Harley Benton JB-40FL 3-Tone Sunburst Reviews

Awesome at any price.

Everything works well and the soft c shaped neck is easy to play. Really nice bass at any price.

Great product

Excellent bass to start in the fretless world!!

Sound is good, the pickups are pretty even and give out some good harmonics!

Built-wise, sturdy, durable, I like it a lot.

Action was good out of the box, tuners are smooth and she keeps in tune pretty well!

A jazzy lady to make your lonely evenings better!!

Stunned!

Received as a Christmas gift.

Was looking for a fretless bass and came across this. The intention was just to have a fretless bass for home only use. However once this was unboxed it became very clear that this was serious instrument and not a cheap copy. The wilkinson pick ups do a very good job on the sound front, the tuners are solid with no rattle noise.

The playability of the instrument is superb, nice low action no fret noise and you don't need to kill your fingers holding a note down. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is as easy to play as my Fender P bass.

There's a bit of weight to the instrument but not enough to make it uncomfortable while gigging.

Long and short is this a lot of instrument for little money.

Stunning for the price, feels and sounds so good.

Thanks, perfect for my fretless development. At this price I didn't think twice about buying.

Very good indeed

I have three Harley Benton bass guitars and this is the best of those three. I also have six other bass's and play in a band and know a good bass when I see one. This bass is very good. It sounds as good as any of my other bass's (open string comparison). The build quality is almost as good as any of my other bass's and much better than the other two Harley Benton's. It is hard to fault. So to be very picky, The tuners are obviously cheep and look it, "but they work fine". The body grain direction does not line up with the neck and looks wrong or odd. And that's it. Everything else is all good and happy to take it on stage.

Being fretless helps avoid many problems but the neck on this one is very near perfect. The neck joint is better than my high end bass. The body finish is very good (apart from the grain direction). I have fitted a pick guard and that helps and looks better anyway in my view. Pickups are quite good but a little bit of noise apparent but not too bad. One happy bass player.

Lovely entry level fretless bass. Only issue I have is the pickups are a little low on output but for the price I cannot complain really. It has been my main gigging bass for the last few months and I've less issues with it than my Fender Mex P-bass.

good value!

I needed a cheap bass for home recording and to experiment with a fretless. Very pleased I bought this harley benton.

I couldn't believe when I opened the box. This is the cheapest instruments I have ever bought and really does not feel like it. The fretboard is nice and comfortable, the paint on the body (looks like 3 pieces) is spot on, very solidly built. It was almost in perfect tuning straight out the box even after 6 days of travel in freezing temperatures!

PROS:

- keeps the tuning perfectly. It was almost in tune when it arrived. I changed the strings one day after and didn't touch if for 3 days and still it was perfectly tuned

- very solidly built and looks awesome

- no buzzing or humming when plugged in

- very decent sounding

CONS:

- the strings it comes with (very good D'Addario) are roundwound so they scratch the fingerboard

- the PU are rather quiet, although they sound good

- the electonic is average, the PU volume knobs only really works as 0 or 10, so no fine tune volume blending between neck and bridge PUs

- the tuning pegs are not the most precise and tad stiffy, although they keep a perfect tuning

All in all, if you are searching for a cheap bass or your first fretless, you can't go wrong with this instrument. Change the strings to flatwound and you'll have a reliable and decent sounding bass. Thumbs up!

A great purchase!

I didn't want to spend too much money on my first fretless bass,that is why I decided to try the Harley Benton JB-40FL.

Even though it is a low budget bass,the build quality is very nice! It has a very nice sunburst finish,and the neck is thin and smooth-really nice to play.

Out of the box,this may not be a bass ready for gigs,but after a good setup,it should do it's job. The only remark I have is the quality of the tuners,but that is something which can be easily replaced if needed.

The pickups sound quite good,and the bass really sings in combination with the roundwounds provided on the bass,but,if you want to prevent the wear of the neck I would sugest putting flatwounds on it.

Overall,this is a great purchase! It's well made,it sounds good, and is extremely afordable!

Disappointed

I received my H.B. JB-40FL SB with much excitement, and began to learn (I'm a beginner) how to play. However, after a few days there appeared to be an issue with the grounding of the instrument. Not a major issue for someone who knows what they are doing, but I do not. Poor quality wiring. Pity, as this seemed to be a fine instrument.

I shall not be purchasing any Harley Benton instruments again.

Good bass, some compromises

The good:

- great neck, and the overall construction is good

- overall sound is good

- very playable

- tuners are fine

Middling:

- Pickups could be a little smoother sounding but not bad overall

Compromises:

- Bridge hardware a little cheap (jammed screw)

- A little heavy

Overall, it's great value as a backup rosewood fretboard fretless for a warmer sound.

Amazing bang for buck

Came across some reviews about the Harley Benton fretless bass, so I took the plunge and bought one.

Well, to say I'm stunned about the quality of this instrument would be an understatement. The body is top quality and is made from American Swamp Ash, although the hardware is good, it is of low quality.

The sound and playability is quite good but I will be changing some of the hardware improve it further.

I thoroughly recommend this bass to anyone wanting to dip their toes into playing fretless, easily as good as if not better than a Squire.

Thank You

Excellent!!!

Very, very happy.

Looked for an inexpensive Fretless Bass and found an absolutely STUNNING one here. Beautiful Sound and playability and more and more. Can't recommend this Bass enough

great value for money bass

I was delighted with my purchase of this fretless bass. Like other reviewers I wanted a fretless to add to my fretted instruments without blowing my budget. Firstly, the strings are excellent and unusually are supplied on a budget bass. I have bought much more expensive instruments that need a new set straight away!. Neck is smooth and the action low. Sound from the Wilkinson pickups is good, great "fender type" growl on the bridge p.u. Overall they are very acceptable for the price range. I guess the pickups could be upgraded later if you wished to modify without spending huge money? The body is excellent and very solid. The pickup holes have been well routed and sunburst finish fantastic. Overall a great purchase.

Great for the price

I bought this as I was after a cheap fretless to dip my toe into the fretless world.

It's proven to be a good purchase so far.

I'm a huge Jaco Pastorius fan so this bass was an obvious choice. You can really get a nice Jaco esque fretless tone out of it.

The wilkinson pickups are nice, the bass could possibly benefit from some shielding in the control cavity to prevent buzz but that is an easy job to do.

The action was a little high for my tastes but this is easily changed and allen keys are provided with the bass to do this.

The neck is a regular jazz profile so is nice and thin.

It's quite a heavy bass but not the heaviest I've owned.

Great jazz bass for such a low cost

I bought this bass guitar as a practice bass, so not to wear out the one I use when playing live.

The bass was well packaged when it arrived. Also included allen keys, and a guitar cable. The strings are pretty high end too which was a nice surprise.

This bass is very well finished, with a nice layer of hard lacquer over flame burst colors, The neck is narrow and perfectly playable with a matt finish and rosewood fretboard, offering good tones and sustain while playing.

The bass wood body is a little heavy, but for the price no complaints there.

The pickups and volume/tone pots are noiseless and offer a great degree of volume and tone. Though I've never heard of Wilkinson pickups, they actually sound pretty good. the neck and bridge pick ups are very responsive and adjustable especially to get those, pino Paladin / Jaco Pastorious style sounds.

This bass required very little in the way of bridge or truss adjustment, the bridge height and intonation were already set up to give a good tone and sustain.

I would highly recommend this bass for beginners wanting a frettless Jazz bass on a budget. You will get a lot of bass for such a low cost.