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Kramer Imperial
List: $695
(SALE till 31st Jan 08: $499)
To many of us familiar with all things Gibson, this Imperial is a blatant Explorer knock-off. Gibson made sure manufacturers thriving on their copies receive halting orders as was the occasion with ESP but why was this copy allowed to enjoy the living daylight to date? Simple answer here: Gibson owns Kramer…
Construction/ fit/ finish
So to all things Gibson associated, let there be immaculate touches to production but if one is expecting a grand feel out of this Indonesian ware, be informed that it is a fair representative of good mass production. If you have been wary of dodgy outputs from the Indonesian factory then playing this Imperial would re-educate your dismissive attitude towards all guitars far eastern. This reviewer wouldn’t say it’s an excellent assembly but it gets accolades for being solid in build & near-flawless. The one that got away are over at the nut; a closer inspection reveals incision burs at the edges.
Rating: 89%
Playability/ tone
Gibson, as well as many other manufacturers, proved to the world that simple guitars work & they often sound more massive in tone than contemporary units which are excessive in hardware contraptions. As in the case of this Imperial, it’s a simple guitar that works but its initial listless acoustic resonance is a precursor to a deficient plug-in performance.
Despite being an Explorer duplicate through & through, the important differences to note here are namely its bolt-on make, 24 frets & those behemoth Quad-Rails (QR) pickups which are humbuckers within humbuckers.
Upon plugging in, the clean tone sounds dreary in all pickup combinations, even the split coil feature here didn’t inject the much needed alternative voicing for a spirited single coil performance. By the way, the QR units activate the ‘single coil’ component which is still humbucking. In order for one to enjoy any semblance of a true single coil tone, in its split phase, the Imperial’s volume requires much taming. In driven mode, the Imperial is a better manifestation of its namesake as it accepts all manner of overdrive & distortion readily to give the player a very commanding output. Nevertheless, the overall bass response could have been better. The deficiency here might be attributable to two factors- the pickups’ inherent qualities as well as the alder body which are rich in upper frequency responses per se.
Forget the Gibson-like vibe if you are hoping for any, the Imperial feels like the average bolt-on unit nothing too different from the entry-level Ibanez units. There are no playability issues to report but the tuning stability might irk the ill-tempered among us; a touch of graphite in the nut slots might just do the trick.
Tone test equipment:
• Amps: Peavey Bandit/ Roland CUBE 15X
Rating: 80%
Final say
The Imperial is a great guitar to own for those with shallow pockets. It’s a better servant for masters in need of good driven tones & a working clean voicing, nothing fantastic in this department. This is also a recommended alternative for those of us who dislike gloss finished necks of guitars too authentic in its Gibson emulation. Be sure to plug this guitar into an able amp (preferably a 1X12 combo at the very least) as small practice units compound its deficient bottom end. There’d be other less renowned brand names offering equal (if not better) feel & playability but the KRAMER tag has its reputation & pulling factor.
Overall rating: 79%
Likes:
• Quality production
• Impressive driven/ distorted tones
• Noise-free QR pickups in all modes
• Well-balanced
Dislikes:
• Clean tones
• Nut’s incisions manifest string choking
Worthy competitors:
• LTD EX-50
• Epiphone Explorer
Product availability: Swee Lee Co.
*Thank you Adam for the review invitation.
