KEXMG
Reviewed by:
dg082306, on january 23, 2013 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 699.99
Purchased from: Musician's Friend
Features: Made in 2012, this Kelly KEXMG has a basswood body w/a beautifully matched quilt maple top on a trans finish, a ripping-fast three-piece through-body maple neck, compound-radius (12"-16") bound rosewood fingerboard with 24 jumbo frets, Jackson Shark fin inlays, EMG 81 (bridge) and 85 (neck) pickups, and a Floyd Rose Special trem. The trem could use a sustain block, but you're paying the money for other 'high-dollar' items (neck-thru, bound neck, pickup upgrade, Floyd, etc.). On the surface, it's absolutely everything I wanted in my metal machine. // 9
Sound: If you play a Jackson Kelly, you're a metal player; through and through. I use either a Randall RM100 with modules ranging from the pristine-clean Blackface all the way up to the saturated Ultra XL or I run my pedalboard into an Ampeg VH-140C; like tuner/whammy/dime wah/ehx metal muff w/top boost/digital delay/tremolo/eq/Ampeg/BBE Max Com/Presonus EQ3B/mixer or Randall 2x12 cabinet pushing Celestions. The EMG pickups are very quiet, even with max gain; but they were LIFELESS in this guitar. UTTERLY LIFELESS! If you roll the volume back a bit, they can clean up nicely, but play clean only occasionally anyway. I have an EMG81/85 set in my ESP KH-2 and I truly love 'em, so I'm not some EMG hater, either. The Floyd Rose Special is an average trem, but doesn't have enough sustain or stability for my taste, especially if you do long, wide bends or heavy trem work with the bar. It's not terrible, but not great. You'll have to fine-tune in between songs. // 4
Action, Fit & Finish: Understand that, I really, REALLY wanted to love this guitar. I made the cardinal mistake of being taken in by her looks and not getting to know her first. This guitar is all show, no go; to look at it, it's beautiful... One of the best matched maple tops I've ever seen. A bound, unpainted neck-thru (my favorite) w/almost no heel; super easy to get to frets 20-24, and as thin as the top-notch necks of the early 90s Jackson Kelly Professional, and not 1 sharp or unlevel fret (a pleasant surprise). The neck came with a slight relief; a terrible idea- you want this to blaze outta the box- so I had to loosen the nut, adjust the truss rod, retune, intonate (FYI-buy the tool!), tighten the nut, lower the string height, and finally fine tune. Luckily, I'm proficient at guitar maintenance. If you're not, then avoid all together. SO disappointing. Basically, it looked gorgeous, but played like $#!7. // 6
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is great for the bedroom and practicing musician. As I do gig occasionally, this will see no stage time until I do a pickup swap and install an Original Floyd Rose (still the best to me) with a sustain block. It looks fantastic, high-end even, but the finish won't stand up to ANY abuse or misuse. The finish on the upper horn even has a small finish crack - and I keep all my guitars in a climate controlled room. The strap buttons are solid, and Jackson did one thing right by moving the strap button/holder back to the middle of the heel instead of keeping it at the top of where the neck plate would be on the bolt-on models. It makes a huge difference for balance and playing. // 7
Impression: I play Cream to RATM to Dying Fetus - this guitar is made for metal, and metal only. I've been playing for 16 years and own more gear than I care to admit. It borders on the unhealthy, actually. While this neck profile is better than the one even on my RG550 and comparable to my '91 Kelly Professional, the pickups and trem make me wish I would've passed on this one. By the time this guitar gets where I want it, I'll have over $1000 into it with new pickups, Floyd, and sustain block. I definitely would NOT buy this guitar again, and will never buy another guitar without a hands-on test drive. Resist temptation and get a dressed Kelly from the early 90's in great to mint condition. You'll be better off.
KEXMG
Reviewed by:
gerrygtr62, on january 03, 2013 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 595
Purchased from: gearhounds
Features: - Made in 2012
- 24 frets, compound radius neck left unfinished [tung oiled]
- Basswood body, mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard with jumbo frets and pearl sharkfin inlays
- Classic Kelly body a la radical Explorer style
- Floyd Rose Special whammy - it stay in-tune very well, was very surprised!
- EMG85/81 pickups
- Volume+Tone+3-way toggle
- Came with Dunlop straplocks
- Furnished in black with white bevels, all black hardware - it just looks KILLER, omigawwwddddd - virtually my dream guitar at 3/4 the price of a USA Kelly, it was a great deal I just couldn't pass-up! // 9
Sound: It sounds awesome, metal metal metal! Using Fender Mustang I, Blackstar HT40. So far, pretty quiet, no microphonic noise or squeals - the neck pick-up sounds pretty damn good, as well as the 81 [contemplating changing the EMG to the Duncan Gus G Fire set, we shall see!] This is basically your prototypical shred machine, it can go toe-to-toe to my Kramer SM-1, even though it's all passives, with Duncan Cool Rails and Alternative 8 - it's more versatile than the KEXMG, but hey, the Kelly is my dedicated metal machine. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: Guitar was set-up well, just had to make minor adjustments to the FR - I may still have to take it into my guitar repair shop one day for an adjustment/set-up deal. Pick-up height was fine. The top looked pretty cool, the routed out area under the Floyd Rose was well-done. No noticeable flaws, just perfect - surprised of the level of quality of this guitar, considering it was Made In China [and plays a helluva lot better than the Epi Slash AFD I had long ago - even the punch, fat sounds of the EMGs sound great in this guitar! // 8
Reliability & Durability: This guitar can withstand anything you throw at it, it'll hold up - it's not like I'm gonna throw it off a building or anything remotely questionable like that, haha! Hardware is solid. Strap buttons are huge, you could conceivably go without the straplocks if necessary [slapped it on anyways, it holds good]. Finish overall is pretty good - I anticipate no problems overall in both rehearsal/live gigging situations, as well as recording - if I should make any after market changes, maybe an Origina FR and possibly [as I've mentioned somewhere around here, LOL!] going with Duncan Gus G Fire pick-ups. // 9
Impression: I play hard rock/metal, this guitar will be in my rotation of a Kramer SM-1 and Gibson Les Paul Classic Custom just fine. Been playing for well over 35 yrs. If stolen/lost, I'd get another one! I love the lightness of the guitar overall, plus the access to the higher frets is exceptional. There's nothing to hate, it's a great guitar. I initially thought this model was going to be built in India, and much to my surprise, it was made in China - HOWEVER, it allayed all my fears [I played a Jackson Scott Ian ATL Solist MIC awhile back, came away impressed!] - overall, it's a keeper, I just can't complain! // 9
I bought one last Thursday, was delivered two days ago. I opened the box, handled the guitar for 20 minutes and organised to return it.
I have an Jackson X series Warrior WRXMG which looks, feels and plays like a dream and I was hoping the KEXMG would match it. Way off. The unbound neck, which I was looking forward to, was rough and the white binding around the fretboard and headstock, which looks so good on the Warrior, was dirty and stained. It was also too bowed and the action was awfully high.
The whole thing felt horrible. The cheapie (but very nice) JS32T Kelly that I just sold felt better than the KEXMG.
The guitar was made in China - neither of my other Jacksons were made there and I don't think it's a coincidence this guitar wasn't a good one.
I immediately found and bought an Ibanez Destroyer DTT700 and it absolutely kills.
I don't mind the KEXMG being built in China [I touhht it'd be made in India like the rest of the X Series, LOL!!], it plays a helluva lot better than the Epi sssslash AFD I had long ago---lso of note" the PDX2 Demmelition is made in China, as well as the Scott Ian ATL
