Traps Drums

[beatsMcGee]

hey, saw the new vid on the main page and I'm wondering if anyone here has tried them, and what they thought of them? How much did you pay, and where did you find them? Also how realistic do they feel and would you recommend them to others.

thanks

[DaveB]

Two reviews on them, both written by me -

http://www.mikedolbear.co.uk/story.a...xtSearch=Traps

http://www.mikedolbear.co.uk/story.asp?StoryID=1398

[beatsMcGee]

muchas gracias amigo.

[DaveHertz]

I recently ordered the Traps A400 acoustic drumkit from Musician's Friend for $559 postpaid and it should be delivered in the coming days. After dragging around various full-size drumkits including my current set of Ludwigs from gig to gig over the past 25+ years, I'm definitely looking forward to receiving this innovative, English-made drumkit. The size was right as was the price and the kit's sound is virtually identical to a full-size kit. This YouTube video really sealed the deal. I'll report back soon once I've had a chance to play the kit. If all goes well, photos and videos of me playing the kit with my band Fall 2 Earth will be posted to my website so stay tuned!

[Just Drums]

Originally Posted by DaveHertz

I recently ordered the Traps A400 acoustic drumkit from Musician's Friend for $559 postpaid and it should be delivered in the coming days. After dragging around various full-size drumkits including my current set of Ludwigs from gig to gig over the past 25+ years, I'm definitely looking forward to receiving this innovative, English-made drumkit. The size was right as was the price and the kit's sound is virtually identical to a full-size kit. This YouTube video really sealed the deal. I'll report back soon once I've had a chance to play the kit. If all goes well, photos and videos of me playing the kit with my band Fall 2 Earth will be posted to my website so stay tuned!

We had a couple of them in our shop not too long ago and have sold a few online. Depending on what you expect or like, you may or may not like this kit. They're definitely compact and lightweight - that's for sure.

http://www.justdrumsonline.com/store/c-379-traps.aspx

[DaveHertz]

The verdict is in! Traps drums are truly incredible!! I received my new A400 drumkit several days ago and spent about one hour assembling them and tuning them to my specifications. From the outset, the chrome-plated steel drum rack felt solid and looked great. The drum rims were made out of a high quality ABS plastic and were fitted with Remo Pinstripe 2-ply oil-filled heads which I've never seen included as standard equipment on any drumkit. The look and feel of the kit was nothing short of top-notch professional. I recently tried them out with my band Fall 2 Earth for the first time and the response was phenomenal to say the least. Jaws literally dropped as I rolled around the kit for the first time. Initial responses ranged from "Holy s**t!" to "I can't believe how much sound is coming from that tiny kit!" The 20" double-headed bass drum was actually louder and had a fuller and punchier sound than my 22" Philippine mahogany bass drum which really blew everyone away. The 12" snare drum had excellent projection and snap and had a rounder sound than my 14" Philippine mahogany snare. The 10" and 12" mid toms and the 14" floor tom had a rototom look and feel about them but their sound was identical to that of a rack of well-tuned standard toms. Needless to say, I've decided to retire my current drumkit and to play Traps drums exclusively. Playing this kit with my eyes closed felt like and sounded identical to a full-size kit. It's quite obvious that this company has spared no expense in creating my "dream" drumkit - one that sounds like a million bucks but doesn't come with the massive pricetag and is incredibly portable. I've included this photo of me with what has been coined "The Erector Set" due to its innovative hi-tech space-age materials and design. Visit me online and don't miss me with my new Traps drumkit on tour with Fall 2 Earth around the Tampa Bay, Florida area!

[Dr_Evil]

Traps Drumkit A400 is brilliant, however the cymbals it comes with are unique in their own way but are not the best cymbals i have tried as they are like brass, i take my drumkit around alot to diffrent places for gigs etc. and it is so easy to set up, just dont forget youre drumkey otherwise youre in a slight bit of trouble lol, but the toms are so brilliant

[mfiske]

I recently acquired the electronic version of this set, and I want to try it out in it's acoustic configuration. It came with everything I SHOULD need to convert it, but I am having trouble figuring out how to assemble the part for the snare drum that clamps down on the snare strap. It's two plastic pieces fitted together with short tension rods, and a wingnut, but beyond that, I am lost. Is anyone willing to walk me through that? Pictures would be great, since right now I have no idea how it's supposed to fit.

[Mewsie]

Hi guys - sorry, I'm a bit of Johnny Come Lately to this thread. Picked up a Traps kit a couple of months ago and absolutely love it! But I have to admit to struggling with the bass drum for un-mic'd rehearsing with my covers band. I've tuned batter low and reso high (as I'd do with my Premier 26" monster), I've tried batter high and reso in unison and tried batter high and reso low. I've tried externally muffling batter and reso (individually and together), internal towels and pads, internal felt strips front and back too and I've tried no muffling at all. I'm at a loss - I'm still not getting the sound I'm after (a bit of cut with a bit of depth). I'm not expecting miracles - I know it's only a 20" X 2" drum. But everything else is so good (snare and toms). Any suggestions gratefully received. Regards Mewsie

[Fusion Head]

Sorry for late reply, I'm new to this forum and noticed your comment about it being difficult to getting a good sound from the Traps bass drum. I have owned a Traps kit for about 3 years, and have found them a great portable solution for doing small gigs. The toms sound okay when mic'd (though very 'rototom-ish'), and I use a Pearl Joey Jordison snare drum rather than the stock one. But I have never had any success getting a good sound, mic'd or unmic'd, from the stock bass drum, due to it either ringing too much with no damping, or sounding far too dead or choked when damped. So until recently I have been using it with only the batter head installed. But I just found a better solution, which I will share with you.

Let me start by saying that my belief is that it is not possible to get a 3" deep kick drum to operate properly acoustically, for two reasons. First, there is not enough air volume inside the drum to resonate properly at low enough frequency. This causes higher frequency unwanted resonances that, in my experience, caused a weird 'pong-g-g-g' sound captured by the mic. Second, the two heads are too close together, which causes the batter head to be directly affected by the action, or inaction, of the resonant head. So, when you dampen the resonant head (e.g. by using felt strip, or a head with mic hole or integrated dampening rings) it chokes the movement of the batter head and renders the drum lifeless. Essentially, there is not enough space inside for the air to move.

Recently, one of the plastic lugs broke off of my Traps bass drum shell. It was beyond the warranty period, but the dealer sold me a replacement bass drum for his cost, which was very nice of him. When I received it, instead of simply replacing the bass drum shell I had the idea of combining the two bass drum shells end-to-end, simply using black duct tape around the outer and inner circumference of the shells, to create a shell of twice the depth. Note that for the two shells to meet tightly together you need to remove all the blue plastic parts from the side mounting flanges of one of the shells. I also stuck about 3" wide of black weatherstripping around the inside of the combined shell to help cut some of the 'plastic-y' internal resonance.

I used the same batter head I was using before (it is a Remo Powersonic with dampening pad installed). But for the resonant head I tried a few different options. I ended up using a full head (with our band's vinyl logo sticker which essentially created a 2-ply head) but custom cutting a small mic hole as well as 6 additional small 'breather' holes. The idea here is that, even at twice the depth, the bass drum shell is still not deep enough to allow for proper low frequency resonance and for the heads to move freely enough. So to enable the full tone of the batter head, cutting addition holes in the resonant head allows the air to move by escaping from the front head, while still providing enough resonance inside the drum to give it a bit of 'life'. This configuration seems to have worked. When both heads are tuned as low as possible (before frapping out) it has enough low end thump, a bit of sustain, and by having the mic through the mic hole I get enough slap off the beater. See attached image.

I hope this helps others that have experienced the same issue I've had. Good luck! FH

[markwoodruff]

Originally Posted by Dr_Evil

Traps Drumkit A400 is brilliant, however the cymbals it comes with are unique in their own way but are not the best cymbals i have tried as they are like brass, i take my drumkit around alot to diffrent places for gigs etc. and it is so easy to set up, just dont forget youre drumkey otherwise youre in a slight bit of trouble lol, but the toms are so brilliant

Yeah, I wish they wouldn't even offer the cheap cymbals at all with the Traps A400 kit. It's such a great product and the cymbals kind of bring it down. I understand that some people really want a "complete" drum kit, but these drums are high quality and they look and sound great, and there really is no need for these cymbals. Most Traps owners who are looking for inexpensive cymbals would be better off buying an inexpensive set of student-level cymbals or Sabian B8s.

[markwoodruff]

Originally Posted by DaveHertz

The verdict is in! Traps drums are truly incredible!! I received my new A400 drumkit several days ago and spent about one hour assembling them and tuning them to my specifications. From the outset, the chrome-plated steel drum rack felt solid and looked great. The drum rims were made out of a high quality ABS plastic and were fitted with Remo Pinstripe 2-ply oil-filled heads which I've never seen included as standard equipment on any drumkit. The look and feel of the kit was nothing short of top-notch professional. I recently tried them out with my band Fall 2 Earth for the first time and the response was phenomenal to say the least. Jaws literally dropped as I rolled around the kit for the first time. Initial responses ranged from "Holy s**t!" to "I can't believe how much sound is coming from that tiny kit!" The 20" double-headed bass drum was actually louder and had a fuller and punchier sound than my 22" Philippine mahogany bass drum which really blew everyone away. The 12" snare drum had excellent projection and snap and had a rounder sound than my 14" Philippine mahogany snare. The 10" and 12" mid toms and the 14" floor tom had a rototom look and feel about them but their sound was identical to that of a rack of well-tuned standard toms. Needless to say, I've decided to retire my current drumkit and to play Traps drums exclusively. Playing this kit with my eyes closed felt like and sounded identical to a full-size kit. It's quite obvious that this company has spared no expense in creating my "dream" drumkit - one that sounds like a million bucks but doesn't come with the massive pricetag and is incredibly portable. I've included this photo of me with what has been coined "The Erector Set" due to its innovative hi-tech space-age materials and design. Visit me online and don't miss me with my new Traps drumkit on tour with Fall 2 Earth around the Tampa Bay, Florida area!

Dude, you look and sound SO happy! Boy, there's nothing like getting new equipment. Hope it's still rocking for you!