Harley Benton JA-60CC Lake Placid Blue 5-stars Reviews

Excellent guitar for the price.

Build quality is far beyond it's price tag.

Hard to beat !!

For this kind of money, how can you go wrong. This guitar cost me less than a night out to dinner with the family. Love HB guitars. PS … the blue is stunning

So impressive!

Guitar had a few small sketches but guitar is exceptionally good

Quality Guitar

I'll start by saying I own a few guitars from Fender, PRS, and some custom shop stuff. This is an AMAZING guitar for the money. While it lacks the trem system a Jazzmaster may have, I don't use one much so I don't care. The price vs quality is amazing. I've also hadnother HB guitars and it seems like the quality control is finally up to par. Amazing quality for su h a great price and I just hope they keep knocking out new models. But if you want an offset, Jazzmaster style guitar with the P90 style pickups, then this is for you. All I needed to do was tune it up, which is fair for any guitar. But that was it. Colour is beautiful and so is the caramelised maple neck. For this price, you can't go wrong. If you see this guitar or any HB you want, just get it and you won't regret it. This fits in my live and recording line up when I need those P90s. We'll done Harley Benton! I can't praise you enough for what you do!

Brilliant guitar

I love this guitar - so nice to play

Great value for money

The guitar looks better in real life than in photographs, the blue sparkle is amazing then viewed close up.

Playability is very good, the neck is well finished and feels really comfortable to hold. The setup 'out of the box' was pretty good too and I only had to lower the action a fraction to suit my style of playing.

The pickups sound really good when played through my VOX Pathfinder 10 watt amp, really rich with well defined 'top end'.

The only further comment I have is that it lacks a tremolo system but what can you expect for the amazing price. To solve my 'problem', it was easy to purchase an add-on trem system and also a replacement roller bridge.

This guitar is rapidly becoming a favourite to pick up and enjoy.

Excellent purchase - you will not be disappointed if you go for one.

amazing guitar for the price!

This thing is amazing! Better size and feel than a fender, and at a fraction of the price. The finish is amazing, the neck is amazing, it stays in tune and feels super solid. My new favorite electric by far!

Perfection at this price

This turned out to be exactly the guitar I was looking for. The P90-like pickups sound great, very responsive. It's also quite lightweight, which I didn't expect but was very welcome!

Very well set-up straight out of the box, tune it up and it's ready to go. Experiences may vary on that, of course, but so far every HB guitar I've had was pretty much playable out of the box.

All in all, very happy with this guitar.

My Go To Guitar

I ordered this guitar because of the “P90 style” pickups. They actually have a tone all their own. They’re warm and creamy sounding. The feel, fit and finish are very nice. I have a Fender American Strat, a JTV69, a PRS as well as others. This guitar has often become my go to workhorse. I like it so much I ordered the 25th anniversary one in Firemist. I do wish they had a model with a tremolo system! Overall, very nice guitar - especially for the price!

Perfection

This is my second JA 60 CC and like the first, it is perfect. What an awesome guitar at any price.

My first JM.

Shipping was blistering fast, the guitar (and case) arrived in perfect order, not a flaw to be found on the guitar and I love the pickups!

This is my 3rd HB. Already have the SC 550 II & the SC Jr. Amazed at the quality & value.

I kinda wish I'd waited a couple days on ordering because the day after I received the LPB JM, the 25th anniversary stock was posted and that 25th JM is drop-dead gorgeous IMO.

No regrets however. Loving my LPB so far! The 25th will have to wait a bit.

My 2nd JA-60CC. Wonderful Guitars

A few months ago, I purchased the Seafoam Green model and I was blown away by the quality. Playability and sound quality was amazing.

So, I decided to try another one. This time the Lake Placid Blue model. I am delighted to say, it has the same great build quality. I have never seen such attention to detail on the Neck, the neck pocket is so precise, the carmalized finish is smooth as silk. Perfect profile. I am also amazed at the fretwork. Beveled and rounded edges and polished (not gritty). The fretboard is very nice and the fake pearl block inlays are done well.

The Nut is cut great. Just the right depth and nice fit and finish.

The vintage style tuners look great on this guitar and they are smooth and accurate. They are not locking tuners, but they work great and they fit the vibe of this guitar.

The neck binding is a nice touch with dot markers.

The body being Basswood is light, but still has decent sustain. The paint job on both the seafoam green and the Lake Placid Blue is very good. I like the sparkles in the blue.

The pickups are SUPER. They are alnico V P90 style by Roswell. They sound fantastic to me. I find the true Jazzmaster pickups to be a bit too thin and bright for my taste. These pups have a smoother top end and a nice full bottom end. Not dark. More balanced.

Setup from the factory was very good. All I did right out of the box was tune it up, then play for a while. Then I lowered the action about a half turn on both bridge adjusters. Re-tune, make a slight intonation adjustment, re-tune and play.

Shipping was amazingly fast from Germany. I ordered it over the New Years weekend and got it today (Tuesday 3 Jan 2023) in Colorado USA. Double boxed and wall packed. Now, shipping is not cheap in this day and age, but that was amazing.

Amazing!!!!!

Love it! I wanted a jazzmaster for a long time but love bright collors! When I saw this in LPB I had to have it!

Plays great, holds tunning great and it looks amazing!!!!

Wish I could have 3 because it was really hard to choose the color!!!

Fantastic, my best guitar.

The roasted maple neck is a joy to hold and feel, buttery smooth. The both pickups sound is sweet and crystal clear. The neck pocket fit is the tightest I've seen on any guitar. Do yourself a favor and buy it.

Insane Value

Aside from a minuscule imperfection on the fretboard binding, this guitar is virtually faultless. I understand the hype about the neck, the finish feels great and there's not a single sharp fret (unlike my Gibsons which are around X10 the price!) The finish is beautiful and really sparkly. The switch feels a little stiff but the pots feel nice and smooth. I can see myself reaching for this guitar more than my Mexican strat! I'm super happy with it and I'll definitely be gigging it! :)

Impressive

This guitar far exceeds what I expected. Begs to be played!!

Best I've played in this range, an awesome looking instrument.

Wow. I'm pretty floored by this guitar. I received an instrument that comes within shooting distance of my Squier J Mascis in terms of tone and playability.

I'm a Jazzmaster-style guitar enthusiast, and this is my third J-style guitar purchase. I've got a Fender Player Series and the J Mascis, and this baby measures up pretty well against both. (To be honest, though, the J Mascis easily takes the cake among the three. If you're considering one, I say nab it!)

Having no trem makes it feel a little bit like a JM imposter, but for 200 I can look the other way on that. There are excellent after-market drop-in trems available that would render that issue moot, and it would still come in at a lower price tag than the Squier Classic Vibe vintage-style JM.

So glad they went with a tune-o-matic style bridge on this guitar, as I've really found the vintage JM-style bridges to be a bother. Also, the pickups are pretty darn good for budget-brand factory drop ins. The neck is super smooth and the laurel fretboard, while not quite as nice as the laurel on my J Mascis, is serviceable. Frets are clean and smooth (no sharp edges) and every note rings out.

The look of this guitar is pretty spectacular for the price-point. Neck binding, perloid block inlays (love em or hate em; I love em), roasted maple neck and seemingly decent vintage style tuners... not standard features on most budget guitars.

QC seems to have done its job on my instrument. Only gripes are a tiiiiiiny finish chip on the edge of the neck pocket, a slight chip on the edge of the nut, and a little fret glue on one of the frets. All of these are easy to address and/or ignore, so QC gets a solid 9/10.

Upgrades I might consider making are: locking tuners, full-size potentiometers (this guitar has dinky little pots) and a drop-in trem. Otherwise, it's pretty dang good.

Easily the best guitar for the price.

I found this brand through a buddy and was blown away by the quality of the guitars and the price!! I got the ja-60cc and this thing is a powerhouse!!! Very versatile and fun to play on. 10/10 would recommend buying.

It's such a good deal, it feels illegal!

I have all kinds of guitars from Gibson Les Pauls to PRS CEs to Charvel Pro Mods to more affordable brands, like Hagstrom, Fame, and Sire, and I have to say this guitar is not just a good guitar for the money, it is a GOOD guitar PERIOD!

PROS:

- Beautiful, vivid, calm blue colour with flawless finish.

- It has a belter of a neck! Dark, roasted, beautifully figured and professionally finished. Playing it is a joy.

- Binding looks decent.

- Tuners do their job.

- Frets are well-polished. I didn't detect a single scratchy fret, which is huge for a guitar in this price range.

- Pickups sound great for my taste. I always disliked the Jazzmaster's shrill bridge pickup, but the bridge pickup on this guitar is mellow yet punchy (and has higher output).

CONS:

- The binding is a bit filthy in some spots, but within expectations.

- The body is smaller than that of a Jazzmaster and can look a bit too small compared to the neck, but it's not off-putting in anyway.

If I didn't know that this is a $150 guitar, I would have guessed it's worth around $700 minimum!

Please keep in mind that I ordered this guitar as soon as it was announced, so I believe I received mine from the 1st batch.

HB are known for dishing out batches of slightly inconsistent quality, but judging from what I have in my hands, this is one hell of a deal!

Absolutly stunning !!!

Been hording guitars for at least 40 yrs, and have a collection of a wide range of brands and styles.

This is one of very few instruments which just needed tuning, and nothing else. Neck was straight, frets was leveled and without any sharp edges. Intonation was spot on, even the nut was cut correct. I don't understand how it's possible to set up a cheap guitar so well from the factory.

Pickups sounds great, and all the electronics works fine without any scratching or buzzing.

I will probably change the pots for getting a bit brighter sound, but for the price, this is a really bargain - outperforming guitars several times more expencive.

Super happy with this one, thumbs up !