Yamaha Oak Custom versus Sessions

[Ambion]

I went to the local drum store and tried both out and I actually liked the Yamaha's a little better, and they're of similar price. I'd like people's opinions on which one you think is a better buy. I'm playing almost every style of music imaginable (no death metal for me, though) if that helps any.

I was also looking at conaway drums, they're much cheaper and seem to be of good quality. Any opinions on those would be great too.

thanks

[SKiezws]

I never heard any complaints about Conaway Drums. the forum I used to go to had quite a few Conaway owners and they really liked the drums. The only bad thing about Conaway is the low resale value. not many have heard of Conaway, so you might not get as much for your drums, but they'd be a custom set, soyou probably wouldnt want to get rid of them.(any time soon at least)

On the other hand, Pearl makes outstanding drums, and im sure the Sessions are no exception, and Yamaha's are great also.

If I was going to invest that kind of money, I would get some Conaways...good quality custom drums for cheap! But thats jut my 2 cents.

[Ambion]

Hey thanks, what forum was this? I'd like to get their opinions.

thanks

[Tabla_Man]

Well, I've never heard the Oak customs. I'd be curious to hear people's input, but I definitely don't like the way they look. Oak looks much better on my kitchen cabinets than on drums. I prefer the tighter grain patters of maple and birch. Also Oak is a very naturally orange wood, so colors don't look very good on them. I'm sure the quality is fine though.

[SKiezws]

The forum is at www.harmony-central.com


Here (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=654409&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending) is a link for some threads about Conaway drums.

They wont let you register if you've got hotmail. I used to have Earthlink, and I registered a name using that e-mail, but then we got rid of Earthlink, and I lost my password, so I joined this wonderful forum!!

Good luck.

[Ambion]

thanks. That forum seemed pretty against conaways for the most part. I'm really leaning towards the Oak's, its just too bad they're about 1000 dollars more than the conaways. I'll do some more research

[AussieDrums]

Drum! magazine recently ran a pretty favourable review of the Oak Customs so it might be worth checking that one out. Not sure which issue it is, living in Australia we tend to get US Drum magazines whenever the last issue has sold off the shelves... and that can be at least a month later. Maybe check their website (www.drummagazine.com) to see if they've got the review posted up there. I have seen one set in store with what appeared to be a natural oak finish, quite nice but not really my thing. I really don't know how they'd go with a stain or finish applied, I agree with Tabla_man, the wood is a little too orange.

[dmreyers]

again, Yamaha make's great sounding drums!!! But until they develop a better isolation system for the toms than the useless YESS mounts, you can probally get more bang for the buck w/ a Pearl, DW, Tama, Sonar kit. Besides, so what if a kit is really LOUD? If your in that type of situation, you'll be micing your kit anyways! Plus, I really doubt your bandmates really want the drummer to be more louder than you already are.
Good luck shopping for a new kit. I currently love my DW collectors in maplen and my Pearl Masters in birch is probally the best soung kit out there for the money!!!!!!!!!!

[Ambion]

thanks. the volume isn't why I'm buying it, the price is. Plus I loved how it sounded, and I think it sounded better than the recording custom that I also tried out. Thanks for the opinions.

[drummer4JC]

u say u play pretty much every type of music there is, so im thinking a maple drums would prob do u best. whether its a session, starclassic, or whatever, thatll prob be the best decision.

[dude78787]

The yamaha Y.E.S.S. mounts are far from useless. What people don't understand is that it is more important for the mount to not bother the rim, than it is for it to not bother the shell. Plus, the yamaha system is very useful as it allows the drum to resonate well because it is much more of a suspension system.

I do not like anything but the Y.E.S.S. system, the RIMS system (because they distribute pressure around the entire rim, so it is like there is none at all), and the system DW uses. I don't really like any of pearl's suspension systems (sorry guys). Maybe the optimount, but I don't like the I.S.S. at all, because it puts way too much pressure on only a tiny part of the rim, meaning that part of the rim is going to loosen up much more. I am still look into the tama suspension system, but it looks like it might be okay since it distributes the weight.

well, I am obviously babbling on about my personally preferance. To tell the truth, I don't mind drums with no suspension system, but the I.S.S. system is almost just making it worse.

Mark and the Lucky Numbers (http://markandtheluckynumbers.cjb.net)

[Ambion]

thanks. I'm actually also looking at some yamaha birch absolute kits but I'd have to make my kit smaller to accomodate the higher price. Who knows. Thanks for the help all

[Neal]

i played a yamaha oak in guitar center a while ago and i didnt really like it. too bright and ringy for my taste but with some damping it would sound great. i would personaly go with maple or birch.