Drum Sets

(Originally written by Benou1977/translated from Audiofanzine FR) I've owned this drum kit for over 2 years with the following setup: 22, 8, 10, 12, 13, 16 plus the snare of the old series. I like its sound. Toms: quite round and warm sound (maple) Bass drum: great!!! It's the best of the whole kit!! Perfect big sound! Snare: quite inaccurate sound. It's the weakest element of the kit, but it's still playable ! And it's normal since you can't expect an excellent snare when you buy a complete drum kit. Accessories: good! Sturdy. Finish: nice autumn high gloss. Value for money: great!! You get a complete semi-professional instrument for an affordable price!!! I would definitely buy it again since it would be difficult to find a better product in this price range!!!

I had the black version of the Imperialstar but you can also purchase it in Red and Blue. I used it for about 3 months and the reason that I purchase this set was just to have a set of drums at home that I could practice with. The tone of these drums is amazing, it is nice and warm and for this price I didn’t expect to get that. This is a complete system that comes with everything you need to work with it right way. It did require some assembly when it arrived at my doorstep which was long, extensive and gave me a headache putting everything together. It comes with the hi hats, crash and cymbals too but of course nothing was put together on the stands. So it took me some time to get it all together but it was worth the headache. The finish on the drums is all black which was fine for me because I am not a fanatic when it comes to color on drums especially since they were going to be my practice set. The kick pedal feels great, Tama has always made some really good kick pedals that come with their basic kits. The bass drum is 18 x 22 with the floor tom being 14 x16 and two mounted tomes 8 x10 and 9 x 12. The snare drum is a standard 5 x 14 and sounds great for it to be this cheaply priced. For a practice set, it had everything that I needed and the sound was incredible. I would not suggest getting this set if you are going to be recording your drum tracks with it though because I do not feel like it is that good to put out some master songs with. But if you want to invest a little more look into some of the higher end Tama kits. They are really good!

Bought the set(BD, 3 Rack Toms, 2 Floor Toms)new in Canada. Took just over 4 months for the custom ordered sizes, and color, Crimson Fade, with brushed nickel hardeware, to arrive. As to be expected. Top quality, rich warm sound, with a good high end attack due to the cast rims. Starcast mounts do a very good job isolating the shell from the stand hardware. The drums sound awesome, and they are beautiful to look at. So far, nothing with the drums themselves, although the packaging was poor. They each came in a plastic bag in a box. Not really any other type of cushioning. One tom had been dropped, or hit, and the cast rim was severely bent, requiring a new one... not in stock in North America, so another 3 months for that. They are well made, have perfect bearing edges, and finish is impeccable. The laquer job is equal to the best you will find anywhere. Expensive as hell, and had to wait forever(plus now having to wait for a rim), but they are top of the line drums, and you get what you pay for. Highly recommended. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased this set, with an extra 10" tom for around $1800 off of interstatemusic.com This kit is great. Yamaha makes very good products. The toms have a good amount of warmth, while still packing some punch. The bass sounds HUGE for such a little kit. And the snare has a wide tuning range, very versatile. It comes with single braced hardware, which somehow is remarkably sturdy. The whole thing packs up into a couple bags so you can get it to your car in 2 trips max! Although, very portable, the bags become very heavy. And the bags aren't very well made (the seems on mine are beginning to come apart). I've also had a couple problems with the tom mounts. I wasn't able to get them in exactly the right place for my liking, not a big deal though. Generally built very well. The Birch/Mahogany shells have a great sound. Overall, this is an awsome kit for the drummer who has a couple gigs a night, or somone that wants a very good quality kit that is compact and sturdy, at a reasonably affordable price. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Bought on ebay several years ago for $585 US. 4 piece no hardware, no snare. The sound is excellent, especially with aquarian coated studio-x heads. I still have yet to replace the premier resonator heads but they will have to go soon-they are pretty crummy. The finish is beautiful. My kit is a tobacco fade laquer. It is also easier to play (for me) as the sizes are smaller-20" bass drum, 10 and 12" rack toms, and 14" hanging floor tom. I like the hanging floor tom because it gives me a little more versatility in where I can place it, and opens up the sound more. I am also not worried about it tipping over as long as I have it mounted to a boom stand. At first, I liked the low mass lugs but upon closer inspection and tuning I realized that they seemed to be "buzzing" a bit. I am planning on removing all of the hardware from the shells to isolate the noises and then dampen them so this shouldn't be a problem. I also don't like the tom mount shaft. It is way too long for me and goes down into the bass drum for about a foot. The tom arms are ok, though, with a ball and socket joint to provide the most minute adjustments. The construction is very good. The XPK's are made up of about 40% birch (outer and inner plies) and about 60% eucalyptus (middle plies). At first this bothered me a little but after doing the research I found that some custom drum makers use eucalyptus as a tone wood and attest to its strength and durability. The construction of the individual plies themselves is also very well done; looking at the drum from the bearing edges and the inside, the drums look and feel very solid. I have no worries about playing this set for a very long time. This is an excellent kit for the money. Yeah, there are better kits out there, but you might have to sacrafice an arm to get one. If you need to stay within a budget (under 800 used is the current price), Premier is the way to go. I only think they are cheap because not a lot of people know about them and I don't think guitar center carries much premier stuff if any. I see a lot of premier kits on stage as well so I am confident they would hold up to gigging. 4/5 for value, construction, and sound. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Ludwig Accent is a decent entry level kit. Ludwig is one of the most notable drum companies with a strong track record of great kits and famous drummers who played them. It is safe to say that they will never put out a bad product. That being said, the Ludwig Accent is most definitely one of their lower end products. An extremely common kit, I have played on multiple Accent setups with the stock hardware. In my opinion, this drum kit has a good value. There are some entry level kits that are better, such as the Yamaha Rydeen or the Gretsch Catalina Birch, but there are others that are a lot worse. There are different sizes this kit is offered in, but in general I feel like the toms and bass drum are large. Even the snare drum is a few inches deeper than most entry level snares. Some people may find this appealing, but I think it is a little overambitious. The sheer size makes this kit slightly less versatile and the toms are more difficult to tune. The drums do produce an excellent volume, as well as having characteristics best suited to rock music. The juniper and mahogany shells are pretty deep and have decently warm character. The tom mounts and lugs were typical low end material, not good but not bad. The hi hat stand, bass drum pedal and cymbal stand that come with the kid are decent. The bass drum pedal especially is pretty comfortable and responsive, though I have a soft spot for low end pedals. The cymbal stands are adequate but could be sturdier. Of course, it is difficult to be critical of an entry level drumkit such as this. The Ludwig Accent does not disappoint. It is not my favorite, but it is still very good and it offers an excellent value. To a great extent, it is all up to personal preference. People who invest in the Ludwig Accent will not regret it.

The Pearl Forum is my least favorite entry level kit. I have had many bad experiences with this model, and I regret to admit that at one time I had one of these in my house. The sound is bad, the hardware is low quality, the shells don't look good, and wost of all, there are many better options out there. The pearl forum starts the Pearl drumset lines. This is a shame because it can give a really bad impression of a very solid drum company. First, the toms don't sound good. I don't even know what kind of wood it is made from because their website didn't say. The toms sounded pretty bad, and the snare was terrible. The bass drum was the best part, but that might have been because it was muffled. The hardware was very low quality. I was playing a gig on a pearl forum one time in high school and the snare clamp totally fell of the drum. The snare hardware literally fell apart, and i wasn't even striking it hard. The lugs are few in number, making it difficult to tune the toms and especially the snare. The look of it is pretty boring, with substandard coated shells. Overall, this kit screams entry level. of course, if you can get a good deal on a Forum than go for it, it isn't that bad. It is acceptable for a practice kit, but not much else. I would never take this to a gig. Not much unlike the Pearl Export, the worst thing about this is the value when other comperable models are considered. The Yamaha Rydeen is a much better choice for an entry level set. Look at other reviews, and they will show this.

I have owned this set for about four years and I can say without a doubt that this is one of the best drum sets ever made. If you're looking for a fat, huge sound, the Yamaha Maple Customs are the way to go. First big plus- the snare drum. When tuned just right this drum gets that disgusting snap reminiscent of Sting era Vinnie Colaiuta. This may be due to the 7ply x 7mm. Construction- versus most 6ply x 6mm. Shells. The Bass drum sound is extremely fat. It features a 10 ply 10mm. Maple shells. This is really amazing when you compare it to the industry standard of 7ply 7mm. Shells. At 10x10mm. The maple custom comes up with 100mm of shell versus everyone else's 49mm (7x7mm.) shells- You're literally getting just over twice as much drum. All this makes for a seriously unbelievable sound but brings these drums only true drawback- they're freakin heavy! If you're looking for a set to throw around town this is not it- a 22 inch bass drum in a hard case will pretty much kill your back as I can attest to. (If you've got to case them up and throw them around- for the bass get a hard case with no foam padding and a soft case. Put the drum in the soft case to throw around town and then put the soft case in the hard case for tours and such). One thing I'd like to say about these drums is that they sound very different from the 'Maple Custom Absolutes.' I have a friend with the same drums in the 'Absolute' series and they don't resonate as well. The biggest difference is the snare drum- I even borrowed his for a week to see if I could get the same sound as my snare drum and I just couldn't get it. His drum was a little darker and just didn't have the same synergistic pop through the whole drum that I get with the 'Male Custom' snare (14x5.5). Its not a HUGE difference, but in my opinion if you're going to invest in a set of drums at this high end, go all out and get the sound you're looking for, otherwise you'll be left with yet another drum that ALMOST gets the sound you're looking for but not quite. Another great feature of these drums is that they're REALLY loud. I frequently play these drums behind a very loud, highly amplified, special event party band. I play without micing them and I never have any problem playing over the group. These drums also retain they're tunings remarkably well (even after I play with the aforementioned group!). I very rarely have to re-tune because my drums pitches have dropped. The snare drum is especially good about this- I almost never have to touch it unless I just want a different sound. I have a 16x16 floor tom I've converted to a bass drum on this kit to play in jazz situations instead of the 22x16 and it sounds okay. These drums are much better suited (in my opinion) towards getting good rock and roll/funk/r&b sounds and volume level than acoustic jazz situations (piano trio, etc.). Honestly they just ring too long and have too bright a sound. Not a bad jazz set- but they really aren't optimum in my opinion. These drums are expensive, but in my eyes are the TOP of the line, rivaled only by the Yamaha Recording Custom drums, and are well worth every penny.

This tobacco-to-natural finished 14" maple-shelled PDP snare was part of a trashy parts kit I picked up for a rehearsal space. The kit has long been replaced but the snare stayed, it sounds so good I've used it to record (play Rock Star by Greg Clarke + The Madvarks). Pacific Drum Company ("PDP") is a budget Drum Workshop brand, and the MX series was made in Ensenada, Mexico. The core is a 14" x 5" 8-ply maple shell stamped November 4, 2005. It has 8 DW TruePitch tuning lugs per side, which have a finer thread pitch than conventional lugs, and a DW-style throw-off. I replaced the 20-strand steel strainer (which had a broken strand) with brass and it came with a plain old Remo Ambassador head that I've just replaced. I've kept the original snare-side head, it's pretty standard. This snare tunes and sounds great from low to high pitches. I keep it fairly high and snappy, and it has a really small but sweet amount of natural ring, making it ideal for 60's rock or swing. A bit of damping, whether a ring or gel dot, makes it a punchy rock snare. I honestly never throught I'd keep it around as long as I have, but it's hard to beat its versatility, it's light to move around, and sure won't attract the thieves. If you see one with an intact shell and a working throw-off for a decent price I would not hesitate to grab it. The True-pitch tuning lugs are the only "specialty" part here and should be available at any DW dealer. The rest can be fixed or upgraded and you'll have yourself a great-sounding snare quite literally for a song.

I always wanted a US made Ludwig drum set. I purchased a Ludwig Keystone Powerbeat, 22X17, 12X8, 16X16 and 14X51/2 in Granite Glitter. It looked great out of the box. However, when I went to check the lugs were tight against the shell I noticed that 2 on the snare drum had a gap between the lug and the shell. I took the head off to tighten the screw, but was unable to. I took the lug off but was unable to get the screw properly into the lug. There was a problem with internal thread on the lug. The retailer changed out the lugs for me, and the new lugs went on fine. The kit came with a QC certificate signed by an employee. Clearly he/she hadn't inspected the snare drum properly. The overall finish was just OK on the bearing edges and several of the lugs were only loosely screwed in place to the shells. I was disappointed that such an iconic drum manufacturer could be so sloppy with the assembly of their drums. I would advise anybody looking to purchase a Ludwig USA drum set to check the assembly carefully. The drums do sound good, especially the bass drum. The small tom was more difficult to tune than I expected, and I suspect the bearing edge is not perfect. Overall a good sounding drum kit, bit a bit more attention to assembly and QC would help improve overall quality.

I came across this kit when I was searching the net for 'something else'. Having grown tired of the usual brands with all their series ranging from ridiculously expensive to 'why did you produce this crap quality' of drum kits. This kit was offered for a reasonable price and, after doing some research on the names Salmieri and Prodipe, I thought I should take a look. I did buy the kit and I have not been disappointed. The Bass (22') is closed and has a distinctive sound, it is very loud, but in a musical way. It can be tuned very low and it still sounds good. The snare (14') is fine to work with: solid sound. No surprises there. The toms (10' and 12') are my favorite: I love them! The choice of wood used in this kit (sapele) really pays out with these guys! There are two floortoms (14' and 16') of which the 14' could have been left out, it does not add anything to this kit in my opinion. The 16' floor is great, no comments. Furthermore: the hardware that comes with it is okay, but not high end. Particularly not that fond of the hi-hat stand and snare stand. Overall: great kit which I use a lot in different styles of music. Good value for money (if bought second hand) and good looking!. If you take the good parts (leave out the 14' floor) and add some good hardware it will last you a life time.

This drumkit fits every music style ! I've hade it since 2000 and never left it ! It's a rare model, to be found on the second-hand market now ! Very easy to transport and disassemble, never had any problem with the hardware, it's sturdy and well-finished! Soundwise - huh, it's the sound of an open tom but it leans towards beautiful tones and it always surprises people who hear it for the first time! The kick really kicks hard, especially if you're after big lows! Pros: this REMO doesn't pale to low- or even mid-range kits! Cons: its production ceased in the end of the 1990s, a pity! Neither Pearl or other models copied on it are up to par with it, if you find one don't hesitate and get it at once! ;)