Welcome

First, nice to see you here. Second, where are you? And third, maybe the Pearl forum would be the ones to give the best id of this kit. Those guys know their Pearls, and those are nice looking drums.

I could have gotten you to 80-83 and maple interiors but I can`t get you to MX or MLX. The catalogs I have for 80-83 (Japanese versions) didn`t use those names. Are you shooting so hard for an MLX that an MX in that nice condition won`t do? They seem like they are in pristine condition- I like the look of that sweet maple shell peering through in that bass drum- I`m sure they are nice sounding. Goodluck, wish I could tell MX or MLX.

Correct on the year, the badge is on our badge page here.

The main web site also has the largest collection of catalogs

for Pearl. Pearl Catalogs

Look at the catalogs from the different years and check out the drum sizes, finishes and hardware. There are 4 catalogs between 1980 and 1984.

Like most drum companies, the names of sets changed for the same drums.

David

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the quick response. I am writing to you from Hungary, Europe. I registered also at Pear forum, but the verification progress is a bit slow and I have to wait for an admin permission to create post.

I checked the badges and catalogues on this forum's main site and I get that little info from there. Unfortunatelly I never had any Pearl drums. But yesterday I found an ad about these drums (shell set) for a price cca. 900 $. The seller did not know exactly the type of this set, he tried also to identify it by its badge and lugs, etc. So his opinion is that it is a maple MX set. I thought if it is a really pro kit it is worth me the 900 $, but if not I would not buy it. Unfortunatelly the 16" tom is in bad shape, the outer body is full of bumps and the lacquer is also damaged on many points. The other shells have some little sratches and bumps too.

Right. Well, 900$ is alot and too much if the kit is not in perfect condition. The world is FULL of 1980s Pearl drumsets.Group Hug

I don't know about the rest of the world, but my best guess is the Hungarian market is not going to be too flooded with them. If they are in solid shape, make him an offer. These will sound sweet, no matter whether they are the full blown Pro kit. Given the shells will be no different, it is only going to be be minimally different. Since the shells are a bit rough on the exterior, I would adjust the price and offer him what you feel is fair. Then go play them, if they are close enough for you to go to them before buying.

Those are Pearl maple drums from the MX series. I can't recall if Pearl specified them as MLX (L being for Lacquer) at this point, or if that came later with the long high tension lugs).

Those will be very nice sounding drums for sure assuming the edges are in tact.

Make an offer and see where it goes.

I had a black wrapped MX kit and these were Pearl's top of the line drums from that era 1980-83.

If you do get them I would recommend investing in an Optimount or RIMS type system to really let those drums sing. The through the shell type mount can easily choke the drum. I have also owned a Pearl BLX kit that also had the same tom mounting system which is the only doenside to the kit. If you don't want a lot of sustain, then there is no need to spend the money on Optimounts or RIMS type mounting.

FYI - I have seen this same color in other Pearl series including DX, so if you buy the drum you may be able to match the color from another series without a real noticeable difference in tonal chararacteristics, or you may be to find a furniture restorer that could bring the shell back to it's former self.

Also -- depending upon the damage, the floor tom may clean up nicely with a little care. Someone recently posted a kit in the same color on the Pearl Forum (in the Vintage section I believe), and the shells were dinged up but it cleaned up nicely.