UNION Drums?

E

Enrique

New member
Not sure if many of you have heard of Interstate Music, (ie. SamAsh/Guitar Center), but I was flipping through one of their catalogs and saw a kit that caught my attention. It's manufactured by a company name UNION. If you want to check it out, here is the link http://www.interstatemusic.com/weba...prmenbr=1&prrfnbr=900003319&topcat=1&prevcat=
Features include:
- 8-ply Laminated Birch Shell
- Matching Birch snare drum
and so forth. Question is, are they worth the investment? And if so, better than a lot out there?
 
The Union brand is Interstate's "brand". It compares to something like the Pearl Forum, etc. - a basic entry level kit.

Interstate is based in my home state of Wisconsin - so I've seen a union kit on the floor of the retail store.

I believe you had some other post about a Pacific vs. Stage custom - the Union would be a step back.
 
The UB5 100% 8 ply birch

comparable to a starclassic..... without the 1700+ tag

I have it on sale $479 w/ free shipping.... I have UB5 kits in 5 available finishes to blowout at 449.00.......... for home recording members

email me on cyclonepercussion and I will rebate you 30 dollars instantly through paypal after you order. http://www.cyclonepercussion.com

shown on a cheap webcam capture...in cherry fade lacquer.... the finish is as beautiful as a classic rickenbacker guitar. Beautiful birch 8 ply shells... These are awesome drums, used everyday, and they sound as beautiful as they look. You will love these..guaranteed!
 

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I just got my kit in. I was really impressed when I opened the boxes. This kit has features that you won't find on any kit in this price. Here are some of the goodies:

Very nice looking lacquer (not wrapped) finishes.

10 lug (per side) snare (most nowadays are 8 or even 6. The ddrum punx has 8.

10 lug (per side)kick drum with wooden hoops.

Tom sizes are 10, 12, and 14''(I prefer that.) Hard to find any other sizes than 12, 13, and 16'' on a run of the mill kit. Suspension mounts are included.The bearing edges are sharp (even on the bass drum.) The heads are cheap single ply, but I was expecting that.

Gigable hardware. The highhat stand is a very solid, double braced unit (swivel pedal,) with a very substantial chain drive. The kick drum pedal is chain drive as well, and even has a rock plate! Snare stand is double braced, as is the straight cymbal stand. The tom arms are decent.

I did not buy this from cyclone (sorry dude,) and I am not affiliated with any manufacturer. You won't be able to find more "bang for the buck" in a drum kit. With some good heads, I am sure it will sound great.
 
union drums

I was thinking of getting on of these kits for an electronic drum conversion, but I can not decide on the color . You have to tell the color you bought. Is it the burst or the fade? and did you get this kit off of ebay/
 
I got the blue (non fade finish.) I had emailed some ebayer's about their Union purchase while researching. They said the burst finishes were nice.
 
Other finishes.

Anyone seen the other finishes? I'm not having much success finding any of the finishes besides blue tabacco burts and now the cherry fade. Would like to see the wine and tabacco fades. If yo uhave images please post them.
 
Are those DW-style round turret lugs with yamaha style mounts on those? I can't tell from all the grainy pics....sheesh. You'd think Union would have better pics of them.

They look like they have pretty good hardware for the price and a good wood and ply number. Heck, anything under $600 with birch shells, small lugs, kewl colors and a resonance suspension system is pretty darn good in my books...I don't see how it could possibly be a bad deal....unless the original poster was looking at the low-ball kits. I can't follow that link given.
 
The tom mounts do look like Yamaha. They are lighter than the Yamaha hardware. If these ever fail, you can replace it with most any companies mounts. One person I communicated with about these drums said he didn't like the hardware, so he replaced it with some Pearl hardware he had lying around. These drums can be purchased for 359.00 delivered on ebay. Here is a kit like I bought. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Birch-5-Pie...86762685QQcategoryZ38097QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They come with Remo heads (import version.) Before I played them, I put on some Evans G2 heads on the toms, and a Remo coated black dot on the snare. While these aren't that warm, you can still get a good sound with them. The only dislikes I have are the high hat clutch (no felt, just hard rubber) and the stock pedal has a really cheap beater. Both easily replaceable.
 
The deal gets better.

You can find these kits on ebay right now with a starting bid of $299.00 and a buy it now of $350.00 ($50 shipping). A great deal but going fast.
 
Fyi

FYI..Gretch sells a birch shell pack (not kit) with the same specs , less the snare but with an extra tom and no hardwear for $1400.00 on sale. How can yo ugo wrong? Dont get me wrong its not going to a Gretch set but I did talk to one guy who ownes a yamaha recording kit who said this sounded almost as good.
 
My Kit and first thoughts.

I'm writting this because I purchased a Union kit via ebay and it arrived today Feb 14th. I spent tonight setting up and following are my thoughts on it so far.

First the kit is georgous. They do an excellent job with the finish. I got the tobacco fade. It looks like the same colors as the tobacco burst just a single transition from light to dark. The shells are nice too. I inspected the workmanship and edges. Clean and sharp. The lugs are similar in style to some of the Mapex kits out there. and all the drums come with nylon insulators on each tension rod. The bass drum comes with wood hoops colored to match and the lugs are nicely insulated with rubber sleeves to protect the hoops finish. All the mounted toms come with suspension rims and use the Pearl type tom mounting system which is a little harder to work with than my older Tama mounts. The snare is a killer..wow its snappy, tight, and resonates like crazy. Rings too but in a tight jazz kinda way. The snare throw off is nicely adjustable and heavy duty. Very nice. I would say the weakest part of the kit is its hardware(stands). The straight cymbal stand is nice and sturdy but one of my locking nuts was stripped at the factory. The bass pedal is functional and mates up nicely to the bass drum both with rubber protects to save that georgous finish. The hi-hat stand is functional and i like the clutch. The snare stand is nicely built too..small leg footprint so it stays out of your way. The whole kit comes with factory heads which are made by Remo. They seem heavier that diplomats. More like ambassador heads on the toms. The bass heads have a nice built in vibration damping ring on both heads.

I noticed someone above dicribed this as an entry kit. After look at what Gretch, Sonor, Mapex and Pacific offer Id say this was a steal. Ohh did I mention they sound great too? I dropped vibration damping rings on the stock heads and WOW....nice.

The one downside to this kit going forward is that they wont ever be making add on drums for it. I'm already working with a local drum builder to make the 8" tom and the 16" tom. Birch shells are harder to find and more expensive than maple. Finding similar lugs would also be a problem. The closest I have found so far have been the Mapex lugs.

I would highly recommend this kit. For the size, features and quality I dont think you can beat it. I paid $310 and it was $50 to ship.

Thanks and good luck.

Hit em hard.

Brett
 
Cool! I have really enjoyed mine. The price is pretty sweet for what you get. I think they are missing a great opportunity by not having decent pictures of these kits. Please get some picsof your kit for us!
 
Tobacco fade pics

Pics of the tabacco fade

Sorry this are quickies.

If your searching ebay for this kit search for "birch kit" Searching for union wont always find them. My seller had removed the union logo from the front head and was not using "union" in the headline.
 

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