House of Drumming.com

Gavin is a very techy guy. He's spent hours and hours fine tuning (literally) his sound. If you left him alone with ANY decent kit it would sound incredible once he was ready to play it. Benny Greb, another Sonor guy, same thing, he could play anything and sound awesome. It would be cool to see these fanatical sound guys - Gavin, Benny, Weckl, Si Phi, Katche, Bill Stewart play a bunch of uber high end kits and give their honest reaction. I'd love to hear what Bill Stewart thinks of the PHX kit or Simon playing a Gretsch.

Bill Stewart? He tunes old school bop tuning, choking the toms out. Not sure he's the best example for benchmarking drum sound. =)

Ok, Steve Holmes then. That Steve Holmes guy has some wicked sounding toms. I'd love to hear Steve Holmes play a Pearl Reference kit and then some Brady's and then copper Craviottos and then some Ayottes with wood hoops and get his honest thoughts.

I'd really like to hear the differences between the Birch Customs (I own a kit with 7.5x10, 8x12, 9x13, 16x16) and Recording Customs.

My guess is that the sonic differences between the Recording C, Maple C, Beech C and Oak C are not that big. All these drums have the same edges and if the dimensions are also equal the biggest difference would be volume, not timbre. In my opinion Yamaha are amazing near field drums. The PHX is a very different instrument because it has way more projection and will also cut trough in an acoustic non mic situation. If I compare my recording c to my beech c, the real difference is 'loudness'. The beech c is louder then the recording c. and maybe a little 'sharper'. The same with Sonor. My Sonor HiLite is way louder then my Sonor DeLite. The main differences are shell thickness. Thin shells sound 'better' but their sound 'drops dead' if your standing a few meters away. But withs mics they sound fatter/warmer/ and shorter [less sustain]. That is why I play mostly Gretsch, it is both loud and warm. Might have to do with the fact that each drum has unique dimensions. The bigger the drum, the thicker the shell. I think Gretsch is doing a smart thing there. How is that with the PHX? Smaller drums have thinner shells?

Just by going with what I have experienced with these kits in a practice and live situation there are significant differences in the Recording and Birch Customs.

Tone in the RC is warmer, PHATer and as they say "PRE EQ" sort of vibe. With the Birch Custom volume is a big difference and the all round sound of the drum is louder, bigger and more sensative to the touch. I am usinf clear emps on both and are tuned in the same manner of course.

Smaller drums with thinner shells........ this is my PHX 8" with 11 plies of goodness.





There is no loss of tone or volume even with their thicker shells, Yamaha did their homework on this one.

As far as other players on other kits..... Donati on Peavey....

Hahahaha, remember them?

bstocky wrote:Hahahaha, remember them?

Sure do, I played one that made it to Australia...

I would like to hit the 12" tom thats next to the 10" tom but it's sooooooo far away.

'these kits in a practice and live situation there are significant differences in the Recording and Birch Customs' ....?....the Recording IS a birch kit. So the one birch kit sounds significant differently from the other birch kit from the same company and the same level of quality. Nah.... It has not so much to do with wood then. Thicker shells are louder, rounder edges produce more 'warmth'. Gadd mixes his drums tho, Birch bass drum and maple toms ... or the other way around. They did a 'blind test' comparing birch vs maple. The results were that everybody heard different things in the same drums and there was no logic/reason in the results. So, I am looking forward to this new experiment/recording.

Matthijs Ament wrote: It has not so much to do with wood then.

Different lugs, different finish inside and different hoops.