PDP FS - thoughts?

W

Warrenwood

Active Member
Long story short: my son has played a PDP FS birch set (22/10/12/14 with additional 16" PDP Concept Birch floor tom) for a few years now. He's decided he wants a warmer sound, so he bought a used Pork Pie Hip Pig set. To help pay for the Hip Pig, my son "sold" his PDP FS set to the Bank of Dad (me). I thought I would resell the set locally, recoup the money I gave him but... wow... the used market here is HORRIBLE. Over Christmas we had a flood of crappy used sets hit the used market and now everybody wants a full set with hardware and cymbals for $150 OBO.

So, it seems that I've got a PDP FS set for the foreseeable future. I'm wondering what to do with it.

I could add it to my small collection. I've owned other PDPs in the past: CX series, MX series and Concept. Maple shells, good workmanship, nice "working class" drums. But in my collection, that particular type of sound is covered by my DW Performance set. In my collection, each set brings a different kind of sound. What sound does the PDP FS bring besides a sharp attack? I play classic rock, some jazz, some blues... think Kansas, Eagles, Blues Brothers, Chicago. I don't play loud, hard, cutting music. I don't gig (if I did, I'd use the DW.)

But am I missing a point here? Has anybody here owned a PDP FS? If so, what were your thoughts about it?

Thanks!
 
I bought an older FS for $100 a few years back that had cymbals (302a), stands and pedals. I sold just the shells for 150 about a year later and kick myself every day. They sounded nice with coated ambassadors on the top/bottom. The snare wasn't great but definitely usable.

My $100 drum set

Edit: Well, they actually aren't mine any more... After a lot of work cleaning them up and replacing some receivers, finally got to take the drums up to our youth building. PDP FS Birch - $100. Everything was included except for the HH stand and the stool. I got both in the deal but the HH...
www.drummerworld.com

Dennis
 
Thanks, Dennis!

My son sold off the FS snare years back to buy a Pork Pie snare. I have two DW maple snares (5x14 and 6.5x14) that I rotate around my sets, but I also have a 90s Acrolite Galaxy on the shelf that might sound good with the birch drums.
 
Hi Warren, I currently own and daily play my FS kit, it is a natural/charcoal burst finish. Though I have my love hate with them, they are truly a great sounding set of drums.
Same exact sizes with snare I bought new back in around 06-07 ish - still have sticker on 14 rack that says “all birch shells”.
Yes I would say focused and while higher to medium tuning is where I think it is more suitable. With the 22 kick it sounds really big. I use coated EC2S.
 
Last edited:
Those who dismiss PDP drums out of hand are missing some of the coolest-sounding drums on the market - and at embarrassing-low prices.

I'm very partial to the original Pacific Mexico drums, but even the Asian drums are killer, with great quality control, dependable fixtures, and beautiful finishes.

GeeDeeEmm
 
gdmoore28 said:
Those who dismiss PDP drums out of hand are missing some of the coolest-sounding drums on the market - and at embarrassing-low prices.
Click to expand...
I agree completely with the quality. This would be a good "second" kit to keep at a rehearsal location or for a young 'un first starting out gigging. I personally like the PDP MX/CX maple kits over the FS birch, but that's the music I like to play. This set is great with higher energy music!

And unfortunately I agree with you about "embarrassing low prices." Over the holidays in Little Rock, a lot of people dumped garbage sets on Craigslist and FB Marketplace, driving the local values into the toilet. Sets left in the attic through a decade of Arkansas summers: wraps cracked, shells out of round, rusted stands. I've got the set listed locally, and all I'm getting are low-ball offers... REALLY low-ball. The buyers don't care about quality, just "Well I found a Swingstar for $100, it just needs new heads. Are you willing to come down?"
 
Warrenwood said:
I agree completely with the quality. This would be a good "second" kit to keep at a rehearsal location or for a young 'un first starting out gigging. I personally like the PDP MX/CX maple kits over the FS birch, but that's the music I like to play. This set is great with higher energy music!

And unfortunately I agree with you about "embarrassing low prices." Over the holidays in Little Rock, a lot of people dumped garbage sets on Craigslist and FB Marketplace, driving the local values into the toilet. Sets left in the attic through a decade of Arkansas summers: wraps cracked, shells out of round, rusted stands. I've got the set listed locally, and all I'm getting are low-ball offers... REALLY low-ball. The buyers don't care about quality, just "Well I found a Swingstar for $100, it just needs new heads. Are you willing to come down?"
Click to expand...
Didn't know you are in the LR area. I'm just south of there.
 
gdmoore28 said:
Didn't know you are in the LR area. I'm just south of there.
Click to expand...
We're actually on a couple of Facebook forums together :). I have some Sabian AA cymbals for sale, plus the PDP FS kit in the Arkansas Drummers area.
 
Newdrummeruser said:
Why does the pdp fs series go for little money?
Click to expand...

Well, almost all used drums lose most of their value. Beginner and intermediate level stuff takes the hardest hit because they were only $500-600 when brand new, so it's unlikely anyone will pay even $400 for a used beginner kit when they can get a new one for just a little bit more.

The FS series in particular isn't as well known, and was the cheaper, more basic option at the time they were offered. They had limited sizes, limited finishes, and they weren't offered for a particularly long time I don't think. The CX and LX maple kits were the "star" of PDP's lineup originally, and even back then I don't think they really were appreciated either. Even now, 15-20 years after the fact, the Mexico-made maple CX/LX drums are getting a little more respect, but they're still something of a hidden gem.
 
The CX and LX kits are definitely good kits that hold their own. It's one of the first kits I will steer students towards when they're wanting to buy a set, because they are extremely cheap for what they are.

I recently picked up an FS kit, and I gotta say that I like it as well. It was even cheaper. I'm going to hold onto it until I can snag another CX/LX/MX to compare it to.

Totally undervalued kits, IMHO.
 
caddywumpus said:
Totally undervalued kits, IMHO.
Click to expand...

I agree. I think the entire Pacific line suffered a bit for being a pioneer. When those original CX kits rolled out in 2000 no one was offering anywhere near the number of pro features for a beginner price. Maple shells, suspension mounts, and double bass drum pedals as standard equipment were unheard of on anything less than pro-level lines, and they had a few DW-only things like the bass drum muffle pillow and the True-Pitch tension rods that carried the DW spirit if not the actual DW name.

But I think a lot of drummers might have been put off by the horror that DW was going to hurt the DW reputation trying to make a low-cost kit. The black/white/blue diamond pearl finish options were probably also a little off-putting to some because the whole retro-wrap-renaissance hadn't quite gone mainstream yet.

It's another case of DW raising the bar and everyone else rushing to follow. What was unheard of 20 years ago has become the new standard today. I'm sure some people wonder what the big deal is with those original Mexican-made drums because seen through today's eyes they probably don't seem particularly special, and some of their features (like the dreaded "hanging floor tom") date them unfavorably, but they are absolutely good drums.

And to bring this all full circle I bought a black diamond CX kit back in 2001. They were good, and after I had Precision Drum fix the really sloppy bearing edges they were really good. The difficulty getting add-on drums eventually put me off, and when I sold them I had to pretty much give them away.
 
I had and gigged an FS kit for a while...It was a very good sounding birch kit..I got rid of it because I'm more of a maple guy but the straw that broke the camel's back was the cymbal stand mounted floor tom. It sounded great but bounced so much it drove me crazy.
 
If you're wondering what to do with it...FWIW, I got a lot more for my drums...in forms other than money...by giving them away instead of selling them.

And the feeling of making a kids day isn't bad either.
 
I have an even "lesser" PDP kit, and I'm pleased with it. It's my first "real" kit, and has good heads and I've spent some time spent tuning and setting it up.
I watch lots of YT vids, and mine compare favorably in tone imo to drums in those. I'm not saying it's the same, or sounds the same, as a high-dollar Yamaha or even DW kit, but, they sound good enough to encourage me to continue learning and playing.
Also, agreed with the above re: donating to a starting player.

When I "upgrade" some day, I'll likely have an upstream PDP kit or DW kit on my list to try.
The FS kits look pretty good to me.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
I agree. I think the entire Pacific line suffered a bit for being a pioneer. When those original CX kits rolled out in 2000 no one was offering anywhere near the number of pro features for a beginner price.
Click to expand...

I was very skeptical when they first came out. There were already a few other cheap "maple" kits out there that were made from the softer Asian maple. I even steered one of my friends away from buying one, saying as such, because there's no way they could possibly offer an actual hard maple kit at those prices. I was wrong.
 
The made in Mexico shelled PDPs were pretty nice, but there were a run of them with serious bearing edge issues. I was one of the lucky ones who got a set with the new guy at the router. Absolutely nothing would tune, or stay in tune. After I had them reworked, much of that changed. They were much closer to their DW cousins in tone.
 
AzHeat said:
The made in Mexico shelled PDPs were pretty nice, but there were a run of them with serious bearing edge issues. I was one of the lucky ones who got a set with the new guy at the router. Absolutely nothing would tune, or stay in tune. After I had them reworked, much of that changed. They were much closer to their DW cousins in tone.
Click to expand...

My kit looked like whoever was cutting edges had a sneezing fit. The 10" was fine but the 12" and 14" had some noticeable detours. I had Precision cut a full round on top and a sharp double 45* on the bottom. Perfect edges allowed those drums to tune up easily and they had a really nice, if rather direct, sound. Even with the rounded edges they always had a peculiar "bang" to the tone that I never really fell in love with.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
My kit looked like whoever was cutting edges had a sneezing fit. The 10" was fine but the 12" and 14" had some noticeable detours. I had Precision cut a full round on top and a sharp double 45* on the bottom. Perfect edges allowed those drums to tune up easily and they had a really nice, if rather direct, sound. Even with the rounded edges they always had a peculiar "bang" to the tone that I never really fell in love with.
Click to expand...
I'me posted this in other threads. I bought the PDPs after reading how DW like they were. Well....sorta! At the time there were no DW Performance series, so after I reworked the edges, I got no where near the Collectors series. later PDP Platinums were introduced, which to me looked like a million bucks. Then suddenly discontinued for the DW Performance. The PDPs from Mexico were much more in line with the Performance series than Collectors. Not a bad thing. Some much prefer the Performance to the Collectors series.

When I was ready to go in on a new set, the DW Performance was high on my list. I happened to come across a used set with my exact head and size combo. I spent over two hours tuning them and playing them at GC, convinced I was going to move on them, if they cut me a deal. They were asking $2k for a used 5-pc, which was insane. After the 2-hours I was convinced I was getting zero difference in sound and the store manager wasn't budging from the price. Either the PDPs were that good, or the Performance series nothing to write home about. Either way, they just didn't speak to me. At that point I already had the PDP 10 years and still liked my previous Premier XPKs more. At that point I decided to go a different direction.

This isn't to derail this thread or downplay the PDPs at all. Far from it. If I were looking for a second kit to take out all the time, I'd look at them again, especially the Platinums. Personally, the Platinums were the cream of the crop and John Good must have realized that. It's likely why he killed them for the DW Performance series.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top