Your latest gear review!

[drumsolo86]

It's a brand new year 2010. I thought I'll start a new thread here where people can check out reviews of the latest gear that local drummers acquired lately. Pictures, videos would be the most welcomed. Snares, cymbals, hardware, drum kits - everything's welcomed! It'll be good if you can include where you got your gear as well.

Let's make this an informative thread for local drummers and aspire more to working towards good gear eventually!
I'll start the ball rolling.

Recent acquisition of mine - Ludwig Acrolite 404 (14x5)

I think some of the drummers in our local community only hear of Yamaha, Pearl and Tama drums but ignore that there are so many fantastic drum-makers out there - Gretsch, Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers.... Anyway, the Acrolite is a famous student drum that originated in the 1960s all the way till the 1980s.

Its shell is made out of a thin piece of aluminium, making it very lightweight to carry around. The sound is dry and warmer compared to its brass and steel compatriots. Mine is a 1969 keystone version and comes with the P-83 strainer.

Oh by the way, I got this from Ebay. Acrolites run for 75-150 US for the acrolites with blue and olive badges and bit pricer in the 200 US region for the keystone versions.

If you're wondering how it sounds like, there is this Youtube user with a well-tuned acrolite which sounds extremely close to what it is like in real life: (The kit is not mic-ed up and sound captured with an overhead mic I think)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCTQyThkFWY&feature=related

Here are the pictures:

(You can see the pale yellow keystone badge in this one)

More reviews to come!

 

[drumsolo86]

I saw a post on this, and I thought I'll put up a review for all those who are interested.

It's a DW practice kit. It comes with 4 rubber pads, 2 in a 8" size and the other two pads in a 10", I think. You can see it in the pictures below. The rubber pads stand up to humidity and are made of durable material. Its white so it tends to get dirty easily.

The kit comes with a rubber pad section for the bass pedal. Anyway, the bass pedal is not included. (and stop spelling pedal as 'paddle'. Sorry I had to say that, super irritating!)

I think this item runs for about US160, but I got this 2nd hand off from Ebay as well for about 100 US. (does not include shipping)

 

[johannlow]

Sounds good!

 

[drumsolo86]

Alright man, now we need people to self-lessly contribute otherwise this thread is going to be pointless.

What better reply to have than in the form of a review!

 

[drumsolo86]

It's damn hard to keep this thread alive if no one bothers to add on to the thread or if you have dumb people posting in the wrong section. Anyway I've got some new gear that came and check out the pictures and reviews.

Pearl Maple Soprano Snare 12x7
- 8ply 100% Maple Shell
- Triple flange hoops
- 6 lugs

When I first hit the snare, I was not used to the sound! High-crack it has and it's my first 12" snare and the whole 7"depth of it. Lots of body as well and certainly can be used as a main snare if you wanted it.
By turning the snares off, it functions well as a timbale or tom (12x7") if you think about it.

Fantastic!

 

[drumsolo86]

Wanted to share this new ride I've picked up yesterday as well. 20" HHX Legacy ride.

For those not familiar with the Legacy line, it's the darker line that Dave Weckl came up with Sabian after the Evolutions came out. I got this off Ebay.

It's dark, with the stick sound staying on top of a dark wash. It doesn't get drowned out while playing 8th notes and I can see this doing veryll we a club ride. It's very crashable as well. On top of that, it's got an amazing bell to boot as well.

 

[alvyn]

Not a very recent purchase lah, but recent enough to qualify I guess!

18" Istanbul Dark Crash:

Aesthetically pleasing with nice hammering marks spread across the bow. The lathing makes it look a little cheap, not sure why too but maybe its just my perception.... but the sound more than makes up for it.

Metalheads gotta stay away from this baby though.. it isn't as explosive or cutting as other crashes - nice warm attack with dark trashy decay. It works fantastic for buildups and works well under low vol situations too.

I wouldn't recommend you getting it as your main crash, but as an aux or 2nd crash, go for it! It's pretty cheap too... $280 from the shop in Bras Besah complex... can't rmb the name though!

And my NEWEST purchase... the Pearl drum key.

Fantastic balance and great profile. Aesthetically pleasing too. The smooth metal was well, smooth and well balanced for turns. I tried turning it at small increments, and larger increments, and this drum key worked well in both situations.

Highly recommended as your main drum key.

 

[alvinthedrummer]

My new 22" Turkish Zephryos Ride:

It has very clear sticking but yet has the characteristics of a thin ride so it doesn't sound pingy like heavy rides. At the same time, the wash is controlled and very warm and becos it's thin, it's very crashable...to me, it's my perfect ride now. Very versatile...fits in totally in a jazz gig and totally suitable for rock too (the bell really cuts)...I use it for for everything now...

 

[drumsolo86]

Encouraging to see busy drum tutors like Alvin come in and do a review on the latest gear he's using! And alvyn too, my drum buddy from NUS!

Cheers guys, more input from everybody!

I've got a new kit coming up in bop sizes and review to come on that one as well hopefully tis wkend!

Happy CNY people!

 

[alvyn]

Encouraging to see busy drum tutors like Alvin come in and do a review on the latest gear he's using! And alvyn too, my drum buddy from NUS!

Cheers guys, more input from everybody!

I've got a new kit coming up in bop sizes and review to come on that one as well hopefully tis wkend!

Happy CNY people!

Grr I am going to break into your house and steal your snare so you have no snare to play with your new kit.

 

[Mr. Mouse]

drumsolo86, how much is the dw practice kit including shipping in singapore dollars? And how's the kit? I might be getting one myself but I can't find it anywhere in SG.

 

[Laquish]

An 21" AA Dry ride that i bought from drum_hobbyist yesterday.
Heard that it's out of production already? Not sure of it though.
I'm very fond of this ride, it is very well defined and has a clear sounding bell. Doesn't sound crashable to me though. But still, this is one of the favourite rides that i've tried so far.

 

[Уå†h™]

my pearl eliminators. shipped in from usa 400 without shippng. 550 with. very smooth pedal. too smooth still trying to get used to it.

 

[alvinthedrummer]

Oh no....why didn't you try local shops? I can get it for $500 flat!!

 

[Уå†h™]

Went to swee lee and the person said won't have till April.. Oh man..

 

[mel80]

Jimmy Chamberlin signature snare review

The Smashing Pumpkins was a band I grew up listening to a lot. So naturally, Jimmy Chamberlin is one of my drum heroes. I always loved his drum tone and I wanted a solid steel snare as my primary snare. Hence, I made the purchase. Worth every single cent spent, I must say.

Specs:
14” x 5.5” Matte Chrome steel shell
Chrome Maple Custom style Lugs
Dual snare tension adjustment
3mm aluminum die-cast hoops

I slapped on a Remo Coated Ambassador head (Chamberlin uses it as well).

This snare has great projection and a nice resonance to it. I ever had an engineer complain that my snare resonated too much and insisted that I tape up the skin. But that's the beauty of the snare, in my humble opinion. It has a nice ring to the tone. Taping it up would spoil the beauty of its tone!

It is a versatile snare, where it can fit in nicely in both loud rock music as well as softer music. A sensitive snare as well, as I personally love how the ghost notes sound on it. Its versatility is proven as Jimmy Chamberlin used the same snare for both his rocking sets with Smashing Pumpkins, as well as his fusion band The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex.

A friend who tried on my snare commented that this snare has a "natural EQ-ed tone". The snare retains its tuning well too. I find that I don't have to tune it much even after playing on it for hours or kept it in its case for a week, unlike some other snares.

Personally, I can't live without this snare. I bring it for every jam session and recording!

Curious how it sounds like? Here is roughly how it sounds like, although youtube's sound compression doesn't really do the snare enough justice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBshMoEEQYw

 

[ge3k]

my baby demon.

The Pearl Demon Drive P-3000D (Single Pedal).

Hmmmm... where do i start?

First and foremost its the only drum pedal which can be converted from a longboard to a shortboard. (correct me if i'm wrong)

Its a direct-drive pedal hence has no lag unlike chain-driven pedals.

Firstly, what i like most about this pedal is the ease of customizing the pedal. All you need most of the time is the key which comes with the pedal. And the settings stay in place, so i can just put the pedal into the carrying case and bring it anywhere. I never leave the pedal at home even when jamming. Cant bear to play on the studio pedals.

Second, this pedal is almost silent. You won't hear the creaks which comes from some of the chain-driven pedals.

Third, i think its one of the cheaper direct-drive pedals when compared to Axis ($1200 for double pedals) or PDP's Boa (about $500 for a single pedal).

Anyway what bothered me at first with the demon drive is the "light" feel of the pedal. During drum lessons, i use my teacher's Iron Cobra Power Glide, which i feel has a more solid feel. What won me over was how the pedal responds. There's no lag. FYI: My drum teacher uses a demon drive too.

In conclusion: The Pearl Demon Drive is a better value for money direct drive pedal. But not for people who want a more solid feel for their pedals.

 

[2dmax]

I don't have any new gear, but I want to share a recording of my snare drum. I just bought a measurement mic for other purposes but I thought it would be nice to test it on my snare drum. I plan to record more snare drums depending on what I can borrow from friends =S

The setup is nothing fancy, just a Behringer ECM 8000 aimed at the batter head -> M-Audio Fast Track -> Adobe Audition.
There's no compression and only corrective EQ from my calibration file is used.
For the snare drum, it's a single-ply 14x6.5" Pearl maple snare drum with an Evans EC Revese Dot Snare on top and 300 Hazy Snare below.



Recording:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/yyvmtdkgnh5/Pearl PHM1465.mp3

The recording is not as dynamic as in real life, it's actually softer and louder (with some nice reverberation) on certain parts. The snare wires' (three, in fact) responses are very sensitive at all volumes, and the drum has good resonance and gives a long and pleasing ring.

 

[2dmax]

I tested out a friend's snare drum. This time it's a 14x5" Pearl Sensitone Elite. It has a Remo CS-Controlled Sound on top and an Ambassador Snare below. Before I record, I usually check out the tension at all positions then even it out to the highest tension. Like this:


It's not really worth the time to achieve exact tension all around. As long as it sounds consistent, it's good to go. And then placement like this:


With this position, the mic gain is turned all the way down. A heavy rimshot can still clip the signal. Since there are many reviews of this snare drum as it's a popular and recommended model, I'll just let my recording do the talking instead.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mztyfkhnzmc

The sound is pretty different from my snare drum above. How the different specs contribute to the difference in sound is anyone's guess. It doesn't ring as long, it's deader and the snares aren't as responsive. Although the fundamental pitch between the snare drums is more or less the same, this drum sounds a lot brighter because it has more energy in the presence region, as the higher-order harmonics are more pronounced than my snare drum. Plus, the snare wires are brighter.

 

[drumsolo86]

I really like how mel80 and 2dmax did their reviews. Very informative.

I was never into hardware and I always thought it always fine getting by on cheapo-hardware but they rust very quickly and not as trustworthy as the ones I got from Gibraltar. I bought these cymbal stands - Gibraltar 8609 and Gibraltar 8610.

These are light-weight, flat-based cymbal stands. They come with several features different from the usual cymbal stand and contary to popular belief, they will hold up your cymbals just fine. In cases where you take your hardware out for gigs, you will want to get some of these.
The best feature I really like is the brake tilter which prevents cymbal slipping. You can see in some of the pictures. Other than the standard tilter, there is this little screw which holds the cymbal in its place even when the standard tiler is not engaged. The same mechanism is found at the legs as well.

Another feature is the flat-based legs. Since it doesn't open up like normal stands do, they allow you to put the stand practically anywhere (close to the bass drum). Been wanting to set your ride cymbal really close to your bass drum? now you can! I really love these stands and they're much cost-worthy than the DW versions. I have no idea experience with the DW so I cant really compare.