Orange County Avalon Kit

FourT6and2

Junior Member
I was just wondering if anybody knows anything about this kit? It's a 6 piece maple kit priced at $1,000 from guitar center.

I played one in the store and I liked it, but I'd probably put different heads on it and it wasn't tuned in the store. But, I could tell it had a fairly nice sound. I'm just asking about the quality of the construction, wood, hardware, and etc.

Basically, I'm looking for a nice 5 or 6 piece kit. The type of stuff I play is melodic prog rock, ala Tool/Danny Carey, and smooth/jazz/funk/fusion stuff ala Carter Beuford and Dennis Chambers.

My budget is around $1500 for the shells, cymbals, and hadware. So, that limits my choices.

The Avalon kit, priced out with hardware and everything came to about that price.
 
I bet it's a kit imported from Asia with the OCDP name on it. Not sure where it stands in terms of quality.

My Guess: probably comes off the taye assembly line.
 
It is imported.

It is of a similar quality to the Mapex M series and the Sonor Force series. There are many kits I would buy before those. Some Japanese built Yamaha, Tama, and Pearl drums are probably "better" drums at a similar price point.

That being said, they sound fine and up tune well, but I found some rattling and thread popping in the lugs.
 
It is imported.

It is of a similar quality to the Mapex M series and the Sonor Force series. There are many kits I would buy before those. Some Japanese built Yamaha, Tama, and Pearl drums are probably "better" drums at a similar price point.

That being said, they sound fine and up tune well, but I found some rattling and thread popping in the lugs.

Thanks for the info. I don't really know much about the different kits and drum manufacturers out there, so not to knowledgable about what kits to look at.
 
I played them briefly at Guitar Center and was pretty impressed. Finish looked good, decent mounts. Snare wasn't bad either. I would check out the Gretsch Catalina Maple as well. They are also imported maple drums that sound very good for the money. You can get a comparable set up to the Avalon for about $500 last time I checked which is the steal of the year in my opinion. You can then spend the remainder of your budget on heads, hardware and cymbals. Another question I would ask myself is do I really want 6 pieces? There are great drums at that price if you decided on say a 4 piece kit. Hope this helps.
 
I've always wanted to buy an Orange County kit myself. But I see Orange County as being known for their amazin custom kits so if I go Orange County I'm going all the way for my own custom high end drums. I know you said you were looking at spending 1000-1500 but if you just go to 2000 you can get some nice gretsch renown maple drums, which I've heard and they sound incredible. But, go with your heart and get what you feel is right. I'm in the middle of buying new drums too haha.
Brendan Colameco
www.myspace.com/brendancolamecomusic
 
I own a set of these, and I can honestly say that the Avalon is custom looks and high-end sound with suspect hardware. I actually had a bass drum claw break in two on the underside of the drum...never seen that happen before. The snare that comes with the kit pops lugs like they're made of glass. On the upside, it is a very responsive kit in all volume situations, and the 6 pieces are a screaming deal for the money. OCDP sent me a bag of random hardware items so kudos to them for taking care of the customer! I play alot...with differeing stage sizes, I like that this kit can go as small as I need it to be, or bring the thunder. The 22 x20 bass drum is a warm sounding cannon! I took on three projects at once for this year and wanted a kit I didn't have to worry about too much as i sclep in and out of clubs...I only worry about my Black Panther, or Artwood snares (depending on which was right for the night LOL)
 
I almost bought one of these when they first came out because i have always wanted an Orange County.

However, when i went to buy it and sat down to play one you could just tell how cheaply made they are. I just didnt want an orange county enought to settle for the quality of this kit.

If its a price thing for you i suggest going for some of the midrange kits from Tama or DW. great kits and your definatly buying more quality.

I have to say though, any orange county kit at least looks good.
 
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