Yamaha Rock Tour--Holy Guacamole!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rpt50

Member
Once again I have to pay tribute to the members of DrummerWorld—I was tipped off about the discontinued Rock Tour 3 piece shellpack from a posting on this site. My teenage son has found himself in a very active band, and I was hoping that the Rock Tour would be a low-cost upgrade from his Tama Rockstar set.

I bought the shellpack from GC, and got them to additionally discount the $399 price to $340, and then I got a $28 dollar fuel discount by purchasing it with a GC gift card from the fuel points program at my grocery store. So the effective cost of the kit was only $312—not bad at all!

The main finding of this review—that Rock Tour bass drum absolutely thunders compared to the 22” Tama and Sonor kits my son has used in the past. Even my wife, who has no musical training and pays little attention to such matters, noticed immediately how much louder, deeper, and punchier it sounds. It rattles the walls, and it’s going to be a great bass drum for live performances.

Some other observations:
1. It came with nice Remo heads. The toms are 2 ply with the oily material inside, and the bass head appears to be a powerstroke, but it is only labeled Remo.

2. The floor tom also sounds really good, with a great punch. The 12” tom sounds pretty pedestrian so far, but we haven’t had a chance to mess much with the tuning yet.

3. The build quality of the drums is excellent, and in terms of robustness they seem to be on par with the Tama set, but perhaps not as rugged as the Sonor kits we have had.

I’m sure I’ll be back looking for setup tips once he does a few live performances with this kit.
 
Awesome for you; great review and congrats on a great deal!

Just to correct you on the heads: Remo doesn't make oil filled heads. Its a 2 ply head and you are seeing the refraction of light between the 2 plies, just like light going through a prism (like on the Dark Side of the Moon cover). Evans makes hydraulic oil filled heads but Remo doesn't.
 
Congrats! Wow, what a deal you got!

Did you end up with the snare too? I saw another forum member playing one, and from the audience perceptive, that thing is amazing for rock.

Either way, you got a great deal on good drums!
 
Awesome for you; great review and congrats on a great deal!

Just to correct you on the heads: Remo doesn't make oil filled heads. Its a 2 ply head and you are seeing the refraction of light between the 2 plies, just like light going through a prism (like on the Dark Side of the Moon cover). Evans makes hydraulic oil filled heads but Remo doesn't.

Thanks for the correction. I'm a guitar player myself, but I'm always happy to learn about the drums to help the kid.

The finish is smoke sunburst. I was kinda hoping he would go for the green sunburst, but it still looks good!
 
Congrats! Wow, what a deal you got!

Did you end up with the snare too? I saw another forum member playing one, and from the audience perceptive, that thing is amazing for rock.

Either way, you got a great deal on good drums!

No snare--just a 12", 16" and bass 22". The matching snare was another $230. My son has some kind of large steel yamaha snare that really pops that will probably be used with this kit. He also has a black panther snare that he won in a drumming contest that sounds really good too, so we really didn't need a snare.
 
Geeee. I wonder who's snare you could be talking about? lol....

Congrats on the Rock Tour kit. What finish is it?

I was trying to not name drop. lol.


No snare--just a 12", 16" and bass 22". The matching snare was another $230. My son has some kind of large steel yamaha snare that really pops that will probably be used with this kit. He also has a black panther snare that he won in a drumming contest that sounds really good too, so we really didn't need a snare.

Ah yes, with snares like those, no need to buy another one.
 
Why are this sets still online when Yamaha said they are discontinued?

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/drums/rt/

I HOPE they thought about it and will continue to make them.

3. The build quality of the drums is excellent, and in terms of robustness they seem to be on par with the Tama set, but perhaps not as rugged as the Sonor kits we have had.

I agree, aside from the snare strainer, which is really fragile and not very stable looking.
 
The rock tour snare drums have just gone on sale on Musician's Friend for $99!!! I ordered one and it should be here in a few days. I was looking at this when it was $230 (seemed like a decent deal at that price for a 9 PLY??? mahogany drum), but I decided to wait, and Boy! am I glad I did. An absolute steal at that price. Haven't heard one in person, but everyone on the forums seems to love them, so I doubt I can go wrong.
 
The rock tour snare drums have just gone on sale on Musician's Friend for $99!!! I ordered one and it should be here in a few days. I was looking at this when it was $230 (seemed like a decent deal at that price for a 9 PLY??? mahogany drum), but I decided to wait, and Boy! am I glad I did. An absolute steal at that price. Haven't heard one in person, but everyone on the forums seems to love them, so I doubt I can go wrong.


You must have gotten their only one - ha ha: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/snare-drums/yamaha
 
The rock tour snare drums have just gone on sale on Musician's Friend for $99!!! I ordered one and it should be here in a few days. I was looking at this when it was $230 (seemed like a decent deal at that price for a 9 PLY??? mahogany drum), but I decided to wait, and Boy! am I glad I did. An absolute steal at that price. Haven't heard one in person, but everyone on the forums seems to love them, so I doubt I can go wrong.

Yeah 9 ply's that are all of 5.6mm thick the 8 ply mahogany/ash version are thicker though not by much what finish did you get that will tell you what one you have. Textured finish is the mahogany/ash version matte is all mahogany.
 
That's for the 3 piece kit. metallitroy's post and the link I gave were for just the snare drum.

They must have sold out almost immediately.
 
I play the same kit regularly! It really is incredible for the price.

If you think it sounds good now, you haven't heard anything yet. Put some G2s over G1s on the toms, and an EMAD2 on the kick drum, and just listen to the kit come to life.

Also, did they happen to have any of the addon toms when you were there? I've been looking for a 10" tom in textured green sunburst, but it has proven to be elusive thus far.
 
I've played many kits over the last 30+ years. I had this kit for a while and decided it wasn't right for me. Yes, the bass drum was loud and the floor tom was fine. But the 12" tom did not cut through at all. It got lost no matter how hard I hit it. I was going to get a bigger tom but I also got tired of that wood grain look so I traded it in for $500 which is what I paid and got a Ludwig classic maple kit. I much happier with my new kit. It is a little heavier but it feels solid compared to the Rock Tour. Those Rock Tour shells felt too thin and light.There's a reason why the whole kit was selling for $349.
 
Congrats. Way to get them down on the price. $312 could be a new record. Those were going for around $800 or so new during their heyday.

Please please post a photo for us :)
 
... It is a little heavier but it feels solid compared to the Rock Tour. Those Rock Tour shells felt too thin and light.There's a reason why the whole kit was selling for $349.

Yes, the Rock Tour shells are noticeably thin and light. I'm not a drummer myself (guitar), but wouldn't the thickness of the shell be a design feature that has a lot to do with tone and resonance?
 
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