HB Drums

[Old Doc Yak]

Anybody ever hear of/use HB Drums? Came across them on the web recently and am curious. Thanks.

[pasta]

A current thread. Billy Blast sells these too.


http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1738403

[BertTheDrummer]

I played a set of them one time they were pretty nice. The set I played was part of their Predator Elite series lacquer and the finish on them were really nice... but then the hardware were really pretty cheap, the insides of shells were rough like they didn't even bother to sand them at all. I didn't get a chance to inspect the bearing edges, but I've heard lots of people have had problems with those.

[Class A Drummer]

Ive never heard of them. I hope they are better than CB drums. Those are just terrible.

[bojangleman]

haha..hey, they can sound good...well...mine sound half way decent.

Ive never heard of them. I hope they are better than CB drums. Those are just terrible.

Alex

[harryconway]

You get what you pay for. I'd rather buy a better "used" set than a "brand new" HB kit, for the same money spent.

[BertTheDrummer]

You get what you pay for. I'd rather buy a better "used" set than a "brand new" HB kit, for the same money spent.

heh the set I played was a used HB kit.... talk about dirt cheap.

[hawk9290]

what makes me always unnerved about them is that they claim on their website
Partial list of current & past clients and associates include: Kevin Ratermann, Dave Weckl, Tris Imboden, Whitesnake, Megadeth, Mike Portnoy - Dream Theatre, Matt Sorum-Guns and Roses, Slaughter, Peter Erskine, Dick Dale, Jerry Cantrell-Mike Inez-Alice in Chains, Chad Smith-Chile Peppers, Eric Singer of Kiss, Carmine and Vinnie Appice, Greg Bissonette, Percussionists for Santana and many more....

I don't know any of those artists ever using HB (other than Kevin Ratermann who is the HB posterchild that I have otherwise never heard of). Perhaps they did before they became big names, but thats still a bit sketchy...

as for the drums, for the price, they can be beat by a realiable quality set.

[BertTheDrummer]

Hell I wouldn't mind using HB drums ... and I'd even pay for them if I could be guaranteed I'd have the quality be there. I notice they say "past clients and associates".... doesn't necessarily mean they even used their drums... maybe they just went to the guy to get a part.. but hey that means they were a past client. I've never heard of Kevin Ratermann, and he has a soundclip online and it isn't that great.

[ermghoti]

HB Drums: Hi, I've emailed a photo of some finishes, which do you like the look of?

Famous Drummer: They all kind of suck.

HB Drums: Thanks, aesthetic consultant!

Famous Drummer: What was that?

HB Drums: Oh, nothing. I gotta run now, the guy who writes my ad copy is around here somewhere. [runs away, making Flintstones bongo noise]

[Chicagoed]

I have a set of HB drums, that I use for my at home set. I like em !! Birch shells, good bearing edges. They sound pretty good. They are cheap, but certainly not inferior to "name brand" sets for similar money. I did some hands on research before I bought them, and they seem a lot better constructed than cheap Ludwigs, Pacific, Gretch Blackhawk,etc. Nice tone. I swapped out the heads with G2's, added a few cymbals I had laying around. Picked up another Ghost pedal. Everything stays tight, and does the job well. Not saying they would work well for playing out, but plenty good for home practice.

Ed

[zambizzi]

I looked at a giant double-bass kit a local guy was selling back in March. I had never heard of HB but he was claiming they were "custom built". So, for the price, it seemed fantastic and they looked nice in the pics.

I stopped by the guy's house and tried them out...and before I even sat down I was turned off by them. Everything about them seemed cheap and I immediately knew these were no "custom" drums. I was further unimpressed after playing them...they just didn't sound that good.

I later managed to find a shop selling them on the web and realized he was trying to charge exactly TWICE what a brand new kit in the exact configuration would have cost.

I called him back and called him on it...he got angry...insulted me...and then hung up on me.

Yeesh....

[Deathmetalconga]

I looked at a giant double-bass kit a local guy was selling back in March. I had never heard of HB but he was claiming they were "custom built". So, for the price, it seemed fantastic and they looked nice in the pics.

I stopped by the guy's house and tried them out...and before I even sat down I was turned off by them. Everything about them seemed cheap and I immediately knew these were no "custom" drums. I was further unimpressed after playing them...they just didn't sound that good.

I later managed to find a shop selling them on the web and realized he was trying to charged exactly TWICE what a brand new kit in the exact configuration would have cost.

I called him back and called him on it...he got angry...insulted me...and then hung up on me.

Yeesh....

HB is a FEPOS brand. I've checked out the newer CB 700s and they are good drums for the money. HB is a notch or two below them.

[harryconway]

I... he was claiming they were "custom built". So, for the price, it seemed fantastic and they looked nice in the pics.


I called him on it...he got angry...insulted me...and then hung up on me.



That's "kust'm" with a k. No wonder he got angry.

[HumDrummer]

I bought a 7 piece set of the White Goldrush series HB Drums after checking them out thoroughly against other similar priced drum sets. They make wrapped shells and lacquered finished shells from birch. I wouldn't own wrapped drums due to wrinkling which eventually happens to all wrapped shells, unless they are wrapped with a formica type finish, which I haven't seen since the 70's.
I think my HB drums are as good as the Ludwig's I owned in the 70's. I have the heavy duty hardware, and I mean they are heavy. The problem I have with the stands are minimal from the way a "pin" is used to hold sleeved joints together, which leaves a small amount of play, but nothing noticeable unless the pin comes out, which happened once, after which I epoxied to avoid future problems.
All in all, for the money they are the best set I've found after doing months of research before purchasing 2 years ago. I use them in our studio and gig with them too. I use Remo heads, Sabian cymbals, and a Iron Cobra double bass pedal. I also own a set of Roland TD-10 V-Drums which are great for practice and I've even gigged with them before I bought the HB's, but you need a GOOD amp for good sounds.
Here is a link to see/hear my HB's playing Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" while we were learning the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfsfQ0Lzps0
Final thoughts are: If you are looking for a good set of less expensive drums, HB Drums are a good choice. I wound up liking them more than I thought I would, and I've played on every brand you can name and some you can't.
My experience is: I started playing drums is the late 60's, I've played "on the road" for many years in the 70's. I've played with The Coasters, BJ Thomas, Mother's Finest, The Catalinas, and others but mostly on the east coast.
PS. I don't have any connection with nor have I been paid to write this. This is solely for those interested in a good set of drums that won't kill your budget.
Happy Playing :-)

[azrae1l]

hmm interesting, as a current hb drum owner i'd have to say most of this is fairly accurate among many others. their not bad for the money and at the time it's about all i could afford for the set up i wanted. the hardware sucks, lugs are cheap and feel like plastic, heads mise well be a trash bag. his double braced stands are decent enough, well thats really the highlight of the kit right there, the stands he bought from some chinese company are decent. the shells themselves are cheap chinese bought shells, he wraps them (poorly i might ad) so you can expect to have flaws on the bearing edges and such but none of mine are too bad just a small scratch here and there. they can tune up nicely if you can do a good job but they go out of whack fairly quickly. all in all for a beginners kit and a rather large one at that their not so bad, for gigging hell no, for studio hell no.

as for the guy who sells them, nice guy to talk to as long as you don't question him on anything then he gets irritated like the other guy said. he ships real slowely but hey it's free shipping right? he takes forever to deliver and rarely has anything in stock ready to ship. same day is nonexistant. took 3 shipments weeks apart to get the whole kit and months of "build time" so i hope your patiant.

all in all for a 12 peice kit that cost me less then $800 and allowed me to figure out exactly what configuration i wanted in a drum kit, gave my friend a kit to learn on with out tearing up a decent kit (a 6-5 300# dude that hits really hard and has no clue about drumming can turn a rim inside out in no time) and gave me the opportunity to learn mass amounts about drum quality and construction it was probably worth it, maybe. would i buy from him again, not if my life depended on it. can i sell them for a reasonable price (i'm talking $100), doubt it, will i give them to my kid to learn to play on when he's old enough to break stuff? oh hell yeah break away boy!

if your not looking for a huge double bass kit for dirt cheap go with an export or accent 5 peice kit, if your really into the big kits like i am and all you got is one welfare check to buy it, check them out.

[alparrott]

Having said all that, they are one of the few companies to still offer a 6" tom. When I got it, buying a new head for it was nearly half the price of the drum. But it does just what I want it to do.

Probably still wouldn't buy a whole set from them, though.

[azrae1l]

yeah i'll give them that, the 6" and the 8" are actually decent drums and sound pretty good and with the new kit i might just keep those 2, but they aren't the only ones to sell a 6" and for somebody who really wants a 6" you can get a keller shell for like $30 find a guy to paint it real nice 8 lugs 2 rims and for less then $100 you can have a real nice drum.

[alparrott]

True, and given a lot more time and ability to exert effort, I might have done that. At the time I was living in Alaska and just wanted a 6" tom that matched my black Yamahas. The lacquer finish on the Predator Elite was very close, the 6" uses single lugs that come close to the Yamaha bridge lugs on my other drums, and I already had an old Pearl mounting arm to put it on. Besides which, it was birch to match other birch drums. For the money, it was a good choice.

However, I certainly wouldn't buy a full set of these for anyone but the passing interest hobbyist, you know, the same target audience as Starcaster and the rest of the usual suspects over at the Tom Angles thread. The workmanship simply isn't even up to the entry-level standards of the major drum makers.

[azrae1l]

so it's actually lacquer? i didn't buy the lacquer kit but after the fact i saw a lot of posts from people saying the lacquer finish was a wrap that just looked lacquer.

[alparrott]

It was advertised as such. I'll be honest, I didn't look that closely - only had it a week or so before I had to pack them up and put them in storage for a year. But on a 6", the mounting hardware and lugs take up so much room, it wouldn't make a huge visual difference.