Ddrums

[latinoff]

Just recently purchased a Ddrum Dominion Dorian Ash kit which I think sounds great. Ive been a long time Pearl drum player and still have them, really like what Ddrum is doing especially with their kick drum sizes. They seem to really fit the hard rock genre. Just wondering if anyone out there owns a set, and what their opinions are?

[brandondrury]

There was a thread about DDrums floating around here somewhere.

whats the real deal on ddrum?

[latinoff]

Yes ran across it after I posted this one, thanks

[dannyman]

Ddrum puts out acrylic kits. I haven't had the chance to try one, but I favor acrylic much more than wood when it comes to rock, especially extreme rock. I use a Ludwig stainless steel set when playing live, and people can't believe how resonsant and strong the tone on every drum is. I don't hold plywood instruments in very high regard. I use an electronic kit for recording, which at the moment gets me the best Yamaha and a few other brands have to offer acoustically. I really don't see how one plywood kit is superior to another brand's plywood kit. I think the whole Ddrum vs. Tama vs. Pearl debate is the same as the Gibson vs. Fender vs. Ibanez; and the Mesa Boogie vs. Marshall vs. Soldano; and Remo vs. Evans vs. Attack debates. Retail is retail is retail. The differences are minor, at best.

Back to drums... Acrylic is a solid hunk of fiberglass, as retail wooden kits are really thin sheets of wood with conflicting grain glued together. Only solid wooden shells can compare to acrylic and metal drums in terms of resonance and consistency. And the last time I checked, nice acrylic kits are going for a little over $2000 from multiple companies.

[Irish614]

I agree acrylic kits do sound amazing and look great. There was a discussion floating around here about their lack of recording abilities though. But if you listen to the couple new Avril Levine songs Travis Barker plays on 3 of them I believe, he's using the Amber acrylic drum kit made by Orange County Drums and Percussion on those songs, and what do you know they sound pretty damn good. I have to agree with you on this one. I just wish DDrum produced the Glowstick Acrylic kits because those things look fucking sweeet!

[dannyman]

Well, the thing about acrylic drums is that they are louder than wood, but without the (insert bansihed w word) and tone. It's sort of like recording drums with infinite sustain, but the stick attack is also very pronounced, and thus most engineers crap themselves trying to figure out how to get better tone out of them, when in fact, acrylic's lack of tone is what gives it it's personality. Imagine trying to make a Les Paul sound like a telecaster: this concept is what most engineers do with acrylic drums: try to turn them into something they aren't on the recording. Acrylic only shines in music where drums need to cut and where beautiful tone is of no concern; this is why acrylic guitars died out so fast: they sound incredibly bland compared to wooden guitars. I still don't understand why Travis Barker uses an acrylic kit: the thing sounds just plain awful on all the Blink 182 records he played on.

[Irish614]

Majority of the blink records he recorded on were Orange County Wood kits, or some of them weren't even Orange County at all, they were just old kits laying around that he decided to throw on the tracks because he liked the sound ( he did this mostly on the Box Car Racer cd) But the majority of the time he recorded blink's stuff with the wood kits. Although sometimes he played live with the acrylic kits, I think just for the killer looks not so much for their sound. If you followed Blink alot you'd see this transition from wood to acrylic mostly towards the end of his career with Blink right around the time he started playing more hip-hop beats.

[dannyman]

I never followed Blink -- I just remember not liking the sound of Travis' drums on the albums and seeing him using acrylic kits on Blink DVD's. He probably does use them live just for the looks: synthetics look 100% cooler than wood, inho.