I recently bought a Brooks Champion Flyer, which is a B17 with springs. I coated it liberally with Profide and went riding. It felt fine out of the box.
I had some numbness issues (new bike), but they were solved not by the saddle, but by going with a shorter stem that kept me from having to pivot on the privates to reach the bars.
Either I got a great saddle or I’m one of the lucky ones whose bottom matches the saddle, because I’ve got about 550 miles on it now and the saddle is unremarkable, which is the way a saddle should be.