This is the Kala Revelator tenor electro ukulele, the Night Owl model made in the Far East and based on Pete Howlett's design. Before going on to talk about this fantastic model further - just a quick note! These were supplied with Aquila strings from the factory. Mine are fitted here with Worth Brown strings. Having tried them out, I felt you could better sustain with the fluorocarbon Worths on and, having waited patiently and been excited to get these advertised, I wanted them to be at their best! I have factored in £10 for that fitting in the price, so you may find my price is a bit more expensive than elsewhere.

Anyway... now that's over with! Let's go on to describe the Kala Revelator Night Owl. It has a solid mango soundboard, which has a gloss finish, with a slimline body that you might expect would make the sound a bit thin? Well, you'd be wrong. There's really good volume, an impressive chiming tone, nice sustain and a lovely richness too. On the Kala site, this model is described as an acoustic anomaly - and there's some truth in that. The original Revelators were made by Pete Howlett in Wales and they had this magic quality. With minimal bracing, the top really resonated, producing a sound you wouldn't expect. Thankfully, that great sound translates to this new, Asian-made model.

Kala also make the Revelator model with their team of luthiers in California, and you might ask how this measures up? Well... it's fair to say the US made models are superior, but these are less than a quarter of the price. And they're really very good. Yes, if you inspect with a magnifying glass you might find a tiny bit of pooling of the gloss finish where it joins the neck, or similar micro-imperfections. But these are trifling matters and there's no denying the superb value these present, especially when they're supplied with a nice padded gig bag as well.

The Revelator ukes have a 38mm nut, solid okume back and sides and black, geared tuners. (The back is three pieces of solid wood joined together). They also have a natural sounding passive pickup, so you can plug into an amp too. To get the best from that you might want to use an external pre-amp or some effects, but it's a nice clean, well-balanced tone from the pickup so it's not bad at all just on its own. Other neat design features include the off centre soundhole which delivers the tone nicely to the player as well as projecting out to an audience, and a satin neck - meaning the gloss doesn't extend to the neck - something which concerns some players with sticky hands!

All in all, it was a wait well worth waiting as this thing sings beautifully. The laminate body does make a difference - these aren't as top drawer as the all solid US made ones but they're extremely good still, and a fraction of the price.

At the bottom of the page you'll find a number of adds on and extras like a low G fitting or a ukulele strap. You CAN fit a second button to the neck but I wouldn't suggest you do - it'll interfere with the cutaway as the shallow body doesn't leave a huge amount of space for its placement. You don't need a case as it comes with a decent one. Oh, and personally, I think having tried the options now, if you're going for a low G, the Fremont option seems to win for me. Finally in this section of advice... it might take an extra day or two to get the uke dispatched while the strings are put on!

To conclude, Pete Howlett made a marvel with his original Revelator design, and that revelation continues with this Kala Night Owl tenor electro ukulele model.

For a video demo of the Kala Revelator Night Owl, click additional info below.