KHS and Sonor Questions ??

force3005

Silver Member
Hello everyone. Questions, ever since Sonor was brought under the KHS umbrella, I have not seen an Essential or Select Force print add in the US. I know before there was little but now nothing. On web-sites that sell Sonor now just display Special Edition Series which are very nice drums for the price and maybe the higher end Vintage Series kits. The other Sonor high end kits are at select higher end shops and seeing more in print adds. Am I seeing KHS promoting Mapex Saturn kits now a little more? IMO the Select Force compares favorably against the Saturn's.

Do others, think on the lines (like me or not) that KHS might go down the road of what Gretsch and others did to Slingerland? It would be a shame, because these two Sonor kits have a good build quality and QC that Sonor had set up.

Yes, I know Mapex and Sonor's above mention kits are made in the same felicity but on different lines and have different QC process or might this change also or has it changed?

Thanks,
 
Hello everyone. Questions, ever since Sonor was brought under the KHS umbrella, I have not seen an Essential or Select Force print add in the US. I know before there was little but now nothing. On web-sites that sell Sonor now just display Special Edition Series which are very nice drums for the price and maybe the higher end Vintage Series kits. The other Sonor high end kits are at select higher end shops and seeing more in print adds. Am I seeing KHS promoting Mapex Saturn kits now a little more? IMO the Select Force compares favorably against the Saturn's.

Do others, think on the lines (like me or not) that KHS might go down the road of what Gretsch and others did to Slingerland? It would be a shame, because these two Sonor kits have a good build quality and QC that Sonor had set up.

Yes, I know Mapex and Sonor's above mention kits are made in the same felicity but on different lines and have different QC process or might this change also or has it changed?

Thanks,

Sonor has been owned by KHS since 1997, it's not a new development, it's only how they are distributed in the US that changed.
 
Hi Mpthomson, I did know about KHS and Sonor ties before because Sonor models were (not the top tier) built at the KHS factory. KHS America has purchased Hohner Inc. and was the US Sonor distributor out of Virginia if I recall. Now all (KHS America brands) are out of Nashville. But, like I said, the adds in print and shown on web-sites have gone from few to nothing on the Essential and Select Force kits since KHS America purchased Honor Inc. back in late 2014 effect date of January 2015.

Note: Sonor discontinued the Ascent in late 2014. To me it looks like KHS is removing the Essential and Select Force series from the market place and keep Mapex Saturns for that section of the market. Mapex was at KHS first and for a long time.

Thanks for the reply
 
That would be a shame. I have a Force 3007 and am very happy with it. It was my first Sonor and I would buy another kit from them hands down. Would love to move up to a Sonor Vintage kit. They have a great distinctive sound.

But that mid-range part of the market is pretty full up, and you may be on to something. If I were buying new in the mid-range market there is a lot of research to do, and one can hardly ever try kits side by side in a store anymore.
 
For a long time, way back when, Sonor was ONLY high end drums, with little to no budget lines. Sonor used to advertise themselves as the Rolls Royce of drums.

I was told by a KHS employee a while back that the feeling was that Sonor would going to go back to just focusing on the high end stuff to retain the brand name's status as a high end name, while Mapex would handle the lower and middle grounds.

As mentioned, mid-range part of the market is pretty full, with a lot of drums that have few, if any, differences between them.
 
I used to keep tabs on Sonor after owning a Force 3005 kit but kind of lost touch with what they are doing these days.
Looking at their website from the UK,the other Force lines are there and I hadn't realised that the Select Firce now has the same, or very similiar, lugs to the beech shelled Ascent. Come to that I hadn't realised that the Ascent had been discontinued.
This probably adds to the confusion but perhaps Sonor are pursuing different marketing strategies in different countries. That being said diversifying so that Sonor is more of a top end German made brand with Mapex mopping up the top end Far Eastern made gear seems to make sense, however lower end models are the "gateway" to higher end gear and get people into the brand. Without low to mid range Sonor kits being available, sales of their top end kits might suffer as younger and newer drummers don't get their first taste of Sonor.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses. KHS bought Hohner and that Sonor was included under Hohner and is reminiscent of when Slingerland, Rodgers and Premier were bought and sold from corporations and holding companies and finally retired with the exception of Premier.

It does feel like the Smart, Essential and Select Force Series won't last much longer. The Special Edition Series by Sonor might make it because Mapex does not make a line that's competes with those models. Might also get a name change and rebrand as Mapex? Sonor's top lines will not be effected at this point or in the foreseeable future.

This might be a way to get Mapex more into the European marketplace just as Yamaha did when they bought Premier but, left after a few years.

Again, thanks.
 
As a side note: Here's a very informative podcast of a roundtable discussion including Sonor's Karl-Heinz Menzel.
He discusses the history, product development philosophy as well as current and future projects. Very informative... https://www.brynneragassi.com/sonor
 
Hey thanks JB. As you know I am a big Sonor fan so the link was nice, thanks again. Also stay safe for the next few days.
 
Back
Top