Steven Rose
05-19-2005, 09:06 PM
Went to Dale's Drum shop in Harrisburg today and played the root beer fade kit in the pictures. It's very difficult to describe sounds in words but I'll give it a try.
The short story:
These are best sounding drums I have ever heard.
The bottom line:
Go hear for yourself and ignore the discussion about shell construction. Let your ears tell you what you like. You may not like these as much as I did but if you are in the market for a new set, you would be silly not to audition the reference series.
The long story is this:
To my ear, the toms were the most focused I have ever heard. They were still lively but there were no unwanted overtones. These toms did not sound radically different, just much better than other drums I have heard.
The bass drum is a different story. It had an accentuated very low end, typical of mahogany, and does sound very different from most bass drums I have heard.
I'm not sure what I think about the snare drum. I generally like 5.5 inch snares better and this was a 6.5. I want to hear the 5.5 but I might go with some kind of metal snare this time.
General impressions:
The kit sounded almost like my favorite kits on CD but of course, my audition was live. I wonder what these drums will sound like recorded. That will be my primary application. I prefer to make the drum sound good and record it with a minimum of processing. I think these might be great for that but I won't know until I try.
I also had one of the sales people play the kit while I listened. As you all know, a kit sounds one way to the drummer and sounds very differently to the audience. The difference was not quite as pronounced with this kit, which I think is a good thing.
Well, that's the end of my little adventure. I would be interested to hear if any of you who have auditioned this kit agree or disagree with my assessment. I would also like to know if any of you have recorded these drums yet and if so, how did it go and what mics did you use.
The short story:
These are best sounding drums I have ever heard.
The bottom line:
Go hear for yourself and ignore the discussion about shell construction. Let your ears tell you what you like. You may not like these as much as I did but if you are in the market for a new set, you would be silly not to audition the reference series.
The long story is this:
To my ear, the toms were the most focused I have ever heard. They were still lively but there were no unwanted overtones. These toms did not sound radically different, just much better than other drums I have heard.
The bass drum is a different story. It had an accentuated very low end, typical of mahogany, and does sound very different from most bass drums I have heard.
I'm not sure what I think about the snare drum. I generally like 5.5 inch snares better and this was a 6.5. I want to hear the 5.5 but I might go with some kind of metal snare this time.
General impressions:
The kit sounded almost like my favorite kits on CD but of course, my audition was live. I wonder what these drums will sound like recorded. That will be my primary application. I prefer to make the drum sound good and record it with a minimum of processing. I think these might be great for that but I won't know until I try.
I also had one of the sales people play the kit while I listened. As you all know, a kit sounds one way to the drummer and sounds very differently to the audience. The difference was not quite as pronounced with this kit, which I think is a good thing.
Well, that's the end of my little adventure. I would be interested to hear if any of you who have auditioned this kit agree or disagree with my assessment. I would also like to know if any of you have recorded these drums yet and if so, how did it go and what mics did you use.