The Bo Eder Pearl Vision Signature kit ;)

M

Matt Bo Eder

Guest
OK - these drums finally arrived at my house today and here's some preliminary shots of what I'm calling my Pearl Vision Signature kit!

I'll be installing new heads on these tomorrow so as soon as I can I'll post a video. I'm really digging' the look and can't wait to use these on my music projects. I'm sure it'll make the "My drums must match" crowd turn away in disgust. But for some reason it's speaking to me.

I noticed that on eBay there are a lot of orphan drums on there. When you look at Pearl Vision drums, there's a lot of orphaned NEW drums being sold for a song. So I thought it would be cool to just enjoy the savings by sacrificing the unified look. After all, they're all from the Vision series and are birch-ply. The snare drum is my trusty 5x14 Supraphonic (a gift from Kevin Packard over a Pearl), and the bass drum is 18x20 (not my first choice, I want a 14x20), the two rack toms are 8x10 and 7x8, and the floors are 14x14 and 16x16 (I wanted those different but it was a two pack selling at a great price!). Colors represented are all discontinued (making this kit even more collectible): red strata, gold strata, orange sparkle, and wine red. I'm debating finding a 9x12 tom and having more toms - but I hardly ever play more than a 4-piece so this is probably more than enough as it is. Enjoy the pictures!
 

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Let them laugh at your kit, then blow them away with your playing :). They'll sound awesome with good heads, shame about the ISS mounts.

Mark
 
Bo, I can't get excited about this, I just can't. It's not that there's anything wrong with the principal of making a family out of orphans, hell, I'm from an orphanage myself, but it's the Visions man :( I have my son's gold strata Vision kit in my garage, the one with the roller coaster bearing edges. Then there's those damn awful tom mounts that cling onto the hoops for dear life. Then those tom arms, the heavy wrap, cheap fixings, etc. I'll admit, the bass drum does sound sort of ok though.

I'd honestly prefer a beat up old CB kit, at least I'd empathise with it's humble ambitions.
 
Bo, I can't get excited about this, I just can't. It's not that there's anything wrong with the principal of making a family out of orphans, hell, I'm from an orphanage myself, but it's the Visions man :( I have my son's gold strata Vision kit in my garage, the one with the roller coaster bearing edges. Then there's those damn awful tom mounts that cling onto the hoops for dear life. Then those tom arms, the heavy wrap, cheap fixings, etc. I'll admit, the bass drum does sound sort of ok though.

I'd honestly prefer a beat up old CB kit, at least I'd empathise with it's humble ambitions.

Sorry, but I have to differ. Visions rock. Love the sound these birch shells produce. I get a lot of compliments on these. Ok, I'll agree that the tom mounting system could be better but it's not that bad. I've seen worse.

I have it set up right handed, even though I prefer to play lefty. I play open handed on these to keep my skills in tune. Playing out with other drummers is a handicap. Quite often I'm the only lefty. I'm sure Bo feels my pain.
 

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Sorry, but I have to differ. Visions rock. Love the sound these birch shells produce. I get a lot of compliments on these.
I'm sorry. I don't mean to beat up on someone else's drums. Your Visions obviously hit the mark for you, & that's great. My comments are severely tainted by my experience with my son's Vision kit. Maybe it was a Friday afternoon kit, who knows, but the number of faults with it have made me biased, & I accept, probably unfairly so. I compare my experience with my son's Vision kit to my personal experiences with Pearl's Export kits back in the 80's. I liked the Exports, still do. They changed the landscape of the drum industry. Pearl's tom arms were a cut above everything else (at the price) back in the day, but they needed to move on from the 80's, & haven't. Honestly, I prefer the old pearl tom bracket mounted directly to the shell, compared to the hoop clamp system used on Visions.
 
Bo, I can't get excited about this, I just can't. It's not that there's anything wrong with the principal of making a family out of orphans, hell, I'm from an orphanage myself, but it's the Visions man :( I have my son's gold strata Vision kit in my garage, the one with the roller coaster bearing edges. Then there's those damn awful tom mounts that cling onto the hoops for dear life. Then those tom arms, the heavy wrap, cheap fixings, etc. I'll admit, the bass drum does sound sort of ok though.

I'd honestly prefer a beat up old CB kit, at least I'd empathise with it's humble ambitions.

Not sitting on the fence then Andy :).

Mark
 
Sorry, but I have to differ. Visions rock. Love the sound these birch shells produce. I get a lot of compliments on these. Ok, I'll agree that the tom mounting system could be better but it's not that bad. I've seen worse.

I'm sure you like it, I liked my stage customs but at the end of the day it's a cheap kit. I played one of these next to a reference and it sounded dog poo by comparison.
 
Wow, well I'm slightly starting to feel like Andy doesn't like Pearl Visions. But he's right about Pearl being stuck on their glory days and not having the vision (pun intended) to move forward with innovative ideas for their mid range kits. I was disappointed to see them bring back the Exports last year, they need put a period and move on.

Bo I think it is a cool idea if the savings make it worth it. How much do you think you saved going the route of collecting orphans rather than just buying a whole vision kit at a blow out price with a discontinued color?
 
Wow, well I'm slightly starting to feel like Andy doesn't like Pearl Visions. But he's right about Pearl being stuck on their glory days and not having the vision (pun intended) to move forward with innovative ideas for their mid range kits. I was disappointed to see them bring back the Exports last year, they need put a period and move on.

Bo I think it is a cool idea if the savings make it worth it. How much do you think you saved going the route of collecting orphans rather than just buying a whole vision kit at a blow out price with a discontinued color?

TBH - it wasn't so much about saving money as it was just having a drum kit made up of different discontinued colors. Since all the drums were new orphans, I spent around $400 for them. I've got enough new Evans G2's lying around for a complete head change. Still, cheaper than those little Vision Bop kits they're selling for $699.

However, remember, this is me we're talking about. They won't sound like crap when the day is done. And I still have my Reference Pures and Ludwigs too. This is one of my 'expensive joke' days, and definitely a kit I will not bat an eyelash at if a drum takes a tumble on stage or in transit, or if I need a complete kit to leave in a questionable area for rehearsals. I'll probably keep the Supra close though.
 
I'm sure you like it, I liked my stage customs but at the end of the day it's a cheap kit. I played one of these next to a reference and it sounded dog poo by comparison.

Were both kits (Vision and Reference) tuned the same way with the same heads? Or was it, again, the case of the Visions being tuned by some schmuck with stock heads and the Reference got all the attention (and pro level heads too) because it's more expensive?

This is coming from the guy who sounds the same on everything he plays.
 
the various 'red' drums all look fine together in the photos -- the orange/gold one? Not so much... but that's just me!

Not sure I could do such a thing -- Maybe if they were ALL different red, blue, green, orange?? but probably not!

Enjoy them -- for a work-horse gigging kit, I love the low to mid-level Pearls... Can't beat 'em - so to speak!
 
Bo: Great idea !
You are selling me on the idea of putting together a kit of different color orphan drums.

I'd like to try this. Just can't decide what brand of drums.
(I really like Yamaha hardware.)

.
 
"Signature kit"

Are you going to sign each shell on the inside with an Sharpie ink marker?

.
 
That bass drum has to be one of the ugliest drums I've seen in a while. I just don't care at all for the color/finish and the black hardware is not flattering it either I don't think.
 
I have a Pearl Vision kit it looks beautiful-clear birch finish. It was one of the first of the China stuff so it was birch/basswood (the really cheap crap) with 10, 12 in mounted toms and 16 in floor tom. I later bought an all birch clear birch matching finish 14 in tom using optimounts. I don't know why but the 14 in just never blended with the other toms-I guess the difference in wood construction? In my opinion the kick and 16 in floor tom suffice, the ten in tom has a small voice but the 12 and 14 inch are both flat-I've tried every head and tuned high to low and they just don't get it. I put the kit up and played this Pearl rhythm traveler POD kit I have for the last few years (it sounds better and is fun to play)-only now put it up and pulled out the Vision again. Already frustrated and took off the 14 in tom, and eyeing the 12 in tom. Just pondering selling it and buying a whole new kit.
 
.... I liked my stage customs but at the end of the day it's a cheap kit. I played one of these next to a reference and it sounded dog poo by comparison.


Watch your mouth there son.


LOL



That bass drum has to be one of the ugliest drums I've seen in a while. I just don't care at all for the color/finish and the black hardware is not flattering it either I don't think.

I like the bass drum color, but think it would look a lot better with chrome hardware instead of black.
I'd take it to the saw to bring it down to 14" depth too.
 
Oh the horror, and its set up backwards... Oy vey!

Mickey would never stand for this. Beach Blanket Bingo.
 
I'd take it to the saw to bring it down to 14" depth too.

I'm debating this. But I am saving some more pennies to get a Ludwig Club Date Downbeat kit. I really like those sizes and it would be a good contrast from my Ludwig Classic Maples with the 13/16/24 drums - and they're MUCH lighter - probably perfect for those days when I want to load up in a small car instead of loading up the ol' Ford F-150 ;)
 
the various 'red' drums all look fine together in the photos -- the orange/gold one? Not so much... but that's just me!

This is kinda' the point of a kit like this ;)

I'm gonna find out just how much everybody really likes my playing.
 
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