Sitting in front of me, right now, I have a PDP Concept maple (20, 12, 14 and 14 snare) and a Sonor Select Force Jungle (16, 10, 14 and paired with my 13" Pearl piccolo snare).
I picked up the Sonor on a great deal new ($498) after the PDP ($570, discount due to shipping damage to bass hoop). I was having some issues with the PDP (there is a thread about tuning with it) and it just got worse. Below are some observations between the two kits: hardware, tuning, build quality, sound, etc. based upon my experience with these two kits.
PDP CONCEPT MAPLE
- the Chinese maple shells do sound great at low to mid tuning. Booming, warm, rich and if that's the sound you want, great! I like it, but also use a higher tuning a lot of it just choked at higher tunings with a variety of head combos.
- holds tuning? Not well. Not head dependent either. The tension rods loosen so much I had one spinning around on each tom and two on the snare. This was constant and it wasn't because of "barely there" tension, it was up a ways to mid-tone tuning.
- the tom mount takes a ton of wrenching to hold it in place without drooping. The ball even sort of stripped. A replacement tom arm that I mounted to a cymbal stand is much better and works well.
- the lugs and tension rods look nice. However, they felt very gritty / not smooth. I thought about greasing them slightly and then thought better as they already worked loose easily and didn't want to make it worse. See comment about holding tuning above.
- finish: deep walnut glossy, very nice, uniform, a bit dark, but very nice nonetheless.
-Overall Value: For the price, if it held tuning well, it would be a good deal. Just not for me. They are going on Craig's List...someone will love them.
SONOR SELECT FORCE JUNGLE
- the Canadian maple shells sound fantastically warm, slightly more so than the PDP's. I've found, with both stock heads and Evans EC2/EC, that they have a wide tuning rage, growly low to pinging jazz high and still ring out. Nice. I haven't put my G2's on yet that I typically tune high and open with, but the EC2's are great!
- holds tuning? Yes. It may or may not be the Sonor tune-safe lugs, but you can feel the "grip" in the lugs on the rods when tuning. Nice.
- hardware: Tom mount is smooth, smooth, smooth and holds with just moderate tension. Rock solid and steady. The tension rods are smooth to thread and all other hardware feels a notch or two higher than the PDP.
- Finish: natural maple, beautifully finished. Not as glossy as the PDP but looks stunning.
- Overall value: for the price of $498, this is an insane kit. It plays and feels like a $1000 kit IMO. I used to play a Yamaha Recording Custom (25+ years) and this is darn close is every respect so far. I'm shocked.
Maybe I got a PDP lemon and it was a one-off as they are generally thought of as solid kits. However, for me, the Sonor just kicks some serious a**. I'm thrilled and can see keeping this one for a very long time and adding another Sonor down the road so it's not lonely.
I picked up the Sonor on a great deal new ($498) after the PDP ($570, discount due to shipping damage to bass hoop). I was having some issues with the PDP (there is a thread about tuning with it) and it just got worse. Below are some observations between the two kits: hardware, tuning, build quality, sound, etc. based upon my experience with these two kits.
PDP CONCEPT MAPLE
- the Chinese maple shells do sound great at low to mid tuning. Booming, warm, rich and if that's the sound you want, great! I like it, but also use a higher tuning a lot of it just choked at higher tunings with a variety of head combos.
- holds tuning? Not well. Not head dependent either. The tension rods loosen so much I had one spinning around on each tom and two on the snare. This was constant and it wasn't because of "barely there" tension, it was up a ways to mid-tone tuning.
- the tom mount takes a ton of wrenching to hold it in place without drooping. The ball even sort of stripped. A replacement tom arm that I mounted to a cymbal stand is much better and works well.
- the lugs and tension rods look nice. However, they felt very gritty / not smooth. I thought about greasing them slightly and then thought better as they already worked loose easily and didn't want to make it worse. See comment about holding tuning above.
- finish: deep walnut glossy, very nice, uniform, a bit dark, but very nice nonetheless.
-Overall Value: For the price, if it held tuning well, it would be a good deal. Just not for me. They are going on Craig's List...someone will love them.
SONOR SELECT FORCE JUNGLE
- the Canadian maple shells sound fantastically warm, slightly more so than the PDP's. I've found, with both stock heads and Evans EC2/EC, that they have a wide tuning rage, growly low to pinging jazz high and still ring out. Nice. I haven't put my G2's on yet that I typically tune high and open with, but the EC2's are great!
- holds tuning? Yes. It may or may not be the Sonor tune-safe lugs, but you can feel the "grip" in the lugs on the rods when tuning. Nice.
- hardware: Tom mount is smooth, smooth, smooth and holds with just moderate tension. Rock solid and steady. The tension rods are smooth to thread and all other hardware feels a notch or two higher than the PDP.
- Finish: natural maple, beautifully finished. Not as glossy as the PDP but looks stunning.
- Overall value: for the price of $498, this is an insane kit. It plays and feels like a $1000 kit IMO. I used to play a Yamaha Recording Custom (25+ years) and this is darn close is every respect so far. I'm shocked.
Maybe I got a PDP lemon and it was a one-off as they are generally thought of as solid kits. However, for me, the Sonor just kicks some serious a**. I'm thrilled and can see keeping this one for a very long time and adding another Sonor down the road so it's not lonely.