Harley Benton Beatbass FL VS Vintage Series 5-stars 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.

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

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

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).

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.

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.)

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 .

High hopes more than met

Wonderful short scale fretless violin bass.(actually the only short scale fretless I could find) After minor neck and bridge adjustments and a change of strings this bass really sings. I’m using it mainly to play jazz and funk but it also is capable of nice reggae,pop and country sounds. Just not good for slapping. Build quality is on par with my other basses worth literally at least five times as much. I am from Cleveland Ohio and it took about three weeks to arrive safe and sound.

Look Honey, No Frets

It's no secret that some of us are piecing together small HB collections within our guitar collections. This is tough, because HB makes a wide selection of unique instruments and where are you going to find a short scale, fretless Beatle bass? Not at the beach, that's for sure.

It is wunderschon out of the box, and the first thing you'll notice is that the fretboard has no dots and no frets. (This is my first fretless).Initially, it's like your first time on skates, but it took only a few minutes to get the hang of it. And once you do, you can glide around with ease (there are markers on the side).

Yes, it almost has that stand up bass sound, and once you realize that you can ascend and descend with that sound, you might be cooler than you already were being a bass player and all.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't care, but I should mention that the girlfriend loves it, because it's hard not to love that sound. Whoosh! FYI, I'm playing it through a Fender Rumble, which appears to be a good match for it, no pedals.

I wouldn't hesitate to gig with it, and it weighs about 6 pounds. So, if you're building an HB collection, I'd say leave room for this dessert.

very nice

All the positive reviews are true. A more than decent way to enter in to the fretless world. Do yourself a favor and change the strings that come from the factory. The E string is completely dead. The setup was ok didn't have to correct anything. Nice comfortable neck. Electronics decent no need to change anything. Overall satisfied.

A great sounding. and unusual fretless. Also a bargain !

This is a great sounding little bass.

It is not a toy like some other reviewer suggested - but you will need to invest in a set of quality flatwound strings to get the best sound and to preserve the rosewood fingerboard.