Quixat
03-19-2005, 10:53 PM
Just Curious when the drum magazine reviews will hit the shelves?
Well here's a fake one for the impatient like me, complete with the obligatory "the guitar player even said how much he loved the sound of these drums" line. :D
Pearl has come up with a new high-end set of drums named the Reference Series. Each drum has been individually engineered for optimal sound and Pearl says they are the most acoustically advanced drums in the world. Pearl Drums has been making their high-end Masterworks custom drum sets for the last 5 years and from that experience they have created what they consider as the optimum design for a drum kit.
Reference Series drums use Birch, Maple, and African Mahogany woods along with a combination of bearing edges. The Reference Series 12" toms are composed of 6 plies of Maple and are the only single wood shell in the series. The 10" and 8" toms have 4 plies of Maple with 2 inner plies of Birch. The 13" and smaller toms have a rounded 45° bearing edge. Beginning with the 13" tom and larger, Mahogany is added to the inner plies. The 14" toms and larger have fully rounded bearing edges for more shell contact. The 18" and 20" bass drums use 4 inner plies of Mahogany with 2 outer plies of Maple. As the size of the bass drums increase, so does the amount of Mahogany. The 22" and 24" bass drums incorporate 6 inner plies of Mahogany surrounded by 2 outer plies of Maple.
What I Got. This review kit had 10”, 12”, and a 14” suspended toms with an eight-ply ten-lug 22" x 18" bass drum, and an ten-lug 14" x 5" snare. These drums have very thin shells (7.5mm) with rounded 45-degree bearing edges. This type of bearing edge offers maximum sustain from a drum and allows lower tension tuning than a standard edge. The net result is a wider tuning range from the drums, with slightly deeper tones available from the toms.
The bearing edges were very smooth and posed no difficulty to me when tuning these drums. The bass drum has rubber feet with retractable spikes so the spurs will secure the drum to whatever surface you find yourself on. All the toms are hung from resonance enhancing opti-mount suspension-style tom arms.
The drums I was sent came in a beautiful Purple Craze finish that was flawless. I found it more towards the dark blue than the purple end of a color wheel and liked the color a lot. The Reference Series kits feature die cast hoops and Masterworks style lugs which separate from the shell for easy head changes.
Pearl sent the drums with Remo drumheads all around. Coated ambassadors are on the top of the toms, and Clear ambassadors sat underneath. A coated ambassador was on top of the snare with an ambassador resonant snare-side head. The bass drum had a Remo Powerstroke 3 bass drum head with a single-ply resonant black Pearl logo head. The logo head was solid leaving you the option of porting the head or not. I didn't use a pillow since the drum sounded great without it.
Hardware. The kit came with superb hardware. All the hardware was very adjustable and heavy duty, which is good for a hard hitter like me. This versatility was appreciated when I had to set up the drums on a shallow stage. The Eliminator pedals worked well too, and the interchangeable cams are a great feature. These kits are available as "shell packs," sans hardware, or drums can be ordered individually.
Sound. I used the kit on a couple of gigs and received several compliments on their sound. The bass player on one gig raved about how much he liked the bass drum versus the kick on my regular kit. Drat! The snare had a sharp dry tone and at 14" x 5" is a good all-around drum size. It's crisp and biting, and has a strong woody sound you'd expect from a 20 ply snare. The rim click was super bright and loud enough to cut through the band. I found that the new strainer knob’s locking system worked fine and held the snares where I set them.
I liked the toms a lot. They sang and had good note separation. The fullness of the toms was amazing, and all had a smooth, warm tone. There is no tom mount on the bass drum. I could have mounted the toms from the cymbal stands via clamps, but instead chose to go with a Pearl DR501C rack which fit the three toms perfectly.
The Verdict. Without a doubt these are incredible sounding drums. While the selection of finishes is narrow, they all look excellent. If the finish choices aren’t exactly to your liking and you're hesitating, I found that there are additional color choices "in the pipeline," that should be available around the end of the year. I really enjoyed reviewing and playing this set of drums, my only gripe is that Pearl wants me to send them back! No doubt metal heads, rockers and jazz cats will all love the sound of this kit. This is a great new option for drummers looking for the best sounding “out of the box” kit.
Details, Details
Model: Pearl Reference Series Drum Kit
List Price: $5600.00 drums and hardware, shell pack $4200.00
Sizes: 18 x 22-inch bass drum, 11 x 14-inch, 9 x 12-inch, and 8 x 10-inch suspended toms, 5 x 14 snare drum.
Shells: Drums feature Maple, Maple/Mahogany, Maple/Birch wood combos. Six, Eight, and Twenty ply shells with 45 degree, rounded 45 degree, or fully rounded bearing edges.
Finishes: Root Beer Fade, Scarlet Fade, Purple Craze, Copperfire Sparkle, Twilight Fade, Granite Sparkle
Heads: Remo coated ambassador tom batters with Remo clear ambassador resonant heads, coated ambassador snare batter with a Remo ambassador snare-side head, the bass drum had a Remo Powerstroke 3 clear batter head with a black resonant Pearl logo head.
Hardware: Three C1000 cymbal stands, S2000 snare stand, H2000 hi-hat stand, and a P-2000C Eliminator double bass drum pedal.
Well here's a fake one for the impatient like me, complete with the obligatory "the guitar player even said how much he loved the sound of these drums" line. :D
Pearl has come up with a new high-end set of drums named the Reference Series. Each drum has been individually engineered for optimal sound and Pearl says they are the most acoustically advanced drums in the world. Pearl Drums has been making their high-end Masterworks custom drum sets for the last 5 years and from that experience they have created what they consider as the optimum design for a drum kit.
Reference Series drums use Birch, Maple, and African Mahogany woods along with a combination of bearing edges. The Reference Series 12" toms are composed of 6 plies of Maple and are the only single wood shell in the series. The 10" and 8" toms have 4 plies of Maple with 2 inner plies of Birch. The 13" and smaller toms have a rounded 45° bearing edge. Beginning with the 13" tom and larger, Mahogany is added to the inner plies. The 14" toms and larger have fully rounded bearing edges for more shell contact. The 18" and 20" bass drums use 4 inner plies of Mahogany with 2 outer plies of Maple. As the size of the bass drums increase, so does the amount of Mahogany. The 22" and 24" bass drums incorporate 6 inner plies of Mahogany surrounded by 2 outer plies of Maple.
What I Got. This review kit had 10”, 12”, and a 14” suspended toms with an eight-ply ten-lug 22" x 18" bass drum, and an ten-lug 14" x 5" snare. These drums have very thin shells (7.5mm) with rounded 45-degree bearing edges. This type of bearing edge offers maximum sustain from a drum and allows lower tension tuning than a standard edge. The net result is a wider tuning range from the drums, with slightly deeper tones available from the toms.
The bearing edges were very smooth and posed no difficulty to me when tuning these drums. The bass drum has rubber feet with retractable spikes so the spurs will secure the drum to whatever surface you find yourself on. All the toms are hung from resonance enhancing opti-mount suspension-style tom arms.
The drums I was sent came in a beautiful Purple Craze finish that was flawless. I found it more towards the dark blue than the purple end of a color wheel and liked the color a lot. The Reference Series kits feature die cast hoops and Masterworks style lugs which separate from the shell for easy head changes.
Pearl sent the drums with Remo drumheads all around. Coated ambassadors are on the top of the toms, and Clear ambassadors sat underneath. A coated ambassador was on top of the snare with an ambassador resonant snare-side head. The bass drum had a Remo Powerstroke 3 bass drum head with a single-ply resonant black Pearl logo head. The logo head was solid leaving you the option of porting the head or not. I didn't use a pillow since the drum sounded great without it.
Hardware. The kit came with superb hardware. All the hardware was very adjustable and heavy duty, which is good for a hard hitter like me. This versatility was appreciated when I had to set up the drums on a shallow stage. The Eliminator pedals worked well too, and the interchangeable cams are a great feature. These kits are available as "shell packs," sans hardware, or drums can be ordered individually.
Sound. I used the kit on a couple of gigs and received several compliments on their sound. The bass player on one gig raved about how much he liked the bass drum versus the kick on my regular kit. Drat! The snare had a sharp dry tone and at 14" x 5" is a good all-around drum size. It's crisp and biting, and has a strong woody sound you'd expect from a 20 ply snare. The rim click was super bright and loud enough to cut through the band. I found that the new strainer knob’s locking system worked fine and held the snares where I set them.
I liked the toms a lot. They sang and had good note separation. The fullness of the toms was amazing, and all had a smooth, warm tone. There is no tom mount on the bass drum. I could have mounted the toms from the cymbal stands via clamps, but instead chose to go with a Pearl DR501C rack which fit the three toms perfectly.
The Verdict. Without a doubt these are incredible sounding drums. While the selection of finishes is narrow, they all look excellent. If the finish choices aren’t exactly to your liking and you're hesitating, I found that there are additional color choices "in the pipeline," that should be available around the end of the year. I really enjoyed reviewing and playing this set of drums, my only gripe is that Pearl wants me to send them back! No doubt metal heads, rockers and jazz cats will all love the sound of this kit. This is a great new option for drummers looking for the best sounding “out of the box” kit.
Details, Details
Model: Pearl Reference Series Drum Kit
List Price: $5600.00 drums and hardware, shell pack $4200.00
Sizes: 18 x 22-inch bass drum, 11 x 14-inch, 9 x 12-inch, and 8 x 10-inch suspended toms, 5 x 14 snare drum.
Shells: Drums feature Maple, Maple/Mahogany, Maple/Birch wood combos. Six, Eight, and Twenty ply shells with 45 degree, rounded 45 degree, or fully rounded bearing edges.
Finishes: Root Beer Fade, Scarlet Fade, Purple Craze, Copperfire Sparkle, Twilight Fade, Granite Sparkle
Heads: Remo coated ambassador tom batters with Remo clear ambassador resonant heads, coated ambassador snare batter with a Remo ambassador snare-side head, the bass drum had a Remo Powerstroke 3 clear batter head with a black resonant Pearl logo head.
Hardware: Three C1000 cymbal stands, S2000 snare stand, H2000 hi-hat stand, and a P-2000C Eliminator double bass drum pedal.