Pro-level kits

[Drum Phil]

Alright so im looking into the following top end kits, 2 of my local stores will order them in the appropriate sizes for me (12,14,16 toms, 2 22" bass', 14x5 snare)

Mapex Orion
Sonor Delite
Yamaha maple custom

Not sure on exact prices but they're all between £1k and £2k with mapex being the cheapest

Now heres the question, what are the pros and cons of each and which do you prefer?

Im edging toward the yamaha because i like the mounts and the apple fade sparkle finish

[Brokensticks]

I have no idea of pros and cons but I'd probably go Sonor. and 2X22 bassdrum would be weird to play no? :lol:

[Drum Phil]

You misread ;) its plural, not dimensions. Double 22" bass'

[dumbassdrummer]

All are really nice. Yamaha's are absolutely killer.

Try them out. But one thing to look at is hardware. Whch do you find to be the most practicle and the easiest to use?

[Drum Phil]

Ive not been near the 2 bigger drum stores in a while so ive not had the chance to play the mapex or sonor but the yamaha sounds gorgeous even with stock heads.

Hardware isnt an issue, im only going for a shell pack, although mount wise i like yamaha's

[Loyton]

Go mapex then use the xtra cash on prostitues:thumb:



That, or on cymbals.

[Drum Phil]

Thats not a bad idea (cymbals, not prossies)

Ta for that :D

[Loyton]

Yes, i love da mapex sex.

[Drum Phil]

How're the mounts? Are the ones on your saturn the same as the orion ones?

[Ill Mitch]

Yamaha's are great. I'd either go with those, or the Delites. I played the Yamaha Stage Custom kit a while back and loved it, I can't imagine how nice the maple custom would be.

[Drum Phil]

Wearing white boxers in key to playing the maple customs ;) I might look into recording customs as well

[Loyton]

Yea, truthfully they are all great kits. Any of em be a good choice.

[Drum Phil]

Looks like its gonna come down to the "ooooh pretty" factor and mounts

Main selling point to me will always be the bass sound too

[PdoubleE]

i wouldnt put premier's artist series out of the question if you looking to spend all that money there Very nice sounding kits they just dont have alot of colors to choose from

[playwithfire]

I'd recommend Yamaha. Fantastic drums.

[Tim]

really IMO you cant go wrong no matter your choice, youre still gonna score a great kit.

[Futuro]

I would go with the Sonor delites in the brown fade...

[ludvista29]

YAMAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:t humb: every thing is awesome :)

[Dummer'n'Drummer]

The Yamaha sings alot...

Delites are very open..... (4 ply)

Mapex very nice drums but I've never tried 'em...

[FABuloso]

I just recently purchased a TD-20s. It rocks. Highly reccomend it. BTW, when you're ready to pull the trigger check out www.rmcaudio.com/. Great service, incredible price, and just all-around good people.

[Half Life]

I'd probably go Orion out of those, simply because the level of quality is right up there with the others, yet the price isn't as high. They're hardware is great too and I love the finishes they offer, like the Antique Ivory. Man, that is freaking gorgeous :eek:

[Brokensticks]

You misread ;) its plural, not dimensions. Double 22" bass'

Damn!:lol:

[PremierManiac]

Look into more companies. Doing some research might turn up something you like even more than your current choices. But if you insist on one of those three I would go with the Mapex Orion.

[The Leper Messiah]

Mapex Orion takes my vote.

[styler]

if your gonna go with pro end kits id look abit more cuz your prolly gonna live with this set for a really long time. wait until you see one that just blows your mind away. that said, id go with the yamaha, then the sonor, then the mapex...just cuz ive never tried mapex

[RichHunt]

YA MAMA Hah!

[Double Bass Jim]

I'd recommend Yamaha. Fantastic drums.
As would I.

Their the only "major" company I would ever buy a new kit from. Their stuff is top notch all around.

[PdoubleE]

and phil check out the yamaha walnut customs there very sweet looking and i hear they gain value with age

[Tim]

As would I.

Their the only "major" company I would ever buy a new kit from. Their stuff is top notch all around.

yea even their toilet paper is heavy duty with tons of features.

[Drum Phil]

Beleive me ive been looking into pro-kits for months now and ive narrowed it down to these 3 as far as getting exactly what i want goes. I looked into DW but they arent really readily available in england, i looked into pearl and im not too keen on them either. I hadnt actually thought of premier so i'll check them :)

Yamaha is by far my favourite at the moment with mapex coming in second

[playwithfire]

As would I.

Their the only "major" company I would ever buy a new kit from. Their stuff is top notch all around.Ah Jimbo, you need to eat a diet of solely Kraft Dinner, that way you can look into some DWs :):lol:.

[RichHunt]

Ah Jimbo, you need to eat a diet of solely Kraft Dinner, that way you can look into some DWs :):lol:.


DW'd be cool too if it had three evenly spaced As in its name.

[playwithfire]

And Yamaha would be cooler if there was a D or a W in it's name, so I'd say both companies are pretty even :p.

[Murd_666]

Go for the MApex, they're Great drums!!

[RichHunt]

And Yamaha would be cooler if there was a D or a W in it's name, so I'd say both companies are pretty even :p.


There is, it's silent.


And invisable.

Yam(d)aha(w)

[Double Bass Jim]

Ah Jimbo, you need to eat a diet of solely Kraft Dinner, that way you can look into some DWs :):lol:.
Naa I never cared for those at all.

Id much rather go for the yammie, they have everything I like.

[The Ska Man]

Alright so im looking into the following top end kits, 2 of my local stores will order them in the appropriate sizes for me (12,14,16 toms, 2 22" bass', 14x5 snare)

Mapex Orion
Sonor Delite
Yamaha maple custom

Not sure on exact prices but they're all between £1k and £2k with mapex being the cheapest

Now heres the question, what are the pros and cons of each and which do you prefer?

Im edging toward the yamaha because i like the mounts and the apple fade sparkle finish

Get the Yammys!

[Everything_and_Nothing_3:15]

Pearl Masterworks, Dw's also are really nice, my friend has an eight piece Dw that sounds and looks amazing.

[Drum Phil]

Did you read what i said? DW's arent readily available to me!

[The Ska Man]

Did you read what i said? DW's arent readily available to me!

And if they were.....They'd get blown away by the Yammys!

[Drum Phil]

Dunno like, ive not had the chance to play DW's.

An edge snare is on my list of snares that i would like though

[[Fonya]]

Looks like its gonna come down to the "ooooh pretty" factor and mounts

Main selling point to me will always be the bass sound too


Well delites are pretty amazing and I consider them more classy and higher end than the other too plus they have really nice functional and sleek looking mounts. I wouldnt worry about saving the extra money for cymbals. Its alot easier to save up for cymbals so get the kit you really want now and then get cymbals later.

[The Ska Man]

Did you get the crash yet Phil(I assume....)?

[Drum Phil]

The 22"? Nah its been put on hold until the new year. Tis too close to xmas for buyin stuff for me. However i did order my xmas snare :D

[White]

I would Go with either the Yamaha Or Mapex, Probably the Mapex Orion cause they are my Favorite Sets. But I ahve never actually played on one haha. But I have played on a Yamaha Maple Custom, 7 Piece with Iron Cobra, it wsa unbelieve ably well sounding and it had the factory heads.

[[Fonya]]

http://www.baguetterie.fr/images/A_BATTERIES/SONOR/DELITE_L.jpg


http://www.musikhaus-andresen.de/images/530449969a0fa9437.jpg


http://www.drumandstage.com/images/2001_Sonor_Delite_2.jpg


I think those are all good reasons to get a delite.



EDIT- Sorry for the last massive pic. At least you get a nice good look at the finish.

[The Ska Man]

Big deal. Yamaha's finishes are tons better.

Best.........Finish...............EVER
http://www.pearldrummersforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=171333&stc=1

[Japan3gro]

That blue sonor kit up there kind of has that Mapex Orion look to it....the finish that is.

[Drum Phil]

Oh god :( This is so hard

[The Ska Man]

Oh god :( This is so hard

Is it cough*YAMAHA*cough? Is it really? cough*YAMAHA*cough

[[Fonya]]

The Yammies are cool but the delites look so much more expensive and exotic.

[SonorKen]

I would suggest you playing all of these kits, spend some time on them. When I bought my "expensive" kit I bought some Evans G2 clear heads in 8" 10" 12" 13" 14" and 16" and when I found a kit I wanted to try out I put a falam pad on the kick drum and changed out whatever heads the kit had. Drum stored usually have no problem with you spending some time on a kit, on a wednesday morning when noone is in the store, when you are using your own heads/sticks/pedals/and cymbals.

I think if you spend the time on all of the kits you will end up going with the Sonors. When Damo was looking at new kits I asked him to do the same. He played them all and then went overboard into the Sonor family and is having complete hand made custom Drum Designs made for him. There are less than 100 of these drum kits in the world.

Check out the kind of customer service these companies offer. I, along with several others can vouch for Sonors customer service, it is top notch.

In the options you listed I would go with the Sonor Delites, then the Yamaha recording customs. I don't feel the Orions are in the same class with these drums. I have a friend who lives about 2 hours from me who has a set of Orions so I have spent some time on the kit. FYI, he is selling his Orions for some Sonors if your interested in the Mapex's.

Another thing about Mapex, all of their drums are made in the Sonor factory in China. The Sonor Delites are hand made in Germany with that famous German engineering.

Spend some time on www.sonormuseum.com and see what you think. These people have kits ALOT more expensive than mine and several of them have multiple high end kits. These guys know their stuff about Sonor and will give you answers to any questions about Sonor you may have.

Feel free to chat me if ya want.

[[Fonya]]

I was waiting for you to get in this thread!

[rockindrummer]

Both the sonors and yamahas are to close to pick. I would definitly go for one of them, but make sure to play both of them extensivly that is the only way you will find out which on you like more.

[FiqZ-]

Just out of interest - why arent DW readily available to you?

I'm in the UK, and there are masses of shops that are DW dealers. Drum Wright for example always has an excess of DW kits. It could be worth just searching the net for places around that may be able to get DW kits if thats what you would like. I have no preference on any of the kits you listed so sorry I can't help there!

-Michael.

[Drum Phil]

Up north theres only one DW dealer and they only have certain kits. Plus the lugs are fugly.

Cheers for the advice ken, sonors customer service is one of the reasons im considering them

[Dummer'n'Drummer]

Delites it's should be....

[SonorKen]

My choices when I selected the Sonors were between DW and Sonor. The drums were very similiar and there were a few little differences in them that turned me to Sonor.

Customer Service is impecible, this was a huge turning point for me. I have dealt with DW customer service some with pedals and it wasnt as good as I had anticipated it to be.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the types of tension rods Sonor uses. I play out ALOT and if you ever misplace a drum key you can just grab a coin and tune your kit. Additionally the tension rods are engineered with a really fine pattern BUT the important part is the pattern is DEEP which helps maintain tuning and ease of tuning.

Sonor's finishes are incredible, perfect, totally flawless. The bearing edges on the Delites are as smooth as glass.

I really stress for you to go play these kits. Buy some heads and tune each kit to your liking. Use the same heads on each kit, this will make sure you have really close comparisons. Take a small 4 track recorder and a SM58 to record each kit. I did this and would listen to the kits as I played them which helped me decide alot on the kit.

Finally the straw that broke the Camels back to swing me to Sonor was the people they sponsor. I feel that in today's business world if a company endorses a couple of drummers who have influenced you that, given the opportunity, you should support those companies. Danny Carey, Thomas Haake, Derrick Roddy, and Thomas Lang just to name a few are all drummers I enjoy watching and listening to. I have spoke to Derrick Roddy on the net a few times and he has a factory sponsorship with Sonor and chooses to play Delites. He praises Delites quite a bit.

I really think if you spend your time looking at the kits, looking at the way they are constructed, looking at the bearing edges, bass drum claws, tension rods, finishes, inside shell finishes, drum construction, tone, quality, re-sale value, support, and customer service you will buy Sonor.

Yamaha recording customs are SWEET drums, don't get me wrong. If I were to buy a kit other than Sonor or DW I would buy Yamaha Recording Customs. My only complaint with Yamaha his from their dirt bike end. I had problems with warranty claims in my YZ-250. I wasn't very pleased with it. The drum/music part is probably totally seperate tho.

[Drum Phil]

Cheers ken, you've helped out a LOT. One last question, how easy is it to get non-standard setups?

[l3n]

Ja. The Sonor gets my vote.

[SonorKen]

Cheers ken, you've helped out a LOT. One last question, how easy is it to get non-standard setups?
Hey Phil, the main difference between the Delites and the Drum designs (aside from price) is the Delites are made in advance in shell kits. They are constructed FROM HAND just like the Drum Designs. These shells are completly hand made and are really scrutinized as to their construction.

The Delites are offered in shell packs. You pick out what configuration you want and then order additional drums. My shell pack included a 22X17.5" kick, a 10" tom, 12" tom, and 14" tom. I added the 16" floor tom, 22X17.5" kick, 8" tom and 14X6 snare (the snare may have been in the shell pack, I can't remember). If you have a shell you don't want, like I wanted a 14" floor tom instead of a 14" rack tom, you can sell the shell on eBay or trade it through the SonorMuseum web page. They are REALLY easy to trade as the shells are sought after. I tuned up the 14" rack and fell in love with it so I kept it.

The one thing about Sonor, they made a certain line of drums for so many years while they have a consistent and stable supply of the EXACT wood they are made from. The Delites are made from AGED Rockwood maple. What makes this wood so GREAT is that it is a dense wood because it is so old. When you get the drums look at how tight together the tree rings are in the drums, this is OLD wood. Now, the reason this wood is so special is it is more dense than regular maple. This allows you the best of both worlds. You get the warm fat sound of maple, but still have all the projection of a kit made of Birch or Bubinga.

Once Sonor uses up all its supplies of this particular Maple, the Delites will be a thing of the past like the Phonics, Hi-lites, Designers, and other kits. The cool thing is, these drums will increase in value substantially. If you wanted to find a primo kit of Phonics, your gonna pay dearly for them. The snare I am looking for RIGHT now is a Sonor HLD590. It is from the 1980's. I plan to spend 2000 to 2500 bucks on this one snare.

Once the kit's go out of production it generally takes about 8 to 10 years for the kits to really become valuable. The drums are constructed so well that people literally buy a set for life, hence why all of these old kits are around. The problem is there are HUNDREDS of Sonor Collectors with alot of cash out there buying up all of the old kits and paying TONS of cash for them.

So, not only will you be getting a killer kit, you'll also be making an investment and own a piece of drumming history when the shells go out of production.

[Drum Phil]

Well i can safely say that you've made me want that kit really badly, so as soon as i have the cash and assuming all goes well during the testing, that kit will be mine :D

[SonorKen]

Well i can safely say that you've made me want that kit really badly, so as soon as i have the cash and assuming all goes well during the testing, that kit will be mine :D
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE play the kits. I am that confident in the tone of the Delites. In my opinion, once you play all the competitors you will buy the Delites. Id rather you play them and make the decision tho.

I have the Azure color and its incredible. The wood grain is detailed and totally beautiful. The finish is flawless. I have seen the red as well and it is amazing. If I were to buy another kit I would buy either Drum Designs or Delites in the red finish IN ADDITION to keeping my current kit.

Buy some coated single ply heads, bring your own cymbals, pedals and sticks, and go spend some time on each kit. If a store owner sees you walk in with all this equipment, and your looking at high dollar kits, they know your gonna buy one. I didn't have ONE dealer deny me spending time on kits. I auditioned kits in the middle of the week, early in the mornings while the stores were empty. Columbus Pro Percussion actually opened at 5am on a saturday morning for me to audition a kit. I drove the 3 hours on friday, got a hotel room, played the kit and drove home.

Once you decide on the Sonors be sure to join our museum and be welcomed into the Sonor family. Be sure to go spend some time on the museum, there are some amazing drummers and people there. Again, if you need any additional info feel free to chat me.

When you decide to purchase your kit I would strongly suggest Mass Music. Andy will cut you an AMAZING deal on these kits. He will have it drop shipped to your house to save on shipping if your on the east coast of the US. When I bought my 2nd kick he saved me several hundred dollars.

[[Fonya]]

When are you planning on buying the kit? I cant wait to see it!

[Drum Phil]

I plan on playing the kits until im sure which one i like most, any reason why you suggested single ply as i use G2's

[RichHunt]

Because single plys sing, and G2s.. don't.


How about this Phil.. everytime you buy a sonor, santa kills another elf.

Think about the elves.

Buy yamaha

[Drum Phil]

haha well it all depends which i fall in love with, next time i reskin i might try some G1's anyway.

Gotta upgrade my entire pedal board as well apart from my hat stand. Think im going for DW5000's

[Drum Phil]

Seeing as im only going for a shell pack ive been figuring out what other stuff i need and worked it out as the following:

DW 5000 double pedal X2
DW 5000 Hat Stand X2
Pearl RH2000 Remote hat stand
DW 5000 Single pedal
DW 5000 Double pedal (will be modified as a remote pedal for a jam block)

DW9000 boom X6
Pearl cymbal arms x3
DW9000 Snare stand x3

God knows what i'll use to mount my foot tom

Thats nearly £2500 of hardware :|

[Aaron]

Yamaha has my vote out of the three. or Gretsch Custom USA..

[[UEAK]Clowd]

Wow, I am really, really interested in sonor now.

Too bad there's nowhere around here I can try them out...

SonorKen, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for your kit? Do you know how much more it would be if you got the customworks(or whatever sonor calls their custom drums) series?

[Drum Phil]

Designers are VERY expensive. Just ask Damo ;)

[The Ska Man]

Ken! Why? Just why? Now I want a Delite. I hope your happy! Humph, good day sir.

[The Ska Man]

Ken! Why? Just why? Now I want a Delite. I hope your happy! Humph, good day sir.

[deadwith0utmusic]

delites for under 2000????

[Drum Phil]

Yeah but thats before ive got my addons

[Drum Phil]

Tell a lie, its £2600 but then ive got 2 spare toms and need a second bass

[thenewguy515]

My choices when I selected the Sonors were between DW and Sonor. The drums were very similiar and there were a few little differences in them that turned me to Sonor.

Customer Service is impecible, this was a huge turning point for me. I have dealt with DW customer service some with pedals and it wasnt as good as I had anticipated it to be.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the types of tension rods Sonor uses. I play out ALOT and if you ever misplace a drum key you can just grab a coin and tune your kit. Additionally the tension rods are engineered with a really fine pattern BUT the important part is the pattern is DEEP which helps maintain tuning and ease of tuning.

Sonor's finishes are incredible, perfect, totally flawless. The bearing edges on the Delites are as smooth as glass.

I really stress for you to go play these kits. Buy some heads and tune each kit to your liking. Use the same heads on each kit, this will make sure you have really close comparisons. Take a small 4 track recorder and a SM58 to record each kit. I did this and would listen to the kits as I played them which helped me decide alot on the kit.

Finally the straw that broke the Camels back to swing me to Sonor was the people they sponsor. I feel that in today's business world if a company endorses a couple of drummers who have influenced you that, given the opportunity, you should support those companies. Danny Carey, Thomas Haake, Derrick Roddy, and Thomas Lang just to name a few are all drummers I enjoy watching and listening to. I have spoke to Derrick Roddy on the net a few times and he has a factory sponsorship with Sonor and chooses to play Delites. He praises Delites quite a bit.

I really think if you spend your time looking at the kits, looking at the way they are constructed, looking at the bearing edges, bass drum claws, tension rods, finishes, inside shell finishes, drum construction, tone, quality, re-sale value, support, and customer service you will buy Sonor.

Yamaha recording customs are SWEET drums, don't get me wrong. If I were to buy a kit other than Sonor or DW I would buy Yamaha Recording Customs. My only complaint with Yamaha his from their dirt bike end. I had problems with warranty claims in my YZ-250. I wasn't very pleased with it. The drum/music part is probably totally seperate tho.
i'm suprised it took that long for Danny Carey's name to come up. SONOR........wait i see something MORE SONOR

[SonorKen]

^^^^^^ uhhh yea, whatever.

Price to price, Drum Designs are QUITE a bit more than Delites, probably double.

[Drum Phil]

I'll be having a very close look at the mapex and sonor on saturday :) Cant wait but i cant afford my own heads yet

[DruMMeR_BoY14]

The Mapex Orions are really nice drums, but The delites are just beautiful. I htink you'd have to relaly try them for youself, they are all great drums and it would just coem down to personal preferance.

[some jive turkey]

I play Mapex Orions. I can tell you that I am extremeley pleased with them.

Lots of people either seem to love Mapex, or just not like them as much as other companies. I really don't hear too many bad things about them as a company. I think they are a younger company trying to get established and lucky for us they still have something to proove. This is what makes them a good choice.

People say that they don't like the finish on them as much as other companies. To me, this really wasn't an issue, as I'm the kind of person who doesn't care about looks, as much as sound.

It's really all about what your needs are, and what kind of person you are. I definately argee that you should play all the kits first. Any decent store should let you play the instrument before buying it. But the Mapex are certainly worthy of a serious look, in my opinion.

[falda loves pearl xx]

i would say get a pearl masters of the net like mine there much better

[Drum Phil]

Funny, i knew you'd say that. Having tested a masters, no it is NOT better :)

[[UEAK]Clowd]

I played a Pearl Masters in the store... while it looked very nice, it sounded like pure ****.

[SonorKen]

Ive played Pearl Masters, they are NICE kits, ya can't take that away from them. I wasn't all that impressed with them tho. They are definiatly a pro-level kit, the tone of the drums just didn't hit me.

In my opinion, in this class of drums, its between the Sonor Delites, Yamaha Recording Customs, or the DW's.

[metallas]

I had experience with the Recording custom (my teacher's) and the Birch Custom Absolut (mine).Perfect kits. So, Maple custom and Maple custom Absolute can olnly be as good as the first 2 kits I mentioned.The Absolut series are avaliable in 2 types of lugs and many finishes.Can't go wrong with Yamies.
+their hardware is better than Sonor or Mapex

[SonorKen]

+their hardware is better than Sonor or Mapex
Care to provide the proof to back this statement up? The Sonor 600 series hardware is pretty hardcore stuff.

[Dummer'n'Drummer]

Seeing as im only going for a shell pack ive been figuring out what other stuff i need and worked it out as the following:

DW 5000 double pedal X2
DW 5000 Hat Stand X2
Pearl RH2000 Remote hat stand
DW 5000 Single pedal
DW 5000 Double pedal (will be modified as a remote pedal for a jam block)

DW9000 boom X6
Pearl cymbal arms x3
DW9000 Snare stand x3

God knows what i'll use to mount my foot tom

Thats nearly £2500 of hardware :|

Why the hell do you need all that crap? Just get 1 double pedal and 1 hat...

[Drum Phil]

Not a matter of needing ;) I already use 6 pedals. I tend to use a lot of foot percussion

[playwithfire]

Phil Bozzio... :rolleyes::lol:.

[Drum Phil]

Almost :p i jus dont want as many drums :D

[playwithfire]

Let's hope not ;).

[Drum Phil]

Bye bye money for the next 800000000000000000 years :D

[Seafroggys]

Wait what happened to the Designers? Were they renamed to Drum Design or something?

[Drum Phil]

Ive heard of them being referred to as both :confused:

[Jezen]

I just looked on Sonor's site, and they are still called Designers.

[SonorKen]

Wait what happened to the Designers? Were they renamed to Drum Design or something?
Designers are no longer made. The new custom drum is called Drum Designs. From what I'm hearing Drum Designs may only be made for a year or more and then a new line will be introduced.

[Seafroggys]

....any reason why....? are they the same drums or what?

[SonorKen]

They make some changes in hardware, run out of different kinds of woods that were available to them at the time, make improvements in the drums, it can be a multitude of reasons. Everytime they change the drums are improved. The cool thing is, about any high-end Sonor kit you buy, in 10 years, will be something of a collectors item and will appreciatte.

[little_drummer_boy1]

I think you should consider yamaha and especially mapex

but on a side note why not try gretsch i would highly recomment them to just about anyone as they are great studio and all arround drums, i have not found them to be the strictly jazz kits that most beleive

[Drum Phil]

I AM considering yamaha and mapex :)

I dont really like gretsch. I think they're really ugly which does play its part on a kit of this price

[Seafroggys]

i think that Grestch USA Customs or whatever they're called are truly sexy though....

and we have a Catalina Club at college that's pretty snazzy too...