Harley Benton PJ-74 VW Vintage Series Reviews

Good value

It is set up so well and feels really nice to play - neck feels amazing - chunky more P than J.

It is very solid and the pickups sounds great - I had planned on upgrading them but I don't think i'll need to.

The finish is impeccable on the body and the neck.

Harley Benton really give competitors a run for their money.

Exceptional

I bought one of these as a stop gap and it was exceptional. Well built and with great tone. Obviously a little cheaply made but for the money - fantastic!

Awesome Inexpensive PJ Bass

Received in overall good shape with finish rubs on neck headstock sides. Plays and sounds great after setup to my tuff standards. TY

Looks, feels and plays very nicely for under $200 USD

I am an amateur guitarist and only previously owned a short-scale Squire bass. The HB PJ-74 VW is my first full scale bass and it feels powerful, sexy and fun to hold and to play.

I ordered the bass (and a guitar) on a Saturday in NYC, USA and received my bass and an HB DC Custom Cherry guitar four days later(!).

I have already stressed by fretboard hand from playing the bass so much in the last 36-hours since receiving it. The bass is large, but it feels surprising light.

Although I have not visually inspected the electronics, the sound of the Roswell pickups are more sonically pleasing than the Squire factory pickups, from my previous bass. The pinus radiata fretboard looks and feels like dark rosewood. The African alder body is light and the back of the neck has a satin smooth finish.

Awesome PJ bass

Just got this bass.

1)Straight neck from the box, but the string height must be set up.

2)Frets are fantastic.

3)Parallel pickups sound quit together,wish it was serial.

Overall it's much better than Squier CV and VM.

The only cons - the headstock was damaged during the transportation to Russia due to very poor packaging for international shipping.It would be nice to get a coupon equal to the price of repair.

Not bad

I purchased this bass at the beginning of June for studio recording along with a couple other products. At first The projected ship date was a couple of weeks. At the end of June, when the item was projected to be in stock in a couple of days it suddenly jumped back up to 3-4 weeks. Understandable issues with shipping due to current pandemic, but it was a huge bummer. Product arrived yesterday, in tune out of the box which was super cool. At first impression, love the look of this bass. The colour is exactly the off white vintage colour as in the pictures. Not a blemish on the body. The pick guard contrast with the off-white is awesome. The pick guard itself is as the pics look, a cheap laminated photo of a tort guard. I knew it before ordered and I’m fine with it. The neck is a nice satin feel. The rose art skunk stripe was not well done. Some uneven feeling spots. Head stock is nice perfectly matching the body. Some residue in the truss divot. Tuners are good given it stayed in tune shipping from Germany. Fingerboard looks cheap. Frets are excellent. No sharp ends or sprout. Pots and electronics seem fine on first play. Action is high high high! Intonation is good. Love the neck pickup sound and plan to mostly use this. Bridge sounds smooth. Pickups are definitely not high output but that’s okay for my needs. Came with a complimentary patch.

Pros:

Price

Excellent finish on body

Sounds decent

Arrived out of the box in tune with D’addario strings

Satin finish on neck is nice

Tuners

Cons:

The nut is rough in a couple spots and looks very cheap

Fingerboard is pretty cheap looking

Big time neck dive

Action is high

Skunk stripe could have been smoother

Overall first impressions: A pretty good purchase with a classic P-bass sound and feel.

Awesome Vintage p bass

This is such a good bass for the money, the sound is as good as, if not louder than my fender p. I would recommend easily this bass for value, sound, and build quality. You get so much for your money. Only negative is that the pickgaurd is a bit horrible but for a few pounds can be changed and you have a stunning bass.

Wow.

To get a bass this good, you'd usually have to spend about £350+. I love it, it look greats, sounds great and it's going to stay with me for a long time.

Nice bass.

I own this bass for a half a year and still happy with that.

Bass-guitar feels very comfortable and looks gorgeous. Neck is well-made and straight, so intonations are correct. It sounds as you would expect from PJ-bass. It lays in a mix perfectly.

I had the only minor problem with frets. After the winter in the dry room, the frets appeared at the top positions. I fixed it with a file. So it doesn't affect on instruments' function.

Excellent guitar for the price

Bought this a couple of months ago and have now got a good feel for it. Wow, what a deal for under $150USD! Finish is flawless and gorgeous as well. Changed strings after about a week (I like flat wounds) and lowered the action a bit to my liking. Did need to touch up the fret ends as they were just a little rough. After that, its been smooth sailing. Playing this thru a Fender Rumble 500 and it sounds great for the types of playing I do. Rock, blues, some country. I've got two guitars from HB now and both are more that I expected for the money!

Before buying this I hadn't played bass for years. I was looking for something simple, solid and easy to play with a great tone.

This bass was recommended to me by some amazing musicians during a Gearhead University live stream. I am so glad I went with their suggestion.

This is an incredibly well built and great sounding bass that is an absolute joy to play.

A very nice and beautiful bass.

I had to do nothing (apart from lowering just a bit the saddles) when i got this bass. The sound is rich, the looks are gentle, simple and elegant. Keeps in tune. Just a small thing: i prefer to see at what point the knob's are and though the metal knobs look cool, they are not helpful from this point of view (but it's just a personal choice and they're easily replaceable and quite cheap). Copper saddles - a nice touch. While still searching "for the right one" i took it to a few stores (with covered headstock) to compare it with other basses and all people who played and heard it thought that it was a Fender bass (~1000$).

For me personally the spacing of the strings was too much, i feel much more comfortable with spacing (and neck) like in Jazz bass (and i don't want to start a bass collection - it is not healthy and i am not a bass player, and i have many guitars already). That is the only reason i said "Goodbye" to this bass and sold it to a friend (without making any extra money, of course).

If you're looking for a juicy bass with nice looks and PJ neck (almost like in P bass), this one is definitely a great option, especially considering such a nice price.

Excellent but may have a problem with the truss rod

This is an excellent instrument for the value. However, I feel there may be a problem with the truss rod on mine. I am able to get the neck straight without strings. However, when under string tension, it turns up into a banana. Turning the rod to lessen tension seems to do nothing.

I'm dealing with it for now and probably won't send it back because of the trouble sending it back from the United States though.

I am NOT saying to stay away though. These are great instruments to learn on and learn how to fix/modify. If you're just starting out no need to wreck a $2000 P-Bass. It's just like driving a car, you work your way up.

Thank you.

Perfect as studio tool

I am a guitar player and needed a bass for my own recordings, this makes the trick at an incredible price, and honestly the quality is amazing for what is paid.

I don't know how will behave on the road or on stage but in the Studio, it is a very valid option for occasional bass guitar tracking.

I love this bass! What a bang for the dollar/euros I play in a rack band and wanted a rock bass and this fits the bill. I love the neck,pick ups are very good, love the color and matching headstock. For the money it’s a no brainer if you like this style of bass.

Good build. Great value.

I tend to read the negative reviews first so was ready to reach for the toolkit when opening the box. There was no need. The only changes I've made to the bass is to add a slight concave bow to the neck using the supplied tool and lowered the bridge a few notches. No problem with frets or the rest of the guitar build. The pick ups allow a good variety of tone from smooth runs to heavy growl. The action is nice and low. Fantastic value of this price.

Need to be fixed.

Very nice looking bass and sounds great,but need to be fixed. All frets where loose. The slots are to wide,so i put some superglue under the frets and then made them more even on the fretboard. People who are buying this bass must be aware of that if they cannot fix it themselves,it can be expensive. I also noticed that the where double layer of plastic on the scratch plate,and when i took the second layer off,there was a pretty scratchplate in high gloss. The Blackwood looks great after oiling it with lemon oil. I cannot give this bass a five stars for quality because of the loose fretwire, it is not a Fender quality instrument,but when it has been fixed,it sounds and works great.

Astonishing Value

I have bought harley benton previously. I have a rosewood veneer jazz style bass which is excellent although pretty heavy and I bought my son the "thinline" tele with the P90 soapbars. This again is a tremendous guitar. I just fancied trying the PJ style pickup layout and this Pj 74 OW looked really nice on the website. I struggle to say how good this bass is. When it arrived I could have gigged with it straight from the box. It was still in tune. I always fiddle about with my guitars so I expected to have to adjust the truss rod and string height...but everything was perfect. The finish is flawless and the colour, olympic white, is beautiful. It had the typical jazz problem with the two volume controls...with both vols on full it actually gets quieter but that is solved by backing off the bridge vol slightly. I wanted to do the series pickup mod anyway which I did with a push pull vol pot. It is good but really it sounded good with the standard VVT setup anyway. I did lower the strings at the nut but not by much. I didn't have to do it. I have gigged with it twice in a week. We all have Fenders and Gibsons in the band and the rest of the crew were amazed at this thing. This is a £150 bass. If it had fender written on the headstock and cost a £1000 I wouldn't be disappointed. OK..I play through good gear..TC RS Cabs and Hartke heads but my main bass is a 1987 Ernie Ball Stingray and I also use a 1973 Precision.......but I just prefer using the HB. It really is just as good. Maybe I just got a good one but I don't think so. This thing really is astonishing value.