Harley Benton B-550 Black Progressive Series

I'm gonna start this by asking Thomann what is their secret to keep this instrument so cheap but provide excellent quality and tone!?

When I bought this bass I thought I'm gonna get something in the range of entry Ibanez basses etc, with tool dents, bad finish, details wrong, buzz frets and sharp frets etc.

What I got is totally the opposite. I believe this bass is in the range of 600-1000 eur price. No doubt there. It's a steal. Frets are so nicely done, I have much more expensive guitars with worse frets. No buzz fret whatsoever. Setup was done for E standard, and it came with perfect tune and intonation! (amazing).

I tuned to D standard (with the lowest string in A), did a bit of truss rod adjustments and very small bridge adjustments, and it sounds perfect. Perfectly blends with metal guitars I record daily. In the mix, it cuts so nicely, the perfect instrument for a guitar player who likes to record.

The only con I have is that low B string, when tuned to A, is too loose and flabby, I will need to upgrade to thicker strings with higher tension. Other than that, an instrument is perfect.

Very good bass, smooth highs and controlled mids.
The neck is very smooth and nice to play, even if you didn't play a bass before and you switch from a guitar to it, it just flies. very easy to adjust to. Tuning is stable while playing, although I hear a bit of buzz at the nut on G string, but that's easily solvable, I don't count it as a flaw that much. I will probably upgrade the tuners to locking ones and give this instrument an even more value.

Pickups are OK sounding. For my needs as a metal guitarist, active mode is awesome. Passive is too low output, and unusable for me. But if you like, boosting passive with a pedal is the way to go I guess.

I was seriously expecting an instrument with a lot of design flaws, bad intonation, not able to keep tune etc, but got totally opposite. Great job Thomann! This is amazing stuff! Keep em coming :)

Having read a few online reviews for this bass I decided to give it a go. I have played it a few months now and I must say I got myself a very nice instrument for little money.

I can only confirm what I read, i.e. it's designed and built better than many branded and higher priced items; one example, it's got an inclined headstock, which only pricier branded instruments have.
The electronics may not be top notch, but they give this bass a great sound even in passive.

The only thing I dislike are the tuning machines. They are in plastic and thus sometimes are a little jerky, which makes the tuning a little harder than on other instruments. So one day I might change those, but that's the only thing I'd change.

Summing up, it's an entry level instrument if you consider it's price but a mid-level one considering it's quality.

Huge quantity of "bon ton" that Harley Benton puts in manufacturing this fantastic instrument. I find it bery reliable, very versatile, with a wide range of tone expressions. I initially bought it as a back-up alternative in case of emergency, then slowly but surely it became a permanent reality in my everyday life and live performances.
Well shaped, very progressive indeed, well refined, the passage between active and passive is flowless, the fretboard and inlays are gorgeous and playing it comes natural and consistent.
Thomann customer service, assistance and delivery at best, always precise and scrupulous. But hey, they're Germans!
Thanks Thomann and Harley Benton for this exceptional instrument! Highly recommend it!

My second ever guitar but my first that was new. Absolutely love it! The ability to switch between active and passive at the pull of a switch is amazing and it holds its tuning very well. Passive mode is great for saving money on not needing to buy loads of 9V batteries whilst active mode does add a surprisingly nice punch to the sound when I need it.

The quick-load battery compartment is genius and I wish my 4-string bass had this too as it only works in active mode so I need to change its battery quite regularly (enough that it gets annoying at least).

I changed strings to a set of DR DDT's, didn't widen the nut grooves which probably wasn't a great idea but it's holding up just fine, plus the thicker strings now have less tension and I fixed the only issue this guitar had; a loose B-string. The stock B-string would rattle quite often when strummed (hence 4 stars for quality), but a thicker string fixed this issue.

well, this is the first love of my bass playing life :-) since i never had my own bass before.
overall quality for the price is just unelievable. i can't believe it is possible to build an instrument of this standard quality for such an affordable price.
of course there are things you need to turn a blind eye to.. and need to set up the bass first.. then after a while adjust the settings.. here and there a fret bit more noisy, here and there a little buzz.. but nothing that can't be adjusted..
loving to spend the time with this beauty.
definitely worth it! :-)