Harley Benton B-550 Black Progressive Series

This bass in very cheap for what it represents. You get a good sounding active 5-string bass with comfortable thin neck. I actually had the fretless B-450FL which is basically the same bass with extra string and frets so I had very specific expectations. And boy was I mistaken.

The neck feels great, one of the reasons I bought this bass is becase the neck has a thin profile. All the cheaper 5-string basses usually have very chunky fat necks. It's about personal preference, I know, but I prefer thin fast necks.

The body is the same I had on my previous B-450 fretless - it's very light and comfortable to hold. The black gloss finish is nice, you can wear shirt any color you want and it won't clash.

The hardware is where the price is projected, nut is made from ugly plastic, the tuners are from very cheap material and don't feel sturdy but they keep the bass in tune well.

The bridge is what I don't like. Older versions of this bass had individual bridge pieces for each trings. They were a bit crap and setting the octaves right was very annoying because you had to take the string and the bridge saddle top off to move it. Here you have a regular screw with a spring on the back, however, it gets stuck a lot and you see the metal is very cheap as well as the paint. It also has very sharp edges which makes resting your right hand on it uncomfortable.

The pickups are fine. There is no hum as they are humbuckers and in the combination with the body wood they produce very bass-focused tone even in the passive mode.

The active electronics are dual band but the active treble makes just very little adjustments, however, the bass knob shapes most of the sound regardless the amp settings.

I bought this new, not a B-stock, and there is a ding on the headstock. Also, one of the pots was loose (wehn turned all the way the whole thig rotated) so I had to take it off and fasten. Also, the active electronics rattled against the control cavity. I had to get in from the back and glue it to the side of the cavity, so it doesn't move. I noticed the electronics are connected by connectors - there is nothing soldered. I guess it's cheaper to manufacture or maybe it's standard with the active electronics, who knows?

Then it needed a setup, the action was a bit high and the octaves were a bit flat.

Over all I had to do a lot of work and there are quality issues (given that I bought a bass from the same series a year and a half before and that were no issues at all) but I paid 159€. Cheapest active 5-string in Czech Republic is for about 220€ so this bass is a steal. It plays well, very boomy bassy sound, comfortable neck, and it's very light.

I would definitely recommend this bass but make sure to have it set up. One of the thing where Harley Benton (Thomann) saves money is the labor so you have to tweak it yourself. 5/7

*EDIT*
I have been playing this bass for few months now and while setting up for new set of stings (different gauge) I found out the neck is twisted. Still playable, however, let's hope it won't get worse over time.

I record my own music at home, and having a few guitars already, I decided to give basses a chance.
And I could not have asked for a better first contact.

This bass plays nicely. The action is a bit on the high side for me, as it has to acommodate that low 5th string, but it feels very good to play with. No sharp frets, stays in tune, and the neck feels very smooth.

Sound wise, phenomenal. It can get a bit muddy on the 5th string if u start cranking up some distortion, but nothing that trimming the low frequencies with the eq knob in the bass can't fix.
Also, did I mention you can mix both pickups while also tweaking the bass and treble for a huge variety of tones BEFORE actually getting to any amps or pedals?

To end the review, I'll talk about the body of the bass itself. It looks beautifully and it's properly balanced, so you won't have to worry about any neck dive while playing it.

Overall, a VERY solid bass ready for anything you need.

I've always been a four string bass player, but when I saw the price on the new Harley Benton Progressive Series I just couldn't help myself. I just had to try this thing out.

Setup wise, this bass came in with a way too tight neck and way too low setting. Literally the only thing you could hear was fret buzz. After adjusting the neck and the bridge (and putting some Rotosounds on it), there was not much too complain left. Sure, the frets could have been shaved a bit cleaner, and I really don't understand why the fret board extends way over the highest fret, but at this stage, that's just nitpicking.

Sound wise, I was very impressed. Although the factory strings are pretty bad, after I put some Rotosounds on it, I couldn't be more surprised. The active circuit combined with the two humbuckers is gnarly in the mids, the B string sounds awesome, and overall you have a pretty wide array of tonal options.

Conclusion: after a simple setup and some new strings, this is just ridiculous value. A five string that sounds good for EUR 149,-?! Sign me up!

Actualy nothing. First of all - what do you want if it's price is half (or more) lower than similar models by other companies? A miracle? Nice try, but it doent's work like that. BUT. Harley Benton low-cost-series is an affordable chance for guys from Easter Europe like me to try any tipe of instruments before buying something that worth 2 of my monthly salaries (hello 500 euros per month). And i really glad that i had such a chance: i realised that 5-string a not convinient for me and 135-th string on 34' is just doesn't work properly and even in theory can not have proper tension for B-note and not being a spaghetti. Why does people still doing this in 2021 is a great mystery for me. About miracle: everything in bass was good, except of one problem - the screw protruded from the one of pickups by 3-4 millimeters and there was no way to tighten the screw. What about sound - bass sounds good.

Conclusion: this bass is a good chance to try the combination of things that you want to find in the future. Actualy it's good by itself, but i 'm not a guy from youtube who can say "Holy *****, HB making unbelievably cool stuff for THIS money". Maybe i'm just not lucky enough and actually the phrase above is true in 99%, but in my case it's not. Anyway it just works properly and i'm fine with it.

Greetings from Russia, sorry for bad english. Have a nice day btw

What can I say, it's a really solid Bass from Harley Benton, it's a tiny bit heavy from other basses I've used but nothing crazy.
He came without any scratch or defects, so gj thomann on that (I guess), for the sound it's quite lacking, the PU can switch from Active to Passive (Even tho I don't use Passive PU on bass) witch it's a neat feature to have.
BUT the PU themselves are quite lacking, both in output (I mostly using this for metal, but even in other genres I've wished he could do more) and sound wich I find kinda dull, so switching PU is something I advise, because this bass has a nice playability overall.
The bass is really rock solid, keep in mind that it's not perfect, the PU are kinda dull and the tuners, even tho they do their job fine, needs a bit of a upgrading.

So for it's price and for what it offers I recommend for people who want to try a 5 string whitout spending a crazy amount for more recognised brands, or just if you wanna use this as a base to experiment on

It has good strings on it on arrival, and it is set up pretty good.
It could be set up a little better but nothing like a little neck adjustment will fix.
The intonation is great and the feel is fantastic.
I got this to be my first five string bass and I love it so much as that.
I would have liked to give it 4.5 but because of the cons I could not give it a 5 just cause to be a 5 is perfect, but I think it is simply amazing for the price, as you will never get this quality or sound or anything that this bass has to offer in the price range anywhere else!

use: I would use this as a bass to either start learning, as a first 5 string, a backup bass, or even a main bass as I use it now.

Pros: good sound, battery included! good set up, good strings, feel.

Cons: the neck was a bit back bowed.