Jackson Kelly MIJ Early 2000s

[razor5cl]

Hi fellow Basschatters, this is my first post under this new account but I had an account here with the same name a few years ago. I've played a Yamaha BB for years and whilst I absolutely adore the thing, playing in a fairly extreme metal outfit always made me want something a little....edgier for the stage. I lusted after several pointy basses for a while and then happened to see this beauty listed for sale on Reverb for an absolute steal - think it cost me £350 in the end? I knew I just had to have it immediately - I'd never seen a bass in this shape before and the mere sight of the thing had me going absolutely crazy! Just look at that beautiful old school Jackson headstock.

 

 

 

 

 

Couldn't find much info about it online but I've managed to ascertain that it was made in Japan around 2001-2002. Since it was so cheap I decided to splash out on some mods - most notably the gold Gotoh bridge, Wilkinson tuners, and some new knobs. I was going for the Subaru Impreza blue and gold kinda vibe there.

 

The stock "Duncan Designed" cheapo pickups didn't sound awful, but the electronics were a bit dodgy when it arrived, the preamp had some kind of grounding issue. When this decided to die on me just as I was about to step on the stage for our debut gig I decided I'd had enough and swapped them out for an active EMG set, a 35DC in the bridge and a 35P4 in the neck. They really pack a huge punch and especially with some nice crunch they absolutely sing.

 

This thing looks absolutely killer and sounds great to match. I've read this on here and various other places but it's amazing how different instruments make you play and even act differently, with this thing I just feel more lively and energetic and I even stand and move around differently while playing.

 

The elephant in the room is the neck dive - it is pretty bad and is probably the only thing stopping me playing this thing week in week out. I've managed to tame it a bit by running my strap in front of that big wing on the body rather than behind it, and by attaching some car wheel weights to the end of my strap below where it meets the strap button on the body. But if anyone else has any tips on how I can tame this that would be amazing - it's a very light bass but the added weights do take their toll a bit...

 

The other "small" issue is that this thing is absolutely enormous, the body is huge and because of where it sits on your body the first fret feels like it's in a different postcode. The neck dive doesn't help this either. But all told I'll happily accept these things just to feel as powerful as you do when wielding one of these things on stage.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

That's a blast from the past... I nearly bought one of these about... must be at least 25 years ago! I decided against it as the salesman was a total patronising arse. It was that multi-storey place on Charing Cross Road... Turnkey, I think?

 

With those EMG upgrades that's a killer bass. Congrats!

 

 

[razor5cl]

At least 25 years ago - so that might've been before I was born!

[Joe Nation]

I had one of those, also about 25 years ago (crikey, how am I that old?!). It does give Tom Daley a run for his money, but looks amazing - like an Explorer on speed.

[Cato]

Nice!

 

I didn't know they'd done the Kelly shape as a bass, I've only ever seen the Kellybird Thunderbird inspired models.

 

Balance always seems to be a bit of an issue with these explorer type basses, but they certainly look the part.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, razor5cl said:

At least 25 years ago - so that might've been before I was born!

Thanks for that 😆

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I remember playing a Jackson Thunderbird in the same shop, it looked like this one. Had a massive bridge.

[razor5cl]

The Kelly shape really is quite cool - like you said it's like an even cooler Explorer. The curves make it look oddly kinda classy too as well as extra pointy.

 

Those Kellybirds always looked a bit naff to me, almost like a "worst of both worlds" half hearted attempt. I always lusted after a Kelly bass and never ever saw one for sale so just assumed they never made them outside the custom shop, until this one popped up! Now I can prance around on stage pretending I have half as much talent as Marty Friedman lol.

 

That Jackson Thunderbird looking thing is very very slick though, it's like a smarter looking version of this Fernandes Nikki Sixx signature:

 

Much nicer headstock on the Jackson though!

[velvetkevorkian]

Yessss that looks sick, I love it, even if it is wildly impractical

[Grahambythesea]

All those points, looks really uncomfortable. I hope it fits you.

[razor5cl]

31 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

All those points, looks really uncomfortable. I hope it fits you.

 

The points aren't the uncomfortable part, the body is actually quite nicely shaped. It's a big old thing but I'm 6' 4" so it actually looks and feels fairly natural on me! And I've managed to wrestle the neck dive under control too so it's really not too bad.

 

I can certainly say that the very pointy headstock is fine for me but not very comfortable for my singer's head, both my guitarists, my drummer's hi hats, or my mates who came to watch us rehearse. Ask me how I know...

[Cosmo Valdemar]

55 minutes ago, razor5cl said:

 

I can certainly say that the very pointy headstock is fine for me but not very comfortable for my singer's head, both my guitarists, my drummer's hi hats, or my mates who came to watch us rehearse. Ask me how I know...

 

The Jackson headstock always looked a bit compact to me. I used to own a Charvel bass (probably before you were born 😆) - THAT'S a headstock!

 

 

[razor5cl]

Ooooh I have been looking at some Charvels online recently, mainly for that headstock! That and they seem like cool basses.

 

Is the Charvel headstock much different? It looks the same in photos and AFAIK they were made in the same factory no?

[Cosmo Valdemar]

3 hours ago, razor5cl said:

 

 

Is the Charvel headstock much different? It looks the same in photos and AFAIK they were made in the same factory no?

The Charvel headstock is longer.

I'm not expert but I'm sure Charvels were made in various countries, as are Jackson probably. They certainly had a very wide price range.

[Ed_S]

Nice one - I'm not normally a fan of gold hardware, but that works!

 

Here's a naff photo of my cheaper KB1. Probably the oldest piece of kit I own but, whilst I don't play 4 string basses any more so it just sits in storage, there's just no point me selling it as it's hardly worth anything and it's very 'mine'. I should get it out and check it still works, but even if it didn't I'd just bung it on the wall as art.

 

[Joe Nation]

That's the version I had - PJ and three knobs - but in blue like the OP's one.

[razor5cl]

8 hours ago, Ed_S said:

Nice one - I'm not normally a fan of gold hardware, but that works!

 

Here's a naff photo of my cheaper KB1. Probably the oldest piece of kit I own but, whilst I don't play 4 string basses any more so it just sits in storage, there's just no point me selling it as it's hardly worth anything and it's very 'mine'. I should get it out and check it still works, but even if it didn't I'd just bung it on the wall as art.

 

 

She's an absolute beauty! Looks extra mean in black. Also probably in better nick than mine - if it's sitting in storage then you can't bang any of the pointy bits on anything 🤣

[Ed_S]

9 minutes ago, razor5cl said:

 

She's an absolute beauty! Looks extra mean in black. Also probably in better nick than mine - if it's sitting in storage then you can't bang any of the pointy bits on anything 🤣

 

Heh, yeah, all its pointy bits are still attached. The one and only time I ever tried to gig it, the damn hard case was too long to fit across the back seats of the car and allow the doors to close! With the boot already full of cabs and the back footwells full of everything else, it just wouldn't tessellate in so I had to leave the KB at home and take a different bass. Maybe next time I have to do the dreaded band photo-shoot thing I'll take it as a prop...