John,

You are right, the Reflex are pretty cool. I have sold a few of them at my store in Cincy. The toms are all nice and balanced, and like you said EQ themselves well. Great attack, and not overbearing.

I will say that the bass drum is a little tough. I talked with one of the product designers, and he said they will probably get away from the 22" deep bass drums next year. He is a vintage lover like the rest of us, and he has some truly amazing things on the horizon.

I can't imagine the alder drums staying around much longer, I think it is a little on the expensive side of material to use in drums. What color are you digging?

If you need any help getting one, I'm happy to help out, and even get one shipped to you.

[email]kschwallie@hotmail.com[/email] if I can help out!

-Kevin

That 20 inch depth is a bit too much IMHO. This is also the case with my Dominion. Did your contact reveal what would happen if somebody cut the BD down to maybe a 16-18 or so? I like a bit deeper, but 20 is overkill. 16 might do the trick.

I really like the Ice Sparkle....the lighter blue sparkle. That is classy! I could have gotton one of those instead of my Dominion, but the sales guy told me that the Dominion is simply a better quality kit. That may be true, but if it is not what you want, it does not matter what quality it is.

The verdict is still out on my Dominion. I need to play it in some different settings first and have some time with them. I could always try some other heads, but that gets expensive.

John

Alder is quite inexpensive, but does have a warm, well rounded tone. Much faster growing than Maple for sure, but I don't know if it is fast enough to be classified as a soft wood... Probably. I have never heard of "Red Alder", but maybe this is something from another country?

Fender used it (Alder) for decades (as well as swamp ash) for the Strat and tele bodies. I could not even guess what they might use now. I did a few customs in alder as well as late 50's replicas, but usually with a top of something harder.

It grows like a weed (literally) in wet areas of the North East.

Actually yes, we did discuss bass drums shallower shells. Obviously, the vintage 14" depth has a lot more attack than full tone (generally, and in comparison to new shells). They are going to do be doing some 15" depths I believe, and probably 16" 18", just depends on the lines.

The 20" depths are too deep and lose the vibration to quickly. There is too much to travel to actually get a good bounce off the resonant head. This is why there isn't a lot of ring full tone, just a lot of 'dead click', which is why a lot of rock guys really like the deep bass drums.

Cutting it down, redrilling, and adding an edge wouldn't be a bad idea, but it does cost money and a lot of time. Also, if you choose the wrong depth, you have to do it over (or stuck if you go too much). But, good call on the Blue Ice! That and the white bubble were our best sellers.

@ Jim You are correct, Fender used Swamp Ash and Alder in their American line of guitars. They still do Ash in their nicer American lines or signature models (if requested), they actually still use Alder in everything else (even their Mexican line now). Alder is abundant, but with it being 'Red Alder' I just assumed this wasn't the normal type of tree, and that there would be less of it, which is why I thought it may be expensive.

I have no idea if that is the full name of the species of american Alder I know and love or if there really is some other wood called 'Red Alder'...

Bear in mind, it is a company you are dealing with, so perhaps it is a 'invented' term to make it sound more appealing?

In any event, I have seen and heard the Ddrum products and I like them- good quality and good sound for short money!