Are DW drums still cool?

I disagree with this, at least partly. Ludwigs CM 7 ply maple shell with 45 degree bearing edges is not going to instantly be recognised as Ludwig. I think it would be difficult for any of us to hear that in a blind test. I do think that DW Collectors standard maple has a shorter note that might make them more recognizable if anything. You might be drinking some of the marketing kool-aid yourself, just the Ludwig kind. Now to the bumper of this thread, yes, DW drums are still extremely "cool". Despite the "anti" crowd that resides here in this fairly small and very opinionated forum. Out in the real world of venues and audiences and other drummers DW is definitely cool.


I only recall seeing one bad sounding DW kit live. I can also guarantee that it was totally based on the drummers tuning ability as he also had a hand hammered black beauty that sounded like complete garbage.
 
I disagree with this, at least partly. Ludwigs CM 7 ply maple shell with 45 degree bearing edges is not going to instantly be recognised as Ludwig. I think it would be difficult for any of us to hear that in a blind test. I do think that DW Collectors standard maple has a shorter note that might make them more recognizable if anything. You might be drinking some of the marketing kool-aid yourself, just the Ludwig kind. Now to the bumper of this thread, yes, DW drums are still extremely "cool". Despite the "anti" crowd that resides here in this fairly small and very opinionated forum. Out in the real world of venues and audiences and other drummers DW is definitely cool.

Likes Ludwig, owns Ludwig. Doesn't like DW, doesn't own DW. There's a pattern there, lol. I am completely on the other side of this I think. I never really liked Ludwig. The stuff was everywhere when I was growing up. And I don't do vintage drums--can't afford it. So I can't speak to that. But I feel, if you sit A drummer behind 10 kits, all different manufacturers, but in the same level of price range and shell build and quality, generally--with identical heads and setups and mic'ing. . . .Man, that's going to be tough for any ear to distinguish a true difference.

With all that said, I'm appreciating DW's customer service. They have hooked me up.
 
Likes Ludwig, owns Ludwig. Doesn't like DW, doesn't own DW. There's a pattern there, lol. I am completely on the other side of this I think. I never really liked Ludwig. The stuff was everywhere when I was growing up. And I don't do vintage drums--can't afford it. So I can't speak to that. But I feel, if you sit A drummer behind 10 kits, all different manufacturers, but in the same level of price range and shell build and quality, generally--with identical heads and setups and mic'ing. . . .Man, that's going to be tough for any ear to distinguish a true difference.

With all that said, I'm appreciating DW's customer service. They have hooked me up.

I like Ludwig, I used to own Ludwig. I like DW and I own DW. Both great companies that make great drums with different philosophies.

As for drums with classic sounds, that is what I have my 3-ply with rering Slingerland for.
 
I like Ludwig, I used to own Ludwig. I like DW and I own DW. Both great companies that make great drums with different philosophies.

As for drums with classic sounds, that is what I have my 3-ply with rering Slingerland for.

I don't doubt Ludwig's quality at all! Heck, for kits that are nearing 100 years to still be around, that's saying something. I just got tired of seeing the name. We had big heavy Ludwig marching drums, then got a completely new Yamaha percussion section. Wow, we loved it, lol. I always digress.

I would like a Slingerland kit someday.
 
I only recall seeing one bad sounding DW kit live. I can also guarantee that it was totally based on the drummers tuning ability as he also had a hand hammered black beauty that sounded like complete garbage.

First time post, long time reader. The last time I played a gig with my red DW Collectors with a hammered B/B snare was about 5 years ago at an out door show in northern IL close to the Wis border. "WiscoDrums", since you are in Wis, i've gotta know if it was me you saw and heard those bad sounds from. Gotta admit i've never been that good at tuning but i've always had an especially hard time tuning my DW's. If the B/B was awful too then... :(
 
First time post, long time reader. The last time I played a gig with my red DW Collectors with a hammered B/B snare was about 5 years ago at an out door show in northern IL close to the Wis border. "WiscoDrums", since you are in Wis, i've gotta know if it was me you saw and heard those bad sounds from. Gotta admit i've never been that good at tuning but i've always had an especially hard time tuning my DW's. If the B/B was awful too then... :(


No it definitely wasn't you lol. This was only a couple months ago and the guys entire kit sounded completely lifeless.
 
For 99% of non pros I'll agree it's about looks and brand recognition.
 
It's a brand. In marketing it's called "Branding". That's what they have done - create a brand. With the brand comes a premium price. They offer lots of finish options and that's part of brand. Their lugs are part of brand. They have spent a lot of money on branding.

Ludwig is also a brand. They rely on that brand to make a huge volume of sales because Ludwig has such wide-spread brand recognition. Same with Gretsch. Craviotto is another brand. Pork Pie has strong brand recognition of a specific niche type of product. When you think of Pork Pie or DW you think of their products differently than Ludwig. Rogers is a brand and there is actually some entity selling $799 Rogers "re-issue" snares, but I think the current Rogers entity has little to do with the Rogers drums of 60's. They're just a company that owns the name and using the brand. This quote from Yamaha on branding "On August 26, 2006, the Yamaha Corporation of America announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to the Rogers Drum Company at the BMMC bankruptcy court-ordered auction. "Opportunities to acquire a well-respected brand that is so treasured by players do not come along everyday," said Tom Sumner, Vice President and General Manager of Yamaha's Pro Audio & Combo Division." Now the Rogers brand is owned by Dixon. No relationship at all to original Rogers. But there is value in the name the brand. Here is some marketing hype that trades on the brand: "It has been no secret in the last year that Rogers Drums is returning to the land of the living. The legendary drum brand had its greatest success in the ’50s and ’60s and was notable for its innovations in drums and hardware, as well as for the drummers who played Rogers from Earl Palmer and Louie Bellson to Mick Fleetwood and Tommy Ramone. Though production was discontinued in the 1980s, over the decades Rogers has remained one of the top vintage brands, building a large following of devoted fans, and distinctly influencing modern drum builders." Now, we all know the folks that own and make Rogers drums today don't have any remote relationship to he folks who built Louie Bellson's drums, but that is what brand buys you.

Does branding really work? Check out this post by someone in another forum about Rogers: "I have two Rogers kits, one a 1965 kit with 14x20 bass, 8x12 tom,14x14 floor in Champagne sparkle with a matching wood Powertone snare and the other a mid to late 60"s jazz kit with 14x18 bass two 8x12 toms and a 14x14 floor tom in white marine pearl. Great sound and look. I"m looking to see how the new ones are." Now, the current iteration of Rogers has absolutely nothing to do with the guys 60's drums, but the strength of the BRAND is compelling the dude to seek out more info and perhaps make a purchasing decision. Branding is powerful. And don't take this a s a knock on Rogers. I have never played one of these new snares. I'm just using it as an example of the power of branding. They're selling $799 snare drums because of the brand. If they had the name Dixon on them or Rattlin' Bonz on them I doubt they'd sell as many at that price point. The brand Rogers makes the $799 price possible.

Brands work because the vast vast 99% of people buying drums don't do exhaustive testing and sound comparisons. They don't live here on these forums. They make an emotional decision based on branding and how the drum looks. DW is sorta like Chanel No. 5. More expensive than other competitors and perceived to be better by most of the market (most meaning most normal folks not most drum forum folks lol) hence the higher price. And, they have chosen to exist in a higher priced niche so as to sell less product but at higher prices, rather than more product at lower prices.

The fact that this post even exists "Are DW drums still cool" is a testament to DW marketing success and branding.

You have to think like a marketing executive not an obsessed drum gear junkie to get the implications of the brand identity of DW.
 
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Here are the drums. Inside the shells it is stamped that they are from 2008. I do not know what type of wood they are made of, I will do some research. They are satin black and you can see the wood grain, which I think is cool. The hardware has the satin brushed look. They have been used and they have little scrapes and scratches on them but they still look great.

It looks like a standard maple kit to me. Nice drums!!
 
DW is sorta like Chanel No. 5. More expensive than other competitors and perceived to be better by most of the market (most meaning most normal folks not most drum forum folks lol) hence the higher price. And, they have chosen to exist in a higher priced niche so as to sell less product but at higher prices, rather than more product at lower prices.

The fact that this post even exists "Are DW drums still cool" is a testament to DW marketing success and branding.

You have to think like a marketing executive not an obsessed drum gear junkie to get the implications of the brand identity of DW.

The marketing is actually a bit ingenious because is DW really that much more expensive than other brands though? I know people tend to say this all the time, and I can tell you that I used to really believe that it was. However, I think if you look at some of the lines they really aren't as expensive as they might seem in comparison.

DW Collectors, Tama Star, Pearl Music City Custom, Gretsch Broadkaster, Sonor SQ2 are all around similar prices depending on options.

DW Performance, Gretsch Brooklyn, Tama Starclassic Maple, Pearl Reference, Ludwig Classic Maple, Mapex Saturn... again similar.

DW Design, Gretsch Renown, Tamaha Starclassic Birch/Walnut, Pearl Session Studio, Yamaha Tour Custom.... again similar.

Yes DW has some crazy exotic wood drums that get really high, but so do Tama, Pearl, and everyone else now as well. I think if you look at the main DW lines, they line up fairly well price wise with everything else out there.

The difference is that DW just has a separate brand PDP, similar to Fender/Squier, Gibson/Epiphone, for the other price points. Yes that is a conscious marketing decision that they have decided to make, but it is an interesting one.
 
The marketing is actually a bit ingenious because is DW really that much more expensive than other brands though? I know people tend to say this all the time, and I can tell you that I used to really believe that it was. However, I think if you look at some of the lines they really aren't as expensive as they might seem in comparison.

DW Collectors, Tama Star, Pearl Music City Custom, Gretsch Broadkaster, Sonor SQ2 are all around similar prices depending on options.

DW Performance, Gretsch Brooklyn, Tama Starclassic Maple, Pearl Reference, Ludwig Classic Maple, Mapex Saturn... again similar.

DW Design, Gretsch Renown, Tamaha Starclassic Birch/Walnut, Pearl Session Studio, Yamaha Tour Custom.... again similar.

Yes DW has some crazy exotic wood drums that get really high, but so do Tama, Pearl, and everyone else now as well. I think if you look at the main DW lines, they line up fairly well price wise with everything else out there.

The difference is that DW just has a separate brand PDP, similar to Fender/Squier, Gibson/Epiphone, for the other price points. Yes that is a conscious marketing decision that they have decided to make, but it is an interesting one.


I think people get the idea that DW is expensive also because their non PDP entry level kit costs 1400 bucks. Also other companies offer a bit more if you think about it. While other brands like Tama and Yamaha continue to improve their lower end kits with awesome features and finishes, DW is being conservative and hasn't changed anything of the Design's features. Tama offers die cast hoops, cool lacquer finishes, hybrid shells, die cast tom mounts and multiple configurations. Yamaha has low prices while maintaing the features and sound of higher end kits. So much so that you could compare the SC with DW's Design and that's a 700 dollar kit. While Tama offers all this, what does DW give us? nothing special. You get 4 finishes with the Design (3 of them without painted hoops which is a big no from me), triple flange hoops and overall is a pretty generic kit. This also extends to their Collectors. There's no "defining" feature of DW kits. While Gretsch kits have a vintage vibe, Yamaha kits have the best hardware, Tama has the best custom finishes and Sonor also has that vintage vibe, DW is just plain generic. But maybe that's a strong point. If one doesn't know what features they want in a kit they would probably go with a DW.

But in a price debate, you're right. DW's marketing team has done a tremendous job of making it seem as if DW is a more premium brand than others. Maybe it's thanks to many of the world's most famous drummers who are endorsed by DW. Price wise DW kits are similar to competition but IMO lack the features of the competition.
 
All drums are cool.

This conversation has not much to do with DW drums and everything to do with DW's marketing and people's opinions about them. IMO, DW has fine sounding shells, great hardware, great finishes. Their lugs weigh too much but I can't neg them on anything else.

For those who don't get along with DW drums...I have to ask...if you were stranded on a desert island and there was a set of DW drums there...would whatever perceived negatives be so great that they wouldn't get played?
 
if you were stranded on a desert island and there was a set of DW drums there...would whatever perceived negatives be so great that they wouldn't get played?
They would immediately be repurposed as a raft or kindling for fire.
 
They would immediately be repurposed as a raft or kindling for fire.

I'd smash a case of Fiji water before I'd drink it and throw some Tama drums in the ocean. Chances are I'd be doing the world a favor since 95 percent of Tama is sub line crap. This is a friendly forum to everyone as long as we all agree to hate DW and this thread has once again degenerated into typical anti DW fodder, which is of course tolerated here. Well I'm going to give some of this back to you all and see if I can't ruffle some feathers. First off Tama, Pearl, and Mapex just flat out suck. Talk about generic? Ugh! Yamaha is largely a low to intermediate brand and their high end stuff is retardedly overpriced and way over rated. Gretsch and Ludwig are dinosaurs who aggressively market their same tired old crap to their ever dwindling pool of aging enthusiasts. Do I even need to mention OCPD, SJC, Spaun etc and their massive flocks of pubescent wannabe followers. I'm being over the top here to make a point. Truth is i find all of the above brands to be stale and boring marketing machines and not particularly great even at their very best.......but i don't tell you that in a thread that asks a loaded question "Are DW drums still cool". Let's have some tolerance and maybe in the process even show a little class.
 
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I'd smash a case of Fiji water before I'd drink it and throw some Tama drums in the ocean. Chances are I'd be doing the world a favor since 95 percent of Tama is sub line crap. This is a friendly forum to everyone as long as we all agree to hate DW and this thread has once again degenerated into typical anti DW fodder, which is of course tolerated here. Well I'm going to give some of this back to you all and see if I can't ruffle some feathers. First off Tama, Pearl, and Mapex just flat out suck. Talk about generic? Ugh! Yamaha is largely a low to intermediate brand and their high end stuff is retardedly overpriced and way over rated. Gretsch and Ludwig are dinosaurs who aggressively market their same tired old crap to their ever dwindling pool of aging enthusiasts. Do I even need to mention OCPD, SJC, Spaun etc and their massive flocks of pubescent wannabe followers. I'm being over the top here to make a point. Truth is i find all of the above brands to be stale and boring marketing machines and not particularly great even at their very best.......but i don't tell you that in a thread that asks a loaded question "Are DW drums still cool". Let's have some tolerance and maybe in the process even show a little class.

Awwwwwww I made popcorn. He was a bit, harsh wasn't he? Firewood. lol
 
I'd smash a case of Fiji water before I'd drink it and throw some Tama drums in the ocean. Chances are I'd be doing the world a favor since 95 percent of Tama is sub line crap. This is a friendly forum to everyone as long as we all agree to hate DW and this thread has once again degenerated into typical anti DW fodder, which is of course tolerated here. Well I'm going to give some of this back to you all and see if I can't ruffle some feathers. First off Tama, Pearl, and Mapex just flat out suck. Talk about generic? Ugh! Yamaha is largely a low to intermediate brand and their high end stuff is retardedly overpriced and way over rated. Gretsch and Ludwig are dinosaurs who aggressively market their same tired old crap to their ever dwindling pool of aging enthusiasts. Do I even need to mention OCPD, SJC, Spaun etc and their massive flocks of pubescent wannabe followers. I'm being over the top here to make a point. Truth is i find all of the above brands to be stale and boring marketing machines and not particularly great even at their very best.......but i don't tell you that in a thread that asks a loaded question "Are DW drums still cool". Let's have some tolerance and maybe in the process even show a little class.

Yeah, there's some real "fanboys" in here who's only opinion that counts is theirs. Part of the landscape I'm afraid. The whole DW disrespect game is rather ironic in that I think the Forum big cheese ( Bernhard ) plays a set of DW Collectors. A friend of mine has been playing gold badge Collectors for years and they sound great when I go see him play. I think there's a lot of jealousy in play when it comes to high end kits that some people can't afford.
 
It’s hatred for the big boys. Tons of that with just about any product. Not sure why we’re supervised the thread went down the tubes given the title. It was an open invitation.

DW has had more influence on what drums are today than most others. Yeah, Slingerland and Rogers were innovative back in the day, but they died. Drums were pretty much all crap for a while. DW stepped in and set the drum industry ablaze for a while, pushing things forward and waking a lot of companies up and I guess that deserves hatred. People are generally jealous and suspicious of people who do good to.

I remember when Larry was giving a bunch of goodies away, some came out and flamed him, saying he was doing it for glory. It’s something we just can’t get away with in the age of the Internet.

DW still Has the best resales value of any drums. That accounts for something. Camrys and Corollas outsell lots of sexier brands, but people like them. There’s usually just as much hatred for them on the car forums as DW is here. This is essentially a pointless debate. Buy them if you like them, pass if you don’t.
 
DW drums are not cool. Ludwig and Gretsch are cool - DW drums are very nineties, the lugs look horrid, and offer poor value for money. And that stuff they used to spout about the "natural note of the drum" was a terrible theory, and false. Not cool. Purely objective analysis of course. :)
 
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