VitalTransformation
Silver Member
Hi DrummerWorld!!
As you will all know (well, not really) I recently bought a "home" kit; the incredibly space-saving Tama Silverstar Vintage kit (limited edition, and now generally unavailable, it seems). This cute litte kit allowed me (much thanks to my musician wife) to set up in our bedroom. But as the kit is still loud like drums be, I could only play on the rare day off, when the people in the neighborhood were all at work...
So I needed a quieter solution and after searching, I settled on the RTOM Black Hole/Zildjian L80 pack combination!
Cymbals
- Feel-wise, I think these pies work a ton for practice. They feel much more like real cymbals compared to "proper" cymbals fitted with rubber cymbal mutes.
- Sonically, they obviously aren't "rich" or "creamy" or "dark" or "whatever". But they generally don't offend me.
- The 16" crash is the worst of the bunch, with the stick attack nearly overpowering the sound of the actual cymbal. I suppose we're nearing the boundries of physics on this, since two drumsticks smacked together make a pretty loud noise, so it's only so soft you can go, playing with wooden sticks. Still, I wonder if the taper had been sharper towards the edge, the crash would be more responsive. But that would probably make for a pretty fragile cymbal, what with all the holes. I dunno...
- The 18" ride is fine for practice purposes. Feels good and makes a consistent, if bright, "ride" sound. The bell has a sharp contour but, a very small sweet spot if you want a bell sound totally separated from the rest of the cymbal. Still, very usable!
- The hihats are IMO actually very cool sounding. Sort of a dry, bright, industrial sound. I could see myself recording these hats for special FX!
RTOM pads
- These are awesome (aside from the BIG con, noted later) with tunable tension of the mesh pads (yes, the mesh tension greatly affects the resulting drum sound, not just the feel). I'm actually overjoyed with the sonics of the snare and toms!
- The kick sounds good but softer than I'd like, compared to the rest of the kit. I'll experiment some more with bass drum tunings and mesh tension...
- The BIG con is that I'm terribly unhappy with the bass pedal extender plate that RTOM supplies with the kick drum pad! I've tried four pedals with it and only one will work satisfactorily. The "hoop" plate is too thin (causing failure of some pedals to grab it) and it extends too far from the rim of the Black hole pad so that some pedals "bottom out" (footboard clicking against the clamp nut) because of sub-optimal beater angle. I'm currently in touch with RTOM regarding this issue, and hopefully it will be resolved
As you will all know (well, not really) I recently bought a "home" kit; the incredibly space-saving Tama Silverstar Vintage kit (limited edition, and now generally unavailable, it seems). This cute litte kit allowed me (much thanks to my musician wife) to set up in our bedroom. But as the kit is still loud like drums be, I could only play on the rare day off, when the people in the neighborhood were all at work...
So I needed a quieter solution and after searching, I settled on the RTOM Black Hole/Zildjian L80 pack combination!
Cymbals
- Feel-wise, I think these pies work a ton for practice. They feel much more like real cymbals compared to "proper" cymbals fitted with rubber cymbal mutes.
- Sonically, they obviously aren't "rich" or "creamy" or "dark" or "whatever". But they generally don't offend me.
- The 16" crash is the worst of the bunch, with the stick attack nearly overpowering the sound of the actual cymbal. I suppose we're nearing the boundries of physics on this, since two drumsticks smacked together make a pretty loud noise, so it's only so soft you can go, playing with wooden sticks. Still, I wonder if the taper had been sharper towards the edge, the crash would be more responsive. But that would probably make for a pretty fragile cymbal, what with all the holes. I dunno...
- The 18" ride is fine for practice purposes. Feels good and makes a consistent, if bright, "ride" sound. The bell has a sharp contour but, a very small sweet spot if you want a bell sound totally separated from the rest of the cymbal. Still, very usable!
- The hihats are IMO actually very cool sounding. Sort of a dry, bright, industrial sound. I could see myself recording these hats for special FX!
RTOM pads
- These are awesome (aside from the BIG con, noted later) with tunable tension of the mesh pads (yes, the mesh tension greatly affects the resulting drum sound, not just the feel). I'm actually overjoyed with the sonics of the snare and toms!
- The kick sounds good but softer than I'd like, compared to the rest of the kit. I'll experiment some more with bass drum tunings and mesh tension...
- The BIG con is that I'm terribly unhappy with the bass pedal extender plate that RTOM supplies with the kick drum pad! I've tried four pedals with it and only one will work satisfactorily. The "hoop" plate is too thin (causing failure of some pedals to grab it) and it extends too far from the rim of the Black hole pad so that some pedals "bottom out" (footboard clicking against the clamp nut) because of sub-optimal beater angle. I'm currently in touch with RTOM regarding this issue, and hopefully it will be resolved
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