Harley Benton PJ-75 VW Vintage Series

So... this morning I was able to extensively compare the Harley Benton PJ-75 (€199 and with a free Thomann gig bag worth €22) and the Harley Benton MV-5PJ (€249 without a gig bag, so €71 more expensive in total).
And the verdict is pretty clear.
I actually really wanted to like the PJ-75 more because it is cheaper, lighter (poplar vs. alder body), and has a P-width nut (45mm) as opposed to the jazz-width nut on the MV5 (43mm), but the MV5-PJ just sounds much better.
The Roswell pickups in the cheaper HB PJs simply sound very muddy in the low end and thin in the high end, whereas the HBZ pickups in the MV5 can easily keep up with expensive aftermarket pickups.
In my opinion, the alder body of the MV5 also adds a bit more definition compared to the poplar body of the PJ-75.
All in all, the MV5 sounds like a bass that is a few hundred euros more expensive than the PJ75, which more than justifies the €70 price difference; so the more expensive bass wins in this case.
I also had the cheapest and most expensive of the range in my possession for a while (the matte black PJ5 @€149 and the active enhanced MP5 @€349), and regarding those two, the PJ5 came close to the PJ-75 in terms of sound, with the difference mainly in the looks and finish (although that difference was minimal).
The most expensive one in the range looked a bit like the Sandberg MV basses, but given that it arrived with a broken pre-amp and therefore couldn't produce a decent sound, I didn't include it in my review.
Overall, the finish was reasonably good, although with all basses in this series you probably want to have the frets crowned to remove the sharp edges; otherwise, the fretwork was quite good, and I didn't see much difference in that regard between the cheapest and most expensive basses.
In my opinion, the MV-5 is the best buy of the four due to the significant difference in the quality of the pickups, truss rod wheel, luminlay side dots, and alder body, and that is the bass I decided to keep as a backup bass. However, with a pickup swap, the cheaper basses are certainly o.k. for the money too.

I did have high expectations when I ordered this bass. It is even better than I expected. The best thing on this bass is the neck. Big, wide, thick and I love it. The fretwork is really decent and level. Tuners work well. The P-pickup sounds very good, warm and P-like, The J-pickup is a bit weak. I don't really like this pickup. My best sound is P-pickup only. The pots work but feel very cheap and flimsy. Finish is good, the back of the neck is a little rough. It has some neckdive, ofcourse, it's a 5 string with big headstock. No problems with a good strap. 'd Addario strings!!! No need to put new strings on and save €25,=. The bass was setup well. I check everything and set up guitars and basses when I get them. This one was very playable out of the box.

Overall a good bass for very little money. Don't expect a 1000E bass, it isn't, but it is very good for the money.
I will buy this again if broken/stolen.

I've had the bass for slightly over a year now and I can say that I'm very satisfied with it. Even ignoring the price, it is a very good quality instrument that is quite good for recordings. It came perfectly intonated and set up in general and although I don't usually hammer away too hard on it, I can still safely say that this will stay in tune very well.
The P pickup has a lovely sound to it that I have no reservations recording with, however the J pickup doesn't quite stand up as well, however I usually record with the P on full with the J at only a small volume, which in my opinion is quite pleasant sounding. I've noticed that the lower strings are quite noticeably louder than the higher ones, but adjusting the pickup height mostly fixes this, albeit with some mild tonal sacrifice.
The build quality is very satisfying overall but the control cavity's routing comes out slightly from beneath the pickguard, which is a barely noticeable cosmetic effect. One of the dot inlays in the twelfth fret popped out at one point as well, but I was luckily able to find it and after pushing it back in by hand, it's stayed put since.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this purchase and have confidence that it will serve me for many years to come.