Rockwood Drum Kit by Hohner

I was looking for a basic drum set for a gift for someone, and found these. I figured the price was okay and since they're associated with a well-known name (Hohner) I couldn't go wrong by buying them.

Hohner also sells Sonor drums, and the Rockwood drums were discontinued at some point in the late 90s, from what I gather. Anyway, they're no vintage Slingerlands, but for home jamming and even for just-for-fun gigging, these will do fine. The set uses the same hardware as Pearl sets, so it's easy to find new lug casings, etc. In fact, I ordered a few extra pieces, just in case.

The reso heads were all original thin clear heads of unknown origin; so were both bass heads. At some point, someone had replaced the rest of the heads (snare and 3 toms) with Remo Weatherking Coated Emperors. I've replaced all of the heads except the reso bass head with Aquarian Modern Vintage ii (for the batter heads) and Aquarian Modern Vintage mediums for the reso heads. I replaced the snare side with an Aquarian Hi-Performance snare side head.

The result: this set sounds great! I play swing/big band/old rock & roll and I have to say that the sound is absolutely perfect and full, just like it should be. I can't find anything to complain about. I'm going to put some real skins on them and see how that sounds. I may use this set for playing out; it's better than taking a hard-to-find, valuable vintage set out of the house. If you're looking for a practical set and don't care about paying for a specific name, then get these for a good price, slap some decent heads on them, tune them right and have fun.