Harley Benton JA-Baritone BK 5-stars Reviews

More than just a great value — This is simply a great guitar

Here’s the nitty gritty: in a sound test, this guitar fooled colleagues. I re-recorded songs I had originally done with a custom Kiesel 7-string on this Harley Benton baritone, and no one could say with any certainty which recording was the $3,000 guitar and which was the $200 guitar. Do you know how absolutely insane that is? Here are the notes broken down based on recording, and notes on the guitars: Custom Kiesel 7-string: 26.5” scale, Fishman Fluence pickups. That’s the difference. HB JA-Baritone BK: stock, tuned down to drop G# Listener blind notes on the Kiesel recording: - More clarity and shimmer in clean passages - More note separation, slightly less “mud” in chords utilizing GBE strings. - More fizzy midrange in heavy passages, not pleasing to ear Listener blind notes on the HB Baritone recording: - Cleans sounded a bit “flatter” - Heavy passages had way more balls/grit/drive — overall listeners really liked the bite offered by the P90s - More sustain — one song had guitars ring out at the end, and it was noted that the Baritone rang out for nearly two measures longer, roughly 6 bars in 4/4 That’s kind of it. I love how it feels and how it plays and how it sounds. The 30” scale takes some getting used to, and if you deal with hand/wrist pain already, this may not be the guitar for you. That being said. This is a $200 guitar that, in a blind test, competes with a $3000 custom guitar. I can give it no higher praise than that. I will also note that playing down-tuned music *feels* better on the longer scale length. I actually tune it all the way down to F# now without needing to get thicker strings. Those wanting to tune down to E or Db will need to get thicker strings. Whenever I want to put money into it I will likely get higher quality tuners. The only part of the guitar that feels “skimped” on is the tuners, in my opinion. Still, a 5-star instrument all around.

Stunning value for money

I'm going to start by saying I've never been so impressed by any instrument relative to its price tag. The build quality is great, the neck is fantastic, the bridge is solid and adjusts smoothly, the pickups are clear and punchy and the whole instrument looks like I paid five times as much. the frets could do with a tiny polish but I'd be pleased with the shaping and ends on a guitar costing far more. The pots are smooth and clean, and the tone control is probably the most useful I've ever had across its entire range. I've brought the action down to 1.5mm bass side and 1mm treble, and there's not a hint of buzz anywhere, which is astonishing. I did have to put a bit of extra tension on the truss rod and discovered that it's already cranked to the max, which is worrying but hopefully something I won't have to touch further. I haven't had any issues at all with microphonic pickups or grounding so I presume that was an early thing. The only things I would note are that the selector switch feels very notchy (even though it works perfectly) and the tuner heads don't inspire confidence, especially with this amount of tension. No problems as yet though. Get one, but book time out because it's hard to put down.

insane quality to price ratio

arrived in decent setup, i was going to swap to 24-84 guage strings anyway so didnt mind much. the new set fit perfectly and after a quick setup which took 10min (since the guitar had no flaws) the guitar was playing as smooth as butter. if you are looking for a 30" baritone look no further.

More than what I expected

The guitar is awesome. The setup was good, no sharp frets, no buzzing sound, no grounding issue and the cosmetic is also top notch.

amazing design, two complaints though

one of the things i didn’t like about it is the tuners. they’re plastic and couldn’t hold tuning very well. it also came with sharp fret edges. all that being said, if you put in the work and work on it, you will be rewarded 👍

JA-Baritone Killz It!

The JA-Baritone is pretty much my favorite guitar. Stays in tune, perfect fret-board feel, quality materials, solid construction. The only thing that lacks is the pickups, replaced with Fishman Fluence Richard Z, good to go! Thank you Harley!

For the money? No brainer.

A 6 string baritone is something everyone should play around with at some point. But to own one with these specs and at this price, do your self a favor and pick one up, or three like I did. They serve as an amazing starting point for wild mod platforms. I made one of the headless and regret nothing. The P-90s introduce many fun ways of playing the guitars as iv never had a guitar with them before. Love it. 9.7/10

A Beast!

What can I say more.... Fat tones!!! Such a ling neck you can drop the guitar very low. I love it!!!

Of course, not a bad choice to change the tuners. They are cheap but hold my low tuning (G) pretty good.

Fantastic quality and at an amazing price!

I stumbled across this guitar and IMMEDIATELY bought it without any hesitation and that was one of the best decisions I've made and it has been my go to guitar since I've got it; It gets grabbed over some of my more expensive guitars too. Aesthetically it looks phenomenal and I love the weight. Heavy without being TOO heavy, (unless you're drop tuning this thing) Though it is a heavy guitar (musically wise) it is also versatile with the P90s and I can play the smoothest jazz to the most filthy death metal and everything in between. The only thing I would say is a "CON" would be the tuner pegs but they turn smoothly and the guitar holds tune quite well. It can be a bit noisy but P90s in my experience have always been a bit hot but they're still very dynamic and pack a punch. Overall this an awesome guitar and it's without a doubt worth having in your arsenal! 🤘

Work it!

This thing is nasty. Just what I was looking for

How can this be?!

Bought this thing to tune down super low and play some heavy riffs. Low expectations for the price point. Heard about terrible fret ends, awful tuners, nightmare setup/action. NONE of these things were issues for me. This neck is absurdly comfy, pickups sound amazing in drop f for heavy riffs, fret ends rounded beautifully. I feel like I stole this thing at the price. Unreal.

good intro to baritone

as mentioned it is good for anyone looking to dip their toes into the world of baritone, i do have a minor gripe and that's that the tuning machine heads are made of plastic and while entirely functional they do feel a bit cheap

great guitar

just an overall great instrument.

Very good guitar

First of all - the guitar is beautiful. Looks very nice.

The sound is also pretty descent. And yes I've read some comments about pickups - that they are humming to much. Well i don't have this problem. First of all - there is no humming on clean sound.

With overdrive a little bit of humming appears. But, not more than any other single pickups. And like any other single pickups this problem can be solved with simple noise gate.

P.S. Yes the middle position is the best :)

Baritonelyyyy :)

The electric guitar is fantastic. It sounds quite threatening and powerful. A bright representative of baritones. There is no better guitar in this price range. There are some complaints about the quality of fittings and painting. The black guitar has many small scratches and polish residue throughout the guitar. This is a bit unfortunate. But in general, the instrument is the highest top.

Awesome baritone!!!

This thing looks, feels and sounds amazing.

Unbelievable Value, Amazing Guitar

I am impressed with this guitar, to say the least. It plays exceptionally well right out of the box, with perhaps only minor adjustments needed as is typical with most guitars.

Like others, I was initially worried about potential quality control and construction issues, but I can happily report that my particular guitar is flawless, without a single issue or concern. Additionally, the plastic tuners do not feel as fragile as some other reviewers have suggested.

While I do hope that the JA baritone will come in more colors in the future, for now I am more than content with my sleek black instrument!

Love this baritone guitar!

I'd recently gotten interested in baritone guitars and I wanted to get the Squier VM Jazzmaster but it's impossible to find in my price range. Enter the Harley Benton JA Baritone.

Awhile back I'd read and saw videos talking about loads of QC issues, I expected at least a few minor issues considering the price point, but I was very surprised. I have to say that I believe they stepped up their QC on their most recent batches, the guitar came in perfect shape, required very little setup, intonated perfectly out of the box (currently in drop G.)

I played this thing for HOURS as soon as I got it. It's so much fun to play, the neck feels great, easier to play than other baritone guitars I have played, the longer scale length is barely noticeable because the neck is so comfortable and easy to maneuver. The P90 pickups sound great in hi gain modes, and even better in clean tones.

The fretboard was pretty dry, but the frets themselves are smooth, no sharp edges, pretty well polished, and absolutely no dead spots.

The tuning pegs are okay, I'd heard complaints about the tuning stability before, but in my experience this thing is very stable. After hours of play beating this thing up it never went out of tune in the least.

I originally got this thinking it would be a mod platform, and after experiencing it, I may replace very little (maybe the nut and string trees) because everything on this guitar is pretty well done!

If you're interested in a Jazzmaster clone, or a baritone guitar in general BUY THIS GUITAR.

Solid!

I ordered this guitar about a week after their initial release and received mine about 3.5 months later, which was quite the wait but I was prepared and had no rush. I had read about the plastic tuners and ordered a set of nice locking ones to replace them right away, but honestly the stock ones are just fine. The machine heads I ordered had two faulty ones in the set (yay) and I am using two stock tuners for the time being, and if I could go back I would not even bother changing them out. The guitar was set up for B standard out the box and played surprisingly well. I put a set of .24-.84 gauge strings on mine and set it up for double drop D#, it intonated with no problems and loves it. Fit and finish is 4/5, a couple of lacquer stains around the fretboard edges, there is some glue squeeze-out around the frets, the fretboard was completely bone dry and the fret ends have a little bit of bite to them, but nothing major and for the the price, acceptable. Hardware-wise, the pickup switch feels pretty low quality, it is weirdly squeaky, but so far has worked fine. The volume knob is a little noisy when dialed, which I have seen in other HB guitars as well, so before using live I might have to get the wiring looked at. Overall, still, exceptional value and definitely loads of fun! The P90's might not be everyone's taste, but I really love the spanky tone and am excited to use it a lot in the future.

Impressed. Must buy if you are baritone curious.

Pros:

Immediately fell in love.

The body shape and the weight feel right. Note I'm 6' tall with larger hands, and I play Danelectro BT66 just fine. I now prefer the Jag body style over the BT66, which puts me in a predicament. I would consider buying a second HB Jag Bari because of the price and the modifications you could make.

The pickups are dirty when they need to be. I use a Quad Cortex as my central amplification, and the clean sounds clear. No complaints about the pickups. The neck pickup sounds better than my Dano BT66 neck pickup.

Overall the string setup is not great. It could use new strings from Stringjoy (my favs). I tuned it to a standard A tuning which it took quickly out of the box. So far, its stayed in tune.

Cons:

Poor shipping. The guitar did have some padding in the box, which was in a box that didn't fit the first box. I was lucky the guitar wasn't broken.

All said I would repurchase this guitar and most likely will as a backup.