Tenor Upgrade: Recommendations Requested!

Hi all!

I'm currently playing a Kala KA-T which I've had for about 7 years now. It plays well and sounds really nice, but I've recently been thinking about an upgrade.

The main reason for this is that I'm now playing a lot more and planning to start gigging more frequently, so would like something with a decent internal pickup and preamp (I currently make do with a cheap stick-on transducer and external preamp pedal).

I thought about paying to have a system installed on my KA-T, but the extra cost involved pushed me to simply spend a little more and get a ready-made electro acoustic, with higher specs (i.e. a solid top) given my more frequent playing.

I'm currently intrigued by the Kala KA-STGE-C and the Flight Victora CEQ. If anyone has experience with these or suggestions of another model, I'd be very thankful - budget is up to about £250 (305 USD).

I know it's above your budget, but I'd recommend a Koaloha Opio Tenor.

They're basically the same thing as the Koaloha KTM-00 ($1,200 USD) which I have, but they're made in Thailand so they're almost half the price (about $600-$700). They're built the exact same way, except instead of solid Koa, they're made of solid Acacia. Don't let that scare you though because Koa is itself in the Acacia family. If you're leery about spending the extra money, think of it like this: this uke is gonna be with you for several years, and likely have more meaning for you than other things you might readily drop $500-$700 on instead. For example, I figured I could get the KTM-00 by simply using a credit card and committing to $30/mo for 3 years. I plan on owning the KTM-00 much longer than that, so $30/mo to get a worldclass sound seemed justified. Just my two cents. Might be easy for me to say b/c I don't have any other vices (don't smoke, drink or play video games). If you get a $400 uke, your mind might always wonder about the upper level ukes. With the Opio Tenor, you get the $1,200 Koaloha sound for about $600-700 (brand new). If you've worked hard enough at the uke to get good at it, I'd say consider treating yourself to a higher end professional grade uke.

Hmm, at that budget, and since you're happy with how the KA-T plays and sounds, I'm gonna suggest that adding a quality pickup to the KA-T is well worth considering. I don't know what places in the U.K. charge, but this should give you an idea:
https://www.theukulelesite.com/pickup-installation.html

I have several MiSi pickups and can attest to their good quality. The LR Baggs also gets great reviews.

The pickup you are likely to find in a $300 uke is not going to be close to these.

I agree with Jim, a MiSi pickup in your current instrument with an external preamp/DI box is a good way to go. The preamp/DI will be useful when you’re playing out, and you’ll be able to use it with other instruments in the future. Plus you’ll get a better quality preamp than what you will find onboard instruments in the range you’re talking about.

I'm going to disagree with the few others above and push you towards getting a new uke. One of the joys of ukulele for me is that, because they are relatively cheap instruments, it's easy (and fun) to get more than one of them.

If you're interested in the Flight Victoria I would also check some of the other Flight models. For example, the Diana and Sophia models are really nice at that price range as well. You can get the former from SUS (https://www.southernukulelestore.co...-cedar-top-and-walnut-tenor-ukulele-w-gigbag/) for example. They only have a passive pickup however but so does the Victoria. There's also a variant of both the Diana and Sophia that have a really cool pickup system which allows you to apply effects for the acoustic sound without plugging it in but those would be slightly beyond your budget.

At your budget point I believe that Jim and the others who have suggested installing a quality pickup into the instrument you already own will give you the best outcome. MiSi, LR Baggs, and K&K Aloha twin will, IMO, give you a better sound that £250 Uke with inbuilt electionics will ever give you. I went that route for my first Uke, which, was very disappointing. Sold it ASAP and then always had pickups installed.

Dohle said:

If you're interested in the Flight Victoria I would also check some of the other Flight models. For example, the Diana and Sophia models are really nice at that price range as well. You can get the former from SUS (https://www.southernukulelestore.co...-cedar-top-and-walnut-tenor-ukulele-w-gigbag/) for example. They only have a passive pickup however but so does the Victoria. There's also a variant of both the Diana and Sophia that have a really cool pickup system which allows you to apply effects for the acoustic sound without plugging it in but those would be slightly beyond your budget.

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I know even less about pickups than I do about Ukes but that Diana looks sweet for sticking to a 250 quid budget. I imagine Southern Ukes does a thorough setup on the Ukes they sell too?

Not making suggestions for the OP. I just like that Diana for the price.

They do indeed do setups and the Artec pickup in Flight ukes is supposedly good quality. Then again, I'm not an expert on pickups either so I definitely don't want to override other people's opinions on them either. My comment was in the context of buying a new uke in general.

Jim Hanks said:

Hmm, at that budget, and since you're happy with how the KA-T plays and sounds, I'm gonna suggest that adding a quality pickup to the KA-T is well worth considering. I don't know what places in the U.K. charge, but this should give you an idea:
https://www.theukulelesite.com/pickup-installation.html

I have several MiSi pickups and can attest to their good quality. The LR Baggs also gets great reviews.

The pickup you are likely to find in a $300 uke is not going to be close to these.

Click to expand...

Interesting, thanks for the advice!

While I certainly like the tone and feel of my KA-T, I wouldn't say it's something I'd be happy with long-term for gigging necessarily. If I factor in the cost of a MiSi pickup with installation costs I'm looking at over £200 at least, without the benefit of being able to sell the KA-T I would have with a new uke.

For me, at that price, I'd be happier with a new instrument I think - as long as the plugged in sound is acceptable, I'll be happy, and if I'm able to get a nicer unplugged sound from a solid-top uke I think I'd rather do that.

I think I'd probably be more likely to lean towards a higher end pickup like the MiSi if the uke I was currently playing was one I'd be planning to stick with for a long time, and really I see myself upgrading to a solid top regardless.

I've just seen the Diana on SUS....wow! incredible looking uke, perhaps something for me to consider. I'm also looking at the snail SUT-M2; solid mahogany top, pickup and preamp etc. Never played a snail, however, and am unsure on that front. Have heard great things about Flight though.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Sadly I simply don't have the budget room to spend that much, as much as I'd like to!

I'm a student still and the only reason I have a little money to spend is because I got a rent rebate for my last few weeks of the year thanks to covid and having to move out. Also, while i may save up for longer if the uke was my sole interest, I am much more active as a bass player and acoustic guitarist, so I have to spread my budget quite evenly across all instruments haha!

Appreciate the recommendation though!

I watch SUS's Youtube channel regularly and they've mentioned that Snail ukes are quite similar to Flight. I'm guessing that assessment includes quality as well, although I haven't tried a Snail uke myself either. I am a huge fan of Flight however, but I would be surprised if there's some massive difference between the quality of them. They are both Chinese-made ukes after all.

Here's a couple of nifty videos for you from the SUS Youtube channel:
Flight ukes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaaEMr6V3a8
Snail ukes (not the M2 unfortunately, but the M3 instead): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBMmTmFZbnc

Cheers! I must say I'm now leaning towards the Flight Diana TE (without the soundwave add-on) as it has a cedar top (slightly brighter than mahogany imo), the pickup system is soundhole based and doesn't blemish the side of the uke (plus allows for use of a strap), and has a slotted headstock (I just love the look!)
Seems like it's worth the extra £40 or so over the Snail. Plus, the body is slightly larger, which I generally prefer.

I reckon you should stick with what you have, or keep an eye out for something secondhand. For the amount of money you are looking to spend, you won't get anything exceptional. I doubt it will sound better than what you have now. It could conceivably sound worse!

We're about to go into an enormous recession. I've noticed the price of secondhand ukuleles have dropped noticeably in the last month. Stick the money in a bank account and sit on it for a while.

If you insist on buying new, sight unseen, you should buy a Bruko. The best quality control of any factory built ukes, I reckon. The fit and finish is better than most instruments that cost twice as much. I've never played a bad one unless it had been physically damaged. Or if you have a bit less money, those Clearwater roundback tenors (have a look on eBay). I know a really good musician who swears by those.

https://ukulelen.brueko.de/screen/product/tenor-ukulele-mahogany
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLEARWAT...076677&hash=item5457335bee:g:rjAAAOSwhh9bycdp

Mind you, I'd rather wait six months and get one 70% cheaper in Cash Converters.

Without looking up those models, I'm not sure what they are. I have several Kala cedar tenors, and they are one of the best deals in the uke world. I have 4, 6, and string models. You might consider one with more than four strings because the price is reasonable, and the sound is great.

Some to consider are the Bonanza, Magic Fluke, Baton Rouge 8-string, and Klos. There are lots of Magic Flukes on eBay, and I prefer a wooden fretboard and concert or larger size for anything from Magic Fluke.