Premier Royale

[evans_69]

Anyone got any info on these kits, what range are they and are they any good ? How much would one be worth now.

 

[bigiainw]

Premier Royale were the late '70's early 80's predecessor to the APK. They were entry level drums at the time- I have a set of toms from a Royale kit that my daughter has set up with the 16" floor as a bass drum. They sound great, made in the UK and they seem to be mahogany. Easy to tune and with a good solid fundamental note with twin ply heads and single ply resos. Most if not all were wrapped, and had relatively thin shells with no re-rings, which were a feature on the higher priced ranges at the time.

As for price, I'm not sure where you are but any more than £200 or $300 would be expecting too much (for a full kit/shell pack depending on condition). I picked our 3 toms up for about £20 plus postage each as orphans. They were not expensive drums to start with.

 

[steverok]

Not sure exactly what I own. The badges say Royale, but the front bass drum head says APK. Back in 1986, I paid $695 for a 5-piece, including a metal snare, plus hardware. That was some righteous bucks back then. They are pretty good drums, and the hardware has all held up, but it seems like your dollar goes alot farther these days.

 

[someguy01]

I wish to revive this thread as there is set of Premiers near me that is listed as a Royale yet does not match the description here.
They are unwrapped, thin shells with reinforcement rings. 12/13/16/22 says 70s era and has an Olympic badged metal snare with the kit.
Any ideas?
I'll take some pics when I'm there next.

 

[Al Strange]

I think the Royale was launched in 1982 and renamed APK in 1985?

Olympic by Premier, drums from the seventies — Not So Modern Drummer

This month I’m looking at Olympic drums from the 1970 s. Marketed by Premier as ‘ professional drums at inexpensive prices ’ they were always viewed as cheap. Recently, Olympic drums have made resurgence and kits in good condition are steadily rising in price.

www.notsomoderndrummer.com

 

[Woolwich]

As far as I remember the Royale was as described further up the thread, a low range, wrapped kit without reinforcement rings. I had one as my first kit.
A few years later it changed to the Royale Advanced Power Kit with power depth toms. shortly thereafter it was replaced by the APK which had single lugs as opposed to doubles.
Either way they hold huge nostalgia value for the likes of me but little monetary value.

 

[someguy01]

Thanks for the replies and it tells me that this kit may be mislabeled. It's certainly not an Olympic kit unless someone took a lot of time to change every badge on it and make sure they were in serial order. It's also not a Royale if the original description of a Royale is correct.
Definitely a 70s kit, certainly thin shells with reinforcement rings, I'll have to measure the toms when I see it next and I'll take pics. 98% sure I'm gonna buy the kit because the price is right, just want to verify what I'm getting.
I can say the toms sound great just from the finger taps I gave them.

 

[Woolwich]

Whatever it is, if it's thin shelled with re rings then you can't go wrong as it will have been a mid/top range kit in its' day

 

[Al Strange]

Yeah, go for it!!

 

[steverok]

Mine are from 1986, no re-rings, and painted black on the inside. I believe the mahogany description is probably accurate, because they definitely have a beefy sound with a very warm bottom end. They still sound great to me … definitely a very good beater kit.