10ers4life Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 OK - I don't know much about percussion. Can someone explain what the difference would be battery wise if their using Pearl or Yamaha? There is a big difference -- bigger than people may realize. Some years ago Pearl switched from birch to maple as the wood of which their drums are constructed. Yamaha remains birch. Drum shells are made of several plies bent and then glued together. Which wood is better? It's a matter of taste. The same theories and properties used to evaluate drum sounds in the world of drum sets apply to marching percussion. In general, maple is considered a slightly more premium grade of wood. It is harder than birch and yields more overtones and a wider range of dynamics. Birch is known for having far fewer overtones, less in the way of mid-range frequencies, and excellent projection. When Pearl switched to maple I was skeptical it could work on the field. I didn't think they would project as well and that it would be more difficult to control their sound. In some respects I think these situations do hold true when compared with birch. It's just a matter of learning how to work with them. The result is that, in general, when you listen to corps using Pearl, the sound will be a little on the rounder side and will resonate more (which on an open field doesn't matter a whole lot, but still affects the particular sound). By contrast the Yamaha birch shells will be a little flatter, wetter, and punchier. It's interesting: as a drummer I have long had a preference for birch toms because of their punchier, more controlled sound. But I prefer maple bass drums because that is where I want the rounder, more resonant sound. Yamaha has cleverly addressed the problem of the too-flat-sounding bass drum by creating a mixture of birch and mahogany plies on their bass drums. Brilliant thinking. Mahogany is more similar to maple in many respects, but darker. I hope Madison stays with Yamaha because it is the sound I prefer. But Pearl makes one mean bass drum with those maple shells -- just check out any corps using them. It would be something else to hear the Cavaliers do their walk beat on Pearl Drums (sorry Yamaha, still love ya). Lastly I would like to say that tonal differences between these two wood types can be lessened through various tuning, tensioning, and dampening techniques. But I personally believe the differences are significant enough that if I were marching, a corps' use of birch tenors would be an important factor to me in my search for a corps. In other words, I'd probably prefer a Yamaha corps. But that's just my own preference. Both companies are tops in quality as far as I'm concerned. Pearl's main series Championship series has always been maple, with the exception of the CSX snare drum, but that was a non free floating drum that was only in production for a few years, tenors and bass were made with maple as far back as i can remember atleast until 86, i ve'seen a few drums from 86 and they all had "all maple wood" on the logo badge. the lower price Competitor series is made out of birch. but that series is for junior high, h.s. with a budget in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmfootworks Posted March 6, 2004 Share Posted March 6, 2004 I do apologize. For some reason I thought they switched at some point and I'm racking my brain right now trying to figure out when and where I thought they switched wood types. Thanks for the clarification. You mentioned Free Floaters. Do your think they actually make a difference, especially since the shell isn't so much used as a resonator in field percussion? I liked the look of the pre-Free Floating snares better, especially in Pearl's case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cache_Money Posted March 12, 2004 Share Posted March 12, 2004 OK - I don't know much about percussion. Can someone explain what the difference would be battery wise if their using Pearl or Yamaha? There is a big difference -- bigger than people may realize. Some years ago Pearl switched from birch to maple as the wood of which their drums are constructed. Yamaha remains birch. Drum shells are made of several plies bent and then glued together. Which wood is better? It's a matter of taste. The same theories and properties used to evaluate drum sounds in the world of drum sets apply to marching percussion. In general, maple is considered a slightly more premium grade of wood. It is harder than birch and yields more overtones and a wider range of dynamics. Birch is known for having far fewer overtones, less in the way of mid-range frequencies, and excellent projection. When Pearl switched to maple I was skeptical it could work on the field. I didn't think they would project as well and that it would be more difficult to control their sound. In some respects I think these situations do hold true when compared with birch. It's just a matter of learning how to work with them. The result is that, in general, when you listen to corps using Pearl, the sound will be a little on the rounder side and will resonate more (which on an open field doesn't matter a whole lot, but still affects the particular sound). By contrast the Yamaha birch shells will be a little flatter, wetter, and punchier. It's interesting: as a drummer I have long had a preference for birch toms because of their punchier, more controlled sound. But I prefer maple bass drums because that is where I want the rounder, more resonant sound. Yamaha has cleverly addressed the problem of the too-flat-sounding bass drum by creating a mixture of birch and mahogany plies on their bass drums. Brilliant thinking. Mahogany is more similar to maple in many respects, but darker. I hope Madison stays with Yamaha because it is the sound I prefer. But Pearl makes one mean bass drum with those maple shells -- just check out any corps using them. It would be something else to hear the Cavaliers do their walk beat on Pearl Drums (sorry Yamaha, still love ya). Lastly I would like to say that tonal differences between these two wood types can be lessened through various tuning, tensioning, and dampening techniques. But I personally believe the differences are significant enough that if I were marching, a corps' use of birch tenors would be an important factor to me in my search for a corps. In other words, I'd probably prefer a Yamaha corps. But that's just my own preference. Both companies are tops in quality as far as I'm concerned. I thought SCV had the best sounding drums last year, and they use Pearl. But tuning also plays a large role in determining the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmfootworks Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 They sounded great, they were great charts, and they played them superbly. Lots of memories of SCV's drums last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madalumni Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 I haven't seen or heard from him for a while myself but have to say Lonsdale was one of the guys who set me on the right path to drum corps. We have a week long festival over here where kids get instruction on a morning from top instructors and back then Lons was one of those. A genuinely great guy who gave me a lot of inspiration for this activity!If I see him I'll remember you to him. Lonsdale is a great guy. He's one of the first guys I met during the winter camps at Madison. So, if you see him, also tell him Jeff Koehn says hi. Matt - were you around when Lonsdale uttered the famous line: "Has anyone seen a Blue Cooler?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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