SkyDog
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Posts posted by SkyDog
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Pearl has BY FAR the best sound of any battery equipment IMO, but they are also the most expensive.
I think Yamaha is the best bang for the buck (no pun intended) interms of sound vs. price.
Sorry to interrupt a thread on English with drum stuff, but...
When I was pricing out drums last year for the high school I work with, Pearl wasn't the most expensive. We purchased a set of Dynasty drums with carriers (4 snares, 2 tenors, and 5 basses) for about $5600. Pearl gear from the lowest bidder was almost $2,000 more, if I remember correctly. (I know the price was four digits and started with the number 7.) Yamaha was about $1,000 more than Pearl.
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So just wondering, are Bridgemen the only corps to win a caption and not win a championship?
Spirit of Atlanta tied for high percussion in 1980. I read somewhere (but can't recall where) that it was an on-the-spot decision to use GE percussion as a tiebreaker, giving the trophy to the Bridgemen.
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My friend bought a standard Mylar snare head for $75...
SEVENTY-FIVE BUCKS???!!! Dayam. Decent Mylar marching snare heads are usually around $20-25.
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Add 1994 to the list. Cadets had the highest score at finals, but the drum trophy that year was awarded based on an average of quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals scores. (Actually, just semis & finals since quarters were partially rained out.)
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Excellent site if you want the brand they carry.
Glancing at their web site, they sell Dynasty, Pearl, and Yamaha drums, as well as mallet keyboards by Adams, Dynasty, Musser, Ross, and Yamaha. (I think they used to have a more limited brand lineup, but that doesn't seem to be an issue now.)
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Generally speaking, I like parades. Pretty much any excuse to get out and play in front of people is OK by me.
But having to wear a set of tenors while continually marching the same direction on hard pavement... That part of the gig isn't always fun.
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OK besides BDB and SCV, what other West Coast Open Class corps are there?
Blue Devils B & C -- Concord, CA
Fever -- Modesto, CA
Gold -- Hawthorne, CA
Impulse -- Buena Park, CA
Mystikal -- Long Beach, CA
Oregon Crusaders -- Portland, OR
Spokane Thunder -- Spokane, WA
Vanguard Cadets -- Santa Clara, CA
Velvet Knights -- Pasadena, CA
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Most recent model carriers from the major manufacturers wouldn't require drilling or bolting anything directly to the shell. Carriers from Randall May & XL both use attachments that clip to the tension posts of free-floating drums. I think Dynasty is the only manufacturer whose current carrier design uses tilters bolted to the shell. (Now if we're talking about used carriers, particularly if they're more than a few years old, that's a different story.)
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If you buy a recent (Randall May) carrier from Pearl or Yamaha, it'll come with the attachment that clips to the tension posts. If you buy an XL carrier, be sure it includes the free-floater attachment. If you're buying a used carrier, be careful -- the seller may or may not include everything you need to attach the carrier to the drum.
One more variable, off the top of my head: If your drum is more than a few years old, it may have a carrier clip attached to the shell or tension posts. If it has this clip, you have a few more used carrier options.
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If someone makes a stick that feels good and sounds good, I don't care whose name is on the label. There are a bunch of sticks out there that I like and hundreds I have yet to try.
Marching Snare:
I've been using VF Hardimons for years as a general purpose snare stick.
I like IP FS-1's if I'm looking for something a little beefier.
I recently tried IP's Paul Rennick model and VF's Colin McNutt. I like 'em both, but probably favor the McNutt a little bit between the two. Not sure if they'll displace the Hardimons as my usual stick.
For something a bit smaller & quieter, I like the Vater MV11. (It makes a decent short tenor stick, too.)
Tenors:
I like VF's MT1A-S mallets and the Vega stick. The Pro-Mark Stevens Stick is a good stick if you want something beefier than the Vega. (I especially like its bare wood finish.)
Concert Snare:
I like the Malletech Tony Cirone rosewood TCSD1 as a general purpose concert stick. I don't think they still make them since I recently saw a Zildjian stick with his name on 'em.
Set:
Varies, but the pair I usually reach for at the moment are Vater Power 5B's. I liked the VF Billy Cobham model before they started cutting a French grip pinky notch into it.
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Ask me a hundred times and you might get a hundred different answers. But right this second, I'll go with the Blue Devils' old Robbie Bucks.
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Judging by the presence of the throwoff lever, the second Premier drum listed above appears to be a drum corps (or marching band) style high tension snare. It is the type of drum you're looking for, but like Anders mentioned, replacement parts for Premier drums can be difficult to find should something happen to break. With the extremely high tensions some people put on snare drums, things do break on occasion -- not to mention the beatings these things tend to take while being used and transported.
That Ludwig drum you linked is also the right style of drum, but it wouldn't be my recommendation. I'm not a fan of the snare mechanism and I wasn't impressed by the build quality of the Ludwig free floaters I've worked on.
I'll second Anders' recommendation about Pearl & Yamaha snares. They're solid drums, can be found at reasonable prices, and common replacement parts are cheap and readily available. Dynasty would be a solid alternative, too.
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The wire snare under the batter head was originally more of a pipe band thing, but is occasionally used by drum corps and marching bands.
I'd be more concerned about the bottom snare on the first drum you list. Pipe band snare drums like that one typically have wire bottom snares with no throwoff. It's a different sound than the synthetic gut snare on a drum corps snare and since there's no throwoff, you can't disengage it on the fly.
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If you look at the list of eligible instruments, it looks like they're not looking for percussionists or low brass. No tubas or baris/euphs on the list.
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Are you kidding me? Is it that hard to play some auxillary percussion parts? How hard is it to roll on or smash a cymbal? What about hitting some of the wood things, running their fingers along a wind chime thing or playing a tamborine? It's not like they would have to learn how to play vibes with four mallets or something...
You're obviously not a percussionist.
"How hard is it to buzz your lips and blow air through them shiny metal glorified kazoos?"
Yes, it is that freakin' hard to do it right. There are books written strictly about cymbal technique. I've heard of at least one graduate thesis on triangle technique. And I can play four-mallet keyboards (a little), but can't do a halfway decent thumb roll on a tambourine to save my life.
To help you put it it perspective, imagine handing horns out to your drum line and having them play for a significant portion of your corps' show. You'd probably be concerned that your brass score's gonna tank, and rightly so. Those guys probably don't know a thing about intonation, fingerings, embouchure, breath support, etc. Hand a brass player or guard member a set of mallets and guess how WE might feel.
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On top, either the Hybrid or MX White will do you well. They're both good heads, but with different sound. I'd probably go with the Hybrid myself, trying for a slightly darker sound.
On bottom, honestly, I'd go with Mylar heads like the Evans MX3 or Remo Ambassador. Just personal preference, again for a slightly darker sound. And I like the additional snare response you get from Mylar vs. fiber. But if you really want a higher, dryer sound, I'd probably opt for the Evans MX5 or the Remo Falam snare side.
The thicker MX7 is way too dry for my taste, taking some of the crispness from your snare sound. I'd like to try the Hybrid, but remember hearing from someone else that he ran into a problem with the fiber strands gouging his drums' bearing edges under tension. (I haven't tried it myself or seen those drums, so I can't personally confirm the story.)
One last note: Assuming your drums don't have a shell reinforcing ring on the snare sides, the shells will likely warp over time under the high tensions common with Kevlar bottom heads. If I remember correctly, using a Kevlar snare side head may even void Yamaha's warranty. (Recent Dynasty & Pearl snares come with a reinforcing ring to allow use of Kevlar bottom heads.)
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Ok soo i have no clue about the 1980 vanguard Tenors soo would sombody please exsplain whats your talknig about. do you mean that they had both sets of tenors on at the same time
They had two tenor lines, each with different sized drums. Four guys marched larger sets and four guys marched smaller sets.
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I dunno...I've blown a few snare-side kevlar heads in my time.
Man, those things make one hell of a bang when they go too...
If you think it makes a bang when a head blows, you should see what happens when a rim goes! On mid-80s or early 90s Yamahas (before the Corps Custom or sfz models), the rims can actually shatter and send shrapnel flying!
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Now, I've heard of people breaking a rim because they tightened it too much. How will I know when the head is too tight?
Breaking rims doesn't happen often, but when it does happen, it's usually due more to uneven tension than excessive tension. Make sure the drum is in tune from lug to lug and then increase tension on each lug little by little. IIRC, Remo recommends tensioning the drum in a circular pattern, going from one lug to the next in a clockwise or counter-clockwise order instead of the traditional pattern of tightening opposite sides of the drum.
As for being able to tell when the head is too tight... Modern heads and drum hardware should be able to withstand any reasonable playing tension. So long as you're not cranking the head like you were trying to determine the breaking strength of kevlar, you should be OK.
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I don't know if they still do, but the Blue Devils used to have an arrangement with Diablo Valley College where marching members would get college credit. I thought it was kinda funny when I got a report card in 1990 telling me that I got an 'A' in 'Competitive Drum & Bugle Corps'.
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I was looking at ed. costs, too, but only pricing out snare drums. (Our basses & tenors are in good shape.)
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Pearl
the most expensive, but they made me a believer in "you get what you pay for"...
When I was pricing out drums recently, Pearl Championship snares (not Carbonply) were actually the least expensive.
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Regardless of what my line uses, here's my take. And I'll limit the scope of my response strictly to snare drums.
Pearl snares seem to be #### near indestructible. The only complaints I have are minor -- like how an inexperienced person might not align the shell & snare bed correctly when changing a bottom head. I like the snare response from the 16-strand snares.
Yamaha drums are also durable and well-designed. Shell alignment isn't an issue because of the plastic pieces that go around the tension posts and keep the shell from rotating. The snare strainer is bolted to the shell, so snare bed misalignment is impossible. I like the finish options on Yamaha drums more than Pearl's offerings. I don't particularly care for the 10-strand snares. The "feet" that act as snare guards are almost worthless. They don't protect well and cause the tension rods holding them to detune faster.
Dynasty snares aren't bad, but I prefer Pearl and Yamaha by a small margin. There are three screws that hold the top tension ring assembly to the shell and they tend to vibrate loose every once in a while. The snare assembly seems to be a little less durable than Yamaha & Pearl, as they seem more likely to bend when drums are dropped. I know that it's impossible to design a drum that's immune to abuse, but let's face it -- stuff happens, and the Yamaha & Pearl snare hardware seems to take the punishment just a little bit better. Dynasty hardware -- particularly tension rods -- seemed to be a lot more prone to rust than other brands. If you play in the rain even once, expect to do a complete teardown if you want to get all the rust off -- even if you do a good job of drying the drums. On the bright side, I liked the sound we got out of the drums, Dynasty offers seemingly infinite options when it comes to finish, their customer service is first-rate, and other than what I've already mentioned, the drums were extremely durable.
Premier almost seems to be an afterthought these days. I haven't played on any of their gear in over a decade, so my experience probably isn't all that applicable. I've heard of some durability issues and problems getting replacement parts, but can't confirm them firsthand.
If I had to rank them:
1: Pearl
1A: Yamaha
3: Dynasty
4: Premier
Where For Art Thou Pearl?
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
We solicited a bunch of quotes from pretty well-known dealers, so maybe it was a conspiracy? ;)