Harley Benton PJ-75 VW Vintage Series

I have it for 3 months now.
Little background: Bass player for the past 10 years, have currently 6 basses, mainly mid to high range instruments.
So anyway, I was looking for a 5 string P bass and bumped into this that I was totally unaware of. Not only is it a P, it is a PJ with a pretty fat neck. I was not looking at the price first as I did not set the price roaster, I totally went for looks and ohh boy when I saw the price... I thought ok, I need this and I will mod the hell out of it.
TLTR: No modding is needed, everything in stock is great!
Longer review:
Let's go from top to bottom.
Tuners 5/5: I sincerely mean that this bass has the best tuners that I ever had. They are SLIGHTLY bigger than the usual classic open tuners and that makes a very smooth turn both up and down and it stays in tune like a charm.
Nut 5/5: properly cut, I measured and it is 1mm at the middle of the first fret, even though it is plastic, no complaints.
Neck 5/5: First thing first - It is gorgeous! Matte aged look, elegant dark black stripe in the middle, and BODY COLORED headstock. I am a sucker for aged necks and a matching headstock, this is a stunner! Even though this is highly personal preference. For a D shape, this is a fairly fat neck which I love (also personal preference, sits in your hand like a charm). Neck can be set very straight, zero fret buzz with proper action (at the 15th fret, 2mm bass side and 1,5mm treble side). I tried and you can go 0,75mm lower on both sides without a problem, but I am a heavy hitter and I prefer higher action a bit. No sharp edges on either side from top to bottom! Also proper fretwork, very well made! The fingerboard was dry out of the box (Personally I do not see it as a negative, this is how it is with all the instruments - even my USA Fender needed a small lemon oil). I oiled it and it was like a sponge I tell you. After two rounds of lemon oil, it became alive and beautiful! This way the fretboard looks a lot lighter colored than in the pictures.
Neck joint 5/5: the neck is sitting super tight on the body, no space in the neck pocket on either side, the neck pocket is unpainted - wood on wood - the best solution!
Pickups adjustment 2,5/5: The adjustments that I had problems with. They are a pain in the ass to set up. Just to see my measurements: fretting the last fret, I prefer my P pickup bass side 5 mm, treble side 4 mm. I prefer my J pickup 2 mm on the bass side and treble side also.For the P pickup it was not all that bad, I spent some 30 mins adjusting around, but eventually It was ok. The pickup gets easily "stuck" in the body and if you want to increase its height, you literally have to grab on it and get it higher somehow. The J pickup however I just gave up. I had to forget the 2 mm at the J. You simply cannot set it closer than 4,5 mm. After that the housing of the pickup came off and the magnets simply "fell" into the pickup cover. So 4,5mm is the max you can get.
Pickups sound 4/5: A shining point! They just sound killer! P is very growly, sounds very similar to my American Fender to my suprise! Give it a compressor and you are good to go! J pickup is somewhat weaker (I believe due to the spacing problem, hence the -1 point) but I can hear the cling in there. I will somehow solve the 2 mm spacing because I can hear it will be very on point. Blended together they are killers! I will do no pickup swap in them, stock will stay forever, I just need to sort out the J pickup height issue. Bear in mind this may be only a problem for me on my instrument!
Knobs 4/5: Tone knob is surprisingly sensitive from 0 to 50%, from 50 to 100% a bit less, but that is fine, a million tones there, this is only the reason for -1 point. The two volume knobs work great, not too hard, not too soft, just in the sweet spot. Turns up and down the volume very linearly, no fast cut in the sound.
Bridge 5/5: Very solid, very sturdy. Much sturdier than on higher level Squiers! An extra plus point for me is that the saddles instelves are brass (or brass colored), and look very unique! They are very precisely adjustable.
Body 5/5: Solid body, very sturdy and also one of the heaviest basses I have. I love heavy instruments, especially basses, in my belief it adds to the sustain and the sound a lot. A lightweight extra chambered bass will never sound like a "heavy tank" no matter the EQ. It is in perfect balance, it is by no means neck heavy due to the body mass. Sits perfectly on your lap sitting down, or on a strap.
Factory strings 5/5: These are D'addario strings! Legit, fresh strings! I changed them, but only because I am a sucker for lighter Rotosounds, but I packed the factory strings, sealed it and took it on my shelf because they are brand new and sound killer. Now I mind you this is a 27€ string set... on a 209€ bass by default... which should already cost twice as much. I notice Thomann just barely mentions it, these strings are Nickel plated round wound steel strings, ranging 45 - 65 - 80 - 100 - 130.

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.

I love this bass! I've heard lots of stories about how great these basses are so I decided to try one out myself. I got it for noodling at home and occasional recording.

I plugged it in an played it along with two songs...one with just the neck pickup and one with the neck pickup at full and bridge pickup at about 40%...and I was floored in both cases. It has a very meaty, full mid tone that both sits very well in a mix but also stands out. Mixed tones are also fantastic, and the low B string absolutely sings. This bass is very hot, and I'm still kind of surprised it's not active. It just sounds lovely.

It's very playable, and the fit and finish are well above what you'd expect for a bass in this price range. The neck is a thick baseball bat of a neck but it's also very stable. Once the bass was acclimated to the temp in my house, all I had to do to finish setup was to tune it and set the action. Neck relief was spot on.

The only con I'd have so far is that it has a fair bit of neck dive, but that can always be offset by a thicker strap. I absolutely recommend this bass to anyone.