It CAN'T be that GOOD?? Harley Benton HB JA-60 OW
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- čas přidán 24. 03. 2021
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This is my first encounter of a Harley Benton instrument as I bought their version of a Jazzmaster and I was surprised when I got it. Check the video for more details and lots of audio clips!
Please consider subscribing to see more content :) - Hudba
What I like most about Harley Benton, is they have a ton of designs and finishes for left handed players... The JA60 is a great inexpensive alternative to a jazzmaster.
Yeah you're right!
Got one of these about a month ago and I still can't believe it's as good as it is.
I bloody _love_ this guitar!
When I think of some of the dog-poo guitars I had to try and learn on years back, I'm quite envious of those starting out now with access to gear like this.
There really is _nothing_ to lose by spending money (& a mind blowingly small amount) on one of these JA-60s.
Basically, a classic Jazzmaster pickup is just a single coil, but much shorter than a typical strat-type or a P90, and thus it has to be wider to have enough wire. It also has rod pole pieces that are magnetized themselves, unlike a P90 which has magnet bars underneath with adjustable pole pieces.
Harley Bentons are great, when you are lucky to get one without defects. For the past year Fusion T became my main, while I have guitars from other brands three times the price, it's just that good.
Oh nice thanks for the information on the pickups! I had never looked into it.
This guitar made me confident in getting another one from HB later for sure!
I bought this Jazzmaster recently, same colour too, great guitar and the stock Roswell Pickups sound very good.
I have the Fusion 3 Super Strat by Harley Benton too with flamed maple neck and it is beautful, locking tuners, good sound from the Bridge Humbucker and single coils, a coil tap on the bridge too, changed out the pots for some 1 inch Alpha for smoother response, this guitar is my favourite out of a fine selection of guitars. The flamed maple veneer to the body is very impessive at this price, I have a Gibson Les Paul with less figuring to the maple and 3 times the price. Had my eye on the Fusion Tele for a while now and will definitely buy one soon, was hoping for a post Christmas price drop sale on these but the price has not been reduced as yet but they seem worth every penny at £333 or thereabouts. I hear they are much better than the Mexican Tele's as long as you buy the 'A' grade from Thomann. I bought a couple of nice pickguards and a bone nut in readiness for my purchase also a nice set of Gotoh locking Tuners.
I have 7 Harley Bentons and they are all excellent build quality, bought the RB600 in both colours, black and another in Cherry Burst, the Rickenbacker inspired models, semi hollow and sound really great.
I bought the Jazzmaster Bass Guitar also for £140 and it is a beast, fitted a high mass bridge though the standard bent steel bridge was fine, more sustain with the high mass bridge, very fine instrument at a crazy low price.
Cheers for the video
What does A Grade for Thomann mean?
@@JaymeSilversteinnot ‘B stock’ I guess 👍🏻
Do you know if those older models have any differences to the new CC models
I just bought the same guitar in the same color as yours. I'm very happy with mine. Plays great, records great. They have a Basswood body and maple neck, can't go wrong. It's best if you know how to do your own setups. Everything from strings to action, frets, trust rod and intonation. The pickups sound great, not a Fender jazz-master sound but a very usable sound. I bought mine used for $125, the price of a pedal. I'm way happier with this guitar than most pedals I've purchase. LOL Great review Thanks for posting Los Angeles
Great review!! Subscribed and looking forward to more reviews, thanks! 👍
Thank you! I've been a bit off the YT game lately but I've got lots of stuff coming :)
I'm thinking of buying the exact same guitar. Thanks for the review
Jazzmaster pickups are short single coils. They have a bright and jangly sound. Perfect for rhythm. I have a Harley Benton Mosrite Classic. Sounds great. I want a Jazzmaster now
Yeah I recently got a 40th Anniversary Squier Jazzmaster and it's really good. I love the way they play and the tone as well!
Hey thanks for the excellent video. The HB JA 60 is definitely on my list and will be my 3rd HB guitar, on my list I have an HB 62 tele and an HB 35 plus both are superb
Sounds great...
I own a Harley Benton Amarrok 6 from the Pro Series, it came with EMGs and honestly plays and feels similar to my Solar, which I consider to be a beast of a guitar. No QC issues, even the setup was amazing out of the box.
just bought this left handed and waiting for the delivery, thanks for this video covering everything from radiohead to metal stuff(my musical range as well)! its amazing how good this sounds for the money, i'm blown away that it can do metal chunking with twang included, spicy! haha
How'd you like it
These guitars are so damn cool! Been wanting one for a while and now I'll just have to pull the trigger
Do it do it!
Just ordered the JA 60 kit. Keep ya posted. jd
got the same guitar and i love it as well :D
it looks great
One of my favorite ETID songs (Cities and Years)
Yeah it's quite a fun one to play and very easy too!
I got both a strat and a tele HB ...I am well impressed ...it's like suddenly I can own a collection of great guitars for the cost of one original ..both mine came working and needing no fiddling out of the box . The tele had a knock on it that had caused some paint flakes to come loose .I emailed them and and they offered a replacement or £25 off ,seeing as it played so well I took the discount and the added character. Amazingly the strat was in tune out of the box. I have in my time owned real Fender and Ibanez guitars ..I honestly think the Bentons play and feel better.
I have a few Bentons now, the latest is the sc custom fr. And you just cannot complain. I have ordered the jazzmaster model as well. They're not in stock so she's on back order. I look forward to playing this too.
Yeah my experience is so good. I'm curious about other models too. I really do like this guitar and I've been using it for band practice lately and I'm happy with the way it feels and sounds. I don't even want to change the pickups!
Ordered the SB yesterday 😊
Thanks for the video!
Awesome, how did you like it? I assume you still have it?
@@geirisk8 I love it! Strangely, it was built/delivered without springs under the pickups, so those were moving up & down freely 😄
Quick call to Thomann, and they sent me the springs I installed easily.
The guitar is well built, the neck a pleasure, and pickups are ok 👍
An Amazing Guitar the P90s really shine ... in the clean and the crunchy modes
Yeah those pickups sound really good right out of the box. I was prepared to swap them out for something different but I never felt the need to be honest.
I have 7 of them. Both acoustic and electric. They are all fine instruments. The newest are the best, like 2017-2021 models. Thank you for this review!
Thanks for watching! I just got two new HB guitars in and I posted a video yesterday on one of them and the other will come later. I'm surprised with every model the amount you get for the price. It's kinda ridiculous!
Great style for the price. And extra points for Paranoid Android.
This is my first HB. After „real“ Fender Strat and Tele, I was looking for a Jazzmaster in order to follow the historical development. But I found the set-up too cumbersome. By sheer coincidence I found the HB JA60. I love it. Pure, raw, simple. Whatever the Roswell pick-ups are, P90 or not, I don’t care. They produce a warm, mellow sound which suits the Jazzmaster style just fine. It’s not a guitar for shredding or heavy metal. The HB JA60 arrived in almost perfect condition. Apart from some rough edges it would be complaining at a very high level, especially when taking the price level into consideration. It’s small, handy, not too heavy and ideal for studio work. The only drawback is: I don’t know how to place the guitar to rest because of the weird body shape…
In the meantime my guitar tech got rid of the fret buzz (e-string) by adjusting the truss rod slightly. He also polished the frets and changed the strings. Works just fine now.
Hi, I bought an Harley Benton TE-52 NA and I received a great guitar: 2 pieces body, perfect neck... Then I replaced all the hardware (Fender Twisted Tele Pickups, Gotho vintage machine tuners, CBS pots and classic tele wiring and Gotho brige with brass saddles) , and now I have a great great guitar at the same price of a Squire Classic Vibe, but with a lot higher level of quality and sound.
I just received the same guitar, in red. I’m a semi-collector who’s been playing most of my life (nearly 30 years now)…. I have about 15 guitars, many high end. I purchased a B-stock to save a couple of extra bucks as this guitar is intended to be my travel (keep in the hotel) guitar for when I’m on the road for work. I’m blown away. I’ve seen the review videos and never would have thought something this cheap could be this good. All in, I payed 129.00 plus tax and shipping. I can only find one or two minor cosmetic blemishes that would constitute the B-stock category. After a setup, it plays like butter. For its price point, it sounds and feels amazing. Beyond that, it’s very pretty. I’m honestly shocked at how good it is at this price point. If you’re looking for a cheap guitar, I could not recommend enough. Certainly blows out of the water the strat replica I first got when I was a kid many years ago and it’s a far superior guitar. It’s worth over double, even triple the price. Cheers.
00:25, that's what she said!
hahahaha!
I've got 2 HBs and am lusting after the sexy Pelham blue gotoh SG!
the roasted maple neck Tele has been a total joy.
I risked their cheaper resonator and it came damaged and was a bit of a long drawn out pain in the butt getting it sent off and back.
There's something wrong with the oddly designed bridge...the strings slip out.
I reckon the blue SG will be perfect.
Anything Jonathan Koh rates highly I'm going to trust.
I'm really after another Godin guitar (I have a beautiful mirrored RADIATOR)but they're just too much money for me right now .
This guitar looks and sounds really...thanks for the review.
A friend of mine just got a pink HB tele with the roasted neck and it seems like quite a great guitar for the price!
They are seriously good guitars for the money! And if you put some higher end pickups in like i did it can become an absolute beast!!!
Yeah man absolutely. I honestly really like these pickups so I don't know if I'll even swap them out. At least not anytime soon!
And an appropriate bridge.
@@mitchconnerandsometimesjlotoo I think this bridge is perfectly fine for this guitar. Jazzmasters are now available with various bridges so getting one with the bridge you like is simple. This guitar is very very stable so I like it!
@@geirisk8 yeah it's the routing for a trem. Could get a dusemberg but they are costly.
Whick pickup did you put?
i can't wait for them to restock. i've always wanted Jim Root's JM sig but it never came in a lefty. this one has, just that i don't think i can swap the pickups for EMGs
Well you won't be disappointed with this guitar! I haven't dived into removing the scratch plate to see what the mounting of the pickups is like but if you're handy, maybe you're able to make something work? It would require a new scratch plate since these pickups are much bigger than normal humbuckers.
Great review.. and loving the ETID riffs! Do you find the neck to be quite chunky? Looking for a nice fat neck on a guitar and heard this does... Thanks 🎸🤘
I have had 2 HB guitars and both were really good. I had one accoustic and one LP, the accoustic got tonally even better over the years. On the electric guitar I changed out some plastic parts for either bone or metal but otherwise the guitars stay well in tune and offer decent playability and tone.
Oh that's nice! I've been thinking of getting one of their acoustic guitars.
@@geirisk8 Get one with a pre-amp then you can plug it in if needed, without the need to buy a new guitar. Change the strings to phosphor bronze from d adario and u will be happy, the factory strings are cheap even if the guitars are good.
in Australia Artist Guitars have imported these with the Artist logo on headstock and they get rave reviews as they are $259 AUD delivered to your door! I also like the Revelation / Entwistle RJT 60 also but retail at $678 AUD but have a wilkinson tremelo, better pups etc...
Mine arrived yesterday.... One happy bunny.... 👌
Month later and I'm in love.... One of the best guitars I've owned in 40yrs.... Truelly that good.. 👌
I visited Thomann recently and tried a few HBs. The 150€+ ones were all really solid instruments. On par or nicer than the Squiers. But to be fair they weren't that happy about me wanting to buy a demo model so I guess those HBs get a good Thomann once over.
I was also quite surprised with the Roswell pickups. Will not change them either.
Oh yeah I agree with you on them being on par or nicer than Squiers!
Well, if you get a bad one, you can send it back for free and they will send you another one. I have been doing business with Thomann for years and they are the best company with an outstanding customer service and Harley Benton is today without a doubt the best bang for the buck you can have.
Oh wow that's good to know. I've heard that their customer service is really good but I haven't really had to deal with them yet.
I have 6 Harley Bentons and they are all incredible...some could be 3 x more expensive and be a deal!
I never played a Harley Benton, but with a Jazzmaster and dirt pedals, turn the tone knob down to 4-5 and it's a lot nicer, IMO.
I have a Harley Benton ST 90 Swamp Ash (S Style guitar) and I love it. I think they’re worlds better than Squier’s Affinity line and easily compete with the Classic Vibe line. Some have compared them to the Mexican Standard line and I’m not sure I’d go quite that far but for the price these ring in at, that even being an argument just attests to the quality you’re getting at a much lower price point. If Harley Benton opened up a North American distribution center and could cut the shipping costs down from what they charge for international freight, I think they’d have a huge market over here. You’d be seeing a lot more of them in American households.
Yeah I agree about them being able to get into the American market. I only have experience with more affordable HB guitars but they are still great. The slightly better ones seem to be a really great value instrument and I look forward to trying one day!
I agree 100%
Great review thanks. Any thoughts on Trent Guitars? Fell in love with the look but can't try one out.
Thank you for watching! I haven't heard of those so I'm gonna go and check them out right now!
Great review! Question - how thick is the neck? Did you measure it….or do you find it more on thin/thick side?
I’m a lefty I wanted the green one but it ain’t available for several weeks so I just ordered the blue one and it’ll be here tomorrow I’ll be changing the tutors from the get-go
Wow I’ve been wanting a jazzmaster for a while and I wondered if HB made one because I don’t care for squires that much, so tempted to buy
Honestly, go for it. I LOVE this guitar. I don't even want to modify it at all!
Saaaaaame! Like exactly my thoughts... I will just change the pickups eventually to something substantial in comparison but what this cheap beast comes with already amazes me. So i am going to dive in and go for it... no squire for me, the HB at about a 3rd of the price just under is the one for me, also prefer the quality of the finish on the HB. Cant wait to add to my collection!
Have you considered replacing the stock 250k tone pot and/or volume pot for the 1M pots used in the Fender Jazzmaster and the Squiers Classic Vibe models? Or maybe 500k pots? I miss the sparkle in my JA-60 SB so I'm thinking of doing that.
Nothing needs changing on Harley Benton guitars, I'm a jazz guitarist with 6o years playing experience. I fitted a dussenburg trem to mine. The pick-ups on mine don't hum, the frets are perfect. Why is the guitar being reviewed by some-one that couldn't play their way out of a paper bag.
I feel like one day a big artist will use an HB guitar and the prices will Sky rocket
Hmm I honestly don't think that would happen. The market is so big and there's plenty of expensive or even mid-range guitars that they *might* use but HB probably won't get there, unless they offer more higher-end guitars.
Not a major artist but is an artist! :) czcams.com/video/-qwK0QIdjGQ/video.html
woa i didn't expect paranoid android as a demo in here
I have a Harley Benton DC Junior and like you say it could easly be priced 50% more and then some more and still be worth it. Only thing I did was shim the dogear its stayed stock. I enjoy the look of the JA60 and have looked at it for some time.
Yeah I have the DC-Junior in Pelham Blue and I looooooove it. I'm doing a mod to it soon and I hope it works out the way I'm imagining.
@@geirisk8 that's the one I have I'm tempted to get another harley just not sure which haha what mod are you planning?
We are all harley benton addicts by the look of things coz they are so good in the scheme of things...number 5 on its way this ow one, I'd vote for them as the leader right now to be honest, but I doooo hope the factories they're being made in are good for the people and community?
I got one after the reviews and seeing the price. I’m really impressed with this guitar.
You should have seen the cheap guitars in the1970s; they were absolutely awful.
By God they _were_ awful! Guitar shops always saying "you get what you pay for!" But not any more, thank goodness. I love the slightly driven tones on this, I've bought a 25th anniversary to be my spare guitar (I have a white falcon *dream guitar* as my main thing) and I can't wait until it gets here!
Pretty good guitar. Own it for a year and not disappointed. But tuners are not good for me. I Have some videos with this guitar on our channel.
Yeah that seems to be the thing with the HB budget guitars. The build is mostly good and I think especially on this guitar, the pickups sound really good. The tuners could be better but luckily there's a ton of options out there so people can modify the guitars to their taste.
I believe the jazzmaster pickups are an overwound, flatter p90, I believe that one uses AlNiCo 5 magnets
Those are "soap bar" P90s (vintage)by Roswell ..they (Harley Benton) have a sSunburst with Wilkinson (ceramic) pick ups ..both great.
No they aren't they are jazzmaster... I own one and have looked inside... Jazzmaster not p90s
I like harley benton I have a guitar model v victory flames and it is good. This guitar jazzmaster Copy have not tremolo and if you play surf It would be necesary. I will buy model squier vibe 50 just good sound and good details jazzmaster or install a Bigsby b50 the Harley benton JA
I have nine left-handed Harley Benton
Tuners and pickups are the only change you need with any of these. These guitars are amazing
does it just sound distorted or can you make other sounds too?
Great video.
What do you think about the size of the neck?
There are complaints about it being way too thick, especially for small hands.
Yeah the neck is quite chunky but I've always been able to play all kinds of necks so it's never really an issue for me. This guitar for example isn't a shredder in my mind. I've actually sold it since I'm about to move soon and needed to clear up space. I do miss the guitar because It plays beautifully and once I did the set up, it sounds and feels amazing. For me it was more of a rhythm guitar so the chunky neck feels nice and solid to my hands, if that makes sense?
Yeah totally, thanks for your reply!
Where was this guitar made?
11:21 That riff is fucking sick!!!
That's Every Time I Die for ya, the song is called "Leatherneck"
See I'm thinking about getting one but if I had to customize it I'd slap some Seymour dunkins in it And put some locking tuners on it
I had a Harley benton SG that I bought like 10-12 years ago that was not very good. Sounded like crap but felt pretty nice and tuning was actually really good. Sold it a couple of years ago, but I've bought 2 new ones ( a Paisley telecaster the "metal" telecaster te20hh the last year and they are far better than the old one. Harley benton, have in my opinion developed alot and make some really good guitars. But as always with budget brands the quality may differ from one guitar to another, even the same type. I guess I've been lucky
Yeah, I have the "metal" Tele and I genuinely couldn't believe how good it was (& is) for the price.
I can heartily recommend this JA-60 model too. It's bloody spectacular.
Hi! I've just taken possession of my JA60. You mentioned that you lowered the pickups. I'd like to lower the pickups too. How did you do it? I can't get the pickup screws to move and I'm scared of breaking something if I force them. I even gave the pickups a little push down to see how far down they might go and it doesn't seem they will lower that much. 😀
Hey there, so sorry for the late reply! I just turned the screws and it went down fine. Don't be afraid to use a little force but if it's absolutely stuck then I'm not sure what you can do to be perfectly honest. Did you ever manage to lower them?
@@geirisk8 Hi, yes thanks. I did use a little force and got some movement but didn't go too far. While we are here, some of my bridge saddles as as far forward as they go but still not quite intonated properly. Did you experience that? I might try a new bridge with a bit more travel to the saddles but I'll need to know neck radius first. Other than that, my son thinks it's better than his Classic Vibe Jazzmaster so can't be too bad! 👌
Really nice guitar. Harley Benton is generally really good for the money. Roswell pick ups arent that bad either, sure they are not like the high end ones but not bad at all.
Recently HB is stepping up even more with more "higher end" guitars. The Fusion guitars, the Agufish signature SC, the Amarok. And now they have A new SC Custom II plus and a new SC 550 plus, which are phenomenal. These come with EMG pickups.
Some of the cheaper guitars you kinda have a lottery, sometimes one slips through the quality control.
I have 2 Harley Bentons now, both are good. An SC 500 (les paul) and it came in good condition, havent really found any flaws. Setup is really high though. Tuners are mweh, they work. And now i got an SC-550 deluxe, which is simply better in every way. Sounds better, feels better, better tuners, better setup. There are some finishing flaws but you actually really need to look to find them and they dont bother me at all. I probably going to ad a few more HB guitars. Maybe even the SC 550 plus.
Thanks for the information! After getting this one I won't hesitate to get another model and I've been looking at the DC-Junior Pelham Blue because I think it looks really cool and is different from any of the guitars I have right now.
Cheap guitars are getting so good nowadays, with a few exceptions of course.
I play this HB Jazzmaster quite a lot and I love the pickups, I don't think I'll be swapping them out anytime soon.
@@geirisk8 Yeah the DC junior in blue is very nice too. Thats one of the problems with HB, all nice and kinda affordable.. they are bullies they want all my moneys.
Whoa this with a Radiohead song thank you
I need videoclip, do you have a web?
Website? Yeah I do but right now I'm working on it and updating so it's not available at the moment :)
Do aftermarket pick guards exist or do people make them theirselves?
They sell them you just need to look for a the spacific guitar or something that will fit
the guitar sounds great!! not sure if you
You need to look at this as NOT a jazzmaster replacement. So don’t compare. It’s its own thing. Kind of bastard combo. Gibson bridge and stoptail, p90 pick ups, strat neck and headstock, Tele wiring ,JM body shape. Cheap af. Pretty interesting.
riff at 11:22?
ETID riffs are great. But those cheaper p90s, that hums pretty normalr
The pickups are: Roswell AINiCo-5 Vintage style P-90 single coils.
Thank you!
No they aren't.
Jazzmaster.
Look at em
Look inside the guitar... I own one... Jazzmaster NOT P90S!
@@teterouge1472 This is not a Fender. This is a Harley Benton! And they’ve got P-90,s!
@@01blaval I have a guitar with p90s.... This harley benton ja60 has jazzmaster pickups... I've taken it apart.... Jazzmaster.... NOT p90s..... Alnico 5 jassmaster.... buy one and have a look.....
Not these days?..... Jazzmaster
Looks like the body is smaller than the standard jazzmaster, is it true?
I don't have a real jazzmaster to compare to but you could be right. There may be a slight size difference but it doesn't feel small to me and I'm not a big person hah!
Yes
PS...Is it a P90 pickup?
No its jassmaster pickups
Went to order one but didn’t want to pay $90 for shipping.
the PUs are P 90s
Poor mans Rickenbacker?
Why did I feel it was supposed to be bigger.. sorry dude but cannot let this one go: That what she said!🤣
hahahah classic!
Mæli með að þú prófir næst HB sc custom II með betri single cut gíturum sem ég hef prófað
Ég er með einn áhugaverðan á leiðinni í pósti. Ekki þetta módel en svipað ;)
hæ flod vido
kveðja fra selfossi
Takk, kveðja frá Ibizafirði!
I recommend the Squier Classic Vibe because this does not sound like a Jazzmaster. The pickups are greatly-lacking , and and it doesn't have the rhythm circuit. And, I want so much to love it....