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Kramer Imperial 404 Price Paid / Price New: £150/£339 Year Manufactured: N/A Specs: - Solid alder Explorer-type body in matt black - Natural Maple bolt-on 25.5" scale neck with 24-fret rosewood fretboard, dot inlays - Kramer quad-rail pickups (H-H) - Tune-O-Matic stop-bar and bridge - 3-way pup selector - 1 volume, 1 tone (with push-pull coil tap) - Aluminium diamond tread faceplate completely covering the guitar's top, sprayed matt black Sound: 4/5 - The rating I'm giving this is in function of its price. I have owned and played many Explorers, including a standard Gibson '76, a Gibson Gothic, an Epiphone Korina, a Dean Z and an ESP/LTP EX. This has probably one of the best sounds I have gotten from any of them - The quad-rail pups are extremely beefy and have stupid amounts of rich and tight gain, but remain warm and clear in clean sound. The wood selection keeps the tone bright but full and grainy, and the sustain on the thing is better than many set-necks and thru-necks I've had. The only truly superior in every aspect Explorers to this one I've played are the original White ESP Hetfield model and the KL Explorer. NB: Quad-rail pickups are essentially two hot-rails stuck together, therefore this guitar has four humbuckers in it, working two at a time unless you coil-split. For the record the coil-split only really makes a difference in bridge position clean sound, but you can almost get that mid-rich strat twang from it if you dial in a bit of EQ on the amp. Instrument Quality: 2.5/5 - It's half-and half - The wood selection on this guitar is exceptional. It's very tidy and the setup is great, however the electronics are scandalously bad. I am going to have to rewire it as soon as possible, once it has new pots, a new switch and all new wiring it will be fantastic. I'm pondering installing EMG 81/85s in it, but we shall see. This is a HEAVY guitar, and this in one case in which I'm glad for it - Explorers are not supposed to be Ibanez-light, they're supposed to be beefy and big, and have sustain to match. This one is the heaviest guitar I've owned, heavier than my Les Paul Classic, and it feels like it would be pretty much indestructible. It will also need a respray at some point, but that's only because the paintwork has gone a tad shiny. Playbility: 4/5 - It's extremely playable. The neck is a midrange slightly flattened C-shape, not too thin but not LP Custom-bulky. The setup, as above, is spot-on, it feels essentially like a Gibson Explorer, and the added length of the neck and the 24 frets means that it's possible to solo on it reasonably well without dislocating your thumb or having to reach under it. The only hindrance is the diamond-plate, if you're a bit of an enthusiastic strummer you'll skin your knuckles on it, but personally I keep the heel of my hand resting on the bridge, Hetfield-style. Overall Value: 5/5 - I'm giving it a 5 simply because if I sold it, what I got for it wouldn't even be 5% of its real worth as an instrument. It's one of those cheap guitars where you occasionally find one and it makes you wonder why people shell out thousands of dollars on top-of-the-range stuff. Once I'm done renovating it I'm confident it will compete with high-end ESPs. It's down and dirty, but it sounds and plays great, and what more can you expect for £150 of guitar?
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Sep 28, 2007 12:19
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 02:26 |
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