I recently bought the Kramer Pacer Classic , the 2010 $350 one. And I have made it a killer player IMO.
I'll start with the cons:
Cheap Floyd copy with pretty soft metal.
Bridge Epi pickup is crap.
The "treble bleed mod" and tone control is a disaster, just mud all day long at any setting of the volume control.
Pros:
Great neck , really really comfortable, 12" radius, R3 nut. while my hands prefer R2, this neck feels great, profile kinda similar to 80's JEM's, but a little more beef to it.'s
Decent body wood that is supposed to be mahogany, def not plywood like the cheap 80's Kramer Strikers.
I found an old Floyd Rose at decent price on eBay, NOS and in perfect condition.
It's a straight swap, but I did replace the inserts as well, the OFR inserts have way finer threading=more contact=more tone
As everybody else here, I have a few pickups around, so out with the Epis and in with a Custom Custom in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck.
And of course removing the bright cap and tone control from the circuit.
And finally a Dimarzio 4PDT switch for a decent clean tone in the middle position, same wiring as the EBMM JP's.
I have a few clips using it, not super amazing being recorded with a Roland Micro Cube direct, but decent enough.
http://snd.sc/fLDh6E
http://soundcloud.com/amund-blix/crying-machine-cover
http://soundcloud.com/amund-blix/w-bf2-2
http://soundcloud.com/amund-blix/tears-3
While I spent a couple hundreds extra on it, it's still a bargain to me totally happy. Looks killer too:
That said, I received an original 84' Kramer Pacer Special, and it's a better guitar for sure, but being old and well loved, it needs new frets and a good setup, which will make it more expensive then the new one in the end.
The cheap Kramer holds it's own.
Damn, this turned into a full blown review....:approve:
