My new fretess bass sounds funny

[Bass Novice]

I recently bought a Harley Benton fretless bass, it was only a cheap one around £150. Im not expert and it is only my second bass so I do not have much to compare it to. However I think it sounds tinny and hollow when I press the string against the neck, like the neck is not solid.When I play notes the sound is kind of echoey (if thats a word). Comparing it to my Squier Affinity, which isn't an expensive bass, it is not nice or deep sounding? How can I make this sound better? Would changing strings help, or a better pick up? What pick ups would be best?

[PaulThePlug]

I'll leave this to the fretless communities, just to say there us a lot of love for Harley B on here, and i have a few... what model?

 

Slacken and re-tighten the neck screws in not thru neck, witness points (press the string down at saddle and nut.

New Strings. Are you going for flats? The Adagio Flats (Adv Music on the bay) are a great place to start for the £.

 

Son has a Vintage VF? Fretless and a cheapy Gear for Music Acoustic, always nice to hear.

[BassApprentice]

Any chance of a picture of the bass? I can probably guess what Harley Benton it is, but always easier to pass comment if people know which bass it is.

 

 

[SurroundedByManatees]

Maybe pickup height isn't set correctly? Faulty input or lead could be a possibility too. From what I've heard these basses should sound decent stock.

Edited 15 hours ago by SurroundedByManatees

[lemmywinks]

Is it used? If so then it may have cheap AliExpress strings on it which can sound a bit too tinny/metallic.

 

Not sure what echoey means, is it buzzing the neck ie has backbow? Does the truss rod turn ok? 

[Bass Novice]

The model is JB-40FL and looks like this...

 

2 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

Any chance of a picture of the bass? I can probably guess what Harley Benton it is, but always easier to pass comment if people know which bass it is.

 

 

The model is JB-40FL and looks like this...

 

[Bass Novice]

3 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

I'll leave this to the fretless communities, just to say there us a lot of love for Harley B on here

 

 

Yes I know, the good reviews on here is why I chose it 🙂

[42Hz]

Check the distance between the stríngs and the (fret)board. If there is not clearance for the string to vibrate the tone will die - especially the deep tones.

Most basses - even the cheapest of cheapest - will (if they have no serious defects) play at least decently if setup properly.

So it is very likely something that can be solve by proper adjustment.

 

As You probably bought this from new and may not be able to set it up yourself I would recommend starting by complain about the issue to Thomann and hear what they can offer.

[DGBass]

Bought a used one of this exact model recently and have found it to be a very full sounding instrument. The previous owner bought it direct from Thomann and hadn't really taken to it. It was more or less as it came out of the box when I acquired it. A few things I would point out worth checking with regard to setup that may improve how your bass sounds. The original strings on my example were a set of unremarkable sounding round wounds. I swapped these out for a set of 45-100 Fender stainless flats, my preferred string on my other basses as well. There was an immediate improvement in the sound. The pickups on my JB40 were also screwed as low as possible so re-adjusting them up made another big improvement. I find the pickups sound quite good and see no reason to change them. The neck is a fairly chunky affair on these and my bass had a slight back bow which wasn't allowing the strings to vibrate properly. A little tweak on the truss rod to loosen tension and add a little neck relief worked wonders as well. For the money these are quite remarkable instruments. My JB40 is very resonant and I think that may be in part due to the very heavy ash body. It does big deep lows and has that fretless mwahhh by the shed load, especially using the bridge pickup. If you aren't keen on checking and adjusting settings then it would be worth asking a bass tech to check the setup for you before spending any money on replacement bits🙂. Sometimes a little bit of setup time can make all the difference. 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by DGBass

[police squad]

13 hours ago, Bass Novice said:

I recently bought a Harley Benton fretless bass, it was only a cheap one around £150. Im not expert and it is only my second bass so I do not have much to compare it to. However I think it sounds tinny and hollow when I press the string against the neck, like the neck is not solid.When I play notes the sound is kind of echoey (if thats a word). Comparing it to my Squier Affinity, which isn't an expensive bass, it is not nice or deep sounding? How can I make this sound better? Would changing strings help, or a better pick up? What pick ups would be best?

how does it sound thru an amp, neck pickup turned all the way up and bridge pickup turned all the way down?

[mybass]

out of interest I looked at Thomann's site. It looks to be an American Ash body and maple neck, all good wood....if its actually USA Swamp Ash you may find the body' sound' is a bit 'lighter' than other woods like Alder or European ash.

[snorkie635]

Perhaps some kind Basschatter, local to your area could drop in to see you (or you to them) ,for advice and set-up? Just a thought, as people on here are so helpful. Best of luck with it.