Yamaha Rock Tour

LeftoverPenguin

Senior Member
Back in June I ordered one of the new Rock Tour sets. Being that I'm taking my set out to gigs every week or two, these were perfect.

I wanted a finish that wasn't readily available in the US, and I was told it could be as long as December before I ever saw the thing. I've been using my Stage Custom, and I figured that would continue to tide me over until then, so I went ahead and waited for the finish I wanted. I ordered the 3-piece shell pack (22" 16" 12") plus a 14" matching wood snare, plus an added 14" floor and 10" tom.

Christmas came early! The 10" tom is the only thing I'm still waiting on, and I should get that by November.

LOVE THEM. The drums are smaller than my Stage Customs, yet they actually sound fuller and have more of a low end.

These shots were taken by the store after I put the drums together and set everything up. Zildjian A Customs all around, except for the 18" Oriental China. The store actually had one of the matte black Rock Tours in stock, and the guys there couldn't believe that the textured ash finish actually cost less than the matte. The matte is certainly unique, but the textured ash looks sharp.

Really sharp.

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Those look pretty nice. What do they call that finish? And did you say it's not available in the States or just according to Yamaha, nobody orders it in the States?
 
Those look pretty nice. What do they call that finish? And did you say it's not available in the States or just according to Yamaha, nobody orders it in the States?

The finish is called "Textured Green Sunburst."

These new Rock Tours are made in eleven finishes: three matte finishes (Metallic Black, Smoke, and Blue) and eight textured ash finishes (Green, Red, Brown, Smoke, plus sunburst variants of each).

Of these finishes, only five are available in America: Metallic Black Matte, Metallic Smoke Matte, Textured Green, Textured Red Sunburst, and Textured Smoke Sunburst. Those are the five finishes Yamaha picked to have here.

However, both the Green and Brown bursts are available "at select retailers," which means the store/company has to order a minimum of, I don't know, like fifty kits. So they aren't readily available. I was incredibly lucky in that the guy I was dealing with talks with the guys at Yamaha on a daily basis and knows them pretty well, so I got to special order mine. Yamaha's site says that other four colors aren't available in the US; not sure if you could even special order them like I did for mine.

They had this finish, as well as the matte black, at the NAMM show, and I simply fell in love with it. I'm glad I waited, but if I absolutely had to pick another finish I'd have gone with the Smoke sunburst. But I'm glad it didn't come to that. ;)
 
Nice. I've been looking for a green Yamaha to replace my own aging SCs one day, and apparently the RC is currently the only line to have green as a standard, non-special-order color...? in any case, you're pretty happy with the sound?
 
Nice. I've been looking for a green Yamaha to replace my own aging SCs one day, and apparently the RC is currently the only line to have green as a standard, non-special-order color...? in any case, you're pretty happy with the sound?

I love the sound of these drums so much more than my Stage Customs. The Stage Customs aren't bad by any means, but I love the deep sound of the mahogany that the Rock Tour offers over the brightness of the birch in the Stage Customs.

I'm about to leave for a meeting at work, but I'll see if I can't put up a little video sometime tonight or tomorrow. Obviously won't do them as much justice as in person, but it'll give you a nice idea of the type of sound they offer.
 
I had my first gig with this set last night, and on top of the drums sounding AWESOME it went really well! It was a small bar, so the drums aren't amplified (they don't need to be), and this kit rocked. Some of the people who've been coming to our shows for a while now said they could really hear the difference.

Those sound great LoP !!
I know, right?! The snare sounds even better now that I've tightened it up quite a bit; it now has a nice warm crack to it. I really wish I had taped our show last night. There was so much going on last night that I forgot to delegate that responsibility to somebody. First show we didn't tape, and it really went well. I even had a drum solo at the end that went really well. Apparently I "killed it" and I "win." :) permanent
 
LoP, when these were first introduced, I SERIOUSLY doubted them, but after checking them out I see how nice they actually are.

Mostly with the quality of the shell. THAT is one nicely built shell with super quality Mahogany. NOT the cheaper Luan stuff.

Your shells also have VERTICAL GRAIN. I thought that was pretty cool as it is mostly associated with Sonor.
 
LoP, when these were first introduced, I SERIOUSLY doubted them, but after checking them out I see how nice they actually are.

I know lots of people were skeptical about these sets. I have a feeling it had (has?) a lot to do with the fact that they took over the Rock Tour name, yet they're priced very aggressively.

I remember back in May or June I scoured the internet for some first-hand testimonials on these new Rock Tours, but unfortunately all I could find were threads full of skeptical people. There were some who were hopeful, but it didn't appear anyone had taken the plunge on one. Lucky for me, I was in the market for a new set.

The new Rock Tours sounded promising from Yamaha's web site and the videos there, but of course Yamaha's site is going to present them as the best things ever, so I found a few YouTube clips from NAMM showing off the drums and from then on was pretty much sold. Went to my local store and played around a little bit with a matte black set they had in stock and went ahead and ordered mine shortly thereafter.

Mostly with the quality of the shell. THAT is one nicely built shell with super quality Mahogany. NOT the cheaper Luan stuff.

Your shells also have VERTICAL GRAIN. I thought that was pretty cool as it is mostly associated with Sonor.

The shells are so nice, and this finish is so great; Yamaha actually uses the same painting technique on this textured ash finish as they do on the PHX series to bring out the wood grain.
 
I know lots of people were skeptical about these sets. I have a feeling it had (has?) a lot to do with the fact that they took over the Rock Tour name

Were the original rock tour customs thought highly off then? and because they changed the wood on the 2010 rock tours you were worried they wouldnt be as good? Or were the original tour customs not very good?

I only ask as i own Maple rock tour custom :)
 
Were the original rock tour customs thought highly off then? and because they changed the wood on the 2010 rock tours you were worried they wouldnt be as good? Or were the original tour customs not very good?

I only ask as i own Maple rock tour custom :)

Do you have a thread with pictures of your set-up? I'd be interested to see 'em!

I personally went into researching the new Rock Tours with neither skepticism nor optimism. I wasn't particularly worried about anything. I just remembered reading early threads before the drums were released where people claimed these new Rock Tour kits probably wouldn't be as good since they were more budget-friendly.

Admittedly I don't have any experience with the earlier Rock Tour Customs, so I'm not sure if the Custom is streets ahead. Alls I know is that looking at these drums themselves, the new Rock Tour is a mighty fine kit.
 
ah har, i like my kit, the 12" tom losses its tuning like every few days which is anoying, but the floor tom and bass drum are really sweet, and the snare is pretty nice sound when i changed the head and tuned it. It's compact and packs a punch, nice for mobility. Here some pics, sorry about the light, the studio is pretty dark

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I can tell you that the old Rock Tour Customs are/were high quality drums and are still highly sought after.

I picked up a kit this summer and absolutely love them. They were pro level kits. Matt Sorum of Guns N Roses played them as did Tommy Aldridge and others.

They were made of Birch with 1 ply of Philippine Mahogany. They have a resin coating on the outside of the shell and because of that they were only made in solid colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Rock_Tour_Custom


I played the new Ash finished Green Burst kit recently at GC. It was nice and looked to be well made as are all Yamaha kits. When I saw the pictures of the Green sunburst finish from NAMM I couldn't wait to see it in person, as it looked pretty cool and unique.

I'm not a fan of pinstripe heads in general, so having them as stock heads made me wonder if they were trying to hide some displeasing overtones, but they sounded like what a drum with pinstripes is expected to sound. But honestly, with a head change I'm sure I would have liked them a lot more. They sounded fine as-is, but I think there is a lot more sound to be had from those shells than what the pinstripes can deliver. They do not sound like the original RTC's, though.
 
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I can tell you that the old Rock Tour Customs are/were high quality drums and are still highly sought after.
.

They were basically a Recording Custom with a hybrid birch shell. If they were identically produced today, they would probably be priced around the Oak Custom level.
 
They were basically a Recording Custom with a hybrid birch shell. If they were identically produced today, they would probably be priced around the Oak Custom level.

That makes sense.

A lot of people have compared the sound of the RTC's to the Recording Custom, but I have never had a chance to play an RC, unfortunately.

I believe the RTC shells are slightly thicker then the RC's from what I recall.
 
Ugh. Apparently not only has Yamaha stopped making the Hex Racks, but they've stopped making the drop clutches as well. These are products I want to buy!

Any recommendations on a decent drop clutch?
 
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