Something for the more image conscious drummer… At a time when you can get custom drum finishes and colours, coloured sticks, coloured cymbals and customisable hardware, it seems no surprise that we should now have the choice of coloured heads as well. Remo’s new Colortone drumheads feature the company’s Skyndeep® Imaging Technology which has been
I remember a time when life was simpler; Drum Workshop really only had one line of drums and they were made from maple. How things have changed. Without delving into the archives, I think I’ve now reviewed or played DW drums made from maple, cherry and oak, not to mention some hybrid wood-shelled drums too.
Felt Vic Firth’s VicBeaters have been out for a little while now Felt and Wood These are basically the same design and dimensions, but two different materials. They have two playing surfaces - side on and flat. Visually, the design might look a little different or unconventional - it did to me anyway
Q Drum Co’s Gentleman Series consists of brass, copper and aluminium snare drums. The review drum features a 14x7” 16 gauge (1.29mm) seamless spun brass shell with a raw finish. The drum also has 8 lugs, 2.3mm hoops, chrome hardware, a Trick GS007 throw off and butt plate, and 25 strand wires. It’s heavy enough
Evans’ UV1 heads may be something you’ve read about. They’re coated heads, similar to some of the other coated heads the company offers, but they’re manufactured/finished in a different way. The level 360 collar technology stays the same, but the UV1’s start life as translucent film as opposed to the clear film used with the G1
Around 2009 I reviewed Sonor’s SQ2 kit. I liked those drums. They were my first time playing a high end Sonor kit and a bit of an expectation going forward was set. That line of drums has a definite sound to it and it was one of the best kits I’d ever tried to that
Bass drum beaters may seem a bit of a dull subject; they’re not really that exciting after all. However, all beaters are not created equally, or the same. It may be that you’ve bought a new pedal and never given the beater a second thought. Why would you when the stock beater works perfectly well?
Tama’s SLP line has been a round for a while now but it seems to always keep getting bigger. One of the latest additions is the Fat Spruce snare came out not too long ago. It’s a 14x6” model which features a 7mm, 8ply spruce shell. You also get eight brass, double-ended tube lugs, Super Sensitive
There’s been a resurgence in the last few years involving lightweight, flat-based stands. Gibraltar’s take on this has included both straight and boom cymbal stands, a snare stand (which wasn’t available for the video) and a hihat stand. I’ve been using flat based cymbal stands for a while, albeit from a different manufacturer. I like
Over the last sixteen years I’ve reviewed many Gretsch drums, both kits and snares, and yet I’ve still never owned a Gretsch drum myself. I’m not sure why as I’ve pretty much always enjoyed them. The configuration we tried this time round was from the Brooklyn series (GB-J484) and had a 12x8 rack tom, 14x14
