New Guitar: '83 Kramer Pacer Deluxe, Rosewood on Black

Picked this very nice mid-C plate Pacer recently. The lower Floyd stud is in great shape which is always a good sign on these, and it arrived with a pair of Dimarzio Area 58 single coils and an 80s-era (but not original) Seymour Duncan JBL humbucker. This came from Guitar Center of course, and I guess no one played it before they shipped it out because the bridge pickup was ungrounded and it made all sorts of noise - unplayable plugged in. That’s ok though, because I wanted to put this old Dimarzio Tone Zone in something, and since the singles are Dimarzios it made sense - it’s back to sounding great again with new wiring.

Overall it is in extremely good condition, with barely any fret wear and no major damage to the body or neck. There is some slight scratching on the edges of the headstock and some swirls on the body from being wiped off but nothing I wouldn’t expect to see on a guitar that is now over 40 years old.

The case is also pretty cool, covered in stickers from the western USA. I find it hard to believe this was someone’s gigging guitar considering the shape it is in, but perhaps it was a backup… even then, the case is in top shape too besides the stickers.

This era of Pacer has the smaller upper horn side body shape, which is very unique feeling to play. The story goes that bodies in this era were made by ESP, but hand shaped - either at ESP or possibly re-shaped a little in the Neptune NJ factory once they came stateside. The easiest way to see this is to look at the rear pictures of a couple around this serial number and compare it to an earlier one. Look at the upper (low E string side) horn where the body contour meets, and you’ll some of them the contour comes right up to the horn with almost no gap. Earlier bodies with the larger upper horn have more space there, and other bodies have varying amounts. It’s a bit of a useless detail, but interesting either way - see the comparison image below:

New Guitar and Amp: Kramer Pacer Melaga Purple and Fender Prosonic

In a rare but exciting double whammy day, I picked up a new amp and a new guitar today.

First, the guitar - it’s a 1982 Kramer Pacer Imperial. Exciting, but I already have quite a few, but this one is unique. This is a very cool color, “melaga purple.” These aren’t too common and it’s a color I’ve had my eye out for a long time, so when a friend posted this for sale on facebook, I immediately sent a message saying I’d take it. I had it paid and he shipped within a few hours, and I got it before the end of the week - awesome.

Pictured in its original hard shell case.

This paint is very interesting. There is a tiny crack in the finish by the floyd post that reveals a red undercoat, but the top is a very soft, pastel purple. However, this purple fades away with time - I’ve seen quite a few faded nearly all the way. Luckily this one is still mainly purple, but you can see a handful of spots where it has worn, either from sunlight or handling, to a sky blue color. This is certainly one that will get the “white glove treatment” here - no hanging on the wall, no leaving it out on the stand by the window, no putting it away wet or dirty. I want to preserve that finish as long as reasonably possible, because it’s not exactly a color you could get in a refinish.

The fade to blue is very visible here, with a few marks on the face of the body as well as on the forearm contour.

Next is the amp, a 1997, Bruce Zinky designed Fender Prosonic. This amp came about around the same time as the Tone-Master head (released 1994), predating the current Super-Sonic which seems to follow a similar lineage (released 2010). Like those amps, the Prosonic has a two-channel layout unique for most Fenders, pairing a clean channel with an overdrive channel. To be specific, the Prosonic first came out in 1996.

I find the clean channel to be excellent, although it is extremely loud - louder than I expected from a 60w amp. It’s not that it gets louder than other amps of the same power, but the volume is all there from basically “1” up on the knob, so it’s a bit difficult to tame for lower volumes - although a volume box in the effects loop solves that easily. The clean channel only uses the volume, treble, bass, and middle controls, so it’s very simple and classic Fender, just with the addition of the mids control in the EQ.

The overdrive channel is really hard to understate, and I am absolutely blown away after my first sitting with this amp. I expected something much more tame, lower gain, less aggressive. I’d argue this amp’s gain channel is better for metal or heavier rock than even the modern Super-Sonic amp, it’s voiced to be much more open, and the EQ just works wonderfully. While on the overdrive channel, the master volume helps control the output although it’s still a loud amp, and in addition to the 3-band EQ, there are two gain controls.

Somewhat uniquely, you can set the Gain 2 control to zero and the amp still sounds fantastic - most amps with two gain controls, if you set the second one to zero the amp makes no sound (such as the Marshall SLX, or Ceriatone Yeti/Chupa/KingKong). Dialing up the Gain 2 control adds more compression and thickness in the low notes, making the amp feel looser and squishier, but not adding a lot more in terms of gain or attack. Gain 1 is downright aggressive by only “3” on the knob, and into metal territory by 7 or 8 - even without a boost. I think this amp would catch a lot of people off guard. Dial up the amount of looseness or sag you want with the Gain 2 for solos and you have an extremely versatile amp. If I had a complaint at all, it’s that I’d like a little more taper on the Gain 1 control, so I could dial in a more tame crunch tone instead of trying to find that sweet spot between 1-3 where it hits that more classic soft crunch tone - but those tones are definitely in there, just have to make tiny adjustments to that control.

Speaking of feel, this amp also has a switchable tube rectifier, a GZ34 type that actually is attached to a 3-way rotary switch on the rear panel. It can select a solid state rectifier with the power amp in push-pull class AB, the tube rectifier in AB, or even the tube rectifier in “class A” mode, which is simply a cathode bias configuration (like a Vox AC30 or Orange Rocker 30). Class A mode makes the amp a hair louder, at least at middle volume settings, and a little punchier to my ear - I really like it. The trade off is that the noise floor is a bit higher on that setting, but still very usable.

In terms of other features, it has a 1/4 jack for a 1-button footswitch, which allows you to switch between the clean and drive channels on the fly. The combo version of the amp has a built in spring reverb tank, so a 2-button footswitch can be used on that model to turn on/off the reverb. I do wish the head version had the reverb tank, I’m a big fan of built-in spring reverbs. It also has a simple series effects loop that does its job perfectly well. There is no presence or depth control, but the EQ seems to perfectly balanced it doesn’t feel like a big loss. Even setting a nice scooped clean tone still sounds great on the drive channel without getting too anemic.

I expected to like this amp, but I’m really shocked at how much I like it. At some point I’d like to pick up a Tone-Master head and do a comparison between all three of these similar Fender amps, and see which one really speaks to me.

More photos here: 1997 Fender Prosonic

New Guitar: Another Bent Pipes Pacer

Saw this one online for a fair price, and as I’m a big fan of this graphic I went for it. It’s very similar to my other “Bent Pipes” graphic pacer, except this one is an early Pacer Special model - single humbucker, and the input jack on the face of the body. This one is also equipped with a Rockinger tremolo, which was an early locking bridge design originally marketed as the “EVH Tremolo,” which he used for a while. Apparently it didn’t stay in tune that well, which led to the creation of the double locking Floyd Rose which is still common equipment even on modern guitars. Personally, I don’t mind the Rockinger but I’m not a heavy whammy bar user, and I’m glad this one wasn’t too heavily modified.

It has been modified though, mainly the Rockinger locking nut is gone, along with the original brass string trees. Instead, three roller string trees are installed, one using the screw hole from the rockinger’s locking nut. I may return this to stock at some point, but I will say these trees do keep it in tune very nicely and the strings feel very nice and slinky without the lock (as compared to my other Rockinger-equipped Pacer). It also has lost its original Schaller humbucker at some point, replaced with a Seymour Duncan JB.

New Guitar: 1984 Kramer Pacer Imperial

Picked up this ‘84ish Pacer Imperial sight unseen, but based on a description from a sales clerk at Guitar Center. I’ve had my ups and downs with GC, but this was an excellent experience - gave me the serial number, a good description of the condition and details, and made sure the case came with it too - the original for this era, with black piping.

Of course, when ordering any banana-headstocked Kramer, I was a bit worried about the condition of the scarf joint and I’m pleased to say it’s very good, with only the slightest feel of the joint and no signs of slippage. On top of that, the guitar is otherwise in really superb shape - hardly any rust or grime, frets have plenty of life, even the body seems barely used besides a few polishing swirls on the front and back. The original hardware is all present, from the floyd, tuners, and the schaller humbuckers - awesome. I usually don’t love R5 nuts, most of the other Kramers I have with these wide necks are not my preference, but something about this one feels much more natural. Action was a little high on arrival, but apparently it wasn’t played for years before being traded in - I can believe that, but a few tweaks to the floyd height and everything fell right into place.

It’s also extremely heavy, with a hard maple body, which has a subtle grain on the top and back but looking at the sides, you can see that tell-tale “squares” pattern of a quartersawn piece of maple - very unique, although the weight could be a bit fatiguing for some. Unplugged tone is bright and snappy, and for a heavy body it resonates really well, and the schallers sound great through my amps, no surprise there as I’ve always really liked these pickups.

New Guitar: 1987 Kramer Baretta CAR

Another no-pictures purchase from GC, but at the price it was listed, I didn’t have time to wait for the store to open to call and ask about it. Luckily, the risk paid off, and a super minty ‘87 Kramer Baretta arrived in beautiful candy apple red metallic finish.

Most of the original hardware is present, but the original zebra seymour duncan JB is missing - too bad. However, it has an old EMG 81 in the bridge, but no extra holes or modifications since the battery fits just fine, and I actually like EMG’s so I’m perfectly fine with this. It also lacked a case, which is always a bit scary when shipping a guitar with a pointy headstock like this, but it arrived just fine and I immediately put it into a nice hard shell case.

It’s a pretty simple guitar, and I do like this one a bit more than the other solid black ‘87 Baretta I had, both in sound and feel, so I plan to keep this one around for longer. It has a very interesting serial number as well - E09872 - and on these plates the leading zero is actually printed - not something that was done for the Fxxxx plates or earlier plates. I actually have two of these odd E0xxxx serial number guitars now, the other being a champagne Pacer Imperial.

New Guitar: Gary Kramer Guitars RR-2 Violex

This is a fairly rare guitar, and one that I remember a lot of buzz about within Kramer collector circles but basically forgotten anywhere else. When Gary Kramer returned to the guitar making scene, a number of models were made, many in the more traditional stratocaster style, but quite a few very uniquely shaped guitars like the Turbulence.

Sales seemed pretty good at the time, and with Gibson/Musicyo Kramer starting a line of USA made guitars around 2004, and arguably reaching peak form with the 2008 Pacer Imperial Reissue, Gary Kramer Guitars launched a factory direct, USA made guitar, called the “Russian Roulette.” This was a limited run model, introduced in 2009 and shown at the 2010 NAMM show (check out the Kasha Rockmod half stack in the background haha!) and made in the USA, treated like a custom shop model including a packet with specifications and the name of the person it was built for - see here. These came with Seymour Duncan pickups (Alternative 8 and ‘59) and were available in four colors (black, white, red, blue). Sadly with the old KramerForum going offline, a lot of good information about these guitars was lost.

Skipping forward a year or two, GKG released the “RR-2,” or essentially “Russian Roulette 2.” This time, the guitar is Korean made like many of the other GKG guitars, more of a regular production line model and priced very aggressively at $899 brand new, factory direct. A few differences between the RR-2 and the previous USA Russian Roulette:

  • RR2 has an ebony fretboard, original RR was rosewood

  • RR2 has Korean OEM pickups, original RR had Seymour Duncans

  • RR2 has a plain black neck plate, original RR had a unique revolver cylinder plate

  • RR2 has 24 frets with the last few scalloped, original RR had 22 frets

  • RR2 has white GKG headstock logo with matte finish, original RR had a gold logo and gloss black, like an 80s era Kramer

  • RR2 has an R2 nut, original RR had R3

  • RR2 has 3-ply binding, original RR has standard binding

  • RR2 has “GKG” 12th fret inlay, original RR has a large “saber tooth” 12th fret inlay

  • RR2 body shape is slighty different, lacking the rear lower horn cutaway that the original RR’s had. This is very similar to very late model Kramer Pacers and Proaxes, which had a rear horn cutout while the Japanese/Korean models never got this feature.

  • RR2 came in two colors, original RR had four

Personally, I think the original Russian Roulette is the better looking guitar - I’m partial to the gold headstock logo and I find the 3-ply neck and headstock binding on the RR2 to be a bit cheap looking. It’s all academic anyway though, as now almost 15 years later, you’ll probably never see one of these for sale, let alone two at the same time.

One other thing, the RR2 colors are pretty great looking. This example is called “Violex,” which is a bright purple with a very interesting texture, almost like the holoflash of 80s Kramers, but without the reflectivity or prism light effect. There is also another color called “Meltdown” which is yellow, with the same textured effect.

Major Site Updates - Photos, Circuits, Descriptions etc

I know I haven’t done a video in quite a while, but I have been hard at work on the website. I’ve been building shelving to house my amps, taking photographs of every single amp I own including their internals, as well as cleaning up the guitar sections and adding descriptions of each item in my collection.

In addition, I’ve also added the schematics for a few amps, as well as other technical documentation if I have it available. Much of this stuff I’ve gathered across the web, or it was sent to me by someone, so I appreciate everyone who had a part in making this happen.

So what’s new?

First, new amp shelving:

Next, the amp internal photos, of which I found quite a few oddities:

I have to say, the soldered in Radioshack AA batteries from 1985 is pretty wild, and even crazier that they still work!

I’m still working through the website and adding descriptions to some of the guitars and other bits and pieces that I missed the first time through. The Kramer guitars section is definitely the most daunting task, but I’m starting to chip away at that. Hopefully by the time anyone actually reads this, I’ll be done.

I’m also working on a few other projects for TRG in the background too. The next thing I’d like to do is make some tone comparison videos between some of the amps, but I need something that’s a little lower effort content than my usual 45 minute presentations of the technical and historical details.

New Guitar: 1982 Kramer Pacer Imperial "Rootbeer"

I’ve recently been much more focused on collecting amps, and have been downsizing my guitar collection. When I ask myself which guitars are worth keeping - and which ones I still want to try out someday - early brass trem Kramers are always at the top of the list. A forum friend of mine was selling this, so I had to jump on it.

While most Kramers are known for their Floyd Rose bridges, early strat-head and beak Kramers could be had with a traditional brass trem like this one, as well as a schaller fixed bridge or a Rockinger tremolo. I’m a big fan of these brass bridges, I like the way they look and feel - similar to a classic stratocaster - but on a guitar with two humbuckers.

The neck is fully glossed, with vintage style frets with a high polish. The bends are effortless and the tone from the Schaller humbuckers thick and full without being too heavy in any frequency, and really let the character of the guitar’s wood shine through. Speaking of which, it’s not very common to see burst Kramers in any era. Transparent finishes are uncommon already, but they usually came in solid colors - blue, red, etc. so this brown color with a dark burst effect is one of the more unique Kramers I’ve seen.

It’s a beautiful guitar and the impeccable playability and tone backs it up. This will be a keeper for a long time.

New Guitar: Kramer Stagemaster Arch top

This one is truly special - an arched top, 7/8 “mach 2” style Stagemaster Deluxe in a stunning metallic blue finish. It’s a rare occasion that I truly splurge on something I have to have - most guitars I buy I collect with my mind squarely on whether or not it is a good deal, so when this one popped up on Reverb a day or two after Christmas, it was very out of character for me to buy it.

I have been looking for a Stagemaster with dot inlays for some time, and had some cash set aside for that purpose - this doesn’t quite meet that criteria but at the moment I have 3 other Stagemasters, two in transparent Rose and another in Champagne, and the idea of adding one with a nice cool blue color ultimately was impossible to resist.

It arrived in good shape but without a case, something I will remedy immediately as a guitar this nice certainly deserves a case! It plays incredibly, and while some may not like the swapped pickups, it works out nicely since two of my other Stagemasters have factory Duncans. I already have one with EMG’s, and this one with Dimarzios means I have all of the common pickup brands covered too. This is definitely a keeper for me and I’m very pleased - what a great guitar to end the year on. Now hopefully I can work up the willpower to sell some in 2023! Happy new year!

New Guitar: Kramer "Pacer Deluxe" - but it's actually a Focus 3000 mutt

You know, it’s tough these days to find good information on Kramer guitars if you aren’t already involved in collecting them. There are really great resources like vintagekramer but with so many parts mutts and sometimes intentionally misleading information (ex. Strikers with “Pacer” truss rod covers), it’s hard to fault people from getting it wrong occasionally.

On the other hand, when a “Kramer Pacer Deluxe Magenta” is listed on Guitar Center’s used listings without a picture, it’s worth the risk sometimes - and many times I’ll buy something like that sight unseen as quickly as possible to get a good deal before someone else snags it. This time though, I had some self control, and even waited until the store opened to call and confirm the guitar’s condition.

Does it say “American” on the headstock? Yes. Maple or Rosewood fretboard? It’s maple! Floyd rose bridge? Yep!

Well imagine my surprise upon unboxing this guitar to find that not only is it not an American neck, but not a Pacer body either. In fact, this is an early Focus body, which is easily identifiable as it has a heel truss rod adjustment notch (and sharp angled lower horn to neck pocket curve) , but it’s paired with a later Thousand series, tilted back headstock. Of course, the headstock also appears to have been re-logoed, or at least re-painted. To make matters worse, the Original Floyd Rose is long gone, replaced with a Musicyo era, low quality Floyd copy, and the input jack plate has been spray painted black (the paint even flakes off at the lightest touch). The serial number plate is also an odd one, a 4 digit Neptune plate with no letter prefix - this likely would’ve been on a Ferrington but possibly a spare or firesale plate too, intended for some other Korean made instrument.

The only positive I suppose, is the pickups - a Seymour Duncan SH-13 Dimebucker and a hex-pole Dimarzio of some kind… I’m not even going to bother checking to see what it is. The body has of course been routed for the neck humbucker, as well as an amateurish cutting of the original black pickguard to fit it. The wiring in positions 2 and 4 is completely out of whack, since the middle single coil appears to be the stock Focus pickup, and whoever threw this together didn’t care enough to check if the wiring was in or out of phase in those positions.

The neck seems almost salvageable, but the frets are worn so low, and leveled, that it’s basically unplayable. The strings have the tell-tale pop of dead frets, and when bending on the high strings between 5-10 or on the low strings anywhere above the 10th fret, the string buzzes then goes dead. Perhaps raising the bridge a little could save it - but nope, the bridge is completely locked in place and can’t be adjusted up or down, or even used to dive somehow.

If I sound a bit frustrated, I apologize. This is the second time in a row I have paid a hair over a grand for a maple fretboard Kramer and had a problem so severe it must be returned. This guitar was listed as a “Vintage” instrument as well, so I only have a 3-day return period on it, but don’t worry, I won’t even own this guitar for more than 24 hours. Here are some pictures of the monstrosity - pretty colors aside, what a disappointment for that price!