Pearl Rhythm Traveler

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I paid $399 for this set plus 35 to ship from M123. Others with free ship didn't have the unit in stock. I love playing drums but hate toting them. I don't play often but started up again recently, so I thought I would try this set that can pretty much collapse into a couple of bags to carry. I've played the set out already and people who see it, dig the hell out of it including me. I don't buy into the line about 'not using this set to play out', that's bull and indicative of a typical drummers ego. These play just fine. The forward toms have a timbale sound which is okay. The floor tom needed a more deadened head and the bass drum heads needed to be changed to those REMO dampening heads because it did ring too much. I don't even use the snare, since I bought an even SMALLER one, the Pearl 1040 10" Piccolo-- which is a gas! The whole thing is cool to set up so small which is great when you play in cramped quarters. The hardware is okay but the hi-hat doesn't have a stop detent to keep the tube from slipping in hard play. The pedal is good. But I do agree that the open bottoms of the drums could have used a bit more dressing up. All in all, I like this set and it's fun as hell to play on.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this kit from the Newcastle Drum Centre around 2 years ago for about £400.


I like the portability of the drums, they are quick and easy to set up and look good as a kit (esp in black).

All of the drums sit inside two bags, the toms fit inside each other and rest on the bass drum, whilst the snare and drum stool head fit more snugly in another bag.

You can almost carry your whole kit in one go!

The bass drum is only 20" and the sound from it is a bit lightweight.

It's a bit of a chore to change the batter heads to mesh heads and back again if you want to practice and then play live, but this can be made alot quicker and easier with a drum key adapter for an electric screwdriver!

Quality is very good as you would expect from Pearl but you need to get used to the high pitch on the toms.

Good kit especially for those who don't have much space.
Good for practice as the mesh heads do make a sound (unlike practice pads) but it does not carry through walls.
Great portability - fits into 2 bags plus hardware and cymbals.
Would even make a good serious juniors kit given the size and weight of it.
The only rival I see is the Arbiter Flats range - esp since they have introduced a "Lites" version now.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this used via eBay for $380, which included an A. Zildjian crash/ride cym.; Zildjian Edge crash, and 14" Pearl hi-hat cymbals plus an old Ludwig boom stand.

I played drums semi-professionally many years ago and missed playing. I picked this set because I probably won't be playing it outside my living room and wanted something compact but complete.

The hardware is quite decent and the drum shells are fundamentally sound and are capable of very good sound. But you need to swap the original heads to bring them to their potential. I like the tonal ranges of the toms. It's easy to get consistent volume and tone across the set. I like the looks, and the hardware made to hold full-size double-headed toms holds these 5" deep single-headed ones with ease and minimal wobble.
I like the hi-hat. This is Pearl's bottom-of-the-line stands, pedal, and hi-hat, and most of it's 'way better than the hardware that came on my vintage 1965 Ludwig SuperClassic outfit (but the SpeedKing pedal was better).

I with the bass and snare had 8 lugs instead of 6. It would be nice to have on the 14" tom but hasn't gotten in the way of tuning it well. The stock pedal is OK but not great, and doesn't clamp to the bass rim well. I recommend putting a little sliver of wood or plastic in the recess of the bass hoop where the pedal clamps it to eliminate wobble. I put a platform-style pedal on it and it doesn't wobble at all now.

As I said, the heads don't bring out the best in the drums. I now have a Remo Powerstroke 3 on the snare, Remo Power Dots on the 10" and 12" toms, and a Remo Ebony Pinstripe on the 14" tom. Evans hydraulic on the batter side of the bass, Ebony Powerstroke with 7" sound hole on the front head. Now the thing sounds great and this gives far better thump out of the bass than you'd think you could get from an 8" deep model.


I really have no complaints except the pedal that doesn't clamp well to the hoop. The rest of the hardware is very solid and positive, and stays put. The shells have a fundamentally good sound that produce more sound than you'd ever suspect from a shallow-shell single-head design.

Properly tuned to its operating range, the snare drum can sound very good, but my Ludwig Supraphonic spoiled me, so I'm getting a Pearl Chad Smith Signature for the snare. This will lend far more tuning range and resonance to the snare. This snare plus the platform pedal, and I'd have no hesitation to play it out. It'd be a great coffeehouse drumset.

It's not heavily built and it doesn't have maple shells like the expensive stuff, but I think the mahogany shells work well for these sizes because it adds some resonance where the shell sizes might lack it. This set might not wound as good in maple as it does with the stock shells.


This is a very well-thought-out compact set. I've messed around on the Remo Legero and the Pacific compact sets, and I like the fundamental sound, concept, and layout of the Pearl the best. The overall quality is good enough that I mostly yearned for a better pedal (or at least a better pedal-bass hoop connection). The right heads make this set very musical.

I am very pleased with this set. My Ludwig SuperClassic had a wonderful sound, but this little set sounds very similar when you put on the right heads.

I highly recommend it for beginners, for a practice set, and for frequent gigging in small venues. Also for old farts like me who yearn for a drumset again and want something that won't crowd and beat everyone out of the house.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

$399 at Guitar Center. I live in a tiny apartment (seriously, its definitely smaller than wherever you live) and I hadn't played drums for a while due to that fact. I got the kit to get back into drumming.



I really do like the feel of the drums. They definitely feel very real, and I was able to get my chops back in order after a long break. The small footprint of the set is also a huge plus in my aforementioned tiny apartment.


I also planned to get some triggers and turn this into an electronic kit.




Here we go:


Snare drum never sounded very good. The mesh head just doesn't get the snares to react properly. Usually just a muddy buzz sound. Much better for practice with the snares off.


The practice cymbals are a complete joke. I had to buy some Pintech CrossTrainers, which are full size, just to get something close to real feel.


I got these to be silent, and if you just hit the heads, they are. But the rims are as loud as any regular drums; Pearl should have included some rubber rim silencers.


You are told that the toms nest together, but they really don't. The tom mount hardware prevents them from really nesting. You don't really save that much more space over a regular acoustic kit.




The quality of the hardware is quite good for the price, but the memory locks don't fit snug into their slots, so the bass-mounted toms wobble anyway. I had to put the floor tom in a snare stand to get it to stay up. The shells seem nice, but they seem unfinished. Some plastic or rubber rings around the bottom would very much improve the look of the set and prevent the splintering of the wood which happened on my kit.



A good kit for learning maybe, but for a serious drummer, no way. It isn't expandable, and I'd never play it live. You'd be much better off either buying an elecronic kit (if you can afford it and need to practice silently) or an entry level acoustic kit. You'll be able to use it as you get better, and they make mesh heads now if sound is an issue.


To make a very long story short, I had mine for a month and then sold it.




This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com