DW "Pure" Maple/Birch/Oak/Cherry kit comparison vid

I felt compelled to comment on the YouTube video yesterday. I could barely tell the difference, but more to the point, I would have taken all four kits and tuned them higher to bring out the musical differences more, and taken the muffling out of the bass drum. Those four bass drums cost thousands and they made them sound like any other bass drum.

But then again, I like smaller shells than most customers, and I like to tune higher and hear a longer note. My favorite DW is the least expensive one, the Mini-Pro! It just sounds better to me.
 
The non-stop talking is really annoying. But the differences between woods could still be heard (almost a miracle, isn't it?). When you play with a band, nobody will hear or care about it wether you play maple or birch or oak or cherry. They all sound good. So from that point of view, such a video is rather pointless.

Still, the birch-drumset sounded a tad better than the others IMO, especially the bassdrum. But I expected that.

Birch is - for me - still the go-to wood for drumsets, despite all the "maple-hype". Great lows, a tad more presence and sound-depth and an overall more "rounded tone" IMO. Thus I'll continue playing birch(/bubinga) drumsets. But all the other woods (and a few more) are also really nice. Can't go wrong with any of those.
 
Wave Deckel said:
Birch is - for me - still the go-to wood for drumsets, despite all the "maple-hype". Great lows, a tad more presence and sound-depth and an overall more "rounded tone" IMO. Thus I'll continue playing birch(/bubinga) drumsets. But all the other woods (and a few more) are also really nice. Can't go wrong with any of those.
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Oak was my favorite (listening on soft volume mind you)!
 
DW has announced that a dialogue-free vid is forthcoming, per their original plan. They just wanted to get the present vid out first.

As for how those Super Solid snares sound, I ordered a Super Solid Edge a few years ago. Stiff and dead sounding. Awful drum. I was thrilled to find a buyer and only take a $300 loss. Strangely, the buyer's assessment was the same as mine but it looked great so he bought it. I own a couple terrific-sounding DW snares but that Super Solid wasn't one of them.
 
Wave Deckel said:
The non-stop talking is really annoying. But the differences between woods could still be heard (almost a miracle, isn't it?). When you play with a band, nobody will hear or care about it wether you play maple or birch or oak or cherry. They all sound good. So from that point of view, such a video is rather pointless.

Still, the birch-drumset sounded a tad better than the others IMO, especially the bassdrum. But I expected that.

Birch is - for me - still the go-to wood for drumsets, despite all the "maple-hype". Great lows, a tad more presence and sound-depth and an overall more "rounded tone" IMO. Thus I'll continue playing birch(/bubinga) drumsets. But all the other woods (and a few more) are also really nice. Can't go wrong with any of those.
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What's your take on the Hybrids DW offers, WD? Until I heard this video, I never considered a Birch shelled kit, but Birch is sitting high on my list now. For the longest time I was steering towards a Maple/Mahogany shelled kit, then Maple, but I now believe Birch has them all beat.
 
Is everyone seeing the outline of the state of Michigan in the lower right corner where they show the wood species, or is that some local thing they're only showing people who live here?
 
8Mile said:
Is everyone seeing the outline of the state of Michigan in the lower right corner where they show the wood species, or is that some local thing they're only showing people who live here?
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It's visible here. I believe they harvest their lumber from the Upper Peninsula, (Northern Wisconsin and Indiana too) - I remember JG discussing on a vid a while back.
 
Thunder 42 said:
It's visible here. I believe they harvest their lumber from the Upper Peninsula, (Northern Wisconsin and Indiana too) - I remember JG discussing on a vid a while back.
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Thanks. I figured as much, but when all four wood species featured it, I wondered. We have a lot of maple trees here, but I wasn't aware they got all the others as well.
 
Stroker said:
What's your take on the Hybrids DW offers, WD? Until I heard this video, I never considered a Birch shelled kit, but Birch is sitting high on my list now. For the longest time I was steering towards a Maple/Mahogany shelled kit, then Maple, but I now believe Birch has them all beat.
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To me, maple/mahogany offers the worst of both worlds : a big false note. Not often do I dislike the genuine sound of a whole kit, the m/m are on my black list. Yuk. They are like a dead sounding, downward pitch-bent drum-builder's nightmare.

I see it like this : it is easier to muffle and kill a livelier drum than try and to revive a puddle of mud.

Sorry guys. The m/m got such a cut when I tried them out they came out of the locker room crying. Heinous sounding drums. The classics were nice, jazz were awesome, oak felt like a million bucks, but m/m eeeuuuuuch.

Disclaimer : not liking the sound of one dw line does not make me a dw hater. Keep calm and love them dws.
 
Groov-E said:
To me, maple/mahogany offers the worst of both worlds : a big false note. Not often do I dislike the genuine sound of a whole kit, the m/m are on my black list. Yuk. They are like a dead sounding, downward pitch-bent drum-builder's nightmare.

I see it like this : it is easier to muffle and kill a livelier drum than try and to revive a puddle of mud.

Sorry guys. The m/m got such a cut when I tried them out they came out of the locker room crying. Heinous sounding drums. The classics were nice, jazz were awesome, oak felt like a million bucks, but m/m eeeuuuuuch.

Disclaimer : not liking the sound of one dw line does not make me a dw hater. Keep calm and love them dws.
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Can't tell you how much I appreciate your insight, GE. Many thanks.

I've given myself 3-4 more months to make up my mind as to a drum manufacturer, type of wood for shells, and depth of tom-toms. I'm becoming achingly disenchanted as each day passes where my kit isn't on order, so the time has come for me to refine things to an acceptable point and move on a purchase.
 
Stroker said:
Can't tell you how much I appreciate your insight, GE. Many thanks.

I've given myself 3-4 more months to make up my mind as to a drum manufacturer, type of wood for shells, and depth of tom-toms. I'm becoming achingly disenchanted as each day passes where my kit isn't on order, so the time has come for me to refine things to an acceptable point and move on a purchase.
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Well Aaron Spears and Dave Elitch make them sound nice on youtube, but I did feel that in person they were not very lively, which is a subjective quality I enjoy in drums.

Stock heads, bad tuning that I tried to correct but could not dial in and maybe room sound were factors of course. It disappointed me as I had higher expectations and felt let down.

Had they stock the dw oak kits back then, I think I would have bought one and probably still own it. I do have regrets about not buying a kit I tried out at my lds last summer (24x14, 13x9, 16x16, 18x16 monster in a rich oak natural finish) but I took a rational decision as that kit would have been a nightmare to haul around and I felt it would be great for rock n'roll but not much else. I doubt I will ever found a used one on the market...can't win'em all.

Andy is right though, wood species is one aspect of the finished product and should not necessarily, on its own, influence the whole decision process.

Edit : apologies for my previous post as it was filled with negativity, a road I promised myself never to go down ever again on this forum. Rough week.
 
Stroker said:
Can't tell you how much I appreciate your insight, GE. Many thanks.

I've given myself 3-4 more months to make up my mind as to a drum manufacturer, type of wood for shells, and depth of tom-toms. I'm becoming achingly disenchanted as each day passes where my kit isn't on order, so the time has come for me to refine things to an acceptable point and move on a purchase.
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Do you have the opportunity to try different drums in person? When I was searching for my drums I was surprised by how my direction changed as I checked out different drums.
 
keep it simple said:
Please, don't get too hung up on wood species. It's just one of many elements that contribute to the overall delivery of the instrument, & on most drum constructions, it's not even a significant one. Wood species differences are only pronounced when the rest of the construction allows those differences to feature, & the overall design is focussed towards highlighting them.
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Thanks, Andy. These thread topics help keep me focused, and they're a good learning experience.
 
Groov-E said:
Well Aaron Spears and Dave Elitch make them sound nice on youtube, but I did feel that in person they were not very lively, which is a subjective quality I enjoy in drums.

Stock heads, bad tuning that I tried to correct but could not dial in and maybe room sound were factors of course. It disappointed me as I had higher expectations and felt let down.

Had they stock the dw oak kits back then, I think I would have bought one and probably still own it. I do have regrets about not buying a kit I tried out at my lds last summer (24x14, 13x9, 16x16, 18x16 monster in a rich oak natural finish) but I took a rational decision as that kit would have been a nightmare to haul around and I felt it would be great for rock n'roll but not much else. I doubt I will ever found a used one on the market...can't win'em all.

Andy is right though, wood species is one aspect of the finished product and should not necessarily, on its own, influence the whole decision process.

Edit : apologies for my previous post as it was filled with negativity, a road I promised myself never to go down ever again on this forum. Rough week.
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Thanks, GE. No apologies needed, as I didn't take your post as being negative whatsoever. Information is good and I'm always open to hearing everyone and anyone out.
 
incrementalg said:
Do you have the opportunity to try different drums in person? When I was searching for my drums I was surprised by how my direction changed as I checked out different drums.
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I do, and late this summer I'm planning on revisiting L&M once again, just prior to finalizing things.

I, too, have experienced many flip-flops as to my initial and original plans. Reflecting upon, there were certain aspects I was convinced I wouldn't budge on, yet here I am 10 months in where my biggest asset is keeping an open mind and embracing all the great advice and direction I'm receiving.
 
Stroker said:
I do, and late this summer I'm planning on revisiting L&M once again, just prior to finalizing things.

I, too, have experienced many flip-flops as to my initial and original plans. Reflecting upon, there were certain aspects I was convinced I wouldn't budge on, yet here I am 10 months in where my biggest asset is keeping an open mind and embracing all the great advice and direction I'm receiving.
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Gordon, have you ever considered a trip down the coast to Oxnard? You may never leave - a little taste here: https://youtu.be/UDKUhakxn0A
 
Stroker said:
What's your take on the Hybrids DW offers, WD?
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None, to be honest. 'Cause I don't play DW (I hate their hardware-design). I play Tama since many years.
Until I heard this video, I never considered a Birch shelled kit, but Birch is sitting high on my list now.
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As others said, don't overestimate it. If you are an "old fart", that has played or owned quite a few drumsets, then you know what you like and what not. But in the audience, nobody will notice, if you're playing maple or birch. Really. (There are even many drummers who cannot hear a difference in the woods. Some others have better (trained) ears and hear those subtle differences.) You should just get what "feels" good to you. In my case, I tested quite a few drums before deciding on which to buy. Good pure birch shells (like the recording custom or almighty birch or ssilverstar) and birch/bubinga-shells sound best (rich tone, very melodical and well rounded) to me. For others, it will be of course something different.
 
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