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View Full Version : Saw my first Visions!

skywalker2
05-04-2007, 11:17 AM
so i missed work yesterday, and decided to go to guitar center in charlotte, (which is still a bit of a drive for me, living in salisbury makes it about an hour drive.), and lo and behold, i find a visions!

it was a color that to this day i have not seen in person (be it on an export or not.), gun metal sparkle. whoo what a color! now i have one more thing to ponder before making my (eventual) purchase!

on to the drums themselves. Although i didn't get to play them, (they were stacked up) i got to inspect them very well, and finally got to get some 'hands on' experience, without it being really hands on. (as far as playing goes.)

I don't think i mind iss so much on these, but 2.3 rims is something i will defintely invest in. Even so, the chrome on the drums was top notch and the build quality was so so good! everything was super sturdy, and it wasn't just a sort of 'new drumset' sturdiness...no these drums are super beefy and weighty, something that never came across on my pacific fxr birch, despite its nice looks.


the lugs are GORGEOUS! the brass recievers set them off superbly, and the woodgrain(inside of shell, it was not a lacquer, but a wrap) is very nice as well. The bass drum spurs are great: no one will mistake this for an export, they are significantly beefier than the export spurs, and maybe a notch under the old sessions.

Ironcobra made a commment on how weighty the bass drum is; its totally true. Its very heavy and oozes quality all over the place! I knocked it a few times....good god, this bass drum sounds so much better than its price would suggest! I preferred the sound of it to a diamond dust starclassic performer and to the green burst smx they had on the floor!

The snare looks great! Almost like the reg spec sensitiones, and the lugs are a bit nicer 'looking' on these. The shell itself is a little thin (1.0 vs 1.2 mm) but it was weighty and great for a snare that comes stock with the kit.

I did not get to see any 900 series hardware, as this was just a shell pack, but for 599 it was awesome! I really wished they had the 900 series though, just so i could get some up close looks. (the employee who was 'assisting' me said that they didn't come with hardware, which was good because according to him, its not as sturdy as he would like it, and could do better by selling me some pacific stands. :rolleyes: needless to say, i just smiled and nodded. :D He certainly had some chops tho....i think nowadays its more likely to get hired at a music store if you play well, but don't know crap. I wish it was the other way around!)

all in all, this kit looks great, the bass drum was a murderer, and the whole packaged looks tough to beat. Not only has the pearl export been replaced, it has been surpassed in every sense of the word.

Amazing job pearl. I'll be saving up.
Genius Switch
05-04-2007, 11:35 AM
Pacific stands? What a sleeze! He's probably never touched the 900 series or any other Pearl hardware since, according to slipknot1, PDP has the better profit margin.

But yeah the kick drums on all the Visions I've played sounded incredible.
AL PERCIVAL
05-04-2007, 12:05 PM
Pacific stands? What a sleeze! He's probably never touched the 900 series or any other Pearl hardware since, according to slipknot1, PDP has the better profit margin.

But yeah the kick drums on all the Visions I've played sounded incredible.

which is why they breakup the shell packs and offer the PDP hardware instead of the 900 that come with the packages.
skywalker2
05-04-2007, 12:05 PM
Pacific stands? What a sleeze! He's probably never touched the 900 series or any other Pearl hardware since, according to slipknot1, PDP has the better profit margin.

But yeah the kick drums on all the Visions I've played sounded incredible.


oh totally! he kept going on about how the best kit in the visions price range was the pacific mx maple, which i think they actually do sound good, and i do like my fxr, but the visions is so much more sturdy, the kick was much nicer, the stock heads blow the pacifics away and the hardware on pdps is well...less than stellar. its fairly cheap, but thats all it has going for it. Its ok, but defintely not deserving of 'its better than the 900 series' no not at all.

I compared 3 kits, the mx, visions and a ddrum pocket maple, he said he'd take the mx, then the visions, and then then the ddrums. (which were very nice looking, but had a subpar build quality about them.)

he didn't seem very knowledgable at all, i'd ask about a kit, his reply was 'its awesome, we sell a lot of em.'

:rolleyes: big time.

but yes the kit was very nice, and i simply cannot wait to get my hands on one! unless i get a killer deal on some sessions, this is the kit. actually even if i do get a good deal on the sessions, i think id still have second thoughts!
skywalker2
05-04-2007, 12:06 PM
which is why they breakup the shell packs and offer the PDP hardware instead of the 900 that come with the packages.

thats exactly what it sounded like! he even made it seem like there is no particular hardware that is exclusive to the visions line!
AL PERCIVAL
05-04-2007, 12:12 PM
thats exactly what it sounded like! he even made it seem like there is no particular hardware that is exclusive to the visions line!

Yep, just so ya all know, each Vision shell pack comes with:
2-TH900, BC-900, C-900, P-900, H-900 and a S-900.

Sadly, alot of the retailers break them up for profit margin.
AL PERCIVAL
05-04-2007, 12:16 PM
But I have to agree with you, the first Vision kick drum I heard even with the stock protone heads, sounded deep, phat and punchy with no muffling what-so-ever. I particularly like the sound of the 16x16 floor tom. They really are a well-made quality and affordable kit.
skywalker2
05-04-2007, 12:37 PM
Yep, just so ya all know, each Vision shell pack comes with:
2-TH900, BC-900, C-900, P-900, H-900 and a S-900.

Sadly, alot of the retailers break them up for profit margin.

this does stink, but if i do find a kit in the store that has the shell pack i want (22x18, 10,12,16,14) then i'll just go for it and maybe get a 1k series hardware pack from interstate music or something. That way i know i wont be losing out on hardware, even if it does cost a bit more in the end.

I wish i could have seen the floor tom, the shell pack i saw was a fusion the 14 inch mounted tom.
PureRockFury
05-04-2007, 01:04 PM
and the woodgrain(inside of shell, it was not a lacquer, but a wrap) is very nice as well.

What do you mean by that?

Are you trying to say the inside of the shell isn't the natural wood grain?
KickassDrummer
05-04-2007, 01:51 PM
What do you mean by that?

Are you trying to say the inside of the shell isn't the natural wood grain?

No, he's saying that because the kit was wrapped, he couldn't see the wood grain on the outside, so he looked on the inside :)
PureRockFury
05-04-2007, 04:50 PM
No, he's saying that because the kit was wrapped, he couldn't see the wood grain on the outside, so he looked on the inside :)

Ah I was kinda wondering about that...
jeremiah
05-04-2007, 06:34 PM
I was at the same store a few weeks back checking out that kit. I didn't really care for the finish or the fusion sizes, but the drums were impressive for the price. These will probally be my next set as well.
Mr.BoJangles
05-04-2007, 09:01 PM
So, if they don't include the hw package, does that mean you don't spend as much, or do they charge the same amount but dont include the hw?
KickassDrummer
05-04-2007, 09:11 PM
So, if they don't include the hw package, does that mean you don't spend as much, or do they charge the same amount but dont include the hw?

From what I've seen, you spend a bit less but certainly not the full value of the hardware pack subtracted from the total price. They put the hardware pack aside and kick the price up on it, or split the pack up into individual pieces and jack those up.
CatBoy75
05-06-2007, 03:10 AM
The 900 hardware is really solid, don't go for the PDP stuff PLEASE!

I saw a VSX kit at a shop here in town and the attention to detail and quality really impressed me. The rubber gaskets on the lugs and badges, the floor tom leg mounts, the kick drum spurs, all solid and well made.

There are a lot of features you'd see on a top line kit on the Visions. Sheesh, I sound like a salesman! Anyway, they do look really amazing. I want to see (and hear) a VLX Black Fade kit in the "standard" sizes before I commit to anything, but man, these drums impressed the heck out of me.
kari_convention
05-07-2007, 03:37 AM
this thread is useless without pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
skywalker2
05-07-2007, 10:08 AM
The 900 hardware is really solid, don't go for the PDP stuff PLEASE!

I saw a VSX kit at a shop here in town and the attention to detail and quality really impressed me. The rubber gaskets on the lugs and badges, the floor tom leg mounts, the kick drum spurs, all solid and well made.

There are a lot of features you'd see on a top line kit on the Visions. Sheesh, I sound like a salesman! Anyway, they do look really amazing. I want to see (and hear) a VLX Black Fade kit in the "standard" sizes before I commit to anything, but man, these drums impressed the heck out of me.

don't worry, next time i get hardware, its not going to be bargain pdp stuff, but resonably priced 900 series.
skywalker2
05-07-2007, 10:10 AM
this thread is useless without pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:( in know, i'm sorry! i only had my camera phone at the time and it didn't occur to me to snap a few.

having said that, it was not in the most amazing position, just the toms stacked on top of each other and the bass standing in its normal position.

I loved the finish, if i go with a wrap, it'll be either gun metal sparkle or strata white. I just hope that by the time i do get one, they will not have thrown other colors in for me to have to narrow it down all over again! (but that would be a good problem.)
skywalker2
05-07-2007, 10:12 AM
So, if they don't include the hw package, does that mean you don't spend as much, or do they charge the same amount but dont include the hw?

the drums themselves were 599, which yes, is cheaper than they are with the hardware...but even if they don't jack up prices, buying it seperately will always end up costing you more.

The only pre-made pearl hardware pack i've ever seen is a 1k series pack that comes with the pedal, hi hat, snare stand, straight stand and a boom stand. I've never seen it less than $400 bucks.
skywalker2
05-07-2007, 10:12 AM
No, he's saying that because the kit was wrapped, he couldn't see the wood grain on the outside, so he looked on the inside :)


thanks, thats what i meant.