Michael Kelly Guitars
Has anyone ever heard of and/or played something from this maker?
I am in the market for a new electric guitar and this one keeps jumping out at me amongst others in my price range (<$1,000). I plan to go play one this weekend at Sam Ash, but I was just wondering if any of you have got the low down on the Patriot line.
<img src=“http://images.miretail.com/products/optionLarge/MichaelKelly/551844jpg.jpg” width=“350” height ="332">
Comments
Never played or heard of ‘em. What do you currently have and/or play? This looks pretty much like a Les Paul which you should be able to get for under $1K. Or is there a reason you don’t like those?
Well Kev, I’m a convert(ed/ing) bass player. I have a really nice Musicman Sterling bass and a Taylor 414CE acoustic which I am absolutely in love with. I have nothing against Les Pauls, I just always assumed that the good ones were way too expensive. This guitar (with that awesome black fade finish) really caught my eye and it’s only about $550, so I’m just seeing if anyone knows anything about them.
Interesting, as I’ve always been a guitarist whose musical regret is not picking up the bass sooner. I’m an o.k. guitarist especially since I played mostly in punk bands, but I would have had way more band opportunities when I was younger and more active since there are so fewer bass players, and while it’s a fairly easy instrument to play it’s difficult to play well and make your own.
Sorry I couldn’t help with the guitar but please follow up in this thread and let us know how it plays.
Hey Kev, I just got a flyer/coupon in the mail from Sam Ash. 20% for one day only this coming Tuesday. That’s a pretty significant sale, and it pretty much cements the fact that I will be buying a guitar this week. The only Les Pauls in my price range are the Studio and the Studio Raw Power. Any idea what makes the Raw Power versions better than the standard Studio, other than a wider variety of colors?
Hmmm….looks to me to be just the color selection, but I could be wrong.
Do you definitely know what sound you’re going for and favor and that the 2 humbucker is what you’re going for? What type of stuff will you be playing? The only reason I recommended the Les Paul is that it looked like the guitar you posted the pic of. Which presumably would yield a similar type of sound and tone. But if you’re looking for something a little more jangly and sharp then you may be better of going for Fenders.
I’m definitely in search of that typical LP crunch. I also plan on buying a modeling combo amp so that I can get a bunch of sounds out of it. Fenders aren’t on my radar at all. I hate telecasters, and I’m bored by Strats.
An update Kev, in case you’re interested. I spent 2 hours in Sam Ash today. I was really hoping to make use of my 20% off card, but it was not to be. I fell in love with the Les Paul Raw Power guitars, and would have bought one if they had a color I liked (they only had 2, gold or white). Also, I learned about an awesome combo amp. Line 6 Spider Valve with Bogner internals. Awesome amp, and I’m going to be looking to pick one up used if possible.
Everything Line 6 makes is golden.
I really want to try a Line 6. I’ve heard good things about them.
I’d like to get a new amp but at this point I almost exclusively play through my computer and through the 3 of 4 different amp/sound/effect combo units. Unless I were going to get back into playing in a band (which I doubt) it would be hard for me to justify any additional guitar purchases.
Kev, I ended up going with an ESP EC-401VF in a tobacco sunburst:
http://www.espguitars.com/guitars_ec.html
Guitar wasn’t even on my radar but it ended up singing to me. Very content with the instrument and the price for now. I also picked up a Vox 15 watt combo amp which so far seems to pack a hell of a lot of punch for $160.
Wow. That looks nice. Let me know how it plays. I’ve been hankering to get a Les Paul type guitar but in no way could justify the expense of an actual LP. I’ve been thinking about an Epiphone which is made by Gibson and is their more affordable line (although much better quality than say the similarly positioned Squire’s are to Fender…..you’ll see “professionals” play Epiphone’s but never a Squire). But for only slightly more this looks like a similar make/model and may sound better.
Kevin said:Wow. That looks nice. Let me know how it plays. I’ve been hankering to get a Les Paul type guitar but in no way could justify the expense of an actual LP. I’ve been thinking about an Epiphone which is made by Gibson and is their more affordable line (although much better quality than say the similarly positioned Squire’s are to Fender…..you’ll see “professionals” play Epiphone’s but never a Squire). But for only slightly more this looks like a similar make/model and may sound better.
Yeah man, the Epi LPs look great, but I have a mental condition whereby I would have been disappointed to not have a “real” Les Paul no matter how imperceptible the differences were. This ESP suits my hands and ears way better than even the lower end Gibson LP Studios did, though. It was $625, which is a few hundred cheaper than the entry level Gibsons, and in my opinion it is more playable and just as fat sounding as they are. I’m ecstatic with the purchase right now, I’ll just have to see if the sheen wears off after a few weeks. I’ll definitely keep you posted, but if you get a few minutes stop by a store and take one for a ride. Highly recommended.
I’m kicking this thread to see if Jay can give an update on his guitar. I’ve had a resurgence in the past year with buying and playing guitar equipment so I’m curious. Especially since my local store sells ESPs and has a few used, reasonably priced ones.
Craigs List has also been a treasure trove of inexpensive used stuff, particularly from kids with apparently wealthy parents who buy them stuff they don’t really need until the learn to play better, and who then turn around and sell it, apparently not thinking to check what it’s really worth.
I got a used Peavey 4X12 Cabine and a 100 Watt Marshall Head with 4 channels, both of which sound great. I’ve also been on a pedal buying tear and now have a 9 pedal board going. I recently got a used Epiphone SG with 3 closed humbuckers.
I also got a great M-Audio USB capture device which allows me to multi-track into garage band which has been fun as hell to play with.
I’m justifying this resurgency with the fact that both my kids are old enough to now be expressing a healthy interest in music. And in the case of my son an affection for anything big, loud, distorted, and cool. So the way I see it is if they maintain this interest then they’ll have quite a lot of stuff at their disposal. And if not, I can probably sell it at very little loss. When I sold a lot of stuff 10 years ago, the things that lost value were balanced out by the stuff that had increased in value because it had been discontinued. So I don’t think I lost much dollar value at all.
Hey man. I wish I was having the same resurgence you are, but unfortunately I haven’t had much time for the guitar in recent months. I only play it two or three times a week for a few minutes.
I really need to invest in a nicer amp. After a bunch of issues/returns I ended up with a cheap used Marshall combo that I am not that happy with, and this has definitely affected how often I sit down and play. I should definitely do some post-holiday craigslist trolling to see if I can find one of those Line 6 amps for a reasonable price.
As far as the guitar itself is concerned, I would say that it is worth every penny I paid for it. I’ve noticed some slight variation with the action with the changes in season (mine is setup very low, hence the great playability) and it could also do a little better holding a tuning, but this is all pretty typical as far as I can tell. Did you have any specific questions, or did you just want to know if I ended up completely hating the guitar or something?
Could you send me a link to the USB capture device you are using? I have this shiny new Macbook Air and I’ve been meaning to start playing with Garageband, but I’ve been having trouble identifying the best way to input. I heard that a lot of these USB devices have major lag that make them really difficult to use.
Nothing specific, just wanted to know if you were happy with it.
This is the M Audio Fast Track Ultra I have.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUltra.html
But I got this one because it has 4 simultaneous track inputs so that I could finally record drums individually. If you’re just looking to plug in a guitar I think they have ones with just one input or maybe 2. But from what I read up, M Audio works best with Garageband.
I also have a simple USB chord patch that just goes instrument right into USB and that also works fine. As long as you have all other applications closed, and aren’t trying to do too much simultaneous stuff you should have no problem.
Honestly, a lot of time I’m playing I just use Garage band as an amp. Some of their settings for guitars are a lot of fun to play and give some great sounds. And if you just got your macbook then you likely have the most recent version of garageband which I’ve heard is even better for the guitar modeling stuff.