J
Stunningly Good
I read a lot of reviews, and watched several videos, on this guitar before I took the gamble. I was not remotely disappointed.
Context: I've been playing guitar for about 20 years, and have owned and played a pretty good range of mid-high end guitars. One thing I've noticed in the last 5 or so years is the steady increase in quality of the cheap guitars, such as Squire, Laguna, and of course, Harley Benton. That said, this thing rises above even the best of the cheap "great" guitars
What I got was a guitar that was still 90% still in tune despite a trip across the ocean to the US and through a series of package processing facilities. It needed very little setup (could be none at all for some people), except for a small change of the action, and felt phenomenal.
The sound that came from my speakers after plugging it in and playing it for the first time was far beyond what I ever would have expected from a guitar at this price point. The overall sound maintained an excellent bottom-end without becoming muddy, while the high-end sounds (notes and natural sound of the strings) were bright without becoming shrill. I can honestly say I probably will not replace the pickups, which is first for me as far as factory pickups go.
The electronics are solid - no noise when turning knobs or flipping the pickup selector, and the jack stays pretty solid.
I have now gigged with this guitar several times over and found the tuning to be extremely stable, even in extreme temperature changes. My favorite example is when I took it out of my air conditioned car onto an outdoor stage when the temperature was 95F degrees and the humidity was about 80%. My ESP LTD EC-1000 Deluxe slipped out of tune a couple times in that show, but the Harley Benton did not - it held its tuning throughout the entire performance, was still in tune the next day.
Overall, the only thing I would change is the tuners, which are split-shaft for string-locking. They definitely work well, but they are a pain to work with when re-stringing. I will likely end up switching to proper locking tuners in the near future.
Context: I've been playing guitar for about 20 years, and have owned and played a pretty good range of mid-high end guitars. One thing I've noticed in the last 5 or so years is the steady increase in quality of the cheap guitars, such as Squire, Laguna, and of course, Harley Benton. That said, this thing rises above even the best of the cheap "great" guitars
What I got was a guitar that was still 90% still in tune despite a trip across the ocean to the US and through a series of package processing facilities. It needed very little setup (could be none at all for some people), except for a small change of the action, and felt phenomenal.
The sound that came from my speakers after plugging it in and playing it for the first time was far beyond what I ever would have expected from a guitar at this price point. The overall sound maintained an excellent bottom-end without becoming muddy, while the high-end sounds (notes and natural sound of the strings) were bright without becoming shrill. I can honestly say I probably will not replace the pickups, which is first for me as far as factory pickups go.
The electronics are solid - no noise when turning knobs or flipping the pickup selector, and the jack stays pretty solid.
I have now gigged with this guitar several times over and found the tuning to be extremely stable, even in extreme temperature changes. My favorite example is when I took it out of my air conditioned car onto an outdoor stage when the temperature was 95F degrees and the humidity was about 80%. My ESP LTD EC-1000 Deluxe slipped out of tune a couple times in that show, but the Harley Benton did not - it held its tuning throughout the entire performance, was still in tune the next day.
Overall, the only thing I would change is the tuners, which are split-shaft for string-locking. They definitely work well, but they are a pain to work with when re-stringing. I will likely end up switching to proper locking tuners in the near future.
20
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D5
Harley Benton HB JA-60 OW
I use this guitar for playing at home. I am a hobbyist guitarist and don't play in a band. However, I would use this guitar in any band or live event and be very proud that I own it. I cannot tell you how impressive this guitar is for the price. I feel like I should buy every single HB guitar I can before the price jumps. Unbelievable value!
Pros: I live in Midwest USA and it is winter here currently. This guitar was shipped through the winter weather and was more than likely warm and cold many times during this process. The guitar was almost completely in tune and the setup was very very close. I didn't have to adjust the neck at all. The finish on the guitar is perfect, the neck is beautiful and all the hardware has a great finish and no corrosion on the crome.
Cons: I love to work on guitars and I was planning to completey take the guitar apart upon delivery. I would say for a beginner this guitar would be great to play out of the box but there is a little work that needs to be done. The frets needed a polish and the intonation was a little off. I also needed to re-solder a connection on the tone pot. One typical comment is that the tuners are cheat on these guitar. I would say they are a little cheat but if you work with them they will improve. No you cannot do too much adjustment with a vintage style tuner but readjusting the screws did actually help. I will be adding shielding to the cavities so that will help one the noise.
Overall look at the price. You should be paying at least 500 for these guitars. I would be very happy with this guitar if it cost more than it does. I would still feel like I got a great value. But 138 come on that is crazy for this guitar! Get one and have fun, I am going to get a burst one just because of the price and amazing value I have now seen in person.
Pros: I live in Midwest USA and it is winter here currently. This guitar was shipped through the winter weather and was more than likely warm and cold many times during this process. The guitar was almost completely in tune and the setup was very very close. I didn't have to adjust the neck at all. The finish on the guitar is perfect, the neck is beautiful and all the hardware has a great finish and no corrosion on the crome.
Cons: I love to work on guitars and I was planning to completey take the guitar apart upon delivery. I would say for a beginner this guitar would be great to play out of the box but there is a little work that needs to be done. The frets needed a polish and the intonation was a little off. I also needed to re-solder a connection on the tone pot. One typical comment is that the tuners are cheat on these guitar. I would say they are a little cheat but if you work with them they will improve. No you cannot do too much adjustment with a vintage style tuner but readjusting the screws did actually help. I will be adding shielding to the cavities so that will help one the noise.
Overall look at the price. You should be paying at least 500 for these guitars. I would be very happy with this guitar if it cost more than it does. I would still feel like I got a great value. But 138 come on that is crazy for this guitar! Get one and have fun, I am going to get a burst one just because of the price and amazing value I have now seen in person.
5
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T
What a true Jazzmaster should be
Awesome guitar for clean and crunchy sounds. Looks sick, sounds sick, built with decent quality. I can recommend it without any hesitations. Maybe will order some other HB instruments in visible future.
Pluses:
- Overall look. Cool vintagy painting, binding. Even pau-ferro fretboard matches guitar nicely.
- Weight of instrument and wood resonating. Even unplugged sounds loud and narly. Can assume that materials are quite good. Back of the neck without too much finishing feels great.
- Pickups. These are no ordinary P90, more like fat-wound single-coils. Sounds spanky and bright. Even unique.
- Overall built quality. Truss-rod was setup properly. Good set of strings, sounds fresh from the box.
- Price. Nuff said. 120 euros ...
Minuses:
- Very fat and narrow neck profile. Really feels like bassball bat. I'm kinda used to it, but the neck is not gonna fit for ibanezy shredders.
- Vintage tuners. Would prefer standard grover tuners. But they look cool, do the job properly.
- The last frets are not rounded properly. Maybe it's just my only guitar's issue. But it's not that bad.
- Pickup height adjustment is quite difficult. Intonation wasn't setup properly from the box, string height was quite excessive. Fretboard was quite dry, needed lemon oil. But these issues are not fatal, but quite fixable.
Pluses:
- Overall look. Cool vintagy painting, binding. Even pau-ferro fretboard matches guitar nicely.
- Weight of instrument and wood resonating. Even unplugged sounds loud and narly. Can assume that materials are quite good. Back of the neck without too much finishing feels great.
- Pickups. These are no ordinary P90, more like fat-wound single-coils. Sounds spanky and bright. Even unique.
- Overall built quality. Truss-rod was setup properly. Good set of strings, sounds fresh from the box.
- Price. Nuff said. 120 euros ...
Minuses:
- Very fat and narrow neck profile. Really feels like bassball bat. I'm kinda used to it, but the neck is not gonna fit for ibanezy shredders.
- Vintage tuners. Would prefer standard grover tuners. But they look cool, do the job properly.
- The last frets are not rounded properly. Maybe it's just my only guitar's issue. But it's not that bad.
- Pickup height adjustment is quite difficult. Intonation wasn't setup properly from the box, string height was quite excessive. Fretboard was quite dry, needed lemon oil. But these issues are not fatal, but quite fixable.
6
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KB
Fantastic Guitar
I started playing guitar in 1965...I have had all the great classic electric guitars over the years...I have built and repaired guitars for years...I was so impressed with this guitar I have ordered a LP Jr style...the fit and finish are excellent... the neck and fretwork are a thing of beauty...all the hardware are top notch....pickups are amazing... you get 3 wonderful tones....well balanced between the 3 positions.... wonderful, very inspirational sounds between the 3 pickups....I have a 2000 Fender Jazzmaster that I am putting up for sale as I like this one so much...Love the color....Great job Harley Benton.
8
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Z
I needed the iconic asymmetric 1960's look and the P90 sound for classic rock, and I chose this over the F-branded stuff purely based on the price point. I was prepared to put in the extra work I suspected a guitar of this value would need, but frankly, even straight out of the box it was a perfectly decent instrument, well balanced, nicely finished, properly set up, and with that old school tone I was looking for. Including the single coil hum of course. Definitely awesome value for money.
Even though straight out of the box the guitar was totally alright, I of course had a go at upgrading it. I took it to pieces, I shielded the cavity, I leveled, profiled and polished the frets and filed away any sharp ends (of which there were very few), then I added a treble bleed to the volume pot (Harley Benton 220pF capacitor), and as I always do with Harley Benton stock tune-o-matic style bridges, I replaced the factory one with a Gotoh GE103B-N. A thick lemon oil wash for the fretboard, a blob of Loctite thread locker on the strap button screws, and that was it.
Now I have the ultimate vintage looking hard tail Jazz Master sort of axe in my arsenal, and it truly plays like a charm. Much better I should say than some of my similarly upgraded "Sq###r by F#nd#r" guitars. If it had humbuckers and a longer fretboard, it could even do the occasional stint into metal territory: The neck, while not very thin, is still fast and comfy, and the cutaway would easily give access to another 3 frets if there weren't just 21 of them. Great piece of gear, very happy with it.
Even though straight out of the box the guitar was totally alright, I of course had a go at upgrading it. I took it to pieces, I shielded the cavity, I leveled, profiled and polished the frets and filed away any sharp ends (of which there were very few), then I added a treble bleed to the volume pot (Harley Benton 220pF capacitor), and as I always do with Harley Benton stock tune-o-matic style bridges, I replaced the factory one with a Gotoh GE103B-N. A thick lemon oil wash for the fretboard, a blob of Loctite thread locker on the strap button screws, and that was it.
Now I have the ultimate vintage looking hard tail Jazz Master sort of axe in my arsenal, and it truly plays like a charm. Much better I should say than some of my similarly upgraded "Sq###r by F#nd#r" guitars. If it had humbuckers and a longer fretboard, it could even do the occasional stint into metal territory: The neck, while not very thin, is still fast and comfy, and the cutaway would easily give access to another 3 frets if there weren't just 21 of them. Great piece of gear, very happy with it.
1
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TR
Shut your eyes and tell me can tell a difference...
I buy lots of guitars that are less expensive. They run the gamut from mediocre to hey not too bad. When I first got the Harley Benton in my hand i felt like i had robbed someone. Shut your eyes and you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference between this and the real McCoy... I don't get how they do it. Great guitar. I cherish it.
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S
Defects and poor build quality
First thing to say I have bought a bunch of music stuff previously on thomann including harley benton guitar cab and mustang bass, and both were awesome, but not this time
With the removing of protective film the part of the glossy layer came off the pickguard.
The fretboard was dry to the point that it cracked closer to the 17th fret.
I could assume the factory defect and no one was aware, but there are marks of glue, so someone was trying to hide it.
Stock strings are just garbage. It feels like I got a b-stock, but my purchase definitely was without any discounts.
Unfortunately, I've bought the guitar via an intermediary as thomann stopped delivering products to Ukraine since the first day of the russian invention, so it's a problem for me to send it back.
However, the playability is still OK and roswells are great pickups, so I'll keep the guitar for recording, but my goal was to buy an instrument for live gigs.
UPDATE. Fortunately, Thomann decided to send spare parts to me, so so you can rely on their service
With the removing of protective film the part of the glossy layer came off the pickguard.
The fretboard was dry to the point that it cracked closer to the 17th fret.
I could assume the factory defect and no one was aware, but there are marks of glue, so someone was trying to hide it.
Stock strings are just garbage. It feels like I got a b-stock, but my purchase definitely was without any discounts.
Unfortunately, I've bought the guitar via an intermediary as thomann stopped delivering products to Ukraine since the first day of the russian invention, so it's a problem for me to send it back.
However, the playability is still OK and roswells are great pickups, so I'll keep the guitar for recording, but my goal was to buy an instrument for live gigs.
UPDATE. Fortunately, Thomann decided to send spare parts to me, so so you can rely on their service
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B
Iconic looks and sounds on a budget
My second JA60 which I like almost as much as the first, the only real difference being the considerable extra weight of this OW one compared to the SB.version
Although the pickups are described on Roswells site as jazzmaster size single coils they sound (and buzz) like P90s fitted to the SB model.
I also sense (as opposed to measure) that the neck feels even chunkier than the SB version but still is totally playable.(although I do not enjoy the 350mm f/board radius which is compounded by the fact that the T-o-M style bridge has a 12 " (305mm) profile to the saddles.)
As with all the HBs I've purchased the nut slots needed dressing to reduce string height at that end of the f/board but the frets did not require any attention other than a polish and some filing to fret ends.
The finish is very creditable given the cost of this guitar, and electrics all function well. The machine heads however are poor, particularly the ferrules which appear to be plastic and not a tight fit in the headstock holes which is a formula for tuning problems.
I have used this and its sister /brother SB version for gigging and recording with no problems.
All in all remarkable value for money for a very playable ,good sounding instrument.
Although the pickups are described on Roswells site as jazzmaster size single coils they sound (and buzz) like P90s fitted to the SB model.
I also sense (as opposed to measure) that the neck feels even chunkier than the SB version but still is totally playable.(although I do not enjoy the 350mm f/board radius which is compounded by the fact that the T-o-M style bridge has a 12 " (305mm) profile to the saddles.)
As with all the HBs I've purchased the nut slots needed dressing to reduce string height at that end of the f/board but the frets did not require any attention other than a polish and some filing to fret ends.
The finish is very creditable given the cost of this guitar, and electrics all function well. The machine heads however are poor, particularly the ferrules which appear to be plastic and not a tight fit in the headstock holes which is a formula for tuning problems.
I have used this and its sister /brother SB version for gigging and recording with no problems.
All in all remarkable value for money for a very playable ,good sounding instrument.
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IS
A Robert Smith Dream
This guitar is light, easy to play, and sounds like a dream (well, for the most part). The pickups make it sound somewhere a Gretsch and Strat with a jangly quality typically delivered by a Tele. Very nice guitar. For all of you Cure/Smiths/Echo and the Bunnymen fans (especially Cure), this guitar produces that PERFECT 80s sound. Also great for generating that noisy My Bloody Valentine sonic dissonant blur (also good for Blur songs, by the way).
The minus? Well, there's a buzz that might drive you crazy. But that's the Jazzmaster for you: they're inherently "buzzy." But, if you don't care too much, then this Alternative Axe is a good buy.
Enjoy. It's worth the price!
The minus? Well, there's a buzz that might drive you crazy. But that's the Jazzmaster for you: they're inherently "buzzy." But, if you don't care too much, then this Alternative Axe is a good buy.
Enjoy. It's worth the price!
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A
Better than I expected
I got this guitar only because I needed another to save on shipping for a Junior. In less than a week my guitars went from Germany to California!
However, the box the two guitars came damaged. Pretty sure it was on the shipper though since they tried to repair the box using a different tape. The JA was on the side of the damage so I did an inspection. At first I thought the volume knob was damaged so I immediately contacted them. Turns out it was just a crappy knob that made it past QA.
However, Thomann's customer service was top notch! I cannot stress enough how responsive and willing to help they were. Truly blown away. I can't wait for my next purchase.
However, the box the two guitars came damaged. Pretty sure it was on the shipper though since they tried to repair the box using a different tape. The JA was on the side of the damage so I did an inspection. At first I thought the volume knob was damaged so I immediately contacted them. Turns out it was just a crappy knob that made it past QA.
However, Thomann's customer service was top notch! I cannot stress enough how responsive and willing to help they were. Truly blown away. I can't wait for my next purchase.
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