The UPS man pulled up in his sleigh yesterday evening. I've been lurking around here long enough to know -- eye candy first... (I had a 16" coated Ambassador laying around so I went ahead and threw it on that floor tom... still waiting on some more coated ambs to be delivered for the rest of the toms)
And now specs...
Sonor Force 3007 Maple
17.5 x 20
16 x 16
14 x 14
9 x 12
8 x 10
And, in case you were wondering...
6.5 x 14 Pork Pie Big Black Bob
13" Zildjian K/Z hi hats
15" Zildjian K dark crash thin
20" Zildjian K Custom medium ride
First off I want to thank Drummerworld for being such an informative place. This forum was an enormous help in helping me get educated on the marketplace. I must have read every "what new kit should I get" thread back to 2008... this wood vs that wood, made here vs made there, wrap vs lacquer, triple flange vs die cast, 18" vs 20" vs 22" vs 24" vs... well, you know.
I'd been in the market for a new kit for well over a year after growing tired of my power tom Exports that I'd had since high school. I settled on these Sonors after months of research and testing kits at music stores. Basically I knew that I wanted shallower toms and a 20" kick for both sonic and ergonomic reasons (I'm a short guy), and I didn't want to stay with Pearl. My budget was around $1000. I was looking at Silverstars, Saturns, Meridians, Renowns, etc. But I also wanted 4 toms so I could bring different setups to different occasions (2up/1dn, 1up/2dn, 1up/1dn big, 1up/1dn small, etc). Nobody offers a 4-tom shell pack with a 20" kick from the factory, so I was looking at an add-on component tom for a pretty penny in addition to the cost of the kit. But then, lo and behold, Dale's Drum Shop has their "shell bank" of the 3007 series and they let you pick exactly which drums you want and they sell them to you at a great discount.
Dale's was great to work with, though I was probably a pretty easy customer... I basically called them up and said I want to order a kit, here's what I want, how much will that be? I was pleasantly surprised. I think the street price for these kits back when they were still in production was somewhere around $1200 or more, I guess sort of like the Select Force is now. Dale's got them to me for under $750 shipped! This was great for my budget, and the guy I talked to was knowledgeable, efficient, and really nice.
I tried my best to heed the wisdom of "try before you buy," and I played dozens of kits in several different stores over the past months. But not a Sonor. However, I knew I wanted maple, Dale's had a fantastic price on the sizes I wanted, and all the reviews of the 3007s and of Sonor in general were absolutely glowing, so I took the chance. I've jammed around on them a little this afternoon and so far I'm really pleased. With a hasty tuning on the stock heads they definitely sound better than my old drums, but I know there's more potential in there with better heads. To that end I have an EMAD and some coated Ambassadors on the way. The Chinese UT's are all attack and seem to choke out at forte and above. Then again I have hardwood floors and plaster walls so I'm sure the room is adversely influencing the sound. Thinking back I wonder if I should have gone with double ply on the toms. Oh well. I've got plenty time to figure it all out. The kick reso head is unported, which will take some getting used to. Being accustomed to ported kicks, pedal rebound feels really weird. Also there's more tone and sustain than I typically want out of a kick, but I think I'll give it a fighting chance to grow on me before I decide to port it.
They were packed very securely and intelligently. It came in 3 boxes. 16 FT was in one, another contained the 14 FT nested inside the kick, and the third contained the 10 and 12, both in their own individual boxes. The hardware was interspersed throughout gaps in the boxes. The rack toms were already assembled but the kick and floor toms were not. This gave me a chance to check out the bearing edges on those drums up close -- perfectly flat and no imperfections, though there was a little roughness on the kick's edges that could probably use a little attention from some fine grit sandpaper just to smooth things out. I let the rack toms have benefit of the doubt since they were already put together, but looking through the clear Remo UT heads that came on them did not reveal any obvious issues.
Sonor says that the 3007s come with 2.3mm hoops, but these feel more like 1.6mm... but who knows. I don't have my old ones to compare. Oh well. Not really a big deal to me, and hoops are relatively inexpensive to swap if I ever feel like I need to.
The finish is Smooth Brown Burst. The quality seems to be really high, but if I'm honest I wish the shade were just a LITTLE lighter. Under normal room lights they almost look black. The sun peeked in from the window for a bit this afternoon and shone on the rack toms, and really brought out the brown, and man was it gorgeous. I guess stage lights could have a similar effect. Let's hope so. I'm not really heartbroken over the finish though. I still really like the way they look -- super classy. I still prefer this to my other options, which were the red burst, an amber fade, and a natural gloss.
When I was shopping around and figuring out my ideal "money is not an object" setup, it involved having a small auxiliary kick for quieter venues / acoustic work. I thought I had to abandon that idea, but it looks like I don't have to after all. I was very excited to discover that the 3007's kick drum spurs are the same diameter as the floor tom legs. Sonor's kick spurs are a little abnormal in that they attach to the drum like floor tom legs, as opposed to being permanently bolted to the shell with a swiveling mechanism like most other manufacturers'. This means that making a "jungle" bass drum out of my 16" floor tom will be as easy as swapping the FT legs for the spurs from the kick, maybe swapping heads, and then putting on a riser, of course. Trick makes a kick riser that attaches to triple flanged hoops, so no huge need to invest in wood hoops and another set of claws/long tension rods. Also Aquarian makes a 16" version of their Superkick II, which is exciting -- I really like that head, and you can't get an EMAD smaller than 18. I'm really stoked about all this, since I can rehash this kit into a 10/14/16 in under an hour for those times when a 20 would be too much.
Didn't mean for this post to turn into a novel. I guess I should thank you if you read the whole thing. I haven't had a brand new kit in over 10 years so I guess I'm a little excited.
And now specs...
Sonor Force 3007 Maple
17.5 x 20
16 x 16
14 x 14
9 x 12
8 x 10
And, in case you were wondering...
6.5 x 14 Pork Pie Big Black Bob
13" Zildjian K/Z hi hats
15" Zildjian K dark crash thin
20" Zildjian K Custom medium ride
First off I want to thank Drummerworld for being such an informative place. This forum was an enormous help in helping me get educated on the marketplace. I must have read every "what new kit should I get" thread back to 2008... this wood vs that wood, made here vs made there, wrap vs lacquer, triple flange vs die cast, 18" vs 20" vs 22" vs 24" vs... well, you know.
I'd been in the market for a new kit for well over a year after growing tired of my power tom Exports that I'd had since high school. I settled on these Sonors after months of research and testing kits at music stores. Basically I knew that I wanted shallower toms and a 20" kick for both sonic and ergonomic reasons (I'm a short guy), and I didn't want to stay with Pearl. My budget was around $1000. I was looking at Silverstars, Saturns, Meridians, Renowns, etc. But I also wanted 4 toms so I could bring different setups to different occasions (2up/1dn, 1up/2dn, 1up/1dn big, 1up/1dn small, etc). Nobody offers a 4-tom shell pack with a 20" kick from the factory, so I was looking at an add-on component tom for a pretty penny in addition to the cost of the kit. But then, lo and behold, Dale's Drum Shop has their "shell bank" of the 3007 series and they let you pick exactly which drums you want and they sell them to you at a great discount.
Dale's was great to work with, though I was probably a pretty easy customer... I basically called them up and said I want to order a kit, here's what I want, how much will that be? I was pleasantly surprised. I think the street price for these kits back when they were still in production was somewhere around $1200 or more, I guess sort of like the Select Force is now. Dale's got them to me for under $750 shipped! This was great for my budget, and the guy I talked to was knowledgeable, efficient, and really nice.
I tried my best to heed the wisdom of "try before you buy," and I played dozens of kits in several different stores over the past months. But not a Sonor. However, I knew I wanted maple, Dale's had a fantastic price on the sizes I wanted, and all the reviews of the 3007s and of Sonor in general were absolutely glowing, so I took the chance. I've jammed around on them a little this afternoon and so far I'm really pleased. With a hasty tuning on the stock heads they definitely sound better than my old drums, but I know there's more potential in there with better heads. To that end I have an EMAD and some coated Ambassadors on the way. The Chinese UT's are all attack and seem to choke out at forte and above. Then again I have hardwood floors and plaster walls so I'm sure the room is adversely influencing the sound. Thinking back I wonder if I should have gone with double ply on the toms. Oh well. I've got plenty time to figure it all out. The kick reso head is unported, which will take some getting used to. Being accustomed to ported kicks, pedal rebound feels really weird. Also there's more tone and sustain than I typically want out of a kick, but I think I'll give it a fighting chance to grow on me before I decide to port it.
They were packed very securely and intelligently. It came in 3 boxes. 16 FT was in one, another contained the 14 FT nested inside the kick, and the third contained the 10 and 12, both in their own individual boxes. The hardware was interspersed throughout gaps in the boxes. The rack toms were already assembled but the kick and floor toms were not. This gave me a chance to check out the bearing edges on those drums up close -- perfectly flat and no imperfections, though there was a little roughness on the kick's edges that could probably use a little attention from some fine grit sandpaper just to smooth things out. I let the rack toms have benefit of the doubt since they were already put together, but looking through the clear Remo UT heads that came on them did not reveal any obvious issues.
Sonor says that the 3007s come with 2.3mm hoops, but these feel more like 1.6mm... but who knows. I don't have my old ones to compare. Oh well. Not really a big deal to me, and hoops are relatively inexpensive to swap if I ever feel like I need to.
The finish is Smooth Brown Burst. The quality seems to be really high, but if I'm honest I wish the shade were just a LITTLE lighter. Under normal room lights they almost look black. The sun peeked in from the window for a bit this afternoon and shone on the rack toms, and really brought out the brown, and man was it gorgeous. I guess stage lights could have a similar effect. Let's hope so. I'm not really heartbroken over the finish though. I still really like the way they look -- super classy. I still prefer this to my other options, which were the red burst, an amber fade, and a natural gloss.
When I was shopping around and figuring out my ideal "money is not an object" setup, it involved having a small auxiliary kick for quieter venues / acoustic work. I thought I had to abandon that idea, but it looks like I don't have to after all. I was very excited to discover that the 3007's kick drum spurs are the same diameter as the floor tom legs. Sonor's kick spurs are a little abnormal in that they attach to the drum like floor tom legs, as opposed to being permanently bolted to the shell with a swiveling mechanism like most other manufacturers'. This means that making a "jungle" bass drum out of my 16" floor tom will be as easy as swapping the FT legs for the spurs from the kick, maybe swapping heads, and then putting on a riser, of course. Trick makes a kick riser that attaches to triple flanged hoops, so no huge need to invest in wood hoops and another set of claws/long tension rods. Also Aquarian makes a 16" version of their Superkick II, which is exciting -- I really like that head, and you can't get an EMAD smaller than 18. I'm really stoked about all this, since I can rehash this kit into a 10/14/16 in under an hour for those times when a 20 would be too much.
Didn't mean for this post to turn into a novel. I guess I should thank you if you read the whole thing. I haven't had a brand new kit in over 10 years so I guess I'm a little excited.
