New Kala Solid bodies

[Bobalonia]

Greetings everyone
Just curious if anyone’s had their hands on one of these new solids from Kala.
I bought a solid Pono in mango blue. It’s a well built uke. But these new Kalas are half the price and have
active electronics and a tone knob.
Temptation is never far away…………..Thanks, Loo.

 

[bacchettadavid]

I was able to spend some time playing a Kala solid body electric tenor through a Pignose 7-100 amplifier at this year's Brown County ʻUkulele Festival. Unfortunately, I was not able to try it out through a more typical acoustic amplification solution. For some context, my main electrified adze is a Ko'olau CE-1 chambered electric tenor.

The Kala is fun, especially through a characterful amp like the Pignose, but if you're aiming for more acoustic-style tones, its pickup leaves a lot to be desired in comparison to the Pono’s passive system. The Kala really seems more like a dedicated electric ‘ukulele.

Having said that, it is more self-contained than the Pono and has tone contour knob. If you want to plug into a standard electric guitar amp and have a few tonal options, it may be superior to the Pono for that application.

 

[Giglele]

Hello everyone I’m new to this forum as well, and came across this post as I was researching the Voyager series. I went ahead and purchased the Unity tenor, and I am loving it so far. It is a very light, bright sounding instrument and the design is stunningly gorgeous! The craftsmanship is flawless. I was looking for an inexpensive instrument as my first tenor (I have 2 concerts, a soprano and my go to is my Romero Creations STC) and am very happy with this choice. Would definitely recommend.

 

[WebParrot (s2)]

Hello everyone I’m new to this forum as well, and came across this post as I was researching the Voyager series. I went ahead and purchased the Unity tenor, and I am loving it so far. It is a very light, bright sounding instrument and the design is stunningly gorgeous! The craftsmanship is flawless. I was looking for an inexpensive instrument as my first tenor (I have 2 concerts, a soprano and my go to is my Romero Creations STC) and am very happy with this choice. Would definitely recommend.

Your comments and questions are welcome, but you should respect the topic of the Original Poster.
If you re-post this in the appropriate section of the Forum you'll likely be overwhelmingly welcomed and enable a conversation about your topic. To do otherwise, you're poaching from the original poster !!!

 

[WebParrot (s2)]

Greetings everyone
Just curious if anyone’s had their hands on one of these new solids from Kala.
I bought a solid Pono in mango blue. It’s a well built uke. But these new Kalas are half the price and have
active electronics and a tone knob.
Temptation is never far away…………..Thanks, Loo.

I'm not aware of any 'new' version of the Kala solid body electric, but I'll reply to one that I have had for a few years.
I have the quilted marble solid body version of the Kala, model KA-SB-Map-T. Very nice, well build and well setup from the factory, although I did lower the action to my preferred 2.5mm. After about 6 months I changed strings to Uke Logics with a flat wound low G, a perfect pairing. I added a strap button to the heal AND a second one to the base, about 2" up from the cable jack. Helped with balance and I don't have to share the jack with a strap!

I paired it with Positive Grid amps, both the Mini and the 40 and use it in my home for practice and noodling, not gigging.

If you're still serious about a purchase, I noticed that Kala has both the maple and acacia models on sale (as of May 22, 2024), reduced from $390 to $300 and free shipping.

 

[kissing]

It's just another electric ukulele with an active pickup, like so many out there.
Being a Kala, it'll probably be OK. It's not the first time they've released a solid body electric; about 15 years ago I recall seeing some Eleuke-like models.

Lack of cutaway is a bit of a minus for me.
If you're going to make a fully electric ukulele, why not? You're not compromising any acoustic properties for superior high fret access.

If they made an affordable passive solid body electric, now that would be exciting.
Pono dominates that market. The Risa is pretty good but is quirky.

On a bit of a side note, I would love for them to re-release their Archtop jazz tenor ukes in gloss, in particular the natural gloss mahogany.
I sold mine a long time ago and have struggled to find one again. Have owned and tried the Satin ones since, but they just aren't the same.

 

[Giglele]

Your comments and questions are welcome, but you should respect the topic of the Original Poster.
If you re-post this in the appropriate section of the Forum you'll likely be overwhelmingly welcomed and enable a conversation about your topic. To do otherwise, you're poaching from the original poster !!!

Hi sorry, I meant to post this to a different thread specifically about the Voyager but don’t know how it got posted to this one! Like I said I’m new so something went haywire!! My apologies! And thanks for bringing it to my attention!

 

[WebParrot (s2)]

Hi sorry, I meant to post this to a different thread specifically about the Voyager but don’t know how it got posted to this one! Like I said I’m new so something went haywire!! My apologies! And thanks for bringing it to my attention!

No worries. I agree. It’s sometimes a learning experience in itself to understand site navigation. For what it’s worth I wasn’t angry with you. I was just hoping to point you in the right direction