What do you think of these drums?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yonce N Mild
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Yonce N Mild

Yonce N Mild

Voice of Sanity
Me and my bro are looking to buy a studio kit. Neither of us are drummers so we are kinda ignorant about what makes a good kit.


I have heard that birch kits are good for studio use.


The musicians friend stupid deal of the day is for this shell pack.
http://drums-percussion.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sonor-Force-2007-Studio-1-Shell-Pack?sku=583535
Is this a decent kit? I'm not familiar with the brand. Is this a decent price?
Decent enough for me to pull the trigger even though I don't have all the money saved up or can I expect to find this kind of price on this type of kit pretty easily?

We are looking for something pretty flexible since we will be recording all kinds of different styles.

So far I've been leaning towards picking up a used kit from craigslist but this caught my eye this morning.
 
I've never played on a Sonar set but from what I understand the birch is a good choice for the studio. That said, it also depends on the tuning, the drummer,the studio, and recording among other things. I've used my Tama Rockstar Pro's in the studio before and had good luck. You should also check out www.musicgoround.com They have lots of stuff to chose from.
 
Sonor is good. Those drums will serve you well.

Keep in mind that this is a shell pack - meaning no hardware or pedal. Just the drums and nothing else.
 
Looks like I'm too late they sold out.:(
Probably best that I don't spend money I don't have anyway.

Thanks for the input fellas.
 
A friend the other day said that buying anything "new" - cars, mics, drums is for people who don't know what they're doing, and I'd have to say I agree.

Buying new drums is bonkers.

I've never heard a set of new drums I liked, never really heard any new instruments I liked for that matter. The wood they made drums out of 50 years ago was old growth wood. Today the wood is ready to pick in 3 years and the density is garbage.

I'd recommend buying a beat up set of 50's, 60's or 70's Ludwigs since you see those around cheap still. Really any brand like Ludwig, Gretsch (probably the best), Camco, Rogers, Sonar, Premier or Slingerland.

Personally I don't like any of the Japanese brands like Tama or Pearl.

You should be able to find a beat up set of Ludwigs for $400 - 600. Avoid the crap Ludwig put their name on that weren't American made like Ludwig Accent drums.
 
Never played Sonor, but I used to have Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute set, and the Birch reacted well recording in several environments. For whatever reasons they were a bit more sensititive to head tuning, not that they were hard to tune or didn't stay in tune, but when they finally went out of tune even a touch, it totally changed the sound. Not a big deal if you stay on top of things while records.

Of course, REAL, engineers, unlike myself, will say this very same thing about any drum, period. I just happened to notice it more with the Birch.

Final verdit: Sold em, which I never had, best set I've ever owned and I've had just about everything including edrums. Good luck
 
Yonce N Mild said:
Me and my bro are looking to buy a studio kit. Neither of us are drummers so we are kinda ignorant about what makes a good kit.


I have heard that birch kits are good for studio use.


The musicians friend stupid deal of the day is for this shell pack.
http://drums-percussion.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sonor-Force-2007-Studio-1-Shell-Pack?sku=583535
Is this a decent kit? I'm not familiar with the brand. Is this a decent price?
Decent enough for me to pull the trigger even though I don't have all the money saved up or can I expect to find this kind of price on this type of kit pretty easily?

We are looking for something pretty flexible since we will be recording all kinds of different styles.

So far I've been leaning towards picking up a used kit from craigslist but this caught my eye this morning.
Click to expand...
I have that exact kit. But I've never recorded it. I bought it about a year ago so I wouldn't have to take my other kit out of the studio when I gig. It sounds great live, I'm pretty sure it would sound good recorded too.
 
You should all know and respect Sonor drums

Before DW hit the scene, Sonor was regarded as the top end above all drums. "The drummer's drums" they used to be called. They were a favorite of a number of the Jazz Fusion drummers like Jack deJohnette and Jeff "Tain" Watts. Granted, these being talked about are the entry level quality of Sonor, but entry level Sonor are pretty damn good drums.
About 7 or 8 years ago, the Hoehner/Sonor company moved their home base from Germany to China and there was a lot of talk about loss of quality, but it seems it was just that, talk.
I have played on Sonor drums and they are real good drums. I don't own any of theirs (could never afford them) and I am a Tama, Yamaha and "old" Slingerland user myself.
 
Rimshot said:
Before DW hit the scene, Sonor was regarded as the top end above all drums...
Click to expand...

I've been playing drums since the 60's and never heard anyone express that view once.
If you go on the vintage drum forums, the interest ratio of Gretsch drums to Sonor is at least 50 to 1. I'll bet there were at least 25 (way more really) great drummers using Gretsch in the 50's, 60's and 70's to every 1 drummer using Sonor.

I respect your opinion, but I don't think the majority of drum savy people would concur.
 
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dintymoore said:
I've been playing drums since the 60's and never heard anyone express that view once.
If you go on the vintage drum forums, the interest ratio of Gretsch drums to Sonor is at least 50 to 1. I'll bet there were at least 25 (way more really) great drummers using Gretsch in the 50's, 60's and 70's to every 1 drummer using Sonor.

I respect your opinion, but I don't think the majority of drum savy people would concur.
Click to expand...

Okay, to be quite honest, I see very little difference in quality between the top brands of drums. They all have their pluses and minuses. Gretsch, Ludwig, Rogers, Sonor, DW, Yamaha, older Slingerland, Tama, Pearl, etc., all produce top quality drums. In the Jazz community, Sonor drums are very highly regarded. Even Premier drums are okay, but I've had difficulty with their hardware. I didn't mention PDF because I consider them a subsidiary of DW and are very very good drums especially for those on a budget.
It comes down to what you like. I am surprised that you mention Gretsch above Ludwig because I would have thought that Ludwig drums would be the more popular brand among collectors.
Sonor drum lovers have always been real "snobs" about the quality of their drums.
Again, I have no ax to grind here. I personally love my Tama and Yamaha drums and I still use my 4 piece Slingerland (ca. 1964) set for small club gigs and they are great drums. I don't own Sonor drums but I respect their quality.
 
That's good advice - I too think there's very little difference between the top drums... kind of a Pepsi/Coke or Ford/Chevy thing.

Sonors have always been known to be special. I think a big part of it is that they're German. Go try a '75 Chevy door and a '75 Mercedes door.

I'd say Ludwigs are more popular with collectors mainly because they made so many drums. After the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan Ludwig went into 24 hour production and couldn't make them fast enough.

Look at Buddy Rich, I don't think he cared what brand he used, it was probably more what deal the company could offer him to use their stuff.

To me how the drummer plays, how he tweaks the set, the cymbals and the heads have a much bigger affect than the difference between drums.
 
Tama Starclassic Birch

I recently bought a house set for my studio. The sizes are 20" kick, 14" floor, 12" and 10" toms. I am not sure what the snare is, 10 1/2? The cymbals are Zildjan Armand series, very fast attack with fast decay. I went with the small size because I have read less is more when recording. In my 15 years of recording I found this to be generally true. The birch sound warm and lively. Recently my own band was playing some Sabbath and on tape the drums sound huge. The drum rolls in War Pigs are amazing.
ViP:D
 
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