YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!! A China guitar for 2k as affordable is ridiculous. Without the Kramer name(aka Gibson) it would be from a good Chinese guitar maker 5 or 6 hundred bucks. Like i said, ridiculous. Canadian prices
Glenn is like the young beginner guitarist discovering pinch harmonics and incorporating it into everything. Which I'm here for! I was the same way lol, but hearing a lot of improvement!
Epiphone WAS the way to go over the last few years as they started producing insanely good guitars for under $900 msrp. Now that they've hyped the brand up and backed it up with great guitars they are asking much more for them. I got the Brent Hinds V and the 2nd gen Iommi SG for under $800 each and except for a tuner swap on the SG and a pro setup on both they are flawless guitars that play and sound spectacular.
Man I'm bummed out you got a flawed Kramer. Love mine and was hoping you would have had the same experience. It seems like when ordering one online nowadays. It's a hit or miss. Appreciate and respect your honesty.
I’ve got the green one and it’s amazing. Bit pricey but I can’t find a cooler looking V with a case in the price point. I’d also add that I’ve played this rough at 3 shows and it stays in tune VERY well.
Agreed on the Prophecy V Mustaine. It’s nothing more than a regular Prophecy with a different headstock and the Mustaine logo. It should be a 1100/1200 guitar at best.
I was tempted by the ESP DV8 Mustaine V, back in the day. These new V's...not so much. I doubt they would play as awesome, and have the superb balance that my old Schecter V has.
After I set mine up, it came alive. Guitar rips. I have the alien tech green. Expensive yeah but, it’s really nice. I don’t have any of the issues you mentioned. Maybe I got lucky. It’s a cool guitar.
Love the shout out and appreciation you show to Gear street, high integrity move from a high integrity guy. Sorry you have to deal with all these production failings but it’s so normal in production that it’s oddly comforting watching you evolve through them and hold your standard in tact without sacrificing 🤘🏼🤘🏼 that said always rooting for you and never rooting for the hardships so hopefully Sweetwater listens, that’ll be a huge QOL upgrade, they seem pretty great about trying to do what they’re doing right.
dude, this guy is just a miserable reviewer.... ive watched 4-5 videos on these guitars i own and hes way off. LOL for example this guitar only things i could "complain about" is price ofcourse and the action when i got it from factory was a little high for my liking... everything else was spot on.... ebony fretboard, SD thrash factprs. grover tuners, comfy neck like the gibson..., finish,frets,neck are all spot on lol .... watch other reviews of this guitar and others this guy reviews and youll see "hating " is his whole shtick ....
@@sleevelessace k. I’d be bummed if I had to do a setup on a 1k+ guitar, the last one I got for less then that came in flawless so sorry to hear you had to deal with that. From shows like this sounds like that’s more common than you’d think. Personally I’d be bothered by that but if you’re not good on you. His reviews are annoying as shit but he’s honest about it and when I see comments like yours I kinda understand what drove him nuts. The guitar community has been forever elitist cultish snobbery over spending the most and hiding as much as possible. I’ll take annoying accessible transparency over that 10/10 times.
I'm kinda puzzled by people complaining about the price though. 1850CAD for a neckthrough guitar, 24 frets ebony fingerboard, 2 seymour duncans with the actual dave mustaine sig, quality tuners AND an actual hardcase, not the cheap ones you get from Jackson and ibanez when you buy a 2700CAD+ guitar. I don't know what more people want for that price point spec wise. Sincerely asking.
Also worthy of note for some, is that the regular Prophecy V uses the original '58 body style and the Mustaine uses the '67/current Gibby USA body. Some folks may not care, but me personally I do not like the '58 body. That said, $1500 for an epiphone (Mustaine or no) is too rich for my blood when I can find several higher-grade guitars (including Gibson USA) on the used market for within a few hundred USD (a quick Google search pulled up 10 used Gibson USAs between $1099 and $1499 today 3/31/24).
I bought a Kramer Pacer about a year ago. I regret it. One of the saddles stripped about a week into playing it, and it just won't stay in tune. I'll probably end up selling it.
I bought a Pacer Classic and in order for me to be able to use it effectively, I have to change the pickups, switch and pots. The pickups are okay but I want Invaders in there. The pots came scratchy and the neck pickup volume pot was busted when I got it. Great QC there, Gibby.
Own the green one. Do not have any tuning or fret wire issues. Paint was great. Got a small ding in the case from shipping. However, I DID need to adjust the action. It was too high. Guitar plays well. But I own a 2019 model of the LTD Arrow in Violet Andromeda. Got it used for under $1000 with a case. And the Arrow is a superior guitar. One of if not THE best playing guitar I have.
I traded for one of these in green. It doesn't have any issues or flaws. It sounds and plays damn nice. I really want to get the ltd arrow or maybe a Solar V in the future.
The only artist model I would buy and continue to buy is the LTD James Hetfield Snakebyte, Iron Cross and Vulture series. This may be my fan bias with ESP/LTD guitars, but those blow most guitars out of the water (again my opinion). While the Mustaine Vs are cool, meh...... Like you said in the video, why not just get the normal prophecy? Unless you really want the name attached to it.
I’m a vulture owner and had to return my first one due to build issues that were bad enough to send it back. Prices for the Kramer are ridiculous but the new white hetfield vulture are 1600😳
For me, it would probably be a SC607B or an AW7B, but even then, for that money, I might as well just save up for a 7 string Strandberg or something. Fanned Frets, ergonomic design, and they're light as a feather, which is great for my ever deteriorating back.
The only Hetfield artist model guitar I've ever played was the ESP grass roots Explorer back when they came out and they were the sort of guitar that you had to adapt to rather than just immediately feel right in your hands and to play. I'd had a Jackson Randy Rhoads, a PRS and a 71 Flying V amongst many others prior to playing this, so I had quite a bit of experience but they were a strange thing. I'd like to own one now just as a curiosity more than anything. Doubt there's many out there tbh.
Hey Glen. Been enjoying the guitar vids lately. Any chance we could get some vids on the great basses that have been released in the last couple years? Anything from Warwick, Spector or Dingwall. They've all been putting out some stellar instruments .
Mustaine used to have Kahler systems on some of his guitars back in the day. Would definitely be cool if they'd have done a model with one of those, since they're few and far between on production models. Besides, Kahlers are Hella good floating terms when paired with a Floyd, not to mention, much easier to maintain
@@rybones1311 modern Kahlers look similar and can still be locked down. And like I said, it'd be cool to see something that isn't a "high output dual humbuckers with tunomatic/Floyd"-guitar
@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 Sure you can lock down a Kahler but you will still need to route the body. Dave's Kahler was flat and screwed down without routing a hole in the guitar.
Do not expect guitars with that kind of headstock shape to stay in tune. At least not without a locking nut and a locking bridge. There is a reason if the majority of HT Jackson models adopted the new 3+3 headstock style.
At the risk of being highlighted with one of those high pitch voice overdubs.. Glenn, ive watched your channel for years now, and the content is great. The one thing that gets me is your playing. Its as elegant as some of your rants. Peace and love!
i got a kramer baretta special few months back... had some sprouting frets i couldn't fix (without buying tools i don't want to buy)... but it's a budget guitar and its still super cool. but yeah, no way on a 1300 buck guitar... no gosh darn way!
honestly im amazed any guitar comes without locking these days they dont even actually cost that much more on the manufactures end and i honestly think i might take some generic locking tuners over basic grovers or the likes
My Kramer jersey star stays in tune very good, its have a Floyd Rose and it's almost flawless in quality. It has even a better quality than my EVH Wolfgang who doesn't stay in tune till I made an up grade in the Floyd Rose. UF upgrades are awesome. The only things I didn't like about my JS are the Pickups and the tuning machines (they made the job but I'm a bit picky haha, I swap for Gotoh tuning machines) It's very sad that Gibson still having those big quality issues. Nice video.
I have two modern Nightswans. The first one was perfect, so much that I bought a second one, which doesn't feel quite as nice. It sounds like we both got a good one!
Pretty decent reviews of all the V's recently. Word of advice to Gibson/Epiphone/Kramer. If your gonna mark signature models up that much over standard offerings, at least have the sense to improve specs enough to offset the cost. Signature models definitely aren't my thing, and are rarely worth it. The one exception to this recently was the Adam Jones sig from Epiphone. $1299 seems like a great deal for one considering where the prices have gone since then. When I found out they included a chainsaw hardcase, it was the icing on the cake.
Agreed! I got the Adam Jones Epiphone and couldn’t be happier. It also has a long neck tenon which most Gibsons don’t even come with. I’m okay with higher prices BUT the guitar has to show some legit spec upgrades to justify it.
Glenns guitar face is somewhere between this fart really is next level and when someone puts finger marks on something valuable you now regret letting them hold.
Respectively, You may need to use different string stretching and tuning techniques... Always tune up to pitch and push up or down as much as you can on the string with your right hand at the picking position, and with the left hand bend in the opposite direction as much as you can then move to the next fret... do all frets and tune to pitch, repeat twice and move down a string...do this until your strings are stable... this should help alot, as for QC thats just a bummer
Spectre! Love your channel. Is there any way to mimic feedback with amp sims? I was thinking about just recording feedback from my amp and then just using the amp sims for everything else. Or is there someway I could artifically mimic it?
Sweetwater have dropped the ball in recent years so they don’t care about Glen doing what he does. Their inspections of the gear coming in are getting more and more lazy. They just ship things out even with issues and flaws. Last ESP E-II I got from Sweetwater had issues, how it got through their inspection is beyond me.
@@GlobalTossPot I’ve never liked Sweetwater. I ordered an Ibanez Rgd3127 a few years back, and they outright refused to do a set up for it when I offered more money to them. The guitar broke which required me to send it back for an exchange. They offered a free setup, but failed to set it up as I asked for, plus used too light string gauges so I had to learn how to do setup a guitar myself.
@@DecadenceSWM33 they’ve gotten worst over the years, unfortunately. Back in 2016-18 they were great and always offered pretty good deals when you’d call up to order. Now they’re pretty stingy on even giving out 5% discounts. And the inspections actually meant something. But that’s weird, usually during their inspection they setup the guitar up anyways. You just have to pay more to have your preferred action, tuning etc. just goes to show how terrible they’ve gotten
I cant wait till glen finds out you can do pinch harmonics with an up stroke as well! I just moved to the Hawaii big island WHERE ARE MY METALHEADS?! Take it with a grain of salt but don't fall into the only downstrokes pit trap. I know its unpopular but alternate/economical picking is amazing and once you start to find your groove with it it will open up worlds of playing for ya :) Downstrokes have a nice rounded chuggy sound but upstrokes with a bit of feeling (and muting)have like a mustain'y / sid vicious angsty sneer to them, just different kind of feeling for the palette . sorry for my terrible descriptions hope it makes a bit of sense.
I bought one of the budget model Dean Dave Mustaine Vs with the hardshell case for $100 off a kid from Craigslist in 2010. I don't think it retailed for over $300 brand new. That guitar was well built for what it was. I had bought a Dean ZX new for $250 a year before and both guitars played great. The pick-ups weren't the best but I played a ton of shows with both. Fast forward to 2016 and I bought another ZX since I had liked the other one so much. It was JUNK!!! You could feel the cheapness from the tuners to the volume and tone knobs. I gave it away. Bought a brand new harshell case with it as well and it came with stitching coming out of it. Called customer service about the poor quality and they pretty much laughed at me. So when I heard Gibson was suing Dean for copyright infringements. I loved it. Then Dave switched to Gibson and the Dinebag estate left Dean and I loved that even more. But the prices of these Dave Mustaine signature Gibson models are ridiculous.
I'm sorry, I want a tighter neck heel at that price. My Arrow 200 with a set neck has the same ergos as that. I think you can get a 1000 for that price, body-through and probably a better neck and fret work. And maybe a Floyd.
I bought one of these and it took 3 tries to get one even ok to keep. The 1st 2 I got from guitar center and they both were horrible. I do like the the guitar, and I will keep the one I bought from Sweetwater but it is gonna take alot of work to be right
From both a Player's and a Luthier's POV: I hate headstocks designs that don't allow a STRAIGHT string path. I don't care how cool they look, they suck when it comes to keeping the said guitar in TUNE, and when you gig or do studio work, this is a PAIN.
Charging $1000 or more for Chinese, or Indonesian guitars is total bullshit. I have 6 Indonesian built guitars and have 8 Korean built guitars. Each Korean guitar has been impeccable with perfect fretwork and perfect tuning. No issues ever with hardware or tuning Stability. 6 Schecter's, and 2 LTD's. Every single Indonesian guitar I own have been a ton of work to make them good. Every one of them got fret sprout so bad, that they would nearly cut your skin, and have had small QC issues like loose pots, intonation nowhere close, and terrible tuners. The Indo guitars are Ibanez, Schecter, LTD, Harley Benton, and Jackson so I know it isn't a brand thing, it's a factory thing. I refuse to buy any guitar made in China, and I'm soon to say the same for Indonesian guitars too. They are selling $400 guitars for $1200-$1500 dollars. What the actual fuck? For that price make they better make sure they are proper before leaving the factory. The last LTD EC1000 Deluxe took $150 of setup and fret repair on top of the $1200 price tag. Complete BULLSHIT in my opinion. Time to step it up for those prices.
Why would you get a Kramer without a Floyd anyway? It is, after all, the brand most associated with the Floyd Rose system out there. I have two of the new Nightswan models, and whilst I've seen some good and some not-so-good ones, I got really lucky with one of them.
@@talltale9760 No, not even close. I don't know how things went down after 1991, when Kramer first shut their doors, but up to that point Ibanez produced exactly zero guitars with an official Floyd Rose out the door, since Kramer had a worldwide licence for it. The same goes for Jackson, Charvel etc. It is true that Ibanez have a few licenced designs that have become kind of popular in their own right.
@spectresound do you know if the Kramer mustaine V is the same measurements as the Dean VMNT body, asking because trying to find a case that will work for my Dean
I got the green one, because I'm a sucker for bright ass guitars. I don't have an issue with tuning on it, and no fret issues. My issues: the action was way too high, the V plate at the bottom definitely has a minor buzz to it through the speaker whenever you play, and the price of the guitar. The fact that it's $1300 and has inconsistent quality between different guitars is pretty egregious. If you want a cool pointy V, get a Jackson.
No filter reviews are best reviews. Love your recommendations to SW on having pre-setup studios with staff. But lets not forget, they just a small startup in the music business ...
Yeah the Gibson String on the Dave Mustaine Kramer totally suck. Lol I recently got Dave Mustaine Kramer in limited edition Alien Tech Green finish and I absolutely loved it aside from the Gibson strings it comes with..
Thanks for going through the trouble and EXPENSE of giving these guitars a critical review. To much over priced gear out there and no shortage of dummies that buy it.
I had a similar experience with the Charlie Parra model. I really wanted to love it. it looks awesome, but it just failed quality control. tooling marks, shitty fret work, crap components. They didn't even bother to blow the sawdust out of the pickup routs. after investing in a fret level and dress, tuners, and a respectable bridge, and a set up, it is finally playable. For the money I laid out, I should have just bought another LTD Arrow.
This. For my money, Megadeth were best on their first 4 albums, and the gear was BC Rich early on (notorious for going out of tune), and then Jackson. If they had other gear I don't recall it, they certainly could have, but I find Kramer to be an odd choice too: I don't associate Mustaine and Megastench with Kramer. But a Jackson V with inlays, and that dopey leather jacket with the foot long fringe, that screams Mustaine and Mega.
@@amandahuginkiss6868 Yeah! I always have the images from "Hangar 18" and onward in my mind's eye you know, it's legendary. When Mustaine sold all of his guitars I actually thought of buying one, but then again, prices...I guess the Kramer move is a strategical one, pretty much like artists going for Epiphone or LTD signature guitars. It makes it much more affordable for the consumers and just the sheer amount of guitars sold is worth it, economically.
Plan on spending an additional $100-$150 on any Gibson (and apparently imports as well) for a set up, fret filing, and nut filing. Is it bullshit for the price they are asking? 100%. But if you've decided that the Kramer or Epiphone Mustaines are your guitar, then suck it up and have your guitar tech make them right. You're already overspending by $400-$500, so please just overspend a little more and be happy. Or get the LTD and be happy right away for less money. They all sound killer.
The main issue for me is the price. Epiphone has always been an affordable brand that delivered great guitar under the thousand dollar mark. Many signatures like the zakk wylde one, bjorn gelotte and all the prophecy line were amazing guitars for 800-900$ that could rival LTD and schecters, sadly the prices are going up but the quality is not on par…these are great 900$ guitars, but for 1400 you re much better off with a top of the line solar or LTD
@@Angelo-fo8de I should've sent mine back. I took it to Guitar Center and had them set it up. After I got the Guitar back home, Gibson finally emailed me back 2.5 weeks later...
gibson group cant be slacking around with quality like this, just because they sell north of 2k+ guitars doesnt mean that a 1200 dollar guitar is a budget guitar that doesnt deserve the same quality control. They gotta step it up.
awesome Epiphone..they are just killing it ..oh and those Dave models come with a nice case the others don't ..so another reason for price hike...just really loving Epiphones products of late.
Wtf are you talking about bro?! These Kramers kick ass!! I don’t know what you got but the green one I got fn slays! I love the paint job, love the ebony fret board with well done frets, have zero tuning issues and the Thrash factor pickups sound kick ass! It’s instant Megadeth tone.. wtf did Dave do to you bro, or Gibson.. you obviously are holding a grudge man.. I can see knocking the $2700 shitty Gibson but this Kramer fn kicks ass! So does the Charlie Parra Vanguard! So does the Snake Sabo Baretta!
every time i want to consider an epiphone or gibson or kramer product i come here to have my hopes shattered just so i can go back to window shopping for PRS SEs as much as i love vs and explorers and all of those unique gibson shapes, i would rather have a guitar made with good craftmanship instead of the cheapest factory a company could find
I bought this guitar from sweetwater and there was glue sticking out all over the fretboard and I had to pay a tech to cut if all off. And yeah the strings were straight trash.
I could expect input jack issues with that placement, even though it looks like it's angled. When will these V-makers come to reality and stop putting the input where these guitars sit on the leg?
The Prophesy V isn't that much more expensive than the Mustaine Prophesy V. If you are a gigging musician, then you will want a hardshell case, which would be an additional $200-$300. The Mustaine Prophesy V comes with a hardshell case, so that is one less expense. The difference is about $300, which isn't bad considering that it's a signature model. Of course, that price difference is for the consumer to figure out if it's worth it or not.
I don't think there would be a possibility but if there would be one. I want you to review Richie Faulkner's G*bson Flying V. That crap costs 7 grant! Only 100 were made and they are already sold-out, but still... would be nice to see your review.
I like these guitars, and lots of the new epiphones, but they are just too expensive. Heck even Gibson's 80s models are too over priced, and they don't have the extra specs such as binding or the carved logo for the headstock like other Gibson models at that price.
_The Gibson family of guitars- those aren't _*_flaws,_*_ those are _*_hand- made custom features!_*
😂, wait he’s right!
🤣
Yea guitar version of the IT one. That's not a bug, that's an undocumented feature!
You couldn't pay me to buy a Gibson made after the mid aughts.
When they see the same defects on a Squiere: "Yeah, it's asian so it's a shit guitar". But on a Gibson it "adds personality to the guitar".
A flaw? In a Gibson family product? You DON'T SAY!!!!!
Also, locking tuners should be standard on all guitars over 500 dollars....
The biggest flaw with these is the price.
Hear hear! I was all set to order one and that price put me right off.
@@stug5041 I’m not a huge Mustaine fan but I am a (pre-Gibson) Kramer guy and I’m thoroughly upset with what they’re doing to the brand.
YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!! A China guitar for 2k as affordable is ridiculous. Without the Kramer name(aka Gibson) it would be from a good Chinese guitar maker 5 or 6 hundred bucks. Like i said, ridiculous. Canadian prices
Hi!!!
Sadly now it's an expectation
Glenn is like the young beginner guitarist discovering pinch harmonics and incorporating it into everything. Which I'm here for! I was the same way lol, but hearing a lot of improvement!
Immolation is probably his favourite band
Ya pinch harmonics for him is like "baby learns a new word" lmao
I mean look at Zakk Wylde though. No disrespect to him whatsoever as a disclaimer, I love Zakk
He also does it as a test, how easy it is to do them - i.e. playability of the instrument
@@xNachtmahRxWell, it’s my favourite band :D
Epiphone WAS the way to go over the last few years as they started producing insanely good guitars for under $900 msrp. Now that they've hyped the brand up and backed it up with great guitars they are asking much more for them. I got the Brent Hinds V and the 2nd gen Iommi SG for under $800 each and except for a tuner swap on the SG and a pro setup on both they are flawless guitars that play and sound spectacular.
Man I'm bummed out you got a flawed Kramer. Love mine and was hoping you would have had the same experience. It seems like when ordering one online nowadays. It's a hit or miss. Appreciate and respect your honesty.
Same!!! i love my sliver one alongside my Dean
I’ve got the green one and it’s amazing. Bit pricey but I can’t find a cooler looking V with a case in the price point. I’d also add that I’ve played this rough at 3 shows and it stays in tune VERY well.
Got one, too. I like it.
Zach! What's up 😂
Agreed on the Prophecy V Mustaine. It’s nothing more than a regular Prophecy with a different headstock and the Mustaine logo.
It should be a 1100/1200 guitar at best.
Im still pretty new to this kind of stuff, so thanks Glenn for telling all of us whats good and whats complete shit
Glenn reminds me of someone’s aunt who yells at kids, pinches their cheeks, gives them old stale candy, and tells them to go outside and play.
And that nobody in the family invites over for reunions but always seems to show up anyway..lol
I love the hockey stick headstock on the classic V shape. I'd have to go with the Mustaine Prophecy just because of the headstock
I was tempted by the ESP DV8 Mustaine V, back in the day. These new V's...not so much. I doubt they would play as awesome, and have the superb balance that my old Schecter V has.
with all the Mustaine models having fretwork issues perhaps this is just how Dave likes em....
No, you're paying $1299 . $1000 for the guitar and $299 for Dave.
After I set mine up, it came alive. Guitar rips. I have the alien tech green. Expensive yeah but, it’s really nice. I don’t have any of the issues you mentioned. Maybe I got lucky. It’s a cool guitar.
Love the shout out and appreciation you show to Gear street, high integrity move from a high integrity guy. Sorry you have to deal with all these production failings but it’s so normal in production that it’s oddly comforting watching you evolve through them and hold your standard in tact without sacrificing 🤘🏼🤘🏼 that said always rooting for you and never rooting for the hardships so hopefully Sweetwater listens, that’ll be a huge QOL upgrade, they seem pretty great about trying to do what they’re doing right.
dude, this guy is just a miserable reviewer.... ive watched 4-5 videos on these guitars i own and hes way off. LOL for example this guitar only things i could "complain about" is price ofcourse and the action when i got it from factory was a little high for my liking... everything else was spot on.... ebony fretboard, SD thrash factprs. grover tuners, comfy neck like the gibson..., finish,frets,neck are all spot on lol .... watch other reviews of this guitar and others this guy reviews and youll see "hating " is his whole shtick ....
@@sleevelessace k. I’d be bummed if I had to do a setup on a 1k+ guitar, the last one I got for less then that came in flawless so sorry to hear you had to deal with that. From shows like this sounds like that’s more common than you’d think. Personally I’d be bothered by that but if you’re not good on you. His reviews are annoying as shit but he’s honest about it and when I see comments like yours I kinda understand what drove him nuts. The guitar community has been forever elitist cultish snobbery over spending the most and hiding as much as possible. I’ll take annoying accessible transparency over that 10/10 times.
I'm kinda puzzled by people complaining about the price though. 1850CAD for a neckthrough guitar, 24 frets ebony fingerboard, 2 seymour duncans with the actual dave mustaine sig, quality tuners AND an actual hardcase, not the cheap ones you get from Jackson and ibanez when you buy a 2700CAD+ guitar. I don't know what more people want for that price point spec wise. Sincerely asking.
Also worthy of note for some, is that the regular Prophecy V uses the original '58 body style and the Mustaine uses the '67/current Gibby USA body. Some folks may not care, but me personally I do not like the '58 body. That said, $1500 for an epiphone (Mustaine or no) is too rich for my blood when I can find several higher-grade guitars (including Gibson USA) on the used market for within a few hundred USD (a quick Google search pulled up 10 used Gibson USAs between $1099 and $1499 today 3/31/24).
I bought a Kramer Pacer about a year ago. I regret it. One of the saddles stripped about a week into playing it, and it just won't stay in tune. I'll probably end up selling it.
I bought a Pacer Classic and in order for me to be able to use it effectively, I have to change the pickups, switch and pots. The pickups are okay but I want Invaders in there. The pots came scratchy and the neck pickup volume pot was busted when I got it. Great QC there, Gibby.
Own the green one. Do not have any tuning or fret wire issues. Paint was great. Got a small ding in the case from shipping. However, I DID need to adjust the action. It was too high. Guitar plays well. But I own a 2019 model of the LTD Arrow in Violet Andromeda. Got it used for under $1000 with a case. And the Arrow is a superior guitar. One of if not THE best playing guitar I have.
Best guitars in terms of consistent quality are the LTD lines they truly always are great
Same can be said for Ibanez - IMHO.
Both LTD and Ibanez have given me lot's of trouble with their Indo built junk. South Korean and Japanese lines have been stellar tho
A Mustaine sig with Fishman pickups?
I traded for one of these in green. It doesn't have any issues or flaws. It sounds and plays damn nice. I really want to get the ltd arrow or maybe a Solar V in the future.
The only artist model I would buy and continue to buy is the LTD James Hetfield Snakebyte, Iron Cross and Vulture series. This may be my fan bias with ESP/LTD guitars, but those blow most guitars out of the water (again my opinion). While the Mustaine Vs are cool, meh...... Like you said in the video, why not just get the normal prophecy? Unless you really want the name attached to it.
I’m a vulture owner and had to return my first one due to build issues that were bad enough to send it back. Prices for the Kramer are ridiculous but the new white hetfield vulture are 1600😳
For me, it would probably be a SC607B or an AW7B, but even then, for that money, I might as well just save up for a 7 string Strandberg or something. Fanned Frets, ergonomic design, and they're light as a feather, which is great for my ever deteriorating back.
The only Hetfield artist model guitar I've ever played was the ESP grass roots Explorer back when they came out and they were the sort of guitar that you had to adapt to rather than just immediately feel right in your hands and to play.
I'd had a Jackson Randy Rhoads, a PRS and a 71 Flying V amongst many others prior to playing this, so I had quite a bit of experience but they were a strange thing.
I'd like to own one now just as a curiosity more than anything. Doubt there's many out there tbh.
Hey Glen. Been enjoying the guitar vids lately. Any chance we could get some vids on the great basses that have been released in the last couple years? Anything from Warwick, Spector or Dingwall. They've all been putting out some stellar instruments .
And rip them a new one! So many basses are too over hyped when you're better off spending money on a decent Yamaha.
@@JimrJams Any recommendations for Yamaha basses?
Did you stretch the strings?
Mustaine used to have Kahler systems on some of his guitars back in the day. Would definitely be cool if they'd have done a model with one of those, since they're few and far between on production models. Besides, Kahlers are Hella good floating terms when paired with a Floyd, not to mention, much easier to maintain
Dave's Kahlers were a fixed bridge on those models, and they have since discontinued that particular bridge.
@@rybones1311 modern Kahlers look similar and can still be locked down.
And like I said, it'd be cool to see something that isn't a "high output dual humbuckers with tunomatic/Floyd"-guitar
@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 Sure you can lock down a Kahler but you will still need to route the body. Dave's Kahler was flat and screwed down without routing a hole in the guitar.
@@Albee213 if it's factory, then what's the problem?
@@wilhelmtheconquerer6214 is that they no longer make the flat mount model. It sucks.
Shark tooth frets on a $120 guitar is to be expected, but on a $1200 guitar that won't stay in tune. Completely unacceptable.
Do not expect guitars with that kind of headstock shape to stay in tune. At least not without a locking nut and a locking bridge. There is a reason if the majority of HT Jackson models adopted the new 3+3 headstock style.
At the risk of being highlighted with one of those high pitch voice overdubs.. Glenn, ive watched your channel for years now, and the content is great.
The one thing that gets me is your playing. Its as elegant as some of your rants. Peace and love!
i got a kramer baretta special few months back... had some sprouting frets i couldn't fix (without buying tools i don't want to buy)... but it's a budget guitar and its still super cool. but yeah, no way on a 1300 buck guitar... no gosh darn way!
My 10 year old LTD V-300 > This brandy new DM Kramer V. Fight me.
Now *that* looks like a guitar Dave Mustaine would play.
honestly im amazed any guitar comes without locking these days they dont even actually cost that much more on the manufactures end and i honestly think i might take some generic locking tuners over basic grovers or the likes
I dig the Kyuss t-shirt. Blues for the Red Sun was a good album.
My Kramer jersey star stays in tune very good, its have a Floyd Rose and it's almost flawless in quality. It has even a better quality than my EVH Wolfgang who doesn't stay in tune till I made an up grade in the Floyd Rose. UF upgrades are awesome.
The only things I didn't like about my JS are the Pickups and the tuning machines (they made the job but I'm a bit picky haha, I swap for Gotoh tuning machines)
It's very sad that Gibson still having those big quality issues. Nice video.
I have two modern Nightswans. The first one was perfect, so much that I bought a second one, which doesn't feel quite as nice. It sounds like we both got a good one!
It does look pretty sweet. I have fretting tools.
Pretty decent reviews of all the V's recently. Word of advice to Gibson/Epiphone/Kramer. If your gonna mark signature models up that much over standard offerings, at least have the sense to improve specs enough to offset the cost. Signature models definitely aren't my thing, and are rarely worth it. The one exception to this recently was the Adam Jones sig from Epiphone. $1299 seems like a great deal for one considering where the prices have gone since then. When I found out they included a chainsaw hardcase, it was the icing on the cake.
Agreed! I got the Adam Jones Epiphone and couldn’t be happier. It also has a long neck tenon which most Gibsons don’t even come with. I’m okay with higher prices BUT the guitar has to show some legit spec upgrades to justify it.
Did you pre stretch the new strings before you tuned it? I hate gibson but
Glenns guitar face is somewhere between this fart really is next level and when someone puts finger marks on something valuable you now regret letting them hold.
Respectively, You may need to use different string stretching and tuning techniques... Always tune up to pitch and push up or down as much as you can on the string with your right hand at the picking position, and with the left hand bend in the opposite direction as much as you can then move to the next fret... do all frets and tune to pitch, repeat twice and move down a string...do this until your strings are stable... this should help alot, as for QC thats just a bummer
Been enjoying these honest no bullshit reviews since I subscribed, what are the chances you'll review a Wylde audio Barbarian?
Spectre! Love your channel. Is there any way to mimic feedback with amp sims? I was thinking about just recording feedback from my amp and then just using the amp sims for everything else. Or is there someway I could artifically mimic it?
Looks great, but no turning stability for this price? A big no-no :(
Hey Glenn, are you still planning on buying a Jackson King V to see where their quality is these days?
I’m surprised Sweetwater allowed him to do a fearless gear review in their facilities with their inventory!
they know Gibson simps will ignore him anyway. Which is sad cause Glenn's work to unveil corporate crap is really helpful for real musician consumers.
Sweetwater have dropped the ball in recent years so they don’t care about Glen doing what he does. Their inspections of the gear coming in are getting more and more lazy. They just ship things out even with issues and flaws. Last ESP E-II I got from Sweetwater had issues, how it got through their inspection is beyond me.
@@GlobalTossPot I’ve never liked Sweetwater. I ordered an Ibanez Rgd3127 a few years back, and they outright refused to do a set up for it when I offered more money to them. The guitar broke which required me to send it back for an exchange. They offered a free setup, but failed to set it up as I asked for, plus used too light string gauges so I had to learn how to do setup a guitar myself.
@@DecadenceSWM33 they’ve gotten worst over the years, unfortunately. Back in 2016-18 they were great and always offered pretty good deals when you’d call up to order. Now they’re pretty stingy on even giving out 5% discounts. And the inspections actually meant something.
But that’s weird, usually during their inspection they setup the guitar up anyways. You just have to pay more to have your preferred action, tuning etc. just goes to show how terrible they’ve gotten
I cant wait till glen finds out you can do pinch harmonics with an up stroke as well!
I just moved to the Hawaii big island WHERE ARE MY METALHEADS?!
Take it with a grain of salt but don't fall into the only downstrokes pit trap.
I know its unpopular but alternate/economical picking is amazing and once you start to find your groove with it it will open up worlds of playing for ya :)
Downstrokes have a nice rounded chuggy sound but upstrokes with a bit of feeling (and muting)have like a mustain'y / sid vicious angsty sneer to them, just different kind of feeling for the palette . sorry for my terrible descriptions hope it makes a bit of sense.
I bought one of the budget model Dean Dave Mustaine Vs with the hardshell case for $100 off a kid from Craigslist in 2010. I don't think it retailed for over $300 brand new. That guitar was well built for what it was. I had bought a Dean ZX new for $250 a year before and both guitars played great. The pick-ups weren't the best but I played a ton of shows with both. Fast forward to 2016 and I bought another ZX since I had liked the other one so much. It was JUNK!!! You could feel the cheapness from the tuners to the volume and tone knobs. I gave it away. Bought a brand new harshell case with it as well and it came with stitching coming out of it. Called customer service about the poor quality and they pretty much laughed at me. So when I heard Gibson was suing Dean for copyright infringements. I loved it. Then Dave switched to Gibson and the Dinebag estate left Dean and I loved that even more. But the prices of these Dave Mustaine signature Gibson models are ridiculous.
I'm sorry, I want a tighter neck heel at that price. My Arrow 200 with a set neck has the same ergos as that. I think you can get a 1000 for that price, body-through and probably a better neck and fret work. And maybe a Floyd.
I bought one of these and it took 3 tries to get one even ok to keep. The 1st 2 I got from guitar center and they both were horrible. I do like the the guitar, and I will keep the one I bought from Sweetwater but it is gonna take alot of work to be right
The angle is extreme between the nut and the tuners. IMO a locking nut is required for that head stock.
From both a Player's and a Luthier's POV: I hate headstocks designs that don't allow a STRAIGHT string path. I don't care how cool they look, they suck when it comes to keeping the said guitar in TUNE, and when you gig or do studio work, this is a PAIN.
I thought sweetwater does an inspection before you get the guitar right!?
Charging $1000 or more for Chinese, or Indonesian guitars is total bullshit. I have 6 Indonesian built guitars and have 8 Korean built guitars. Each Korean guitar has been impeccable with perfect fretwork and perfect tuning. No issues ever with hardware or tuning Stability. 6 Schecter's, and 2 LTD's. Every single Indonesian guitar I own have been a ton of work to make them good. Every one of them got fret sprout so bad, that they would nearly cut your skin, and have had small QC issues like loose pots, intonation nowhere close, and terrible tuners. The Indo guitars are Ibanez, Schecter, LTD, Harley Benton, and Jackson so I know it isn't a brand thing, it's a factory thing. I refuse to buy any guitar made in China, and I'm soon to say the same for Indonesian guitars too. They are selling $400 guitars for $1200-$1500 dollars. What the actual fuck? For that price make they better make sure they are proper before leaving the factory. The last LTD EC1000 Deluxe took $150 of setup and fret repair on top of the $1200 price tag. Complete BULLSHIT in my opinion. Time to step it up for those prices.
Why would you get a Kramer without a Floyd anyway? It is, after all, the brand most associated with the Floyd Rose system out there. I have two of the new Nightswan models, and whilst I've seen some good and some not-so-good ones, I got really lucky with one of them.
The only thing this has in common with the 80’s stuff is the name. This marketing BS. I’m still playing my Kramer Pacer I bought in ‘86.
@@seancorker5815 I own several vintage Kramers. The first Nightswan I got impressed me enough that I sold a late-era Baretta 1 and got a second one.
You don’t put a Floyd on a signature guitar of someone who doesn’t use one ,that’d be more assanine then the price
Ibanez (;
@@talltale9760 No, not even close. I don't know how things went down after 1991, when Kramer first shut their doors, but up to that point Ibanez produced exactly zero guitars with an official Floyd Rose out the door, since Kramer had a worldwide licence for it. The same goes for Jackson, Charvel etc. It is true that Ibanez have a few licenced designs that have become kind of popular in their own right.
BTS squad! 🤣👍 Appreciate the appreciation for us at GS 🤘🔥 See you soon!
@spectresound do you know if the Kramer mustaine V is the same measurements as the Dean VMNT body, asking because trying to find a case that will work for my Dean
Fretwork is the #1 reason to get a premium guitar 🎸
If not even those come with a flawless neck, it’s not even worth it anymore 😂😂
Agreed. That's why it's a great and rewarding skill to learn yourself. Recently I've turned some real shitter guitars into very good instruments.
Genesis RG550. Damn good fret job for $1,000
awesome demonstration. great guitar playing.
I have a VMNT Fear from Dean and I love it.
0:40 is exactly how I feel every time I sit down to record haha
I got the green one, because I'm a sucker for bright ass guitars. I don't have an issue with tuning on it, and no fret issues. My issues: the action was way too high, the V plate at the bottom definitely has a minor buzz to it through the speaker whenever you play, and the price of the guitar. The fact that it's $1300 and has inconsistent quality between different guitars is pretty egregious.
If you want a cool pointy V, get a Jackson.
No filter reviews are best reviews. Love your recommendations to SW on having pre-setup studios with staff. But lets not forget, they just a small startup in the music business ...
How to make a fantastic sound like that plug-in a guitar into a computer??
The regular Prophecy comes with locking tuners Glenn, so yeah it's all that extra money for the Mustaine signature
Yeah the Gibson String on the Dave Mustaine Kramer totally suck. Lol
I recently got Dave Mustaine Kramer in limited edition Alien Tech Green finish and I absolutely loved it aside from the Gibson strings it comes with..
Thanks for going through the trouble and EXPENSE of giving these guitars a critical review. To much over priced gear out there and no shortage of dummies that buy it.
Max price I'd ever pay for a Chinese or Indonesian made guitar is $1,000 USD.
And even then, I'd expect custom shop specs.
I had a similar experience with the Charlie Parra model. I really wanted to love it. it looks awesome, but it just failed quality control. tooling marks, shitty fret work, crap components. They didn't even bother to blow the sawdust out of the pickup routs. after investing in a fret level and dress, tuners, and a respectable bridge, and a set up, it is finally playable. For the money I laid out, I should have just bought another LTD Arrow.
I just can't relate to a Mustaine V without the sharkfin fretboard inlays, that's mandatory. Then again, Kramer is not Jackson...
This. For my money, Megadeth were best on their first 4 albums, and the gear was BC Rich early on (notorious for going out of tune), and then Jackson. If they had other gear I don't recall it, they certainly could have, but I find Kramer to be an odd choice too: I don't associate Mustaine and Megastench with Kramer. But a Jackson V with inlays, and that dopey leather jacket with the foot long fringe, that screams Mustaine and Mega.
@@amandahuginkiss6868 Yeah! I always have the images from "Hangar 18" and onward in my mind's eye you know, it's legendary. When Mustaine sold all of his guitars I actually thought of buying one, but then again, prices...I guess the Kramer move is a strategical one, pretty much like artists going for Epiphone or LTD signature guitars. It makes it much more affordable for the consumers and just the sheer amount of guitars sold is worth it, economically.
Lol! Glenn started slow, but got going! 😂😂❤
This guy is great, I belive every word out of his mouth. So cool he isnt some schill
Plan on spending an additional $100-$150 on any Gibson (and apparently imports as well) for a set up, fret filing, and nut filing. Is it bullshit for the price they are asking? 100%. But if you've decided that the Kramer or Epiphone Mustaines are your guitar, then suck it up and have your guitar tech make them right. You're already overspending by $400-$500, so please just overspend a little more and be happy. Or get the LTD and be happy right away for less money. They all sound killer.
The main issue for me is the price. Epiphone has always been an affordable brand that delivered great guitar under the thousand dollar mark. Many signatures like the zakk wylde one, bjorn gelotte and all the prophecy line were amazing guitars for 800-900$ that could rival LTD and schecters, sadly the prices are going up but the quality is not on par…these are great 900$ guitars, but for 1400 you re much better off with a top of the line solar or LTD
Thanks for being HONEST.
Yeah I totally agree on the Kramers! Got the Alien Tech Green and it was a disaster out of the box 👎
Mine was as well. Sent it back.
@@Angelo-fo8de I should've sent mine back. I took it to Guitar Center and had them set it up. After I got the Guitar back home, Gibson finally emailed me back 2.5 weeks later...
gibson group cant be slacking around with quality like this, just because they sell north of 2k+ guitars doesnt mean that a 1200 dollar guitar is a budget guitar that doesnt deserve the same quality control. They gotta step it up.
They are cool but the price is too much i would go with a jackson js32
Really loving that distortion you have. 🤘🎸🤘
awesome Epiphone..they are just killing it ..oh and those Dave models come with a nice case the others don't ..so another reason for price hike...just really loving Epiphones products of late.
Tuning stability their brand new strengths people kill me with this stuff.
Wtf are you talking about bro?! These Kramers kick ass!! I don’t know what you got but the green one I got fn slays! I love the paint job, love the ebony fret board with well done frets, have zero tuning issues and the Thrash factor pickups sound kick ass! It’s instant Megadeth tone.. wtf did Dave do to you bro, or Gibson.. you obviously are holding a grudge man.. I can see knocking the $2700 shitty Gibson but this Kramer fn kicks ass! So does the Charlie Parra Vanguard! So does the Snake Sabo Baretta!
Hmmm, tuning instability and finish flaws? Who owns Kramer? I wonder.
No way in hell I got a Firefly FFLG that has beautiful fret work. I did not have to do anything and it stays in tune for $200. WTF Kramer?
I have the black prophecy v and its absolutely amazing
Can you test the Jim Root Charvel?
every time i want to consider an epiphone or gibson or kramer product i come here to have my hopes shattered just so i can go back to window shopping for PRS SEs
as much as i love vs and explorers and all of those unique gibson shapes, i would rather have a guitar made with good craftmanship instead of the cheapest factory a company could find
Glenn! We need a full video of the new bass plugin! Please
Will you be able to get your hands on the Gibson Richie Faulkner Flying V Custom, Pelham Blue - and see if it's really worth the $6.9k price tag?
I'm sure he will ve able to do that. After all what is 6 grand to Glenn he is probably a millionaire by now.
Thanks for saving me the money after seeing your reviews on all the dave guitars the normal prophecy Vs are the better option
I bought this guitar from sweetwater and there was glue sticking out all over the fretboard and I had to pay a tech to cut if all off. And yeah the strings were straight trash.
I could expect input jack issues with that placement, even though it looks like it's angled. When will these V-makers come to reality and stop putting the input where these guitars sit on the leg?
The Prophesy V isn't that much more expensive than the Mustaine Prophesy V. If you are a gigging musician, then you will want a hardshell case, which would be an additional $200-$300. The Mustaine Prophesy V comes with a hardshell case, so that is one less expense. The difference is about $300, which isn't bad considering that it's a signature model. Of course, that price difference is for the consumer to figure out if it's worth it or not.
I love how he goes with the same color 😂like it’s gonna get better love mustaine to death tho
I don't think there would be a possibility but if there would be one. I want you to review Richie Faulkner's G*bson Flying V. That crap costs 7 grant! Only 100 were made and they are already sold-out, but still... would be nice to see your review.
I like these guitars, and lots of the new epiphones, but they are just too expensive. Heck even Gibson's 80s models are too over priced, and they don't have the extra specs such as binding or the carved logo for the headstock like other Gibson models at that price.
But the regular prophecy does´t look as good as body wise as the mustaine one
thanks for being honest
Bought a kramer recently and it was just littered with QA issues
hey glenn, wanted to know how the ele 2.0 drum plugin update is going and if you have a rough timeframe of when it may release. thanks!