Best Buys from NAMM 2014?

I also didn't find anything that stood out much above anything else. Signet was new in concept, Tama had some nice but costly reissues, DW entered the direct drive pedal fray, Pear had some sweet new snares, and Sakae expanded their offerings, but nothing truly groundbreaking or amazing or "must-have" as far as I could see.

Lots of coool stuff for sure, but nothing in the "you HAVE to see this!" category.

Bermuda
 
I'd like to know more about the Premier XPK all birch kit for $799. They were blowing out Genista birch kits for $500-600 recently and I read about some issues with those.
 
Are the Prolites made in China? Just curious.

No, they're made in Germany. Although I think the hardware (lugs, hoops, etc) may be sourced from China.

SONOR_ProLite_800.jpg
 
Are the Prolites made in China? Just curious.

Made in Germany. Here are some being made at the factory.

20121005_124125.jpg


I believe some of the hardware fittings are made in Germany and other metal parts are likely made in the far east. The shells though are 100% made in Germany.

20121005_114858.jpg


Also the new SQ2 drums also will have the same vent badges the Prolites have that says made in Germany.
 
Sonor shells. Wonderful instruments,
I hope the blue sparkle they introduced at NAMM will be available soon.
 
No, they're made in Germany. Although I think the hardware (lugs, hoops, etc) may be sourced from China.

Made in Germany. Here are some being made at the factory....


Thanks guys. The only reason I even mentioned it was because the Yamaha Hybrid discussion got me thinking about it.
Don't want to bug you guys, but could I ask where the Ascents are made. I saw one recently I really liked.
 
I also didn't find anything that stood out much above anything else. Signet was new in concept, Tama had some nice but costly reissues, DW entered the direct drive pedal fray, Pear had some sweet new snares, and Sakae expanded their offerings, but nothing truly groundbreaking or amazing or "must-have" as far as I could see.

Lots of coool stuff for sure, but nothing in the "you HAVE to see this!" category.

Bermuda

Bermuda: Regarding Sakae, do you mean the new lineup of snares? I didn't notice any expansion to the drum series--same old Celestial, Almighty, etc., series. Sakae has peaked my interest--quite a few Yamaha endorsers jumped ship to them after the Yamaha-Sakae split.
 
Don't want to bug you guys, but could I ask where the Ascents are made. I saw one recently I really liked.

The Ascents are made in China. As far as I know, the only kits made in Germany are SQ2, Pro-lites, those new special edition snares, the re-issue Phonic snares, etc. If you want good quality Sonor, it is German and will cost you--but that's the way they've always been, I think.

Interesting to note, though, the Absolute Maple Hybrids being near $3K. I'd easily go for a Pro-lite or even a Pearl Reference Pure, which cost the same. Yamaha goofed there.
 
....Interesting to note, though, the Absolute Maple Hybrids being near $3K. I'd easily go for a Pro-lite or even a Pearl Reference Pure, which cost the same. Yamaha goofed there.


I play Stage Customs now, just for fun.
I haven't bought a more expensive kit since I was a kid. If I were to do so now, it would be Ludwig or Gretsch.
 
I'm really hard pressed to see anything that beats the Stage Customs or Crush Eminents/Acrylics

I mentioned it in another post already, but damn does that red acrylic kit look good! And now that they have a 20" bass config, it just makes me wish I had more than loose change.
 
Doooohhh!

Im just sayin'


Someone got some splainin' to do



.........................................
 

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Ummmmmmm SONOR!

Hows that chocolate inner ply? Sweeet!

Take that SIGNET 105
 

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It's an optical illusion. I chopped around on that image to do that ad and something probably got munched.. I can assure you that drum is in 100% round and everything is square where it needs to be.


We see those a lot, them pesky optical ammusings.

Quite a few drum photos getting chopped apparently.
 
Bottom hoop larger diameter than top hoop - it's the new trend - ha ha.

......yeah, post a pic of a new drum with unacceptable lug splay and Im probably going to cite you.

It's an optical illusion. I chopped around on that image to do that ad and something probably got munched.. I can assure you that drum is in 100% round and everything is square where it needs to be.
Although there's a lot of drums out there with splay, I doubt this is one of them. The bottom hoop appearing bigger than the top hoop is the giveaway.

Bill, you got your camera too close to the drum. Modern point & shoot cameras have a kind of "fisheye" lens affect when too close to the piece. Better to back off a bit then enlarge/crop in processing later.
 
Although there's a lot of drums out there with splay, I doubt this is one of them. The bottom hoop appearing bigger than the top hoop is the giveaway.

Bill, you got your camera too close to the drum. Modern point & shoot cameras have a kind of "fisheye" lens affect when too close to the piece. Better to back off a bit then enlarge/crop in processing later.



Too be clear, he did get off with just a warning.

Yup watch those camera angles Bill, they could hurt you down the road. : )
 
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