Hi everyone, I just want to clarify that the neck PROFILE feels the same to me as on my Satchel. The Satchel neck has a satin finish to it, which is different. But as far as hand feel, they feel the same to me.
Great video. The Satchel model neck is a 9.5" Radius with an Oil finish. (Only recent Kramer with that neck finish) All other Pacer Vintage have a 12" Radius with a light Satin finish
I am tempted to get one but I got to have it with the classic hockey stick headstock and yeah man please make a video of that purple leopard you got too!
I don’t think so. The older models were likely made in Korea. I’ve got a Baretta and Satchel pacer that were both made in Korea in the early/mid 2010s. Actually, this is an older one as well so likely came out of the Korean factory before the shift to China. The sound of the JBs will definitely reassure you if it’s original or not. You’ll definitely hear it if they’re fake 😆. Usually there are imperfections with the finish and slightly “off” appointments on the counterfeit stuff as well. Good luck! 🎸
Ive read a few times online that string bends on these are very tight, its as if the string tension is higher than most guitars with this scale length, i had an SG years ago that was very tight to bend also, noone could figure out why, even top wraping the tail piece made no difference.... so, is it true :)
I don’t find it any different than my other guitars that are this scale length 🤷♂️. That being said, I’m very consistent with my strings for tuning and scale length. I’ve got this one in Eb with 9-42 gauge strings now (same for all my others). Nice and easy to play for me. I bought this used though, and when I first acquired it, it was setup with 10 gauge strings (that might be what they were in this video? 🤔) and that was SUPER tight. Darn thing ripped most of my callouses off before I switched to my usual 9 gauge! 😆. I’d maybe try decreasing string gauge until you find one that feel comfortable for you 🤷♂️. Good luck! 🎸🎸
Yes indeed! I think that’s where Kramer got the inspiration. I’ve got a couple LTD versions of George’s old ESPs from the 80s. Nice guitars! Cheers! 🎸🎸
Current models are made in Indonesia still at the Epiphone factory for Kramer. Glad to know it's the same neck as the Satchel, I was eyeing one myself. I have a vintage 82-83 Pacer neck, and the new version is a tad thicker, but more rounded is the best way I'd describe it. Personally, I'd say the modern version is more comfortable to play, as with how rounded it actually is. One point you missed, is it's an R2 nut, which is quite narrow compared to Fender string spacing and nut size. Not that it's a bad thing ;) Keep shredding dude!
I just ordered a brand new one yesterday and so far it looks like this coming Friday..2 days away it supposed to be here so happy about that ! Great job here and Thanks for the review.@@dexdeimos425
Can this bridge be set to float to do the Flutter, even though it's top mounted? I see the red voodoo head back there, I bought that in the matching cabinet and I got the thing home and it made such a hideous noise it was just plain broke I took it back and immediately bought a Marshall DSL 50 in Hind sight I'm glad that I did do that, but I always wonder what the red voodoo head would have sounded like I really never got to hear one and my basic instinct was to just buy it because it was red I figure I could have had it modded to make it sound how I wanted to but that just never happened so how does the Red voodoo head sound compared to say the Marshall DSL 50? Oh also I just wanted to verify I believe you said the radius was 14 on the fingerboard where I read the specs on some of the stores here in the US to say it's 12 can you verify that?
Hi there - thanks for checking out the review! Yes, it’s a 14” radius. As for the Red Voodoo, it sounds 100% nothing like a Marshall. The big difference between them are the power tubes. The Crate is 6L6 and waaaaay more tight high gain than most Marshalls, which are usually EL34 and have a bit more sag sonically. Hope this helps - keep on rockin!
@@dexdeimos425 man I actually called Gibson and they verified it's a 12-inch radius fingerboard now that I've got it I can see that it is, I don't know that I can tell the difference in a 14 but the 12-inch matches my Jackson which is a 12-inch to a 16 compound radius at the bottom, the big difference is the frets on this neck are a lot taller than my Jackson and it's taking a lot of getting used to I have big large hands and it seems like these frets are closer together I guess due to the 22 frets versus 24 but man my guitar came with such a bad setup it was unplayable until I adjusted to trust her out and let it sit a couple days it buzzed everywhere, it had terrible wiring if I tapped on the cover plate for the pickup cavity it was horrible. Rather than send it back and do without a guitar for a few days I redid the wiring myself with some good vintage wiring I had and all the sudden the thing sounded totally awesome it was completely quiet I did rewire the pickup said that the push pool parts split the coils instead of the parallel serious thing because that didn't seem to do too much for me and I also didn't care much for the trouble bleeds the pickups don't clean up well at all it seemed like they just gained trouble when I turn them down but they were still just as distorted. Cuz I've got the action where I want it I can't really flute this bridge I mean technically I can pull up on it slightly but if I try to do the flutter thing with it it just bangs into the body I'm used to whacking the heck out of my Jackson and with the recessed floyd you just don't have that problem. Doing the flutter with this guitar is just to the point where I'd rather just block the tremolo and get a little bit more sustain out of it. Also the Floyd 1000 does not seem to be that the pieces are made out of steel like floyd rose told me they are only made in a different country I can see where I've turned the screws and the paints wore off just in action and the post have this copper zinc looking finish to him just like a Floyd Rose pro which has all these softer parts in them that's stripped very easily also the collar for the bar is horrible the threads don't match they won't stay tight I tell you for the price of this guitar I didn't think I was going to have to put up with all this crap but there are some decent things about it it does scream it is made for shredding I'm not going to be really playing any clean jazz chords on it but it doesn't appear that this guitar was even really made for that lol the finish is flawless it's better than any finish on my Jacksons that I had I had a tiger Jackson solos that cost $1500 and you can see the tape marks on it and you can see glue marks on The frets, so although it seems that Kramer cheaped out on some of the hardware on this guitar it does seem to be built more solid than some of the Jacksons I've bought lately the cheaper ones that is.
Thanks - that does help! Older than I thought for sure. Do you know who was selling it as a Satchel model? I can’t find any info anywhere on that. I keep digging up older Kramer ads with it, but they don’t have Satchel included in the marketing 🤷♂️. I wonder if maybe the store (probably an L&M) printed that it was a Satchel model on their hang tags🤔. The Satchel model I do have has his signature engraved on the neck plate, which is a little different. The mystery continues! 😆🎸
Yeah I think you may be right though as I have been looking and I think Satchel was just being attached to it for sales maybe. The saddles will tell you if it’s a Floyd 1000 they are different shape from Original just compare the saddles to a known Original Floyd I was under the assumption it was Original Floyd
I have this guitar and the satchel version in yellow and the neck feel different, as the signature doesn't have a finish on it and feels more natural. Great review, and I'd like to see the satchel review to see if its any different from the yellow one I have
what a great neck and the wiring is very interesting and rare. i've read that Gibson took over Kramer's Production. in our stores i was a little confused about the changes Kramer did and also about the cheaper Price segment. But not many changed in setup. Kramer uses Duncan pickups since the beginning. and they did good on it, as i found out. i changed the bridge pickup in my Kramer Metalist 83 and i was not that surprised that the sound profile was not matching (Jackson Pickups could not compete with duncan). the FR1000 trem is standard on cheaper guitars, was surprised how good it is on a newer Jackson, but no guitar could compete in that price classes with the pacer. have a great day Dex and always great and relaxed content 🤘🙌💯
Great playing and demo..my new one arrived here at home Monday and it sounds and plays amazing..one thing I see is the low e string is very close to the necks edge and with an .042 top string it sometimes wants to come off the fretboard..also there were a few sharp fret ends that I took care of. I was going to send it back but going to try a set of. 009-.046 strings to see if that helps keep the string on the board.. other than that it definitely is a great guitar for the $$$. Do you still have yours and if so does it look like the low e string is very close to the edge?
Thanks for the kind words! 🙏 I still have mine and play it quite often. Mine is setup really nicely with even string spacing throughout. Do you find your high E string has a lot of space to the edge by contrast? If it does, this is an easy(ish) fix. The good news is this is a bolt on, so if you loosen the neck bolts, you should be able to reposition the neck by a degree or two to give you more fretboard real estate. If it’s your low E string, then you will want to reposition the neck with the headstock moving more toward the high e string side. I’ve had to make a few adjustments like this on some other bolt on guitars I have. Before you do this, make sure that the string in the saddle is positioned perfectly to centre on the string in question. Sometimes from the factory they’ll install them off to one side by a couple of millimetres which can cause a similar issue. This one is usually obvious because the string spacing on that string will look much bigger than the rest (an even easier fix if it is!). Good luck and congrats on the new axe! 🎸👌🍻
@@dexdeimos425 I will stuff a thin neck shim between the neck heel and body to see what that does to it. I usually play the .009-.042 strings but ordered a hybrid set with a .046 low e to see uf that helps.
I’ve got two Chinese made Lynch LTDs. I’d say this feels slightly nicer, but I think a lot of that comes down to the quality of trem. The two Lynch models I have sport Floyd Rose Specials, while I think this pacer is a Floyd 1000. Neck wise, it’s a toss up. I really love the neck on my GL Sunburst Tiger - I guess it just comes down to player preference. Cheers! 🎸🎸
No, not quite my cup of tea, but the desert kamikaze ones that pop up from time to time pique my interest. After my experience with AliExpress guitars already though, I’d be a little hesitant to gamble on another similarly built guitar. 🤷♂️
I like variety and get a kick out of gear at any price point. You’re probably thinking of the aliexpress guitars I’ve got? They were not very expensive, so I was comfortable with the gamble. Even if they were not players, they’d at least make nice wall art 😆. Cheers!
