Harley Benton JB-75MN Black Vintage Series Reviews

First bass I've bought

I've been playing guitar for years and wanted to try Bass and basically bought the cheapest I could find, to my surprise, this bass feels good, not at all like a cheap bass, best one i've seen for the price

Another Benton success

After wanting a Jazz bass for over 30 years, through my joy having HB guitars, I thought it time for a J bass. So in keeping with the 12 string I just got, I took the opportunity to checkout the JB -75MN. Its lovely. the feel is great; the satin neck is slippery sexy; the variation of tones is cool, but I do have one but (and it's the same with Fenders original), it's bloody heavy. Again, considering the price, I'll make my back hold out. It's a lovely bass all round, well worth the price.

Decent Bass for its price!

This Bass is pretty good for its price tag. very good playability. Good sound. Great feel of the neck. I only had a minor issue with it, one of the tuning pegs was loose and it was rattling. I changed the whole set to black ones to match the colour anyway, but then again considering its price it's a pretty decent Bass.

doubt you'll find better in this price range

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with this guitar, it would've gotten a perfect score if it wasn't for the nutslots being too small so that the strings just sit on top of the nut.

Except the nutslots being too narrow I don't have any complaints:

- this guitar is great for slapping (much better than my ibanez sr for this kind of thing).

- the pickups sound great, at first I wasn't convinced but now I don't think I'll change them.

- its pretty heavy but it won't bother you alot with a good guitar strap

- It looks great. I love the all black with maple neck and chrome.

In total very happy

The bass is a great value for money for sure!! Sounds amazing, plays just as good and looks the part as well! The growl is surprising, and the attack is mind blowing. Still weighing in a little to the neck pick up, it mellows down. Very versatille!! No way just by hearing or looking at this bass could someone tell that this is a budget instrument.

The only thing i didn`t like, was a small area on the side of the neck where the 2nd fret is. Apparently the spot was sanded down but the black binding was scratched. Personally i find this minimal, but probably would put others off and send the bass back. The binding overall looks cheap (remember a 139¤ bass), the bridge upon intonation set up was scratched from the movement of the saddle (139¤) and that`s about it.

The pickups are not extremely noisy and have a relatively high output for passives. Potensiometers, jack, tuners seem well built and the overall picture shows a well constructed bass.

Upon arrival the bass was perfectly intune, intonation was spot on except for the E string. Tuners seem to stay in tune and potis are noiseless as they should.

The weight is on the heavy side, heavier than my MIA precision (4,2 kg`s), at 4,9kg`s but not uncomfortable.

In any case i would recommend this bass to beginners and professionals alike.

Probably my favorite bass

I actually have three of these, this one, a natural and a sunburst.

I could not decided which one I liked best so I bought a natural version, it was so nice I bought the other two.

I love black guitars generally and this one looks amazing, it's perfectly finished and looks just how a jazz bass should look in my opinion.

I cannot find fault with this guitar in terms of finish and build quality it is flawless as are my other two, it does not look like a cheap guitar.

The most important parts are how it sounds and plays. Mine is set up very well from the factory and is lovely to play. It sounds great, the pick ups are of good quality and the strings are D'Addario roundwounds. I may try some flats on it later but right now I could not be happier.

If you are looking for a jazz bass, or even just a nice bass, then I recommend that you give one of these a try, you will save yourself a lot of money and even if you bought a much more expensive guitar than this I think it would be difficult to notice and significant gains.

J Bass clone

I am no Bass player but I needed one to add basic lines to my recordings. I chose this Bass and I am very happy with it. A variety of tones are simple to set up, the action of the Bass was nice and low out of the box and it looks great. The only negative thought, it is very heavy but for the occasional use it gets from me that is not really a problem.

Great affordable recording bass

I bought this for a couple of recording projects, wanting to keep my costs down. At half the price of a similar Squier, the Harley Benton is a good match on quality, with some better features! The hardware quality is decent, as far as I can tell, and the pickups sound great.

The finishing leaves something to be desired: The fret crowns feel scratchy and will need polishing, but the fret ends (which are often sharp) were totally fine. The black finish had a few hairline scratches on out of the box, I assume from less time polishing, but they're barely noticeable and fine for a recording bass.

Tuners are totally stable, despite expecting them not to be. The neck feels better than the Squier Jazz bass I played recently, although is a little dry if you're used to lacquered necks. The Harley Benton also has the added bonus of brass saddles and the block and bound fretboard, which are a nice touch on a low budget bass like this one.

I've never been a stickler for bass pickup tone, so it's hard for me to compare these pickups to other jazz bass pickups, but they sound absolutely fine, no strange noise, and have quite a wide range of tones if you use the tone and volume knobs wisely.

With a little bit of work, this will be a great bass for great value.

Very good bass guitar, excellent sound. But heavy

For beginners it might be quite heavy - need to get used to it, but sound is very good. Sounds as more expensive bass guitar. Build quality is OK. Nice finish.

Recommended as a starter bass guitar or a backup bass guitar. Best jazz bass in this price range

Very good bass, but very heavy.

I was looking to get into jazz bass territory but didn't want to pay Fender/Squier prices and opted for this as it had Wilkinson hardware that I've had good experiences with in the past.

The fit and finish on this bass was great, a deep gloss black finish, perfectly finished metal control plate and traditional style jazz bass knobs. The black block inlays were great, the tuners held very well and the pickups were a decent output with great tone.

The only downsides to the bass for me were that it was incredibly heavy (could easily just have been that one body, wood can be like that), and the neck was just too thick for my personal preference.

Overall I would recommend this bass to anyone looking for a cheap backup or an upgrade from a cheap starter bass, as it was of very good quality, but the weight of the bass and the neck profile meant that the one I received very little play time.

Good guitar.

The guitar is of very good quality (craftsmanship), it has nice sound. The guitar is used for band practice and it "works" as it was expected. Moreover it is very affordable. If you are looking for inexpensive bass guitar for everyday practicing and (half)amateur gigs - the guitar is highly recommended.

So far I have not found any cons.

Decent beginner/backup bass

I bought this bass for a complete beginner as a gift. I didn't want to spend a huge amount of money in case she wasn't interested, but I can safely say that she is now a bass convert!

Sure, this bass is certainly on the lower-end of the scale price-wise, but the build quality and sound EASILY matches a bass twice it's price.

The frets have some slightly sharp burrs on the edges which will either wear down over time or could be easily filed, but this isn't as drastic as some would suggest - it's still very playable.

I fully expected to have to upgrade the pickups at some point but I hadn't realised that there were Wilkinson pickups included. These have a nice traditional growley jazz-bass tone that's unmistakeable and really quite good for the price.

This bass is HEAVY. I assumed from the price that the bass would be cheaply made and thus light, but it really does appear that there were no compromises in the build process.

All in all, a very good product for the price. This is definitely an easy way to bring a complete beginner into the bass world for a great price.

Good bass with good specs for little money

I bought this bass about a year ago to replace an old bass I used for recording. The Harley Benton JB-75 provides relly good specs at a decent price: the bass has Wilkinson pickups and comes with D'Addario strings. The hardware is good as well, the strings stay in tune well, the machineheads work fine.

The design of the Harley Benton JB75 is based on the Fender Jazz-Bass with two Wilkinson JB-Pickups and the JB-Controlplate. And for a copy of a Fender it sounds really good, the bass provides the typical Jazz Bass sound. In the bandcontext the sound of the Harley Benton JB75 fits in perfectly. On recordings the sound gives a perfect foundation, it pushes through but not too aggressive.

To put it in a nutshell the Harley Benton has all the characterstics you can expect from a Jazz Bass-Copy at a decent price. Because of the specs of the Vintage Series, e.g. the Wilkinson PUs and the D'Addario the Harley Benton has a good price-performance ratio.

bang for the buck over 9000

I was thinking ok, it's a sweet looking cheapo bass, if it could play ok i'd have it as a backup. boy oh boy was i suprised. this thing plays like big boys. if certain maunfacturer from USA started by an old guy called Leo F. made this bass, it would cost 4-5 times more.

Sound is amazing, pure jazz bass. punch, warmh, articulation, you get that signature sound that jazz basses are famous for.

Finish on body is pure perfection, pickguard is cheapo but ok, and hardware is much much better than most companies put on their entry level instruments, i mean pickups and hardware would if bass was made by someone else be going on mid spec bass.

and pickups, oh pickups! here come that boi wilkinson, pickups are on par with aftermarket big names. punch, warmth, definition, phatness, everything is there.

neck is great, i've set action to the level of my prestige ibanez basses. think about that. just think about that.

my only issue is with binding not being perfect visually. but you can only see that if you look close.

anyway, my ibbies will be sold, this is my no1 bass from nor on.

Good Start!

Well,first of all the bass came with setup made... 5 stars to the tech guys.

pros: soft arm; good scale, nice sound from bridge pickup

I didn't like only one thing the tuner from G string kept going down every time.

It's a pretty good bass for starters and a good choice for a second backup "gun"

A diamond in the rough

After purchasing my HB TE-52 telecaster not long ago and it being impressive I decided to buy a HB bass as well.

The bass I received looks great, but it has some flaws I didn't expect to find since these guitars go through inspection before shipping. The bass I received was unplayable in the condition it came out of the box. The neck had a back bow which caused severe fret buzz. Neck pocket has a 0,5mm gap at the bottom, but that's not a biggie. Frets need to be filed on the edges cause they're a bit on the sharp side. Pickups were set super weird with one being completely flush with the body and the second all the way up. But again, minor stuff for me as I'm used to setting up guitars, might be an issue for someone who doesn't know how to.

So the good stuff... it looks great, sounds great, bridge and tuners are well made. The pots and wiring is decent.

It does have that jazz bass sound and feel, also it's quite heavy which I like.

All in all it's a good guitar after some additional finishing touches and well worth the money.

Very good entry level bass... but...

Amazingly good entry level bass with a nice full tone, very good paint job and electric parts... BUT, the frets on the one that i received was unfinished!, non polished!, and the worst 3 of them had to be replaced!!!... they have serious dents!!!

Amazing bass for the price

I was blown away by this bass. It looks so cool!

The set up was decent although I was able to lower the strings a little bit for easier playing. I get a good range of sound from the two pickups which sound very good. Before playing I tightened all the screws and gave it a good look over. I found no defects on the body, pickguard and electronics. The neck has that classic Jazz Bass shape but I found that one side dot was little out of place. That doesn't bother me at all and I was happy to find that there were no fret ends sticking out. The neck pocket is a little messy but I might sort that out myself later.

In any case, I am happy to finally have a bass of my own that sounds and plays very well and holds its own against basses two times the price.

best 4 string jazz bass under 200€

I received this bass guitar 2 days ago and my first impression was that you get a very good instrument with less than 150€. I also have a 5 string ibanez sr305 so if you are familiar with the ibanez sound you will notice less bass and more middle in the harley benton. Perfect for classic rock and punk, the wilkinson pickups get the job done...

The craftmanship (chinese) is very good with no flaws except the edgy frets which will not affect its performance. Tight all the screws and you are done! For me the quality is equal with ltd & ibanez indonesian models and far better than other chinese made instruments.

I believe that it's the best choice for anyone who wants a decent practice - jamming 4 string bass guitar!