Kellar Shells. All the Same?

bradmapex

Senior Member
My friend just got a beautiful TRC drum set, and i played it the other night. This thing had the exact sound i picture when i think of how i want my drums to sound. I looked on there website and noticed that they used kellar shells. So i am wondering if that means i could get that same sound from any other company that uses kellar shells, or does there sound vary from company to company. thanks
b r a d .
 
Most Custom Companies use Kellar Shells, the only difference you will find between each company is how they cut there bearing edges and hardware they use. . .but other than that you or I could jump online and buy the very same shells they use. . .Not Saying its a Bad thing, I happen to own and love my Truth Custom Kit, I feel they went above and beyond what most custom companies could of done for me. . .but other than that its all personal prefrence. . .
 
It has been speculated the the Gretsch USA Customs use Keller shells.
And according to the email I got from Gretsch, they are made for them
with a special recipe or mixture of products. Whether other companies have their own proprietary mix is not known.
 
My friend just got a beautiful TRC drum set, and i played it the other night. This thing had the exact sound i picture when i think of how i want my drums to sound. I looked on there website and noticed that they used kellar shells. So i am wondering if that means i could get that same sound from any other company that uses kellar shells, or does there sound vary from company to company. thanks
b r a d .

Keller makes several different types of shells. Different woods, grain orientations, and custom services. Some custom houses may use completely different configuration than others.

The fact that they're made by the same company doesn't mean that all the custom houses use the same shells.

http://www.kelleratthecore.com/shells.html
 
Kellar is a drum shell supplier....they make drums according to the specifications provided to them from the buyer (i.e., Gretsch, Ludwig, etc..), so yes, the drum shells they make can be quite different (from one another) depending on the buyer's needs/wants.
 
Indeed, Keller is making/has made drum shells for almost every major company in the US. To their specifications. So a shell built for Rogers is not going to sound like a shell built for DW is not going to sound like a shell built for GMS.
 
Indeed, Keller is making/has made drum shells for almost every major company in the US. To their specifications. So a shell built for Rogers is not going to sound like a shell built for DW is not going to sound like a shell built for GMS.

As far as I know, they ARE all the same, and the only variations have been the gum/maple exclusive for Gretsch, the vintage mahogany whatever shell that anyone can purchase, and the vintage poplar maple that anyone can purchase. (Of course there are the specialty cherry, etc.... vert. grain that not many use)

DW was using the standard stuff from them, as I have seen no proof of anything other. GMS uses the standard 8 ply then does whatever edge they do. N&C never used anything "special" from Keller, other than a 7 ply for larger toms that you can actually get yourself from Keller, and then the older horizon series and one other with mahogany, which were from a long time ago.
 
As far as I know, they ARE all the same, and the only variations.....

How exactly can you have "variations" and yet they are "all the same"? Keller has been in shell making business for almost 50 years. Their first big order was Rogers. For thousands of shells. That's what launched their drum shell making venture. Years and info. is "sketchy" on this, but a "almost 50 year anniversary" that Keller claims would lead me to believe they started making Rogers shells in the early 60's. That would be the 5 ply shell with reinforcement rings.​
Stadium shells became the rage in the mid/late 70's. Ludwig introduced the 6 ply in 1976, Rogers, the XP-8 shell in 1978 (also made by Keller). Now, I seriously doubt the currently produced Keller shells are "the same as 60's and 70's vintage Rogers shells.
Skip another decade forward comes GMS. A few years ago, they celebrated their 20th Ann., so I'll ballpark their start-up at 1987. They pretty much kicked off all the "boutique" builders. Spaun, Truth, OCDP... and a half-a-hundred others.​
So I'll stick to my original statement, that "a shell built for Rogers is not going to sound like a shell built for DW is not going to sound like a shell built for GMS."​
 
So I'll stick to my original statement, that "a shell built for Rogers is not going to sound like a shell built for DW is not going to sound like a shell built for GMS."​

Can we get a slight bit more modern here? For arguments sake, let's stick to the shells for fairly recent drum mfg's. Pick them out one by one. There is nothing special going on with ANY drum mfg., on a continual basis, from what I have seen for the last 20 years.

When I brought up "variations", I am talking about the slightly more "exclusive" styles Keller puts out that are not as common, however available to the public..
 
I agree with HC, I have a Spaun maple kit. Spaun use Keller to make their shells. They're made to Spaun's specification; 8 ply 5.5mm thick with no re rings. That's a thinner shell than most use and equally unusual to have such a thin shell without re rings, especially in the larger sizes (including kick drums). I can only speak from my limited experience but I can assure you that my kit sounds utterly different to any early DW I've tried (and I've tried a lot) and I've yet to find another drum maker using 5.5mm (1/4") shells without re rings for kick drums. The evidence strongly suggests to me that Keller build to their clients specifications although I'm sure they also carry off the shelf standard configurations.
 
Can we get a slight bit more modern here? For arguments sake, let's stick to the shells for fairly recent drum mfg's. Pick them out one by one. There is nothing special going on with ANY drum mfg., on a continual basis, from what I have seen for the last 20 years.

When I brought up "variations", I am talking about the slightly more "exclusive" styles Keller puts out that are not as common, however available to the public..
What about Spaun's "edgevent" double skin shells, I would think, built in collaboration with Keller. I know it's a basic principal borrowed from Premier in the early 80's but the execution is very different (& quite superb). I'm not aware of any other company doing that stuff. The only fact I'm not completely sure of in that equation is wether Keller are the shell making partner.
 
What about Spaun's "edgevent" double skin shells, I would think, built in collaboration with Keller. I know it's a basic principal borrowed from Premier in the early 80's but the execution is very different (& quite superb). I'm not aware of any other company doing that stuff. The only fact I'm not completely sure of in that equation is wether Keller are the shell making partner.

That's a snare drum, no? With all the holes in it? I don't know if he's doing that himself or what, but this is more like about regular production kick and tom shells.
 
I can only speak from my limited experience but I can assure you that my kit sounds utterly different to any early DW I've tried (and I've tried a lot) and I've yet to find another drum maker using 5.5mm (1/4") shells without re rings for kick drums. .

DW did'nt use the Keller 8 ply shells without rings. When they used Keller, DW used the super thin with rings.
 
with the smaller boutique builders you're likely to get the stock Kellers, but with the larger, more well known builders you may have more variation, since they have the money to get larger bulk orders. But, that's no guarantee that's what they're doing, since it would certainly be cheaper just to use the common stock shells. Either way, the shells all sound good, so yes, you will get a good sound with any builder that uses Keller shells, as long as their bearing edges are good. Try to do some research on a builder before you throw down some cash.
 
That's a snare drum, no? With all the holes in it? I don't know if he's doing that himself or what, but this is more like about regular production kick and tom shells.
Not just the snare drum, the whole kit. I've not played one as there aren't any in the UK, but a NA friend of mine has. He recons they're shockingly good if you like really warm deep tones with plenty of sub flavour. I daren't try one as I think the wallet may well respond irrationally.http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/.../4-piece-drum-kits/edgevent-kit-198959/review
 
Not just the snare drum, the whole kit. I've not played one as there aren't any in the UK, but a NA friend of mine has. He recons they're shockingly good if you like really warm deep tones with plenty of sub flavour. I daren't try one as I think the wallet may well respond irrationally.http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/.../4-piece-drum-kits/edgevent-kit-198959/review

Yes, I see what you are talking about. I seriously doubt Keller has anything to do with that (although I could be wrong), but that is a REALLY EXTREME example for this thread.
 
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