Pearl Reference Series
 

[url]http://www.pearldrum.com/thestory.html[/url]

It's an interesting concept, and the reasoning is sound enough, but one has to wonder how much better, if any, they sound. Thoughts anyone?

I think they're nice drums but I want to hear and see them in person before I come to a final desicion about them, but I have not doubt that Pearl hasn't failed us.

Of course, if they sound as good as Pearl say, they've just raised the bar for everyone else.

I think the Reference drums are going to be something quite unique. If I had the opportunity to buy a new set of drums, I would definitely consider them, although I have a feeling they are going to be very pricey.

I dont see the big deal with them personally.

The Masters and Masterworks drums should give everything youd ever want in a drumkit.

[QUOTE=Damo]I dont see the big deal with them personally.

-pearl promo talk-[/QUOTE]

Most brands have great sounding kits. If you get in a certain price league, a drumset will be of a such quality that the sound is good. All that remains is the fact if you like that certain sound.

Personally, I consider Pearl drums to sound like flat rat turds. But thats just my taste.

its a gimmick

basically pearl mixes and matches components of a drum kit and claims its the best. yeah right.

^I consider Pearl to be inferior to the likes of TAMA and Yamaha. I mean, they use, of all things, POPLAR (a very perishable wood) to make their Forum series. What does that say about their efforts in their kits?

I appreciate them trying to do what they can, but to just hand out to beginners stuff made to perish, that doesn't say much about their intelligence.

[QUOTE=RavEMasteR]^I consider Pearl to be inferior to the likes of TAMA and Yamaha. I mean, they use, of all things, POPLAR (a very perishable wood) to make their Forum series. What does that say about their efforts in their kits?[/QUOTE]

Wow. My crappy Pacific kit was made from basswood. I guess DW doesn't put any effort into their custom made kits.

:thumb: Such flawless logic.

Gimmick.

Since we're talking about Pearl, can anyone tell me how much a Pearl Sessions Smx Kit would cost?

The masterworks is already the ultimate in drum-making. Reference is just a masterworks 'configuration', number of plies, how many plies of this, how many plies of that, etc. They've said something about the mahogany/maple combination being the most popular out of all the masterworks order they've received, which explains the production of it.

Masterworks are great drums, but I wouldn't consider the the "ultimate in drum making". Check out [url]http://www.globaldrumco.net/[/url] . I had the opportunity to hear one of their snares, and let me tell you, they have left Pearl (as well as DW, Pork Pie, a bunch of others) in the stoneage. The purity and amount of resonance from the segmented shells is amazing, and the projection blows away all the ply-shell drums I've ever heard. Not to mention that making the shells this way allows for hundreds of times more customization in the woods used and thickness of the shell than ply construction. (Can you tell that I'm sold? ;) )

Well, they say you can't compare an apple to an orange..

[QUOTE=Vater5B]Wow. My crappy Pacific kit was made from basswood. I guess DW doesn't put any effort into their custom made kits.

:thumb: Such flawless logic.[/QUOTE]

Pacifics get made in some factory in mexico and the manufacturing process itself has very little to do with DW. DW just brands it "Pacific by DW" so they can push more kits in the lower end segment of the market.

Basswood is a good wood. But you have high quality woods, you have shoddy quality woods. For example, a low-end kit wont have the same quality of mahogany as the mahogany in a high-end kit.

There are 2 kinds of mahogany.. the 'cheap' one, and the 'expensive' one.. the 'cheap' one is Phillipine Mahogany, the ones used in Swingstars/Rockstars if i'm not wrong. The expensive one, is the African Mahogany, coincidentally the same one that Omar Hakim's snare is made off *drools*.

wouldnt suprise me if there are 40 kinds of mahogany. The phillipine mahogany is also known as Luan btw

I personnaly dont like pearls, I rather a tama any day
Rockin982 what makes these snares soo good? because i heard one aswell and i basicly creamed myself at the great sounding drum.

The way a segmented shell is made, there are no plies. Instead, they stack little "bricks" of wood. Since it uses roughly 1/1000 of the amount of glue in a ply shell, it vibrates MUCH more freely and uniformly, producing a louder and purer sound. Very similar to the idea behind a solid shell, but much stronger because of the way it's constructed. Also, it allows you to use woods that are not conducive to ply construction.

Meh, sounds good to me.

A bit of a gimmick, but it's not as if they arn't going to work :confused:

My school has a 15 year old pearl export, and after 15 years of being beaten up, it's still as sturdy as it was when it was bought..

I'm not to sure what that has to do with anything, but i geuss i was just saying how amazingly tough and well built pearls are.

[QUOTE=l3n]The masterworks is already the ultimate in drum-making.[/QUOTE]I'd take a Sonor Designer over a Masterworks anyday.

^^^Most definitly.

I'm more interested in the rounded bearing edge than the wood

pearl wasnt the first to do that........

obviously, most early drums had rounded edges but I haven't seen many recently

Yeah, Sonor was the first one to go with the whole custom level thing (the designer series) in the early 90s....Masterworks didn't come out until like '97 I think.

I think it's a great kit
 

I think this is the most profound kit that anyone has ever dared to make. Looking for years at what wood or wood combinations make each size sound better. Look at the design of the shells, the smaller toms (6-10) are both birch and maple to pull out that loud yet higher clean range. The 12" is 100% maple to make it stand out. Anything larger than 12" (13-18) are made of maple and African Mahogany to bring the lower end tones out and drive that bassy sound. The kick has both birch and African Mahogany to pull those lower tones with the clarity qualities in birch.

This kit is getting the best of every possible sound range that a drummer could ask for from the sound of a drum kit.

I will be buying one early on next year.

Congratulations, but you're a few months late.

That's OK, they'll still be there when I buy it smart guy

I've read some pretty interesting yet sorted views on this particular series and maker in general. What's the general consensus in here on what kit is the most dominant to you guys? DW, Yamaha, Tama, what? Somebody explain it to me?