Kramer baretta fx404
Guitar Tricks Forum > Gear Reviews > Kramer baretta fx404
Kramer Baretta FX404
(available through musicyo.com provided they have actually restocked)
Short Version:
PROS
-cheap
-tight, quality construction
-great quality woods for cost
-cheap
-high-quality factory electronics
-excellent tonal qualities
CONS
-usually sold out
-not available in retail stores so you buy blind
-retarded tuners
-stock pickups not for everyone
I paid $200 for this axe a couple years ago on sale; normally it's $299, which isn't a bad price at all for what you get. First and foremost, and probably the most notable feature of the instrument, is that it is of neck-through construction; a very rare feature at this price point, this allows the resonance that gets transferred from the neck to the body to have a more direct connection; it is the same piece of wood, rather than having a joint in its construction that the sound must transfer to.
This makes for a very nice crispness and sustain that you don't find in many solid bodied guitars. This particular model also has a string-through hardtail bridge; it still has Strat-style saddles, which allows for more intonation options than a Tune-O-Matic, but you string the guitar through the back of the instrument as you would a Telecaster. IMHO, the combination of a neck-thru body construction and a string-thru bridge makes for the best overall solidbody design.
Kramers are advertised as "made to rock hard" and I'm not inclined to disagree. This guitar shines at any sort of fast, hard music; it has good tonal charactaristics all around (low, mid and high) and the shape and radius of the 24-fret neck begs to be played fast.
The finish is high quality and very resistant to scratches. My first choice color was purple metallic and second was black metallic, but when I went to buy it, all that was available was red metallic and plain red, so I opted for the metallic. It is a pretty nice shade of dark red, and the metallic flakes are fine, so it isn't an obvious, "sparkle" metallic.
Tuners have given me more of a freakin' headache than anything I've ever experienced in my guitar-playing life. These are not like the Gotohs that have the thumb wheel on the back; these you hold the tuning peg with a flathead screwdriver and turn it counter-clockwise to how it's gonig to strung, and then tune it. It takes a few tries to get it right and when the peg pops out, your screwdriver can slip and scratch the finish. When they are tuned they stay there, but they are more complicated than they should be.
Stock pickups need help. Kramer uses four-blade "QuadRail" pickups which are basically two single coil-sized humbuckers wound into what could be described as a "dual humbucker" if you will. It has one in the bridge and one in the neck, and a single volume and a push/pull tone pot that allows you to split the pickup into a humbucker. They have very high putput and are devoid of hum, which may be exactly the thing for an extremely high-gain situation, but IMHO they sounded a bit too uninteresting. So the bridge humbucker was removed and replaced with a DiMarzio Tone Zone, and let me tell you, if you want a cost-effective axe that will hang proudly with the Jacksons and PRS' this is it. Despite the pickup issues, the pots and selector and wiring are all high-quality and I've never had a problem with crackling or anything of that nature.
Basically, for the cost of a midlevel Jackson, you can get two guitars (one hardtail, one trem!) that is the same quality and perhaps better, and still have enough left over for a good sandwich! Cheap enough though that if you don't like the finish it won't pain you to get it redone.
NOTE: this guitar is also available in a model with a locking Floyd Rose w/EVH D-Tuna trem, as the FR404S/D
And now, the cold hard facts (taken from the cmpany website):
Neck:
3-pc Canadian Hard Maple
Neck Profile:
Elliptical, Slim-Taper
Construction:
Neck-Thru
Body Wings:
North American Alder
Neck Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (N4S)
Bridge Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (B4S)
Controls:
3-Way Pickup Selector
Master Volume
MasterTone with
Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode
*****- IN: 4 coils x 2 pickups = All 8 coils engaged
*****- OUT: 2 coils x 2 pickups = 4 coils engaged
********(Closest to the neck on both pickups is engaged)
*****- Hum-canceling in ALL positions
Bridge:
Hardtail
Machine Heads:****
Gotoh SG
Nut:
Locking Floyd Rose
Nut Width:
1.625"
Frets:
24 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel
Headstock:
14 degree pitch
Reverse, Pointy
Fingerboard:
24 fret, Indian Rosewood
F/B Radius:
16"
Scale Length:
25.5"
F/B Inlay:
Pearl Dots
(available through musicyo.com provided they have actually restocked)
Short Version:
PROS
-cheap
-tight, quality construction
-great quality woods for cost
-cheap
-high-quality factory electronics
-excellent tonal qualities
CONS
-usually sold out
-not available in retail stores so you buy blind
-retarded tuners
-stock pickups not for everyone
I paid $200 for this axe a couple years ago on sale; normally it's $299, which isn't a bad price at all for what you get. First and foremost, and probably the most notable feature of the instrument, is that it is of neck-through construction; a very rare feature at this price point, this allows the resonance that gets transferred from the neck to the body to have a more direct connection; it is the same piece of wood, rather than having a joint in its construction that the sound must transfer to.
This makes for a very nice crispness and sustain that you don't find in many solid bodied guitars. This particular model also has a string-through hardtail bridge; it still has Strat-style saddles, which allows for more intonation options than a Tune-O-Matic, but you string the guitar through the back of the instrument as you would a Telecaster. IMHO, the combination of a neck-thru body construction and a string-thru bridge makes for the best overall solidbody design.
Kramers are advertised as "made to rock hard" and I'm not inclined to disagree. This guitar shines at any sort of fast, hard music; it has good tonal charactaristics all around (low, mid and high) and the shape and radius of the 24-fret neck begs to be played fast.
The finish is high quality and very resistant to scratches. My first choice color was purple metallic and second was black metallic, but when I went to buy it, all that was available was red metallic and plain red, so I opted for the metallic. It is a pretty nice shade of dark red, and the metallic flakes are fine, so it isn't an obvious, "sparkle" metallic.
Tuners have given me more of a freakin' headache than anything I've ever experienced in my guitar-playing life. These are not like the Gotohs that have the thumb wheel on the back; these you hold the tuning peg with a flathead screwdriver and turn it counter-clockwise to how it's gonig to strung, and then tune it. It takes a few tries to get it right and when the peg pops out, your screwdriver can slip and scratch the finish. When they are tuned they stay there, but they are more complicated than they should be.
Stock pickups need help. Kramer uses four-blade "QuadRail" pickups which are basically two single coil-sized humbuckers wound into what could be described as a "dual humbucker" if you will. It has one in the bridge and one in the neck, and a single volume and a push/pull tone pot that allows you to split the pickup into a humbucker. They have very high putput and are devoid of hum, which may be exactly the thing for an extremely high-gain situation, but IMHO they sounded a bit too uninteresting. So the bridge humbucker was removed and replaced with a DiMarzio Tone Zone, and let me tell you, if you want a cost-effective axe that will hang proudly with the Jacksons and PRS' this is it. Despite the pickup issues, the pots and selector and wiring are all high-quality and I've never had a problem with crackling or anything of that nature.
Basically, for the cost of a midlevel Jackson, you can get two guitars (one hardtail, one trem!) that is the same quality and perhaps better, and still have enough left over for a good sandwich! Cheap enough though that if you don't like the finish it won't pain you to get it redone.
NOTE: this guitar is also available in a model with a locking Floyd Rose w/EVH D-Tuna trem, as the FR404S/D
And now, the cold hard facts (taken from the cmpany website):
Neck:
3-pc Canadian Hard Maple
Neck Profile:
Elliptical, Slim-Taper
Construction:
Neck-Thru
Body Wings:
North American Alder
Neck Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (N4S)
Bridge Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (B4S)
Controls:
3-Way Pickup Selector
Master Volume
MasterTone with
Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode
*****- IN: 4 coils x 2 pickups = All 8 coils engaged
*****- OUT: 2 coils x 2 pickups = 4 coils engaged
********(Closest to the neck on both pickups is engaged)
*****- Hum-canceling in ALL positions
Bridge:
Hardtail
Machine Heads:****
Gotoh SG
Nut:
Locking Floyd Rose
Nut Width:
1.625"
Frets:
24 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel
Headstock:
14 degree pitch
Reverse, Pointy
Fingerboard:
24 fret, Indian Rosewood
F/B Radius:
16"
Scale Length:
25.5"
F/B Inlay:
Pearl Dots
more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
Fox Magic Jiron - Always with us
now with more long-wind power: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tristan_s/
#1
03/12/2005
10:23:18 AM
Kramer Baretta FX404
(available through musicyo.com provided they have actually restocked)
Short Version:
PROS
-cheap
-tight, quality construction
-great quality woods for cost
-cheap
-high-quality factory electronics
-excellent tonal qualities
CONS
-usually sold out
-not available in retail stores so you buy blind
-retarded tuners
-stock pickups not for everyone
I paid $200 for this axe a couple years ago on sale; normally it's $299, which isn't a bad price at all for what you get. First and foremost, and probably the most notable feature of the instrument, is that it is of neck-through construction; a very rare feature at this price point, this allows the resonance that gets transferred from the neck to the body to have a more direct connection; it is the same piece of wood, rather than having a joint in its construction that the sound must transfer to.
This makes for a very nice crispness and sustain that you don't find in many solid bodied guitars. This particular model also has a string-through hardtail bridge; it still has Strat-style saddles, which allows for more intonation options than a Tune-O-Matic, but you string the guitar through the back of the instrument as you would a Telecaster. IMHO, the combination of a neck-thru body construction and a string-thru bridge makes for the best overall solidbody design.
Kramers are advertised as "made to rock hard" and I'm not inclined to disagree. This guitar shines at any sort of fast, hard music; it has good tonal charactaristics all around (low, mid and high) and the shape and radius of the 24-fret neck begs to be played fast.
The finish is high quality and very resistant to scratches. My first choice color was purple metallic and second was black metallic, but when I went to buy it, all that was available was red metallic and plain red, so I opted for the metallic. It is a pretty nice shade of dark red, and the metallic flakes are fine, so it isn't an obvious, "sparkle" metallic.
Tuners have given me more of a freakin' headache than anything I've ever experienced in my guitar-playing life. These are not like the Gotohs that have the thumb wheel on the back; these you hold the tuning peg with a flathead screwdriver and turn it counter-clockwise to how it's gonig to strung, and then tune it. It takes a few tries to get it right and when the peg pops out, your screwdriver can slip and scratch the finish. When they are tuned they stay there, but they are more complicated than they should be.
Stock pickups need help. Kramer uses four-blade "QuadRail" pickups which are basically two single coil-sized humbuckers wound into what could be described as a "dual humbucker" if you will. It has one in the bridge and one in the neck, and a single volume and a push/pull tone pot that allows you to split the pickup into a humbucker. They have very high putput and are devoid of hum, which may be exactly the thing for an extremely high-gain situation, but IMHO they sounded a bit too uninteresting. So the bridge humbucker was removed and replaced with a DiMarzio Tone Zone, and let me tell you, if you want a cost-effective axe that will hang proudly with the Jacksons and PRS' this is it. Despite the pickup issues, the pots and selector and wiring are all high-quality and I've never had a problem with crackling or anything of that nature.
Basically, for the cost of a midlevel Jackson, you can get two guitars (one hardtail, one trem!) that is the same quality and perhaps better, and still have enough left over for a good sandwich! Cheap enough though that if you don't like the finish it won't pain you to get it redone.
NOTE: this guitar is also available in a model with a locking Floyd Rose w/EVH D-Tuna trem, as the FR404S/D
And now, the cold hard facts (taken from the cmpany website):
Neck:
3-pc Canadian Hard Maple
Neck Profile:
Elliptical, Slim-Taper
Construction:
Neck-Thru
Body Wings:
North American Alder
Neck Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (N4S)
Bridge Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (B4S)
Controls:
3-Way Pickup Selector
Master Volume
MasterTone with
Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode
*****- IN: 4 coils x 2 pickups = All 8 coils engaged
*****- OUT: 2 coils x 2 pickups = 4 coils engaged
********(Closest to the neck on both pickups is engaged)
*****- Hum-canceling in ALL positions
Bridge:
Hardtail
Machine Heads:****
Gotoh SG
Nut:
Locking Floyd Rose
Nut Width:
1.625"
Frets:
24 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel
Headstock:
14 degree pitch
Reverse, Pointy
Fingerboard:
24 fret, Indian Rosewood
F/B Radius:
16"
Scale Length:
25.5"
F/B Inlay:
Pearl Dotsmore from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
(available through musicyo.com provided they have actually restocked)
Short Version:
PROS
-cheap
-tight, quality construction
-great quality woods for cost
-cheap
-high-quality factory electronics
-excellent tonal qualities
CONS
-usually sold out
-not available in retail stores so you buy blind
-retarded tuners
-stock pickups not for everyone
I paid $200 for this axe a couple years ago on sale; normally it's $299, which isn't a bad price at all for what you get. First and foremost, and probably the most notable feature of the instrument, is that it is of neck-through construction; a very rare feature at this price point, this allows the resonance that gets transferred from the neck to the body to have a more direct connection; it is the same piece of wood, rather than having a joint in its construction that the sound must transfer to.
This makes for a very nice crispness and sustain that you don't find in many solid bodied guitars. This particular model also has a string-through hardtail bridge; it still has Strat-style saddles, which allows for more intonation options than a Tune-O-Matic, but you string the guitar through the back of the instrument as you would a Telecaster. IMHO, the combination of a neck-thru body construction and a string-thru bridge makes for the best overall solidbody design.
Kramers are advertised as "made to rock hard" and I'm not inclined to disagree. This guitar shines at any sort of fast, hard music; it has good tonal charactaristics all around (low, mid and high) and the shape and radius of the 24-fret neck begs to be played fast.
The finish is high quality and very resistant to scratches. My first choice color was purple metallic and second was black metallic, but when I went to buy it, all that was available was red metallic and plain red, so I opted for the metallic. It is a pretty nice shade of dark red, and the metallic flakes are fine, so it isn't an obvious, "sparkle" metallic.
Tuners have given me more of a freakin' headache than anything I've ever experienced in my guitar-playing life. These are not like the Gotohs that have the thumb wheel on the back; these you hold the tuning peg with a flathead screwdriver and turn it counter-clockwise to how it's gonig to strung, and then tune it. It takes a few tries to get it right and when the peg pops out, your screwdriver can slip and scratch the finish. When they are tuned they stay there, but they are more complicated than they should be.
Stock pickups need help. Kramer uses four-blade "QuadRail" pickups which are basically two single coil-sized humbuckers wound into what could be described as a "dual humbucker" if you will. It has one in the bridge and one in the neck, and a single volume and a push/pull tone pot that allows you to split the pickup into a humbucker. They have very high putput and are devoid of hum, which may be exactly the thing for an extremely high-gain situation, but IMHO they sounded a bit too uninteresting. So the bridge humbucker was removed and replaced with a DiMarzio Tone Zone, and let me tell you, if you want a cost-effective axe that will hang proudly with the Jacksons and PRS' this is it. Despite the pickup issues, the pots and selector and wiring are all high-quality and I've never had a problem with crackling or anything of that nature.
Basically, for the cost of a midlevel Jackson, you can get two guitars (one hardtail, one trem!) that is the same quality and perhaps better, and still have enough left over for a good sandwich! Cheap enough though that if you don't like the finish it won't pain you to get it redone.
NOTE: this guitar is also available in a model with a locking Floyd Rose w/EVH D-Tuna trem, as the FR404S/D
And now, the cold hard facts (taken from the cmpany website):
Neck:
3-pc Canadian Hard Maple
Neck Profile:
Elliptical, Slim-Taper
Construction:
Neck-Thru
Body Wings:
North American Alder
Neck Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (N4S)
Bridge Pickup:
Quad-Rail Humbucker (B4S)
Controls:
3-Way Pickup Selector
Master Volume
MasterTone with
Push/Pull "Quad to Dual-Rail" Dual-Tap Mode
*****- IN: 4 coils x 2 pickups = All 8 coils engaged
*****- OUT: 2 coils x 2 pickups = 4 coils engaged
********(Closest to the neck on both pickups is engaged)
*****- Hum-canceling in ALL positions
Bridge:
Hardtail
Machine Heads:****
Gotoh SG
Nut:
Locking Floyd Rose
Nut Width:
1.625"
Frets:
24 - Jumbo Nickel/Steel
Headstock:
14 degree pitch
Reverse, Pointy
Fingerboard:
24 fret, Indian Rosewood
F/B Radius:
16"
Scale Length:
25.5"
F/B Inlay:
Pearl Dots
more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
Fox Magic Jiron - Always with us
now with more long-wind power: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tristan_s/
Say, are you now working for Kramer? :D
#2
03/12/2005
4:29:28 PM
Say, are you now working for Kramer? :D
no unfortunately... i could use the extra income now...
i don't think they'd like the line about the "retarded tuners" though.
i don't think they'd like the line about the "retarded tuners" though.
more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
Fox Magic Jiron - Always with us
now with more long-wind power: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tristan_s/
#3
03/12/2005
8:38:03 PM
no unfortunately... i could use the extra income now...
i don't think they'd like the line about the "retarded tuners" though.more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
i don't think they'd like the line about the "retarded tuners" though.
more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
Fox Magic Jiron - Always with us
now with more long-wind power: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tristan_s/
aww man guess wat musicyo dont hav any guitars with d-tuna now
that really suks cuz a d-tuna cost lik 50 bucks
that really suks cuz a d-tuna cost lik 50 bucks
#4
08/30/2005
5:41:15 AM
aww man guess wat musicyo dont hav any guitars with d-tuna now
that really suks cuz a d-tuna cost lik 50 bucks
that really suks cuz a d-tuna cost lik 50 bucks
Good review PonyOne, the guitar seems impressive, I may have to give it a try sometime if I ever get the chance.
You can now find me >here
#5
08/30/2005
11:51:59 AM
Good review PonyOne, the guitar seems impressive, I may have to give it a try sometime if I ever get the chance.
You can now find me >here
I'll have to take a look at that one next time I get a chance. I'm in the market for a new guitar and think that I might put the JEM on hold. I'd probably be more in the 500-800 dollar range so I might spring for something a little higher end.
Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.
My YouTube Profile
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#6
09/01/2005
1:26:58 AM
I'll have to take a look at that one next time I get a chance. I'm in the market for a new guitar and think that I might put the JEM on hold. I'd probably be more in the 500-800 dollar range so I might spring for something a little higher end.
Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.
My YouTube Profile
My YouTube Profile
I've played a kramer that looked almost exactly like this one, except it had only one pickup, in the bridge... and a floyd rose I think. I didn't like the neck shape, way too V shaped, I like the more rounded shape of my gibson.
If you like cars see mine here
my spyspace
#7
09/01/2005
5:31:49 AM
I've played a kramer that looked almost exactly like this one, except it had only one pickup, in the bridge... and a floyd rose I think. I didn't like the neck shape, way too V shaped, I like the more rounded shape of my gibson.If you like cars see mine here
If you like cars see mine here
my spyspace
I bought the FR 404S/D with d-tuna a couple months ago and I couldn't be :D ier. Once I mastered the floyd ....which I've never owned ....took a day :eek: The form,fit and finish was perfect . Just 1 turn on the truss rod was all it needed. I'm not aware of anything that would compare for $325. The only con is color choice....red,blue or black
#8
09/12/2005
2:17:47 PM
I bought the FR 404S/D with d-tuna a couple months ago and I couldn't be :D ier. Once I mastered the floyd ....which I've never owned ....took a day :eek: The form,fit and finish was perfect . Just 1 turn on the truss rod was all it needed. I'm not aware of anything that would compare for $325. The only con is color choice....red,blue or black
little bit of an update here...
i've been looking off and on at the musicyo site, and they haven't restocked in ages... the guitar may be discontinued :( if so, it's really too bad... this guitar deserves way more credit than it gets.
6strings, was the guitar you played a bolt neck or neck through? if it was a bolt neck it was probably a Pacer... i haven't seen a 1 pickup Baretta.
i'm actually considering selling mine simply because i almost never play righty. it deserves to be played more...
i've been looking off and on at the musicyo site, and they haven't restocked in ages... the guitar may be discontinued :( if so, it's really too bad... this guitar deserves way more credit than it gets.
6strings, was the guitar you played a bolt neck or neck through? if it was a bolt neck it was probably a Pacer... i haven't seen a 1 pickup Baretta.
i'm actually considering selling mine simply because i almost never play righty. it deserves to be played more...
more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
Fox Magic Jiron - Always with us
now with more long-wind power: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tristan_s/
#9
09/12/2005
11:50:41 PM
little bit of an update here...
i've been looking off and on at the musicyo site, and they haven't restocked in ages... the guitar may be discontinued :( if so, it's really too bad... this guitar deserves way more credit than it gets.
6strings, was the guitar you played a bolt neck or neck through? if it was a bolt neck it was probably a Pacer... i haven't seen a 1 pickup Baretta.
i'm actually considering selling mine simply because i almost never play righty. it deserves to be played more...more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
i've been looking off and on at the musicyo site, and they haven't restocked in ages... the guitar may be discontinued :( if so, it's really too bad... this guitar deserves way more credit than it gets.
6strings, was the guitar you played a bolt neck or neck through? if it was a bolt neck it was probably a Pacer... i haven't seen a 1 pickup Baretta.
i'm actually considering selling mine simply because i almost never play righty. it deserves to be played more...
more from the self-proclaimed king of long-winded posts
Fox Magic Jiron - Always with us
now with more long-wind power: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tristan_s/
Originally Posted by:
6strings, was the guitar you played a bolt neck or neck through? if it was a bolt neck it was probably a Pacer... i haven't seen a 1 pickup Baretta.I really have no idea. I'm pretty positive it was a kramer, and it had the shame shape as that one. it was some other guy's, I played it maybe twice... I had to play his because my guitar was broken at the time (in fact, it still is, my ibanez, the input jack needs to have a wire resoldered on, but my lazy father couldn't possibly try to find our soldering iron!)
If you like cars see mine here
my spyspace
#10
09/13/2005
3:52:21 PM
Originally Posted by:
6strings, was the guitar you played a bolt neck or neck through? if it was a bolt neck it was probably a Pacer... i haven't seen a 1 pickup Baretta.I really have no idea. I'm pretty positive it was a kramer, and it had the shame shape as that one. it was some other guy's, I played it maybe twice... I had to play his because my guitar was broken at the time (in fact, it still is, my ibanez, the input jack needs to have a wire resoldered on, but my lazy father couldn't possibly try to find our soldering iron!)
