MrLeadFoot
Silver Member
About a year ago, I bought a Kelly Shu kick drum mount because I move my kit a lot and liked the concept of a permanently mounted kick drum mic. The Kelly Shu is designed much better than the May Mounting system, in that The Kelly Shu isolates the mic from the drum, thus the mic only picks up what it's supposed to pick up, whereas the May system picks up shell vibration by virtue of the mount being attached directly to the drum shell.
Because I move my kit a lot, I opted for the aluminum model, figuring that would be the safest bet, even at twice the price, it was a hard pill to swallow. After MANY setups and teardowns, the Kelly Shu has not failed me yet, with each setup resulting in perfect kick mic placement.
Recently, I needed to fit a church kit with a kick mic. Of course, I recommended to them the Kelly Shu. But, because the church kit isn't moved around, we figured the composite mount would be fine. While the composite model does indeed work just like my aluminum one does, I am disappointed with the construction of the composite model. The mount actually flexes when the shock cord is connected. Not that the flex affects function of the mount, but I can't help but wonder if the mount will fail because of the torque on the mount. I looked at the warranty for the mount, and lo and behold the composite model comes with a 1 year warranty, while the aluminum one I got is warrantied for life. That is a HUGE difference, and confirms for me that the composite models have a tendency to break, and likely due to the torque from the mounting shock cords.
So, while I love this system, if you're considering one, I would highly recommend you spend double the price, and get the aluminum model.
Because I move my kit a lot, I opted for the aluminum model, figuring that would be the safest bet, even at twice the price, it was a hard pill to swallow. After MANY setups and teardowns, the Kelly Shu has not failed me yet, with each setup resulting in perfect kick mic placement.
Recently, I needed to fit a church kit with a kick mic. Of course, I recommended to them the Kelly Shu. But, because the church kit isn't moved around, we figured the composite mount would be fine. While the composite model does indeed work just like my aluminum one does, I am disappointed with the construction of the composite model. The mount actually flexes when the shock cord is connected. Not that the flex affects function of the mount, but I can't help but wonder if the mount will fail because of the torque on the mount. I looked at the warranty for the mount, and lo and behold the composite model comes with a 1 year warranty, while the aluminum one I got is warrantied for life. That is a HUGE difference, and confirms for me that the composite models have a tendency to break, and likely due to the torque from the mounting shock cords.
So, while I love this system, if you're considering one, I would highly recommend you spend double the price, and get the aluminum model.