DW? why are they so great?

TimmyG

Junior Member
Hello, i have been playing drums most of my life and have been in bands the past 15 years. I have been playing out with a set of Pearl Export, and a set of Tama Rockstars. I keep the skins new and have good mics, they sound pretty good i must say and have had many compliments most of the time. But i want to purchase a high end set of DW's. I have been looking all around and found many other DW names being pushed such as Ddrum, Pdp, etc. Are the other Dw names any good? are they a lower type of DW? Why do all the pro's use DW these days?

Peace
Tim
 
Great hardware, great looks, and most importantly they just sound so good. Unless you tune them wrong.

I used to have a set of Pearl Exports and traded them in..not even of course..for the DW's I have now. The DW 16 inch floor tom, compared to my Pearls 18 inch floor tom is like a bomb vs a firecracker. Best move I ever made in drums. I do still play a Ludwig snare as the gig snare though.

Let me add that if I had to buy a second kit I would probably buy some of the PDP's they are lower end dw's but I have heard many played at gigs and do like the sound guys are getting out of them.

Ddrum is just another company all together I have seen maybe 4 guys use them and wasn't too impressed at all. But, maybe thats how they set them up.
 
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I use the 6.5 inch ludwig supraphonic snare. Always have and always will. It is the best ever!!!!!
 
I was thinking of instead of a 16 inch and 18 inch floor tom, get 2 16 inch floor toms, and tune them differant. My brother had an 18 inch tom and i thought it sounded kind of crappy. What do you think about the 18 inch floor toms? I also can't find very many DW sets to look at online.
 
I was thinking of instead of a 16 inch and 18 inch floor tom, get 2 16 inch floor toms, and tune them differant. My brother had an 18 inch tom and i thought it sounded kind of crappy. What do you think about the 18 inch floor toms? I also can't find very many DW sets to look at online.

I custom ordered my 16", or rather had to send in a small tom to dw so they could match the finish etc..

When I was looking at ordering though, I did notice there was no price difference between the 16 and the 18. This may have changed by now. Maybe instead of two 16 you could go 15 and 16? Room is an issue for me, or I would like to have one of the 18's...money is a little bit too..heh.

This might help if you want to play around with different configurations.

http://www.dwdrums.com/KITBUILDER/index.htm#

If you are on a budget though, do consider those PDP's. Or at least get somewhere and test drive several different kinds your interested in.
 
I've been playing a set of Pearl World Series since I was 14. Now 27, I FINALLY bought my "dream kit" a set of DW Collector's Exotic, and to be honest, they are LIGHT years beyond that old kit. My personal experience with drum sets is limited to the 2 kits I've owned, and the few other kits I've played on (including a pro Yamaha Maple Custom kit) and these new DWs are BY FAR my favorite drum set. They are beautiful, all the hardware ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCKS and the sound is incredible.

You won't be disappointed. Save up, or whatever you gotta do, and get em! If it's what you want, just get em!

~B
 
I have been looking all around and found many other DW names being pushed such as Ddrum, Pdp, etc. Are the other Dw names any good? are they a lower type of DW? Why do all the pro's use DW these days?

Peace
Tim

Just a note: Ddrum is not related to DW. Seperate companies. PDP is a DW's lower end made in Mexico drums.

Start by playing them and make up your own mind. Here is a big thread about whether DW are worth it or not. Lots of different opinions.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12480&highlight=dw+cash
 
I was thinking of instead of a 16 inch and 18 inch floor tom, get 2 16 inch floor toms, and tune them differant. My brother had an 18 inch tom and i thought it sounded kind of crappy. What do you think about the 18 inch floor toms? I also can't find very many DW sets to look at online.

Any given drum can sound good or bad. Generally speaking, you can't just take for granted that any 16", 18" or other size drum you encounter has been tuned well, has good bearing edges, has good heads (and the kind you would like), etc... Or has simply been tuned in a way that suits your taste.

Further, you can expect that any size drum DW will make for you isn't going to sound bad. They just won't ship bad sounding product. They will even refuse requests that they think will lead to bad sounding results. So, the question about whether or not you should get an 18" floor has to do with just how much low end you want in a floor tom, period.

Finally, no, you won't find many DW kits on-line because DW kits are made to order. The ones you do see sitting in stores are kits those stores ordered to have on hand or, (far more likely) kits that made it onto DW's "back out" list and were offered up for a lower wholesale. At any rate, I would suggest heading over to the DW website and reading up on how they are made and what kinds of choices are available. At this price point, you are going to want to be as educated as possible about the choices you are (or aren't) making.
 
I really credit DW's great sound to the construction. Thin shells w/ re rings. Classic warm resonant focused drum sound. Any brand thin shelled drum w/ re rings should sound just as good I'd venture to say, assuming round true shells.
 
I was thinking of instead of a 16 inch and 18 inch floor tom, get 2 16 inch floor toms, and tune them differant. My brother had an 18 inch tom and i thought it sounded kind of crappy. What do you think about the 18 inch floor toms? I also can't find very many DW sets to look at online.
My 18 FT have a wide tuning range, and i love how it resonates with the bassdrum i really dont need a woofer to get that x-ta punch to it.

heres for you.

cheers!

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I was thinking of instead of a 16 inch and 18 inch floor tom, get 2 16 inch floor toms, and tune them differant. My brother had an 18 inch tom and i thought it sounded kind of crappy. What do you think about the 18 inch floor toms? I also can't find very many DW sets to look at online.

I have a DW collectors with 14x12 and 16x14 floor toms that sound like thunder. They only have built in bottom, no vlt/x shells but damn, with clear emps on them they are just phenomenal. They could easily be mistaken for 16" and 18" drums. I did a recording session last night and I was blown away with how deep they sounded in the studio. They resonated for a good 30 seconds after you hit them.

What configuration were you planning on going with? I'd suggest against getting two 16" floor toms. They would sound too close together and if you did tune one up higher than the other than you'd be sacrificing tone quality for a higher pitch. If you're worried about an 18" being too boomy/low/flat/dead, then go for a 14" and 16" combo. You could get X-shells or VLT if you wanted a lower pitch as well.
 
Hello, i have been playing drums most of my life and have been in bands the past 15 years. I have been playing out with a set of Pearl Export, and a set of Tama Rockstars. I keep the skins new and have good mics, they sound pretty good i must say and have had many compliments most of the time. But i want to purchase a high end set of DW's. I have been looking all around and found many other DW names being pushed such as Ddrum, Pdp, etc. Are the other Dw names any good? are they a lower type of DW? Why do all the pro's use DW these days?

Peace
Tim

The only "other" DW name is PDP, which is DW's lower-end brand. DDrum has nothing to do with DW.

edit: Missed Pavlos saying the same thing a few posts above :)

I've played a couple of DW kits at gigs, and they do sound awesome when sitting behind them. However, I don't always like how they sound on recordings, so I'm a bit on the fence about DW as of now.
 
Hello, i have been playing drums most of my life and have been in bands the past 15 years. I have been playing out with a set of Pearl Export, and a set of Tama Rockstars. I keep the skins new and have good mics, they sound pretty good i must say and have had many compliments most of the time. But i want to purchase a high end set of DW's. I have been looking all around and found many other DW names being pushed such as Ddrum, Pdp, etc. Are the other Dw names any good? are they a lower type of DW? Why do all the pro's use DW these days?

Peace
Tim

DDrum is not related to Drum Workshop as far as I know. PDP (Pacific Drums and Percusion) are the Drums DW makes in their Mexico facility and serve as their entry level to intermmediate lines.

My buddy has a DW kit that I would kill for. That said, my PDP kit is pretty darn good. Certainly the DW line gets all of the bells and whistles and very best of everythng but the higher level PDP kits are nothing to sneeze at
 
Hello, i have been playing drums most of my life and have been in bands the past 15 years. I have been playing out with a set of Pearl Export, and a set of Tama Rockstars. I keep the skins new and have good mics, they sound pretty good i must say and have had many compliments most of the time. But i want to purchase a high end set of DW's. I have been looking all around and found many other DW names being pushed such as Ddrum, Pdp, etc. Are the other Dw names any good? are they a lower type of DW? Why do all the pro's use DW these days?

Peace
Tim


I wouldn't say all the pros use DW. Pearl and Tama have an equal number of high profile pros on their artist rosters. Even Ddrum, which has only been in the acoustic drum biz for 4 years has an incredibly growing stable of high profile drummers. DW's are incredible instruments, you know you're getting a proven winner when you buy them, my only knock on them is that, for what you get, you're spending more than an equally equipped Pearl, Tama, Gretsch, Ddrum, etc. I guess they're like the rolls royce of drums. If you're thinking about buying one, i'd say go ahead and do it. You'll be happy for sure.
 
DW makes great drums, maybe the best, but its their hardware that sets them apart, IMO. The stuff is indestructable, and intuitively made for drummers. I've had dw hardware for over 10 years now, played countless gigs, beat the crap out if it, and never had a single thing break.

I recently picked up a beautiful, lightly-used DW kit on craigslist. I'd suggest looking there. Good luck.
 
Thank you everyone for all your input. I have placed in an order with DW collectors edition 5 piece. When i saw the price tag my eyes almost popped out of my head! Oh well you only live once.
Tim
 
You made a great choice. They will last forever and at it is nice to know that for the money the drums were made for you. It's one thing to go pick up a set but when you order your own it really makes a difference. I had a DW set before I moved and it was awesome. I picked up my Gretsch kit in the meantime but I will prob get another DW when I finish moving. I just saw a custom made Gretsch kit and it was phenom but DW still make me drool. They look, sound, and are made to be awesome. Plus where else do you get the note stamped on your drum right. Congrats man. Rock on. Not all pros use DW but I have never heard any person say that they are less than stellar either. Oh wait. What finish did you get?
 
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