Nice Vision review in July MD mag

[CatBoy75]

There's a really nice review of the Pearl VSX in the new Modern Drummer magazine (July). Check it out.

[Genius Switch]

too bad they listed the VLX as being 100% birch. not once, but twice.

[CatBoy75]

I saw that mistake about the "all birch" VLX too. How weird!too bad they listed the VLX as being 100% birch. not once, but twice.

[weldrum]

well, So much for that review!

[skywalker2]

is it on their website or just in the mag?

[samuraideli27]

maybe a little off topic..but has MD ever reviewed the reference series? i stopped getting the magazine 6 months ago.

[The Dorian]

That sucks. Now alot of people will have the mindset of 100% birch, then they'll be disappointed when they hear otherwise.

[AL PERCIVAL]

too bad they listed the VLX as being 100% birch. not once, but twice.

They did the same thing with their review of the Tama Superstar. Guess they have a one track mind. :D

[Azielgoh]

Probably hinting to Pearl something :D

[skywalker2]

ha true. But then again, i doubt that those couple plies of basswood are just HORRIBLY bringing the sound down...if people get that dissapointed they can buy a an m birch, and pay more for not as nice hardware (shell and non shell)

[MattKeaton]

They did the same thing with their review of the Tama Superstar. Guess they have a one track mind. :D

The Morgan Rose video completely misrepresents the product... As far as I can tell HE only mentions birch as well... :confused:

[ebuzzcut]

maybe a little off topic..but has MD ever reviewed the reference series? i stopped getting the magazine 6 months ago.

I know DRUM! did, but not sure about MD.

[skywalker2]

i finally read the review; sounded pretty good, but a bit generic. lots of 'tunes up easily' 'sounds great' kinda stuff. they loved the hardware too.


found it funny on the 'all-birch' comment. apparently all birch shells are exclusive to the vlx, since vsx has they bass/birch comob. ;)

[1337Drummer]

i finally read the review; sounded pretty good, but a bit generic. lots of 'tunes up easily' 'sounds great' kinda stuff. they loved the hardware too.


found it funny on the 'all-birch' comment. apparently all birch shells are exclusive to the vlx, since vsx has they bass/birch comob. ;)

That is correct my friend. A bit of a compromise imo but fair enough!

[skywalker2]

yeah, this seems to be an issue with a lot of drum magaiznes; i was reading DRUM! and a subscriber sent them a letter saying that all their reviews were starting to sound very generic, 'toms sounded very fat, punchy bass, nice finish' kind of crap.

their best defense was, 'in our latest review, you'll find that our reviewer found the tom mounts on this particular kit 'a bit difficult' to use. See? we are not watering down anything!"


yeah, whatever.

[SMX_Dizzy]

I saw that mistake about the "all birch" VLX too. How weird!
and I saw the VLX as "all birch" in a Pearl ADVERTISEMENT, too.

[skywalker2]

/\/\
wow really? was it in a magazine?

[jeremiah]

and I saw the VLX as "all birch" in a Pearl ADVERTISEMENT, too.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Sneaky advertising. They don't actually list them as being all birch they just neglect to mention the basswood.

"The only drums with the revolutionary sound of 6/8 SST Birch shells."

[skywalker2]

hmm...kinda sneaky. But then again, when it comes down to sound, it looks like the visions might as well be an sbx, since the sound is so damn close.

[Mista Bob]

Was talking to a guy at a Long and McQuade here the other week.
He was talking about how he greatly disliked how Pearl was advertising the Vision series drums. That it seemed like they are trying to misrepresent them as 100% birch shells.
So that peeved him off a bit, but he makes sure before anyone buys one that they know its a birch/basswood shell.

Would be nice if Pearl didn't try to "hide" the fact that there is basswood in the shell.
Even if they aren't trying to do that, it certainly seems that way.
Myself I see nothing wrong with their being basswood in the shells.
My personal opinion is that basswood complements birch nicely in a shell.
Or it seems that way anyways with all the birch/basswood drums I've played.

[skywalker2]

/\/\

weird, if the customers liked the way they sounded, does it really matter if they are all birch or not?

I can see it now: they play the set, love it, he tells them its not 'all' birch and there is basswood in em. And suddenly they don't like the kit. I hate people like this. if it sounds good get it, don't base your purchase on specs alone.


I think the basswood complements birch shells nicely as well.

[AL PERCIVAL]

I don't think Pearl has purposely tried to misrepresent the Vision series in any fashion. All our Lit says Birch/Basswood, our price lists state Vision 6/8 ply birch/basswood and our website even states the following:

"Pearl’s 60 years of acoustic research has proven that the interior plies of the shell are the key influence to the overall sonic characteristic of the drum. Vision Series exploits this knowlege to the fullest by using two unique shell recipes of Birch and Basswood. Birch offers a resilent tightly bound network of cells that tend to accelerate rebounding sound waves making it perfect where mid to high frequencies are desired. Basswood provides a slightly softer cellulouse composition which tends to slow the sound waves thus promoting mid to low frequency response. By adjusting the overall balance of one ingredient to the other allows a fine tuning of frequency response much like our Reference Series." .

Every dealer we have a Vision kit represented in knows the makeup of the shell composite.

I agree with skywalker2, if the customer likes the sound, it shouldn't matter if it is a kit comprised of basswood, maple, birch, walnut, oak, beech etc......

[skywalker2]

to echo what al said, i 've never seen any literature from pearl saying it was all birch.

only from reviewers such as modern drummer has that ever been said.

[1337Drummer]

They actually did mention the Vision Drums being Birch/Basswood, saying something like "The VSX sets come with birch/basswood shells and a covered finish, and VLX sets come with all birch shells and a lacquered finish." The kit they reviewed was a VLX so thats why they said "all birch shells".

[AL PERCIVAL]

When we go out to each store that is represented with Pearl products, there is "alot of behind the scene" stuff the average consumer never hears about. We spend lots of time and money (well spent IMHO) on educating dealers about all our products, beit drums, percussion, hardware, Marching percussion, ADAMS, the R&D that went into the decision making of design, shell construction, shell composite, finshing process, right down to the nuts and bolts feature of our hardware design.

[Genius Switch]

I just played a Vision VSX today at Guitar Center. The stock heads were beat to crap, but they honestly sounded awesome. I played it more than any other kit in the room. The kick drum is massive, the toms were bright and full sounding, and the snare was crisp and sensitive. Who cares if they have basswood in the shells.

[skywalker2]

/\/\
exactly, kits like the visions and superstars really need some more respect for what they are capable of.

[skywalker2]

They actually did mention the Vision Drums being Birch/Basswood, saying something like "The VSX sets come with birch/basswood shells and a covered finish, and VLX sets come with all birch shells and a lacquered finish." The kit they reviewed was a VLX so thats why they said "all birch shells".



true, but that does not change the fact that the vlx has the same exact shells as the vsx. they were just under the impression that the more expensive lacqured kit was all birch. But its not.