My Allegra Kit v2!

Allegra is a custom drum company based in Portland, Oregon. They use Keller shells like most people, but do an intense finishing/lacquer process to make shells that I would argue are a step above the rest. They also make Ddrum’s USA Custom Shop line. They (there's two guys) know a ton about drums and take a lot of pride in their work. If you live in or around Portland you owe it to yourself to check these guys out... I guarantee you’ll be floored by how their drums sound. I live close to Truth Drums as well, and although I love Truth and think they make great kits, there’s a level of expertise and musicality that the guys at Allegra have that really shines through all the drums they produce.

Specs for my kit:

- 18x22 Bass Drum
- 13x14 Rack Tom
- 14x16 Floor Tom

Snare:

- 6.5x14 Aluminum Snare

This drum is bent by Allegra out of one piece of aluminum, and then welded and finished by them. You can barely see the point at which the weld was created, and that point is actually the strongest part of the drum. I believe this is similar to how how Trick makes their drums. The sound is huge. I like a loose, throaty snare drum, and if I tune this up moderately tight and then loosen one lug, I get that sound. I was never a fan of metal drums, but this thing changed my mind from the minute I heard it. I have wood hoops on it, which give it an awesome rimshot. The hoops are white with inlayed silver strands.

Cymbals:

- 14 inch Sabian HHX Legacy Hi-Hats
- 19 inch Zildjian K Custom Hybrid Crash
- 22 inch Zildjian K Dark Medium Ride

Hardware:

- 2 Tama Roadpro cymbal stands
- 2 Pearl S2000 snare stands
- Tama Iron Cobra bass drum pedal
- Tama Iron Cobra lever-glide hi-hat

Everything is pretty much how I want. I might replace the hi-hats with some Zildjians eventually, but so far I haven’t found any that I like as much as these Sabians. This set sounds amazing, though, and (in my humble opinion) looks just as good.

I also have a 9x12 tom that I’m not currently using, and both a Sabian HHX Evolution 18 inch crash, and a Sabian HHX Evolution 10 inch splash. I’m trying to sell both of those cymbals, so let me know if you’re interested.

Thanks for looking!















 
That tom is deeeeep!!! Cool. I like the little finish inlay on the lugs that matches the drums. Nice choice in cymbals. That K dark medium fits into lots of musical situations.
 
Hey, a fellow Portland native! It seems we're on opposite sides of the river, though.

Dave is a super-gifted guy when it comes to making drums. I've hung out at the factory a couple of times and learned a bunch about drum specs and how they impact sound. Their drums are top-notch as far as Keller-using custom drum companies go. Second only to Spaun in my opinion. If I was looking for a custom jazz kit, I would not hesitate to buy from Allegra. They take the keller shells and do some kind of magic on them to make them sound like "jazz drums".

Nice kit! Why is this thread titled "v2"? Do you have another Allegra kit?

Do you play in any local bands?
 
14 x 13 rack tom is one inch away from being a floor tom. Love the sparkle. Do they have a web site?? Very nice.
 
Their drums are top-notch as far as Keller-using custom drum companies go.

It's so refreshing to hear someone that makes that statement when talking about so-called "custom" drum builders.

Kuddos to you man......I wish more people realized this
 
Phew! That's one serious rack tom! That's a beautiful kit and the snare is nothing to sneeze at either. Post some sounds!

I like the lugs, do they machine their own?
 
That 14" rack is an inch deeper than my 14" floor... that's some serious stuff.

I love how the finish is continued onto the lugs as well, I've never seen that done before.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments!

Nice set, what type of wood is it??
That snare must sound very good, I am thinking of a 10" aluminium snare :)

Bram

Maple!

stasz said:
That K dark medium fits into lots of musical situations.

I agree! I love it... it's a great ride and also crashable!

caddywumpus said:
Hey, a fellow Portland native! It seems we're on opposite sides of the river, though.

Dave is a super-gifted guy when it comes to making drums. I've hung out at the factory a couple of times and learned a bunch about drum specs and how they impact sound. Their drums are top-notch as far as Keller-using custom drum companies go. Second only to Spaun in my opinion. If I was looking for a custom jazz kit, I would not hesitate to buy from Allegra. They take the keller shells and do some kind of magic on them to make them sound like "jazz drums".

Nice kit! Why is this thread titled "v2"? Do you have another Allegra kit?

Do you play in any local bands?

I actually live in Beaverton... so we might be on the same side.

Dave is great! And the thread is called v2 because a lot of the stuff that is different is upgrades that I just did...

I play in a worship band with a guy named Mike Hohnholz (www.myspace.com/mikehohnholz), and I'm working on a couple other things with some friends...

Solaris said:
That 14" rack is an inch deeper than my 14" floor... that's some serious stuff.

Haha... it was a floor tom, but I took off the floor tom lugs and put on regular ones. It's pretty massive.
 
It's so refreshing to hear someone that makes that statement when talking about so-called "custom" drum builders.

Kuddos to you man......I wish more people realized this

I wish a lot more people realized how much of a crap statement this is. Yes there are a lot of people who use keller shells, and even get their hardware from the same suppliers (worldmax is very popular) but the so called custom drums are in fact custom...

many builders offer special bearing edges which dramatically change the sound out of a drum. Your cookie cookie cutter companies only offer the standard double 45 or 30 degree edge. ( pork pie drums are famous for their bearing edges )

The finish is also another huge factor when it comes to custom drums. Many builders are doing very cool things with custom finishes that you can not get anywhere else. (check out raven custom drums especially the unkindness series they are works of art but then maybe they are not doing anything special because he uses keller shells...)

These ho hum keller companies also offer many different way of finishing the wood. It is practically impossible to get a drum from a major company that is finished in something other than a matte or lacquer finish. Every small keller company I know of offers a large variety of finishes such as, lacquers, polyurethanes, and oils....but then again maybe a hand rubbed one of a kind oil finished shell doesn't count as custom...because kellers are everywhere

I like the interiors of my drums to be sealed with the exception of gretsch I don't know many major companies that do that either.

I am sure that companies that make their own shells offer a lot the things I mentioned but there is a lot more that goes into "custom drums" other then the shell...

BTW nice kit. Defiantly a rocker! It is really nice to see an Allegra kit. I thought they shutdown a few years ago...
 
I wish a lot more people realized how much of a crap statement this is. Yes there are a lot of people who use keller shells, and even get their hardware from the same suppliers (worldmax is very popular) but the so called custom drums are in fact custom...

many builders offer special bearing edges which dramatically change the sound out of a drum. Your cookie cookie cutter companies only offer the standard double 45 or 30 degree edge. ( pork pie drums are famous for their bearing edges )

The finish is also another huge factor when it comes to custom drums. Many builders are doing very cool things with custom finishes that you can not get anywhere else. (check out raven custom drums especially the unkindness series they are works of art but then maybe they are not doing anything special because he uses keller shells...)

These ho hum keller companies also offer many different way of finishing the wood. It is practically impossible to get a drum from a major company that is finished in something other than a matte or lacquer finish. Every small keller company I know of offers a large variety of finishes such as, lacquers, polyurethanes, and oils....but then again maybe a hand rubbed one of a kind oil finished shell doesn't count as custom...because kellers are everywhere

I like the interiors of my drums to be sealed with the exception of gretsch I don't know many major companies that do that either.

I am sure that companies that make their own shells offer a lot the things I mentioned but there is a lot more that goes into "custom drums" other then the shell...

BTW nice kit. Defiantly a rocker! It is really nice to see an Allegra kit. I thought they shutdown a few years ago...

They're actually doing great... they're making 100 Vinnie Paul kits for Ddrum right now, as well as finishing up an awesome kit for NAMM... plus their normal orders and all of Ddrums USA Custom line.

As far as the custom drum things go... most custom drum kits, keller or not, are going to sound, with equal tuning and sizes and heads, etc., pretty much the same mic'd up front of a big crowd. So for me I wanted to look for kits that sounded amazing unmic'd and acoustic, and Allegra was really the top sounding that I found. Perhaps their Keller shells aren't as exotic as some stave shells or shells made in-house, but whatever combination of bearing edges and lacquer they use makes them sound pretty dang good unmic'd. And since (from MY experience) almost all high-quality kits sound amazing if you have a good sound guy and mics and system, and since I always play mic'd up, I wanted to go with people who were knowledgeable, local, and who love and take pride in their drums... and who could accommodate exactly what I wanted.

The aluminum snare, however, IS one of the best snares I have ever heard, both mic'd and not. It's crazy... if you're in Portland, you owe it to yourself to go check them out.
 
It's so refreshing to hear someone that makes that statement when talking about so-called "custom" drum builders.

Kuddos to you man......I wish more people realized this

Hey, I wasn't knocking Keller-using custom drum companies. They use Keller shells because they're well-made and easy to work with. Plus, they are fairly inexpensive. They're the industry standard, basically. When a custom drum company puts together a sweet kit with a sweet finish, they don't want to use shells that will sound bad. They are trying to establish themselves as a name people will associate with good-quality drums. If they put out inferior products, how are they going to sell kits? The "custom" part comes from what they do to the shells (cutting edges, size combinations, cool finishes, their hardware, etc...).

Some custom companies will even make drums with their name on it from different reputable shell manufacturers (like Vaughncraft, for example). Saying that a company that uses Keller shells isn't a "custom" drum company is like saying companies that chrome their hardware aren't "custom". It's been done before, and it's being done again because it works...
 
I wish a lot more people realized how much of a crap statement this is. Yes there are a lot of people who use keller shells, and even get their hardware from the same suppliers (worldmax is very popular) but the so called custom drums are in fact custom...

many builders offer special bearing edges which dramatically change the sound out of a drum. Your cookie cookie cutter companies only offer the standard double 45 or 30 degree edge. ( pork pie drums are famous for their bearing edges )

The finish is also another huge factor when it comes to custom drums. Many builders are doing very cool things with custom finishes that you can not get anywhere else. (check out raven custom drums especially the unkindness series they are works of art but then maybe they are not doing anything special because he uses keller shells...)

These ho hum keller companies also offer many different way of finishing the wood. It is practically impossible to get a drum from a major company that is finished in something other than a matte or lacquer finish. Every small keller company I know of offers a large variety of finishes such as, lacquers, polyurethanes, and oils....but then again maybe a hand rubbed one of a kind oil finished shell doesn't count as custom...because kellers are everywhere

I like the interiors of my drums to be sealed with the exception of gretsch I don't know many major companies that do that either.

I am sure that companies that make their own shells offer a lot the things I mentioned but there is a lot more that goes into "custom drums" other then the shell...

BTW nice kit. Defiantly a rocker! It is really nice to see an Allegra kit. I thought they shutdown a few years ago...

What a minute I never intended to take away from Allegra or any other company using Keller. You are 100% correct in that the finish is extremely time consuming and skill is required. And yes edges are important to.

Now with that said I have built many drums myself..am I a custom builder...of course not
To me custom is not shells, lugs, hardware that is off the shelf. Stating edges are a custom thing...really..... you can get whatever edge you want when you buy a shell.

The term "custom assembly" would be more appropriate. Sure buying shells and doing it yourself isn't for everyone, but let's scale back the "custom" term a little....that's all I was trying to point out.

It boils down to mine definition and your definition of custom....we choose to disagree. Unix and Rythm King are custom IMO. Raven is not aside from the finishes.
 
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Hey, I wasn't knocking Keller-using custom drum companies. They use Keller shells because they're well-made and easy to work with. Plus, they are fairly inexpensive. They're the industry standard, basically. When a custom drum company puts together a sweet kit with a sweet finish, they don't want to use shells that will sound bad. They are trying to establish themselves as a name people will associate with good-quality drums. If they put out inferior products, how are they going to sell kits? The "custom" part comes from what they do to the shells (cutting edges, size combinations, cool finishes, their hardware, etc...).

Some custom companies will even make drums with their name on it from different reputable shell manufacturers (like Vaughncraft, for example). Saying that a company that uses Keller shells isn't a "custom" drum company is like saying companies that chrome their hardware aren't "custom". It's been done before, and it's being done again because it works...

again my definition and yours are just different....no disrespect intended for Allegra. They do put out finishes that I couldn't dream of doing, and I have tried to do many.

My statement was taking way out of context....
 
It's so refreshing to hear someone that makes that statement when talking about so-called "custom" drum builders.

Kuddos to you man......I wish more people realized this

My personal opinion is that you are being a tad snobbish. I mean if you think about it a hot rod builder might start off with the shell of a ford or a chevy. Does that mean the end result is not a custom car? I don't think so.

As for the kit, man that's ridiculous dude! My only slight reservation would be about the fact that your rack tom does seem to be on a slightly different scale to the kick and floor. Of course i can see that you were probably going for a bit closer in terms of tuning between your rack and the floor and that's the good thing about custom drums- they're made for what you want.
 
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