What is the most high profile drum make?

synergy

Senior Member
This question/ thought has come about since I was talking to a fellow co-worker yesterday while we were in a corporate training meeting.

Turns out his brother is a Pearl endorsee-

So I checked out the Pearl website and checked out the guys page etc and then I started to look around at the other endorsees.

Some very impressive musicians/ bands represented by Pearl.

This got me thinking about other companies- so I went on Yamaha and Gretsch and checked out their artists.


So it got into my head- as all this endorsement is basically to get us... Joe Public to buy their brand. What do we think is the most prominent endorsed brand- but also more importantly what brand has the most influential artists??

I found it tough to call- Pearl's site is nice because it shows the artist listed with their bands etc- the other 2 you have to go into the artists name to get that info.

I didnt do any math but it appeared to me that Yamaha has more featured artists- but do you feel another company is king in this area?
 
Depends on your perspective.

Back when MTV still played music all day (the 80's) a vast majority of the videos featured players on either Pearl or Tama sets, with a few Yamaha sprinkled in. But in the magazines, Yamaha had the studio and fusion guys like Gadd, Weckl, Vinnie, and such, so Yamaha sold at lot of high end kits despite their less profile on MTV.

In the 90's, DW came on strong. Many grunge bands used DW, and many players switch to DW from where ever they were.

And while DW still has a big roster of high profile players, Pearl and Tama still mine the younger rock bands and sign up lots of names, and it wouldn't surprise me if they still have the most overall endorsers. And while Yamaha may have lost Vinnie and Erskine, they still have the reputation of what many serious studio/fusion/skill players use.

Highest profile is most likely DW, simply because they have Peart, Bozzio, Lang, and other highly respected players. But the widest profile is probably Pearl for the sheer number of bands who use Pearl kits on stage. Tama isn't far behind though, as they still have guys like Simon Phillips and Steward Copeland who's been using their products forever, and as well as they still seem to be the most popular name in the metal scene.
 
Perhaps the most high profile drum made is the one that non-drummers know about. Ask drummers and non-drummers to identifiy a drum company and the majority of votes might be Ludwig.

GJS
 
DW seems to have a larger group of endorsees that are 'older' say bands that formed mid 90s to 2000.

Newer bands seem like they're all over the place.

I will say I see more DW endorsements than any other brand.........lucky F'ers........
 
Perhaps the most high profile drum made is the one that non-drummers know about. Ask drummers and non-drummers to identifiy a drum company and the majority of votes might be Ludwig.

GJS

Yeah, I asked a few non-drummer friends. They were familiar with Ludwig and Zildjian. That's pretty much it.
 
I agree that the Ludwig name is more familiar to more people, but DW and Pearl are probably the names that are physically out there more than any others.

Among the vintage drum community, the names are quite different, with Ludwig, Rogers and Gretsch at the top of the heap.

Bermuda
 
Yeah, I asked a few non-drummer friends. They were familiar with Ludwig and Zildjian. That's pretty much it.

It's no coinidence.

The Beatles, are of course the most obvious reason.

However, when Rock Band was a new concept still in the planning, Ludwig and Zildjian were the 1st drum companies to jump on board with advertising support. Millions of non-musicians are exposed to the Ludwig and Zildjian brand names on their rock band video game every day, even if they couldn't pick out a drum kit from a pile of plastic pads.

DW has also been very aggressive in product placement. I notice in TV shows, ads, and such, if there is a need for a generic drum kit (that's not a period piece where they need something vintage) it's almost always a DW.

I have to hand it to Ludwig and Zildjian though, they took a chance on video game I doubt most would have, and it's going to pay them back for years to come as "that brand from the game" that makes real drums/cymbals too.
 
Among the vintage drum community, the names are quite different, with Ludwig, Rogers and Gretsch at the top of the heap.

Yep, they were the big ones about 30-40 years ago. Also Premier.

Roland are supposed to be the biggest seller of drums these days, although I expect most are just used for practice. I'm guessing that Yamaha's respected presence in both the acoustic and e-drum markets would make it a contender.
 
Yep, they were the big ones about 30-40 years ago. Also Premier.

True, I was speaking from a US perspective. I suppose Premier and Sonor would have dominated Europe.

Bermuda
 
True, I was speaking from a US perspective. I suppose Premier and Sonor would have dominated Europe.

I didn't hear much about Sonor in the old days. They seemed to penetrate the Oz market a bit later on. I do know that when they first hit the market they were immediately respected. On the other hand, when the Japanese drums - Pearl and Tama - started out they were scoffed at as poor copies of Luddies and Rogers, especially Pearl. Then the companies lifted their game and became competitors in the high end range.
 
Many years ago I would have said Ludwig. Ten or twenty years ago I probably would have said Pearl. Nowadays because of their presents in the music field and intense marketing, it would have to be DW in my opinion.

Dennis
 
DW has also been very aggressive in product placement. I notice in TV shows, ads, and such, if there is a need for a generic drum kit (that's not a period piece where they need something vintage) it's almost always a DW.

Anyone ever been to the Experience Music Project in Seattle? It's sometimes tagged the Jimi Hendrix museum. Anyway, I had the opportunity to go there on my trip to Seattle this Summer. There they have an interactive exhibit for people to try out the traditional rock instruments. In all the drum setups all the hardware was DW and all the actual kits there were also DW.

...brilliant. Little Timmy goes to the EMP with his parents, tries drums and decides he wants to learn. He's gonna remember DW drums as a good brand. It's just like what Camel tried to do with my generation with their smokes and Joe Camel.

Although just as a side note, I'd never buy a DW kit. Good drums but those round lugs are just garish. My next kit will be a Ludwig.
 
Before I got into drumming, the brands I knew were Pearl, Yamaha, and Ludwig. For cymbals, I knew Zildjian. For heads, I somehow knew Remo.
 
Seems to me that Ludwig was tops from Ringo thru Bonham (early '60s until 1980).

During the '80s, it had to be Tama early on with Yamaha getting more notice starting around the mid-'80s.

'90s thru present, I'd say DW is the easy winner (even though not my drum of choice).

Pearl will be forever tainted by my negative associations with my first kit (Ruether - a Pearl knock off), and by Peter Criss... :) This despite that my brain knows that they can go up against anyone.

For cymbals, it was always Zildjian for me. Paiste was more an alternative to Zildjian. Then Sabian came along and were very aggressive about getting all the big names and I think they're more or less on top now, even though I still prefer Zildjian, but I have a few Sabians anyway).

Or maybe that's just my perception of it. .
 
I see that pearl is mentioned a lot, but I somehow don't really get to see a lot of pearl advertisement or endorsees. Actually, the only time when I see a pearl kit is when I'm watching a movie with Dennis Chambers...

Is that just because I'm biased about pearl (I've disliked 90% of all the pearl kits I've played) or is the brand in a serious decline?
 
Perhaps the most high profile drum made is the one that non-drummers know about. Ask drummers and non-drummers to identifiy a drum company and the majority of votes might be Ludwig.

GJS

I would agree. Ringo and others put the name out there in the 60's and it will stay in the fore front
 
I would have say DW based on the fact that many non musicians will ask me if I own a DW kit if I mention that I play the drums to them.
Almost everyone seems to know that there is a company called DW makes high end kits.
They often don't know what DW is an acronym for.
They have just seen it on a bass drum head so many times that they are familiar with the logo.
 
I see that pearl is mentioned a lot, but I somehow don't really get to see a lot of pearl advertisement or endorsees. Actually, the only time when I see a pearl kit is when I'm watching a movie with Dennis Chambers...

Is that just because I'm biased about pearl (I've disliked 90% of all the pearl kits I've played) or is the brand in a serious decline?

I wouldnt say that Pearl is in "serious decline" but they are not nearly as popular as they were in the late 80s to mid 90s.
But theyre definately hangin in there.
 
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