Harley Benton JB-40FL 3-Tone Sunburst Reviews

Just order and dont think

I was thinking to buy a fretless more than 5 years but I had no budget for it. Since it is going to be my first fretless I ordered in the light of others comments and I am not regretted. there are only few little cons for me: its a bit heavier than I thought, my sr305 much lighter than this though it has one more string, but okay, feels solid too. It has 20 fret, I already know it while ordering but didnt care, however if you like play solo or melodic things you really need that extra 4 fret. Still you cant find better brand new fretless in this price

Excellent product for the price, also looks beautiful

Great fretless bass!

Bought this bass to try fretless, thoroughly recommend after reading other reviews, received in good packaging, plays well straight out of the box and superb tone! Great price, if like me you want to try fretless, also love no pick guard so you can rest your thumb on the pickup, so if your considering fretless just buy this!

Decent sound and good hardware

Very good bass for the price!

On a standard to squire!!

Good sound tone and good hardware**

An indestructible bass

I sold hardwoods for many years and this beast of a bass guitar is built using the very best. Some may argue that it’s on the heavy side but I believe that’s where the tone comes from. I was looking for a cheaper Jaco style bass as I don’t play fret less very often but although this was cheap, very cheap, you can’t tell. It’s very well put together.

Excelente Inicio al Mundo Fretless sin Romper la Hucha

Muy contento con mi compra, de verdad. Este es mi primer bajo sin trastes y tengo que decir que es una elección estupenda para iniciarse en este mundo fretless. Es muy fácil de tocar y suena bastante bien, especialmente teniendo en cuenta el precio. Si estás pensando en probar un bajo sin trastes, este Harley Benton JB-40FL es lo mejor que puedes conseguir sin gastar una fortuna. ¡Recomendado!

Very good for the price

If you’re looking for an affordable but very good quality fretless bass then this is most definitely a solid choice.

Just make sure you have a heavy duty and comfortable strap as this bass is very heavy and can dig into your shoulder if played for a long time with a thin strap, although this is a small thing.

I am amazed

I am amazed by the quality and playability of such a cheap instrument. Looks good, sound good and feel good. I 've had fretless fenders and this instrument delivers at a fraction of the price. If you don care what its written on the headstock and want a great instrument, buy this one.

Rock solid Bass of Doom at a fraction of the price

Crazy how NOT cheap this axe feels. I’ve had it for over 5 months now, and still haven’t set it up. Sure, it needs it, but man… it’s STILL so much fun and playable even as is out of the box. I’m sure $400-500 spent on some new knobs, pots, hardware, and boutique pickups would put this baby up to darn near equal with a bass 15X its price. But for just filling out your guitarsenal with an iconic-looking fretless J that humbles you every time you pick it up - because it LOOKS like Jaco’s bass, and SOUNDS like Jaco’s bass, but alas… you’re still not Jaco - it’s an absolute steal!

Excellent fretless, great value for money!

As I wanted to explore fretless playing, I looked around to get my bearings. As I'm not a great bass player, I didn't want my first steps on this path to be overly expensive, so I bought the cheapest J-bass I could find.

The bass arrived, I unboxed it, immediately changed the strings for flatwounds (La Bella 760FS Deep Talkin Bass), plugged it in my amp and was blown away by the sustain and the famous fretless 'growl'.

What a beaut!

It is heavy (which helps the sustain no end) and the tone is very versatile - a true J-bass in that respect.

Although I bought this one as a 'tester' and have in the mean time bought a 5-string fretless, I will keep it for emergencies etc.

Pros:

+ great tone

+ very versatile

+ great sustain

+ nicely finished (no sharp frets)

The only con I think:

- it comes with regular (roundwound) strings... who does that anymore

Ratings assigned based on quality expected at a particular price point.

Bought the bass guitar for my brother, who is a huge Jaco fan and who had been longing for a fretless. Guitar arrived in perfect condition, with a very playable setup. Plugged it in to his Markbass amp and we were both surprised by how nice it sounded, the fretless growl coming in immediately.

Overall very satisfied with my purchase.

Love this basd

I play this all the time now I prefer it to my fretted fender jazz bass, the tone is much fuller and the sound is crisper, everything about this bass is great, it's maybe a little bit heavier than a fender but not much and it doesn't really bother me, I really think this is a great instrument and it's practically free at £159, it's great playing fretless it is so much smoother and more satisfying, I really don't like frets that much any more one you play without them you'll see what I mean

Great fun bass to play

Great bass. really fun and surprisingly easy to play. good sound and built quality. just had to tune in up and good to go. only downside is a bit on the heavy side. nothing that a good wide strap won't solve. totally recomend

Amazing fretless bass for the money

This is my first fretless but I’m pretty certain this is as good as many fretless basses 2 or 3 times the price.

Arrived well set up, although pretty low action and absolutely pancake-flat fretboard. This had the effect of creating that fuzzy Jaco tone that many crave but which can sound a bit like the end of a long drunken night out when in the wrong hands, especially if you start adding vibrato.

And on vibrato… fortunately this bass has lines, so with proper technique you won’t need to do the drunk-vibrato thing that you hear many line-less bass players use when they play by ear but don’t quite hit the right note first time round, so end up using a bit of vibrato to mask that shortcoming. I’ve not seen a professional fretless player (who actually teaches) yet who hasn’t said that having lines just helps you get the intonation right first time so you sound on-point. The fretboard may not look as coolly upright, but who cares if you can actually play in tune.

The bass itself is a standard j-bass setup. Heavy-ish, and certainly feels well put together.

I’m no expert, but at this price I don’t understand why anyone would want to spend, say, £300-400 on a fretless bass. You either get something like this or save up for something much more expensive and special.

All in all this is a great bass, great fun to play, and a brilliant potential modding project.

Amazing Value

Incredible fretless bass for so little money. The feel, the tone, the construction - you'd swear it was a $1000+ bass. Beautiful instrument by HB!

Amazing instrument

Looks gorgeous, plays like a dream.

Set-up was really good, only minor truss rod and intonation tweaks required.

The nut is nice and low for easy action, the neck is slim and with a very pleasant satin finish.

Electronics could be shielded a little better - I have a very interference inducing house - and she is quite heavy, but this is an amazing offer at a bargain price.

Very impressive bass for a sweet price!

I've been playing basses from all sorts of price levels and brands for a good 30+ years now, and still this HB JB40FL impresses! This is my first HB bass and I was skeptical at first because of the lower price, but I am 100% proven wrong. The fit and finish is really good, playability is as good as most medium priced Fenders, and although the pickups aren't top notch, they still deliver good quality. Overall this bass is punching way above its price tag - it's that good!

Phenomenal price for a solid Jaco Bass

I have owned a Fender Maverick bass (my first bass) and a fretless Precision Bass and this bass is on par with both of them both in terms of sound and quality. I am frankly stunned that Harley Benton can sell a bass of this quality at this price, but I'm not going to complain because I absolutely love this bass!

The only negative is the factory-installed strings. First, they're the wrong gauge for a Jaco bass since he used era Rotosound Swing Bass strings that were gauged 46-63-80-102. So a better equivalent would be today's Rotosound RS66LN Nickel Bass Guitar Strings (45 65 80 100) than the heavier gauged strings that they install at the factory.

That's part one. Part two is that the factory-installed set was just dead. No gain and no brightness to them at all. Just dead. So the fix was simple, I just put on a set of these Rotosounds and now this bass sings like a bird at Birdland.

The last thing that you should be aware of is that this bass is HEAVY! I'm not a Jazz bass expert but I'm told that they used a heavier wood in the body of this bass than what Fender uses in the Jazz Bass and you can really feel it. It's closer in weight to my Gibson Grabber than anything Fender that I have owned.

So other than just a couple of twists that are easily fixed with a good guitar strap and better string this is a fantastic bass at a fantastic price.

I heartily recommend it. I love mine, and I can't put it down.

Unreal Value

What can I say? This is simply an unreal value. Whether you want a good solid fretless/ Jaco inspired bass.. or a phenomenal mod platform, you just can't go wrong with this bass. Out of the box, it's great, but for the mod friendly player = WOW!!

Why pay more for less

Astonishing build quality, honestly. My first Harley Benton product, definitely not my last. I'll have this one around for 30 years though, at least.