DrumEatDrum
Platinum Member
. I have a Signia snare but would love a whole kit one day. They are kinda heavy though, definitely not for gigging!
I don't think the Signia are any heavier than the average drum set.
The shells are thin maple.
I've done countless gigs over the years with my Signia's.
I'd say the only reason my Signia weighs more than my DW kit is the Signia bass drum has that large mounting bracket, while my DW bass drum is virgin.
The toms are pretty identical in weight.
mpthomson
I completely agree. In fact, it goes back even further IMHO.The most recent innovation, The Beast snare drum was a solution in search of a problem and a competent and engaged marketing team would have seen that it should have remained a technical exercise rather than a production item.
The recent offerings of APK haven't been worthy of the name and reintroducing the Genista was a huge mistake. Good drums they may be but if marketed at a lower price point and made in a different location from differently sourced wood they were always going to be seen as inferior. They should have had a different lug and have been called something else.
The marketing was incoherent with no advertising of the more sensibly priced ranges and little to no development of those offerings in five years.
There was a time when the Signia was offering essentially what DW was: A thin maple shell with re-rings. Only at the time, DW productions was still small time and struggling. Premier was in perfect position to take a huge market share and perhaps even steal some of DW's thunder. Instead they discontinued the original Signia and introduced the Signia Marquis with a slightly thicker shell and no re-rings, essentially killing their own market advantage.
And there was a time when no one else was making a kit with the quality level and at the price point as the XPK. Then Yamaha and Pearl came out with their versions, and for whatever reason, Premier just sat back and watched them push the XPK aside. And then over time, everyone had their version of the XPK.
StaggerLee
Natal stuff isn't bad, but they haven't done much to distinguish themselves from the pack. They're not doing anything different than anyone else. Their cymbal stands and such are identical to other brands. Most of (all?) their shells are identical to other brands. So much of their stuff is clearly made by someone else with their name slapped on it.i will note however, natal do make some damn nice stuff.