Just Bought a Michael Kelly Electric and...

[Vancebo]

for a guy who knows very little about electrics I am quite impressed.

There are only a few mentions of this brand on this forum so I figure it isn't well known. I bought a Patriot model which I believe is a Les Paul style guitar. It has a beautiful quilted maple top that starts out dark blue at the lower bought of the guitar and lightens as it moves forward toward the neck and eventually turns to tan. It looks like the ocean and beach. The quilting makes it look like the waves. There is also a line of abalone.

The two humbucking pickups also have the switch that allows them to be used as single coils. The overall finish of the frets are smooth and amazing. I hadn't been shopping for long since I have been looking for my first electric. I wasn't very impressed with what I was finding in this price range. I figured I have seen enough so I was ready to jump on this when I saw it.

Bullfrog Music in Corvallis, Oregon is a nice small shop with a nice collection of new and used instruments. He carries things that area music stores don't have.

I wonder if anybody here has had experience with this brand? I bought it because my Church has seen a couple of electric players move. We need help in that area so I thought this would be a good choice. I will be needing to find a good amp. I will need the ability to switch quickly from clean tones to crunch and overdriven sounds, reverb and chorus, etc. I believe there are a few ways to achieve what I want to do. Any help would be great.

[KevWind]

Have no experience with brand this is first I heard of it
But I did a quick google and found this

Michael Kelly Guitars is an American guitar, bass and mandolin company, who imports high quality instruments manufactured to their specifications (mainly from S. Korea). Based in Clearwater, Florida, they are a division of Guruz Media Inc, also based in Clearwater, Florida. Michael Kelly Guitars was founded in 1999.

From your description I am guessing yours is like this one



Yes the ability to switch from Humbucker to Single Coil expands the versatility tonally...

What kind of budget range do you have for an amp ? This will help with targeted suggestions


And how quickly you might need to change from clean to crunch (like within a song or from song to song) may determine if you need a two channel amp with footswitch and or wether you need pedals for reverb chorus etc.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

...I bought it because my church has seen a couple of electric players move. We need help in that area so I thought this would be a good choice. I will be needing to find a good amp. I will need the ability to switch quickly from clean tones to crunch and overdriven sounds, reverb and chorus, etc. I believe there are a few ways to achieve what I want to do. Any help would be great.

50+ year CCM/P&W musician and ex-worship team founder/leader here...

Speaking as one who has been there since this style of music came into being in the mid-60's, unless yours is a mega-congregation with a weekly multi-media show as your central focus (I won't debate that issue here) you need less than you think: as long as you have a good guitar at the head of your signal chain (you've clearly got that angle covered) a reliable amp with built-in OD/'verb, a single effects pedal (my go-to is a Cool Cat trem - the oldest electric-guitar add-on effect out there, and far more versatile/flexible than you may have been led to believe), and a little bit of old-fashioned creativity can cover 95+% of your needs (leave the swirly, ethereal stuff to the keyboards - they're better suited for it anyway)...

IME if you have a good sound crew, don't require massive stage volume to achieve full-house coverage, and/or serve a small- to mid-size congregation (up to ~700 people), a low-/mid-powered dual-channel tube amp with scaleable power levels and a line/DI out (mine's a first-series "blue-light" Bugera V22) should be just what you need; if you're doing a smaller house and you know how to control picking dynamics/ride gain from the guitar (still the best way to achieve on-the-fly variety of tone color IME), one of those 5-10W "practice" amps may fill the bill - I recently played a wide-but-shallow (front-to-back) 250-seat house with my Bugera V5 Infinium straight-up, and had no problem with either volume or tone. Conversely, if weight (tube amps tend toward the heavier side) and/or space are a prime consideration, you need more headroom/clean power, or you prefer the grab-&-go low-maintenance nature of solid-state, the recently-discontinued Quilter Aviator combos (available as 1x12", 2x10", or 1x8" for really tight spaces, all rated at an honest 100W), while not cheap, might be a good choice...

By the same token, if yours is a 1500-seat or larger venue and/or your congregation holds regular outdoor services you'll likely appreciate the additional acoustic presence and sonic weight (not necessarily a function of raw volume FYI) high-power amps with multiple and/or larger speakers offer; although there are bargains to be had if you shop wisely - pre-1985 Randall RG "orange-stripe"/"grey-stripe" two (independent) channel combos, Peavey Renown/Special Chorus, late-issue "blackface" Fender Frontman 212R, the occasional older/well-used Roland JC-120, among others - this is where you start running with the big dogs both sonically and financially. There's an old saying in auto-racing circles (no pun intended) - "Speed costs money - how fast you wanna go? " - and if you see a genuine need for such equipment in either the short or long term a top-name big-power tube amp, well-maintained/well-treated, can be as much an investment as a useful musical tool; you also have the added option of mixing/matching head and cabinet combinations, or adding an extension to your combo rig, to tailor your sound to specific requirements. Let me emphasize once again, though, that you may find yourself spending far more than you intended, for far more amp than you really need: high-power tube amps (as well as modern solid-state amps with high-efficiency speakers) are capable of causing long-term hearing damage to you/your bandmates/your congregation with little or no effort, they're going to be heavy and bulky (a Twin Reverb/Super Reverb weighs around 65 pounds, a Vox AC30 or 100W Mesa/Boogie combo in the low-70's, a British-style 4x12" cab between 90-100 pounds), and while there's an unquestionable associated visual/sonic wow-factor involved - I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play through a rare 200W Marshall Major stack back in the late-70's, as well as a couple Ampeg SVT's, so I clearly get it - there's a point of diminishing practical returns...

[jseth]

Vancebo;

I am in and out of Bullfrog Music multiple times each week... I've been seeing those Michael Kelly electrics for a few years now, and (ESPECIALLY with the new ones) have been hugely impressed!

That's a beauty that you got - Kurt calls it a "Beach Burst" and that seems to a great description. Yours is not unusual in having great frets and neck - the work on those necks (whether set or bolt-on) is impeccable, and rare to find on a guitar that inexpensive.

The story Kurt told me was that the brand was started by a fellow whose children were named (you guessed it!) Michael and Kelly... he acutally turned the company over to them three or four years ago, but the quality slipped... enough so that he took the company back and upped the standards a whole bunch... that's what we're seeing now.

Did you check out some of the amps that Kurt has? The new Vox line with those micro-tubes is pretty sweet for lower priced amps... The Blackstar line-up has one amp that is pretty much a Deluxe Reverb - HT-40? Except the Blackstar is $1,000 cheaper than the Deluxe Reverb would be (approx.).

Hey! While you there, did you check out that new little acoustic amp, the Nu-X? Really nice sounding and looking, with a Bluetooth foot pedal that controls reverb/chorus AND a built-in LOOPER and RHYTHM machine!!! For $389...

Glad you made it down here to hit Bullfrog Music; if you're ever coming down to town, let me know. It would fun to meet, get a coffee or something.

Always a good thing to have a great experience at a guitar store... and a New Guitar Day!

[Dru Edwards]

Congrats! I have read favorable reviews about Michael Kelly electrics over the past few years although I've never played one before. Let us know how you make out with it at Church. Enjoy.

[Vancebo]

A guitar playing buddy that knows way more about electrics than I do said that the easy part is over. I know there are so many ways I can go.

I need to be able to change tones on the fly as well as volume in order to switch from rhythm to lead playing. I don’t need 100’s of sounds nor ear splitting volume. I need to have clean and overdrive with some chorus and reverb. How necessary is compression. We used to have an excellent electric player who seemed to think it was essential.

JSeth, I plan to get back there soon. Summer is over for me and it’s harder with back to work and kid sports going on. I did try the Vox and the acoustic amp. I will plan a trip and give you a heads up before I go. My friend Teddy of Dazzo pickup fame last minute stopped in on our way to the coast. Kurt shared that he didn’t think much of the Dazzo that was installed in a Used Martin. Teddy took a look and it was installed incorrectly. Teddy fixed the positioning and added a Sunnaudio preamp in the signal chain and plugged it into that acoustic amp. Kurt was busy helping the loads of people coming into the store but when he heard that sound his head, eyes and ears perked up.

[Birdbrain]

For several years, I enjoyed my Michael Kelly, It was a rare Hourglass model, a graceful double-cut Santana-style body with a ravishing, shimmering maple top, which I later learned was a thin veneer. Like others said, the worksmanship was superb, and the fast neck offered easy access to all the frets. The feel of the controls and pickups could have been improved. The pickup combinations were quite versatile. I planned to keep it, until I discovered a premium Godin at a deep used discount.

I'd rank MK as one of my favorite Asian makers. Their affordable acoustic, with prominent sound port, impressed me, as well.

[GHS]

I had one. Patriot Custom I believe in a amber top. Played real nice but at the time I was not really into the electric sound and sold it. Then I got back into it after about six years and bought a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster which gives the sound I was looking for. Dont let the low price on the CV Telecaster fool you, this guitar rocks.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by Vancebo

A guitar playing buddy that knows way more about electrics than I do said that the easy part is over. I know there are so many ways I can go.

I need to be able to change tones on the fly as well as volume in order to switch from rhythm to lead playing. I don’t need 100’s of sounds nor ear splitting volume. I need to have clean and overdrive with some chorus and reverb. How necessary is compression. We used to have an excellent electric player who seemed to think it was essential.

JSeth, I plan to get back there soon. Summer is over for me and it’s harder with back to work and kid sports going on. I did try the Vox and the acoustic amp. I will plan a trip and give you a heads up before I go. My friend Teddy of Dazzo pickup fame last minute stopped in on our way to the coast. Kurt shared that he didn’t think much of the Dazzo that was installed in a Used Martin. Teddy took a look and it was installed incorrectly. Teddy fixed the positioning and added a Sunnaudio preamp in the signal chain and plugged it into that acoustic amp. Kurt was busy helping the loads of people coming into the store but when he heard that sound his head, eyes and ears perked up.

Compression is a nice tool, but not necessary.

You will find chorus and reverb on some electric amps, but they will be modeling amps.

Will you be going through a mixer or PA? If so, an amp, at least in the normal sense is unnecessary. If this is your scenario, you should look at the Vox MV50 series. Tube amp heads and they weigh just over 1 pound. I have the AC (Vox sound) and Rock (Fendery tone) and the line out is stellar - truly sounds like the amp. The "Clean" head stays super clean all the way up to about 85-90% volume.

You don't even need a speaker cab. Even if you run it through a cabinet these things put out 25 true tube watts at 8ohms and LOUD if needed.

Steve is "da man" when it comes to knowing the Bugera inside and out. That said, they weigh 42 lbs and are a good size.

Just get an overdrive pedal, a chorus & reverb pedal in front of a MV50 and they will get the job done. A small pedal board with the above pedals and the head will cost between $350-500. Not cheap but will weigh in at less than 10 lbs. Grab and go.

[Chickee]

I admitt I know nothing about Michael Kelly guitars, but I do know Greg Bennett designed Samick guitars and that picture is a dead on ringer for a Samick design LP model. And if in fact Michael Kelly guitars subcontracts from Samick all the better. Samick makes killer guitars with unbelievable build quality at multiple price points. I think your guitar is stunning and bet it plays beautifully. Enjoy it for many years to come. That was a good purchase.

[MIGAS79]

The MK guitars have some nice finish options. I’d consider an LP model but I don’t know the pickups they use very well. I almost bought one at a great price once, but I’m reeeeally trying to hold out for a Gibson