me

I used to own and play, in college, a rare (now a days) Ibanez flying V bass. It was cool and great for metal. The guys I played with were music majors. On occaison, they asked me to play the stand up bass to get that boogey woogey wood sound, like The Stray Cats. It was a b*tch; no frets or markers, holding it vertical instead of horizontal, etc. But, I never forgot that sound. After a lot of years, I'm playing rock n roll again. In looking for the electric bass that gives me that distinct fretless hollow sound and rock versatility, it turned out to be this bass. GREAT PRICE for the quality.

Fun little bass!!

I play contrabass, and this small fretless bass guitar is not exactly the same thing. But it's perfect for me when I need to double on electric bass

Fits the purpose I intended

I wanted a fretless bass, and a semi hollow bass. In this instrument, both the options intersect. The sound is very good, it os possible to choose between a snappier sound from the bridge pickup, but also an upright bass kind of sound from the front pickup.

However, I think the build quality could have been improved. The nut seems to be taken from a fretted Beatbass, and the strings sit too deep within the nut. Also, the nut thickness is too great, which makes it hard to fret the first and second fret.

The bridge needed some tweaking, but I guess that is expected from a Beatbass, as it would be expected from a Hofner bass.

The truss rod needed adjusting, but the support team helped greatly, and answered my e-mails remarkably quick, so a big thank you.

For the money, I believe it is a fantastic bass.

Probably my fav bass at the moment

I've had it for almost a month now and I must admit, it's really Good. Where do I start?

From the physical aspect, it's just great. Looks great and FEELS great. The sunburnt color from the body stretches nicely across the neck too, which makes the bass look "whole" (if you know what i mean.. there are So many bass guitars that have a sunburnt body but lightwood neck and, personally, not a fan of these from an aesthetic point of view). Other parts of the bass look great too, just all of it.

It's super comfortable too tbh?? Which, I didn't expect that, considering its shape; i thought it'd be chafing my tie but surprisingly it isn't. The neck is also super comfortable and easy (surprisingly!) to fret on, there's no problems with plucking either. It's shortscale so it also feels just much more pleasant and faster. It's just cool. Feels good.

Now, as for the sound, it's also just... very good? Great? The flatwound strings sound great and both pickups give you very distinct but nice tones; it almost sounds like an upright bass. It's so warm and thick, love it.

The only downside is that there's a rather prominent neck dive but that's to be expected with a semi-hollow body so I don't really count that as a con.

I feel like, for that price especially, that is a STEAL. Like, a violin bass? Fretless? Shortscale? With two humbucker pick-ups? With flatwound strings? And so nice-looking? Really, REALLY worth its price. Rare to find all of these qualities on one bass (if not impossible).

Good quality for price!

Bought this as an introduction to fretless playing and was very impressed with the product.

It has a plastic feeling to it and the fretboard itself is a little rough but the sound it produces is surprisingly nice and has a rich wooden tone. If your in the market for a double bass sound without the price tag or storage issues this is definitely worth a purchase.

Amazing fretless violin bass!

I had been looking at this bass for a while, as I really love the sound of Hofner-style violin basses but did not own one yet, and seeing a fretless one, at such a cheap price, I just had to go for it. This instrument did not disappoint!

The instrument is very well made down to every detail (finish, binding, etc.). Additionally, the pickups and strings themselves are even of great quality, and you can easily get that classic thumping tone heard on so many Beatles albums without any modding, as well as having the freedom a fretless instrument provides (such as sliding and playing microtonal). The short scale also makes playing fretless much easier than on a long scale fretless bass. If you have the treble high enough, you'll get the classic fretless "mwah" sound, so you have the best of both worlds!

Perhaps the only downside is that the E string can get muddy sometimes, but this is a common issue with hollow or acoustic basses and easily fixed with the right eq.

I'd easily recommend this instrument to anyone, especially if they want that classic Hofner-style violin bass tone, as well as experimenting with fretless playing.

Good bass for low price

Really fun instrument with strange schematic: lows and highs switches just disabling and enabling neck and bridge pickups. So switches duplicating pots for some reason.

Neck pickup bit muddy and loud. Bridge pickup sound amazing.

Stock strings are flat wound, so fretboard stay safe.

Weight balance isn't perfect, but... it's classic for this type of instruments.

great vintage vibe going with this bass.

Perfection all round

Short scale fretless basses are wonderful, & this, being a violin bass, & with perfect strings, action, playability , slidey bassy sound, price & lightness in weight, makes it easily the best bass guitar I have ever played & is up there with fretless ubasses & double bass for sure. FANTASTIC.

More than worth it.

If you've ever wanted a fretless violin bass for a good price then I don't see how you could find better. It's exactly what you think it is, and it delivers that classic sound in spades. The only real negative is the neck dive is pretty bad but some lighter tuners will fix that easily. It's light, it plays well and right out of the box it was ready to go. Very satisfied with this instrument.

Amazing value as ever

Great bit of gear - exactly what you would want, especially for the price.

Very light, easy to set up, very playable. Well constructed and finished. And, of course, it sounds great, nailing the thumping vintage tone. Although it's by nature not the versatile of basses, there are plenty of variations between the two blendable pickups. Couldn't be happier.

(One note: rather than replicating the traditional but rather opaque switching scheme, this opts for simple on-off per pickup, albeit with labels switched. Solo switch is the same, though.)

Good afordable vintage style bass

Pretty good deal for a fretless bass, electronics are pretty basic and the switch is a bid clanky with the disposition to put out some noise. I bought this for its potential to be build up and used as an electric cello... sort of, so the vintage style body with the cutouts are really convenient option. The only thing left is an update of the adapters with an alternative that have an option to regulate the height below each string. It would have been an even greater deal to have them initially.

I absolutely love this guitar and wish I had bought one sooner.

It’s a absolute Joy to play.

So comfortable and no arm stretching needed.

I will probably buy the fretted version off the back of this for the ease and comfort of playing .