Michael Kelly bass

[magpiesmoke49]

Can anyone vouch for the Michael Kelly 40P Element bass?

 

[JAC77]

Yes, I got one used from GC cheap couple a months ago, didn’t really dig the look at first, the reddish open pore. But it plays really good. I was just looking for a solid backup jazz style and for $250 I took the gamble. Glad I did, it’s been extremely reliable, I set it up once right when I got it and it hasn’t needed anything. Stays in tune even when I left it in the truck overnight to around freezing. Only mod I made was I added a pick guard, just personal preference but I realized that sometimes I use the top of the pick guard as an anchor, or maybe more like a reference point and I just missed having it there. A fender/Squier ‘guard fit pretty well, I used red tort and on the red bass it doesn’t show the small gap around the neck. The preamp sound good, not great. I usually play passive basses, my main is a G&l tribute JB, so I may not be the best judge but listening to it at home it doesn’t sound bad but it doesn’t sound overly inspiring either. But in a full band setting it gave me just what I wanted, more control on the bass, and it sounds great to my ears. In passive mode the pickups sound really good, but there’s no tone control, only the blend works in passive, but that didn’t hinder me at all after I fiddled with the blend a few times.
The neck feels really good to me, fretwork was very good but idk if someone had done any work to it since I got it used. I was pretty impressed with the fretwork on a sub $500.
Fit and finish was very nice, as good or better than some stuff in the $1000 range. The tuners work great and feel smooth and tight, but I think they’re ugly.
Overall, I’ve been extremely happy with it for what I paid for it. I’m not thrilled with the looks of the thing but it’s a tool, it gets the job done reliably and it feels nice to play. At this point the only thing I “may” do is put a different preamp in it, maybe an audere…
Hope this helps.