Harley Benton PJ-74 VW Vintage Series

Sounds great. No issue there. This is a tone monster for being a passive bass.

Wood finish on the neck is a bit off. The skunk stripe shrunk and is not flush with the rest of the neck wood. A slight bit of fret sprout that will need to be addressed but nothing too bad. Fret ends are little sharp.

Hardware and tuners function OK. Nothing special. Quality paint finish on an alder body which is awesome at this price point. D'Addario strings too! Not no name!

Great for the price for a beginner or as a backup. A new bass player will need to know how to do a set up or know someone that can do it for them. Truly not a lot to be done but after a trip across the pond it will need some work.

This bass would be a great mod platform but is not bad as is.

Overall I'm happy to add this to the collection!

I'm going to preface this by saying I'm a hobby player. I don't own any high end gear. My opinions are subjective of course, but objective in relation to the example I purchased.

Looks: Great, neck, body, pickguard, like it all.

Sounds:- Compared to other Harley Benton Basses I've owned- very similar, both P and J pickups give you more or less what you expect.

Setup:- Arrived reasonably well setup, action was ok. I always expect at this price that I will be bringing the instrument to my guitar tech for a setup. I will do a brief follow up after he's had a look. Tuners work and hold tune well.

Two comfort/playability issues- first it has very pronounced neck dive. I play sitting down, but even so, I have to balance the bass artificially far back. Second, the frets are sharp all the way up the neck. I suspect that storage and/or transport has contributed-fretboard prob is a little dry. I'll be asking my guitar tech to sort that out.

My comments are simply about the guitar I received, yours might be lighter/heavier, no neck dive, perfect frets. For the money this is a superb bass, and the minor issues are easily fixed with a trip to a guitar tech. It's unrealistic to think otherwise.

Overall- a nice looking and sounding bass.

Last:- a comment on Thomann customer service- excellent as always. If you buy one and don't like it, or it's poorly QC'd, send it back. Originally I ordered a B stock bass, which got lost in the postal service, Thomann, without delay sent out a new one as a replacement order.

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.

I purchased this bass to play in my new revived punk rock band. This bass will be used mainly on stage in crappy bars and places where I don't want to use an expensive bass. I mainly play jazz or p-bass models. Pros: This bass was playable directly out of the box. Took it out immediately for rehearsal, and it sounded very good. Light weight 3,8 kg. Thank you Thomann :). Sounds like a good p-bass to me. Neck pick up is strong but not too strong like SD QP.Bridge pick up does the job but will ad extra hum, electronics do their job but nothing special, can maybe us an upgrade. Hardware seems good quality. Playbility is excellent in this price range and can compete with more expensive basses. I really like this roasted neck. The blackwood is really beautiful. Neck is straight. No sharp frets. Cons: I don't like the metal knobs, so i changed them for jazz knobs. No shielding in the cavity. When you use both pick ups you wil notice some hum. But for me that's not a problem coz I use only the neck pu. Best 159 euros i spend lately. Hell, I ordered a second one.