Harley Benton HB JA-60SB Vintage Series Reviews

Great guitar, especially for the price

Overall it is a great guitar, straight out the box it is okay but after a simple setup it is better than most high ends imo. Obviously due to price it is not best of quality however it is very good

HARLEY BENTON JA60

A Jazzmaster style guitar...without the clunky trem! And all the better for it! 😊 These are GREAT GUITARS 🎸 👏 👌 🙌 I've had about 4 up until now, and all have been exceptional. They are surprisingly versatile, and have real resonance and attitude. QC was faultless. I would buy another in a heartbeat.

This guitar might be priced for under 200€, But it's as good, if not better than guitars double or even triple it's price. The build quality is great, I can't find anything to complain about. The neck feels awesome, the tuners keep the tuning well, the body is light and the shape is very comfortable for playing standing up or seated. The sound from the pickups is very versatile, I play through a Harley Benton HB-20R amplifier and I can play everything from melodic music to high gain Rock. I would totally recommend this guitar to anyone who is looking for a beautiful offset guitar that can play everything you want it to at a very competitive price.

Great rhythm sound

Watched lots of videos on Youtube before purchase and they all seemed to say that this guitar was really good. Well it is. The neck pickup ( which I do not use much on my other guitars) is brilliant especially for rhythm You get a very acoustic type sound which thickens up when you add the bridge pickup. The guitar set up was very good. The intonation was perfect. Looking forward to playing this guitar more.

HB has reached its peak!

I wanted to have an alternative type of guitar, especially for recording clean parts in my home studio, without paying a fortune. This guitar is amazing! I did some pretty basic set-up during the first time I played with (intonation), but beside this, it doesn't need anything more! The frets, the electronics and the overall feeling of the guitar were astonishing. Right out of the box! The overall sound is pretty amazing, but it depends if someone wants something different. In any case, the classic jazzmaster tone is there! Highly recommended for everyone! Give it a try!

Great guitar

I received this guitar and it was perfectly padded and safe while in transport I got frequent updates and the guitar sounds amazing high quality pickups for the price

Vintage look and feel for a budget price.

I bought this guitar specifically to play in church. I’ve always liked the Jaguar style and Harley Benton puts them in my price range. The neck felt great right out of the box. There were no rough or sharp fret ends. The pickups had the sound I was looking for but the controls were a little lacking. Volume was a little hard to control and only worked above 8. There was also that vintage 60 cycle hum. Personally , I’d prefer a black pickguard with the sunburst finish, but that’s just me.

I replaced both pots with CTS pots and shielded the body with copper tape. The controls are more responsive now and the hum lessened but still enough there to sound vintage. Overall, I am very pleased with this guitar and would recommend it for anyone looking for the Jaguar style on a budget.

Can't Believe the Quality and Playability!

This is my first Harley Benton, and I am seriously impressed! A novice player of many years, I can attest that this JA Vintage Series model is leaps and bounds ahead of most any electric guitar considered to be an 'introductory level' instrument I've played. It was set up out of the box(!) (all but tuning and protective film pealing to be done, really), stays in tune quite well, and has at least six or seven superior tone sets out of its three position switch in clean AND dirty amplification settings. If you've been waiting and waiting for a scratch and dent classic vibe to come into view or drop to a reasonable price to no avail, as I had been, toss that notion aside. The JA will surely satisfy beyond your expectation!

HB is an example to mimic

After the first test, i can say with ease that i feel guilty.

It feels like stealing candy from a kid, thanks HB

My first time with hb, wanted to buy one for a long time, but i was afraid that it would feel like low price series of big brand guitars and worse (holding a giant cork).

Feels great, plays great, sounds great, nice paint job, frets are good, overall 5 stars for sure

I am only buying hb from now on, nothing to be jealous from bigger brands, and not paying at least 200€ only for the logo.

Definitely a must buy if you looking for a jazzmaster body.

So good, great value.

Great guitar for the price

I've had many famous-brand guitars and, although this is not one of them, I love it. In spite of its low price, it is one of my favorite guitars. The only thing I did to it was replace the nut with a Tusk and a basic setup. Yes, it could use a set of better pickups and tuners but it plays and sounds fine just as it is. I've used it for all kinds of gigs and it is my to-go guitar for jam sessions and open mike. I often let people borrow it during open mikes and they are often surprised of how good it is.

Usable

For the price, the quality is acceptable. If budget were higher, would rather spring for the CST24 with P90s (not sure if would have similar issues, but probably less likely). Overall, this is not a bad beginner guitar.

Cons:

- had to have very high action, fret buzz quite an issue on the bass strings

- extremely microphonic pickups

- really cheap electronics/knobs/switch

Pros:

- after sorting out the fret buzz (albeit with high action), is quite nice to noodle with

- no sharp frets

- neck is not bad

- stays in tune quite well

Go for it!

Delighted with this guitar. I had read and heard that HB guitars can be hit or miss so I thought this may have been a risk, but for the price I went for it.

Excellent guitar. Sounds great and feels great. I've played a lot of budget guitars and this does not feel cheap. In terms of build quality from what I've played I would compare it close to Mexican fenders - good. For the price though 5/5

bang for the buck

quality instrument for the price, im really liking the p90s even tho they arent the most expensive kinda, they stiill have that signature p9+ sound.

Also this is the only guitar where is actually prefer mid position of pick up selector, intonation is not perfect up the neck but for the price i dont mind higher frets being slightly out of tune. would recomend this instrument for anyone who wants to get into p90s for a low price. Get on of these cooller color variants tho that have now. tuners are not greatest but guitar still holds in tune fine. and shorter scale lenght is cool to have on at least few guitars that you own. just cant go wrong with this price point.

Too good to be true.

I’ve always been a fan of offsets so when I started seeing reviews for this saying how good it was I had to pick one up and see for myself.

The guitar looks great, the finish is perfect and I love that it has a les Paul style bridge so you don’t have to mess around with the usually jazzmaster tremolo system.

the guitar needed setting up quickly which didint take long. The only issue I found was a few screws in the pickups don’t screw al the way down but for the price I’m not too concerned.

This guitar sounds great with fuzz and distortion but really shines with the clean tones. My plan was to swap the pickups out but after playing for a hour I found them to be bright and beautiful sounding.

All in all I can’t recommend this guitar enough for players of all skill levels. it really is too good to be true!

Love this guitar

I have stopped playing my telecasters since purchasing this guitar. So much richer and full-bodied, yet crystal clear and articulate. The sunburst is better than ma y other brands; it makes my Squier Jazzmaster look like a piece of garbage. I had to spot level a couple of frets, file the nut slots, adjust the truss rod and line the cavities with copper tape. It was totally worth it. I love the stock pickups and the neck is awesome.

Another super h b guitar

Hi

It is difficult to fault this Guitar. I’m not gonna get all geeky and rave about the finish or the playability or get all picky and say it’s not as good as Other makes.

The truth is this Guitar is great. I have no idea how you manufacture a guitar this good for such a low price. I have worked my way through a rack of epiphone and squires at three or four times the price and they really don’t come close.

This guitar was my present to my son birthday, his love it , the sound is great ,really smooth to play ,I do not regret at all ,first time I buy Harley Benton and I,am really impress ,with quality

Better quality than I expected for the price.

This guitar arrived today. Got it tuned and plugged it in. It sounds awesome! The quality of the body and neck seem very nice. The pickups sound nice and bright. Overall, I really like this guitar. It replaced my Squier 70 jaguar. Took that back and bought this instead. Do not regret it.

Great guitar punches well above its price point

Arrived safely, no damaged. Fantastic sound. Once setup to my preference it was a joy to play. I tend to find you need to spend a good few hours playing a new guitar, get familiar with it. I made some adjustments to the pickup height and the poles,.I prefer to try get the most out of the stock hardware if possible and rarely see the need to change.