Harley Benton PJ-75 VW Vintage Series

Hintaisekseen oikein hyvä viisikielinen basso. Omistan Harley Bentoneita, jotka ovat olleet edullisempia ja parempilaatuisia, mutta ei tämä missään tapauksessa huono ole.

Minulla ei ole missään muussa kitarassa/bassossa nauhapäät törröttäneet näin pahasti, mutta minua se ei juuri henkilökohtaisesti haittaa. Säädöllä basson sai säädettyä matalalle actionille. En tiedä onko tämä yleinen ongelma, mutta tallan yksikelainen mikrofoni on vaikea saada tasapainoon kaulan kaksikelaisen kanssa. Kaula ei ole paksu, eikä ohut. Bentonin Jazz-75 verrattuna hieman ohuempi ja leveämpi, enhanced bassoihin verrattuna paksumpi kaula.

Ostakaa nyt ihmeessä jo tämä basso. Itselläni on ollut yli 1000euron basso, tämä Harley Benton on mielestäni parempi. Lähtee tosi aggressiivinen saundi mistä tykkään. Samantapaista saundia kuin Green Dayn basistilta (esim. Dookie levyltä). Basson otin laatikosta suoraan soitantaan, muutama intonaatiosäätö, mutta muuten setuppi oli tosi jees. Ekalla soittokerralla basso oli kädessä 4tuntia. Eli tällä hinnalla voin suositella kyseistä bassoa.

The sound is perfect for any style of music. If you use two pickups at once with an open tone, then the sound is like Ibanez sr305 (imho)
The tone of this bass can be very aggressive or soft.

Suitable for both a beginner bassist and professional musicians (but for studio recording, you will have to replace the pickups with some seymour duncan).

Came out of the box tuned to the scale. The height of the strings suits me as well (Under 1st fret <1mm under 12th fret 2.5mm), but maybe I'll lower it a bit because it's a little difficult to play.

The bass is in perfect condition, no noticeable chips, no scratches. Of course, if you look closely, then there will be small ones, but they will also be on expensive instruments with a price above $ 1,500.

Analogues in local music stores (in Kazakhstan) are 4 times more expensive, so this is an ideal option for all musicians.
Even if you are a guitarist, you can buy this bass for such a good price for fun.
Ребята из Казахстана и стран СНГ! Не переживайте о том что что-то пойдёт не так, всё было отлично. Я тоже сначала думал что такого быть не может - "отличный бас и за такую цену?", думал что придут дрова, но инструмент оказался отличный и по факту придираться тут и не к чему. Так что заказывайте и кайфуйте!

I'll jump straight to the point.

The bass is a very nice sounding PJ, with a quite good low B, especially considering the price. However, in my case, the bass came with uneven frets, needed a shim and the nut was high. There was also a bent potentiometer but that was fixed easily.

Fit and finish were beautiful. Apart from a couple of very, VERY minor spots which would be someone being nitpicky, the bass is perfect in that regard. No paint/clear runs, no uneven surfaces, the back of the neck is finished beautifully, all in all, great.

The sound is also one of its very good qualities. The Roswell pickups on this will not need an upgrade. They are classic examples of alnico pickups, perhaps a tad on the hot side but nothing excessive. Sweet sounding and perfectly balanced, without sanding harsh in any setting.

Now the setup and quality control on that regard, which should be the most important -playability- was very, VERY poor.
First off was the need for a shim. The saddles couldn't get low enough to accomodate even medium action. And it needed a relatively substantial shim, too.

Next up was the frets, which was the worst part. The neck was thankfully not warped but, looking at the frets, you'd think it was! This was unacceptable in what's supposed to be on the more upscale PJ model. Even after the shim, you'd get buzzing all over and especially on the higher part of the neck, since the last few frets were incredibly high.
Sadly, it needed leveling and crowning since this wasn't a case of a couple of frets just popping up.
Really, REALLY BAD quality control on this one.

Other than that, the nut was also cut very high and the slots were apparently cut for lower gauge strings, too. It wasn't terrible but it needed filing to be set up correctly.

Thomann of course offers a no-hassle refund but at that point, I did the work myself.

Now, AFTER shimming, nut filing and doing fretwork, I must admit it plays beautifully but you can't expect everyone to be able to do their own fretjob.

I must also mention that it's quite light for a PJ fiver. At just shy of 4kg, it's just nice, especially compared to a lot of heavy Sires, for example.

Would I recommend this one? Yes. It's a nice sounding and nice playing bass. If you can do the work yourself, moreso. Still, even if you can't, If you get a lemon, Thomann will replace it and it's still a very nice bass. Not just for the money, either. A nice bass, period.