Need some info about Sonor Force 1001 drum kit

rpt50

Member
Hi all. About 5-6 years back I bought a used 5 piece Sonor Force 1001 kit for my son to learn on. Then last year we got a sweet deal on a 5 piece Tama rockstar kit, so he switched to that, and the Sonor kit has collected dust. Now he is in a successful band playing big and small venues, and I can really see the value of having a smaller kit like the Sonor for certain events his band plays (he's not old enough to drive yet, so I have to haul all this stuff around!).

Anyway, we got the Sonor kit out and set it up, but when played side-by-side with the Tama kit, it sounds pretty crappy. Is the Sonor Force 1001 just a poor quality kit, or will some new heads make it sound good? I don't want to spend money on heads, etc. if it is not going to help.

If it is junk, what is a decent quality smaller kit that I could pick up?

P.S. I'm not a drummer myself, so please correct my mistakes and explain any lingo you might use. Thanks!
 
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Heads is the correct term, and yes, they make a biiiig difference! Have the heads on it ever been replaced? If not, I highly recommend you go out and pick up new top/bottom (proper term is "batter" and "resonant") heads for each drum ASAP :) Hopefully one of you can tune drums, but even if not, Bob Gatzen and many other dudes have great tuning videos on YouTube.

As for selection: first, you need to measure each drum's diameter (not including the hoop- basically, measure from the inside of the hoop on the top of the drum to the other side) to figure out what sizes the kit is. Common sizes are 10", 12", 13", 14", 16", 20", and 22". As for selection, it probably doesn't matter what brand you go with, so here's a little table to help:

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For batter tom and kick heads, basically choose a clear head if you want more attack/clear pitch, or coated if you want more of a thump/smooth tone.
 
Is the Sonor Force 1001 just a poor quality kit, or will some new heads make it sound good?

Sonor's bottom end kit at the time it came out. Not totally horrible, but their entry level kit nonetheless. And yes, good heads and tuning can perk things up.
 
Yes, new heads and tuning will do the trick. Another thing that may be throwing you guys off is the sizes of the drums. Are the drums the same size as the tamas? Either way, heads along with proper tuning goes a long way.

Choosing the right heads will also help significantly. What styles of music is he playing? For example: if he's playing metal and/or hard rock, one ply heads would probably not be a good choice. A really good all around Tom batter head ( IMO) are Evans G2 heads.
 
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