There ya go Inky!

I'm sure you can't go wrong on either, especially if you could play them first. I like the hybrid birch shells for their warmth- like birch/kapur or birch/bubinga with the Starclassics.

For a live kit that wasn't mic'ed all the time I'd look into an oak hybrid for tone and volume. I'm a Ludwig guy so I'd look at the Ludwig Keystones with maple/oak shells- they're warm and loud, as well as affordable. Forks has a 4 piece for $1595 shipped. Or visit their website and call them- you might get a better deal over the phone.

I'm going to have to call you out on this one.

I have a friend with a RB Gretsch kit, Keystone Ludwig kit, Pearl masters studio kit (or whatever it's called) and he and I have jammed on several occasions...

My D20 can hang with his Gretsch just fine. If you take his 12 off the rail and suspend it by the rim, it sings out great, but on the clip it is like a pillow is inside it. Japan made kits are excellent quality, and regardless of my bias, you can't ignore the number of recordings made with Japanese kits. My 18" kick blows him away: "I can't believe how loud that thing is!" Very round shells with very accurate bearing edges and zero voids in the shell plies. The seam is angled (even on the old D20) to allow the plies to be slid against their edge for a perfect, zero-gap seam on every ply. Once I understood why the seam was that way (I initially thought it was just a gimmick), it is absolutely brilliant.

Snare drums is another matter, and it is well known the Supraphonic owns that space.

ten charecters

9

I was referring to vintage MIJ kits, the ones made with firewood. I know full well how precise newer Pearl or Yamaha kits are made. I myself have owned many new high end kits. My point is they all sound the same, I actually don't want a tom to resonate for days. I once played a 13" script badge Rogers tom right next to a new dw 13" Collectors tom, same type of heads, same tuning and guess what? The Rogers had a better tone and was much fuller sounding than the dw. Not to mention the Rogers kit it came from was about a grand less than the dw kit. I'm not saying dw or Pearl or Yamaha or Tama don't make quality drums, I'm just saying that I prefer vintage American made drums. Otherwise, I'd be playing a newer kit and be spending my time on one of their forums.

I agree with you regarding DW kits in particular Johnny. Perhaps they demonstrate "too much of a good thing" or whatever, but if I was a recording engineer, I'd cringe every time a DW kit came in.

I think John Good has a lot of neat ideas, and is certainly pushing the R&D boundries in some cases (I'm thinking of the angled plies as an example) but The kits I've sen and played (with the exception of the jazz kits they started a couple years ago) they offer nothing I "need". The one DW snare I have is never played. Still has the original top head and hang tags and will be at the CT Drum show this year...

The only way to fly

You should buy the Rocker kit from VM2000! Those drums rock! Thats why they call them rockers. And he would be a good person to purchase from.

Yep, he is good people and I highly recommend him as well..!!

Thank you fellas for the kind words.,