Harley Benton HBZ-2005FL ..has anyone tried it?

[Paolo85]

I bumped into this and I am quite intrigued. I was exploring options for a 5-string fretless at £400ish, but it seems there isn't much really in that range except from Sire basses which isn't exactly what I am looking for.

I was thinking the HB could certainly be an introduction to 5-string fretless with limited downside in terms of price. I have seen a couple of videos on youtube. As usual, it looks like a good player could get a good sound out of it (not that I am one). But I am only interested if it is a solid bass with a decent neck that its thing without serious flaws..

[Paolo85]

Right, so I have decided to give it a try in the end. And I must say I am very happy with it!

The bass is beautiful. In pictures it seems a bit wonky but in person that's not the feeling at all.

At first I was disappointed. The sound acoustic seemed alright but when I plugged it in it sounded all muffled. I thought preamp and pickups must be horrible. Then I replaced the strings with D'Addario tapewounds and it started to sing. Exactly the sound I was hoping for.

The neck is just great. Not as slim as say an Ibanez, but feels very confortable. The tight string spacing helps. The neck is maybe a bit sharp at the edges, but that's not the same as having sharp metal frets.

The bass was playable out of the box, just I decided to lower the action for more mwah, and I must say I really got what I wanted. Massive mwah through the entire neck. Even too much for what I want to do I may increase the action a bit after all.

There are obviously downsides - I would be surprised otherwise as it is £245 for a 5-string fretless.

The pieces of wood used for the body most likely were not chosen because of the beauty of their patterns. Wood finish seems not to be there in a couple of spots.

The bridge positioning is probably not ideal. I was not able to set the intonation for the 12th "fret" in between the two spots on the side of the neck. I had to align it with just one of the dots (the one closest to the neck). Ultimately side dots will provide a rough guide and I wil have to familiarise with the neck.

Most importantly, it is heavy. I haven't weighted it but it's proper heavy.

In fact, there is a slight chance that I might return it because of the weight. But it is very very sight because I like it too much and because I do not see any other options of interest in the market anywhere near this price (and the fact that I want tight string spacing restricts options even further for second-hand).

So, yes, I believe it is a great bass for the money.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Paolo85

[stewblack]

Some of the older HB basses were heavy. I have a jazz 4 string fretless which could save you in a tornado. But it plays and sounds well..... except for the intonation!

I feel the bridge needs to move back a mm or two to get it where I want it. Glad you're happy with your purchase. I was put off this model because of the angled pick-up design. Looks so wrong to me, but interesting to hear it looks good in person.

[Cornwall Steve]

I've found myself in the same prediciment that Paolo did when he wanted to explore a 5 string option for a Fretless. I already have two 4 string versions but wanted to try a 5. My budget is the same £400 Paolo was working with. And he's right - there is very little out there. Harley Benton offer a choice of different fretless models but I've read so many reviews where buyers have suffered various issues 'out of the box'. I'm clueless when it comes to set-ups and just about every one of the 22 basses I currently own end up visiting my local Luthier so I'm expecting that regardless of what I choose but I didn't want to buy something the Luthier ends up telling me its going to cost a small fortune to correct manufacturing flaws and imperfections. What I do like about the HB is it really does look different. It's instantly recognisable and possesses a character all of its own. In the on line videos it appears to sound pretty decent too with a nice range of mwah that I strive for from my fretless. Perhaps like Paolo I should just bite the bullet and go for it, after all what other choice is there other than boring old cheaper models of Ibanez, Yamaha, or endless Squiers and all the other hundreds of used P and J copies that dominate the bass market - and I'm talking used models within this price range. At least the HB looks different. Just hope the quality is better than the usual inferior mass produced rubbish we normally expect churned out by the PRC.