My Sonor Essential Force doublebass setup

petrez

Senior Member
I just received my second bassdrum and 8x7" tom after 6 months waiting, so now I figured it was time to post some pics of my Sonor Essential Force kit (birch) in Amber Fade finish. I must say though, it was bad lightning in the practice room, and one of my Mapex Falcon pedals are not there at the moment (I used a Yamaha DFP9500 double pedal up until now that I got my second bassdrum). So please, no need to comment why I use two different pedals, since I normally don't :). Oh well, here are the specs:

2x 22x17,5" bassdrums (w/Aquarian SK2 batter)
8x7" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
10x8" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
12x9" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
14x14" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
16x16" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
14x6" Tama Starphonic Bronze snare, Ltd. Edition (Evans HD Dry/Hazy 300)

Cymbals:
10" Meinl Soundcaster Fusion Splash
12" Paiste Signature Flanger Bell
14" Meinl Classics Custom Extreme Metal Hihats
16" Meinl Classics Custom Extreme China
18" Meinl Mb10 Medium Crash
18" Paiste Rude China
19" Meinl Byzance Medium Thin Crash
22" Paiste 2oo2 Rock Bell Ride

HW etc:
Gibraltar Rack, Mapex Falcon pedals (only one pictured), Pearl H2000 hihatstand, Pearl/Tama stands/holders. 2x ddrum Acustic Pro bassdrumtriggers, Alesis DM10 module, 2x Gibraltar all black bassdrum hoops (I think it looks better than the regular ones that are not laquered on the inside).

Plans for the kit: maybe get another set of hihats down the road, and put the Classics as aux-hats (already have a x-hat holder), and put my second Falcon pedal there, of course... Also, maybe a third crash right in the middle of the kit, over the two splashes.
 

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Absolutely stunning.
I have the same config/ Tom/ bass drum sizes and even roughly the same setup as you (I have my mounted toms squeezed as close as possible together though).
The Gibby rack looks awesome too (and solid as a rock I'll bet).
Hopefully there will be some vids of you slamming away on this thing coming soon!
 
Nice kit! Are you placing the 8" and 10" away from the snare to avoid interference? I have this problem myself, my snare and 8" tom have very similar tuning range but I found that when I mounted the toms a little further away the snare buzz disappeaed almost entirely. But it compromises the comfort, since I have long legs and sit pretty far back it feels like I have to struggle to reach the toms...
 
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I tend to get that problem with buzz so I tried to avoid it by placing the 8" at least bit further away from the snare. It compromises comfort as you say, but I've started to grow into it now.
 
Very nice looking kit! That setup looks clean and comfy. Looks like a setup that I would like to play ;)
How do you like those meinl classics custom extreme metal-cymbals? How does the hat and china work?
 
Looks super classy, and very comfy! Also, love the Paiste ride, I have the exact same model! Don't see too many of those around!
 
How do you like those meinl classics custom extreme metal-cymbals? How does the hat and china work?
I love the china, it has a really aggressive bite to it, and gets quickly out of the way. It really doesn't sound like a cheaper cymbal at all, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a nice china for little money (allthough more than a Wuhan...).
As for the hats, they are really bright and aggressive as well, works almost only in semi-open position. It works allright for practice at the moment, but I'm thinking about using it as an aux hat in the future, and getting "pro" level hats as main. Allthough I have 14" Meinl Soundcaster Fusion Medium Hats as well, just using them mainly with another band.

Basswood said:
Great! Are you happy with how it sound, and how does it sound?
I think right now it sounds really thunderous and deep, really nice for anything hard rock/metal. The toms gets slightly muffled with those Black Chromes though, I don't know if I'll try something a bit more open sounding next time. But right now, for using this kit only for metal music, it sounds killer :). I definately would recommend the Sonor Essential Force for anybody looking into a cheaper kit that still sounds really good. But I have a Starclassic Maple kit as well though (just not as big) that gets most of the work both on the road (at least for more secured gigs) and in the studio.


Grace:) said:
Beautiful looking kit! Really loving the black hoops on the kick drums too - do they come as standard or did you swap them yourself?
Thank you, I bought them seperately, they are Gibraltar all black hoops. And I agree with you, it makes a really nice touch to these drums, looks way better than the standard ones that are red on the outside, and no laquer on the inside.
 
Thanks! I believe Sonor makes a version of this kit called S-Drive (with shallow toms and deeper bassdrum) that have virgin bassdrums as standard, but I think once you get up in price (at least to Prolite) virgin basses are more common. I thought about taking off the tom mounts and make some kind of badge over the holes, but I'm not sure if I really want all that extra work. It's mostly us drummers that are aware of it/notice it anyway, as far as I've experienced it. As long as it does not rattle or anything, I think I'm going to keep it like it is.
 
I just received my second bassdrum and 8x7" tom after 6 months waiting, so now I figured it was time to post some pics of my Sonor Essential Force kit (birch) in Amber Fade finish. I must say though, it was bad lightning in the practice room, and one of my Mapex Falcon pedals are not there at the moment (I used a Yamaha DFP9500 double pedal up until now that I got my second bassdrum). So please, no need to comment why I use two different pedals, since I normally don't :). Oh well, here are the specs:

2x 22x17,5" bassdrums (w/Aquarian SK2 batter)
8x7" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
10x8" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
12x9" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
14x14" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
16x16" tom (Evans Black Chrome/Evans G1)
14x6" Tama Starphonic Bronze snare, Ltd. Edition (Evans HD Dry/Hazy 300)

Cymbals:
10" Meinl Soundcaster Fusion Splash
12" Paiste Signature Flanger Bell
14" Meinl Classics Custom Extreme Metal Hihats
16" Meinl Classics Custom Extreme China
18" Meinl Mb10 Medium Crash
18" Paiste Rude China
19" Meinl Byzance Medium Thin Crash
22" Paiste 2oo2 Rock Bell Ride

HW etc:
Gibraltar Rack, Mapex Falcon pedals (only one pictured), Pearl H2000 hihatstand, Pearl/Tama stands/holders. 2x ddrum Acustic Pro bassdrumtriggers, Alesis DM10 module, 2x Gibraltar all black bassdrum hoops (I think it looks better than the regular ones that are not laquered on the inside).

Plans for the kit: maybe get another set of hihats down the road, and put the Classics as aux-hats (already have a x-hat holder), and put my second Falcon pedal there, of course... Also, maybe a third crash right in the middle of the kit, over the two splashes.

Your kit looks awesome Perez I think I commented on it somewhere else, ah yes I remember...the black hoops look really good
 
Thank you! :) Here are a couple more pictures taken this weekend at an outdoor gig. Sadly the night turned out very rainy at the end, and I struggled to keep the drums dry. I don't think they got any damage though, I made sure to dry them up good before putting them back in the bags... But always a bit sad to see the drums get water on them :(

Got some new Sonor reso heads for the bassdrums by the way, as you can see the logo is smaller. I had an accident with one of the heads when I was moving them, and it got a big rift in it. I tried getting the same head as the old one, but they didn't have them in stock, instead they got these that are original Remo, made in the U.S. heads (opposed to the other ones that was made in China).
 

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