What I Like About DW

Rattlin' Bones

Gold Member
The heads you get with a new DW drum kit. Lots/ most of other brands you get cheap inferior heads and you gotta count on spending $50 a drum to replace with serviceable heads. Not DW. You get excellent quality heads. You even get pillow devices inside the kick drum you can use if you want to muffle it.
 
The heads you get with a new DW drum kit. Lots/ most of other brands you get cheap inferior heads and you gotta count on spending $50 a drum to replace with serviceable heads. Not DW. You get excellent quality heads. You even get pillow devices inside the kick drum you can use if you want to muffle it.
Really? I hate those heads and still budget for what I like with any DW kit. The new pillows aren’t that great either. I still like the hourglass pillows because I get consistent pressure against both heads. It would be cool if DW does what Pearl does: emperors on top and ambassadors on bottoms and a PS3 on the kick.
 
These are really good heads on my new DW Performance kit - way above what I've had on stock heads from other brands.
Really? I hate those heads and still budget for what I like with any DW kit. The new pillows aren’t that great either. I still like the hourglass pillows because I get consistent pressure against both heads. It would be cool if DW does what Pearl does: emperors on top and ambassadors on bottoms and a PS3 on the kick.

What Pearl you have to buy to get those heads? Gotta be a very top-end kit?
 
These are really good heads on my new DW Performance kit - way above what I've had on stock heads from other brands.View attachment 104858View attachment 104859View attachment 104860
If you like those DW coated/clear heads, then more power to you. But I can't stand them! Every crappy sounding DW kit I've ever played had those heads on them, which to me makes the drums sound very boxy and thuddy. Yet I've also played some great sounding DWs that had coated Emperors or Ambassadors, or even Smooth Whites. So I think it's gotta be those heads.

BTW, most kits in the $1500 range will have good heads at least on the batter side, while most kits in the $2000+ range will have good heads top and bottom.
 
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These are really good heads on my new DW Performance kit - way above what I've had on stock heads from other brands.


What Pearl you have to buy to get those heads? Gotta be a very top-end kit?
Well, I’m not saying they’re not good, but I think regular
Ambassadors would be better.

the Pearl kits that come with good heads are the Reference and above. Which is all I’ve ever really played.
 
Well, I’m not saying they’re not good, but I think regular
Ambassadors would be better.

the Pearl kits that come with good heads are the Reference and above. Which is all I’ve ever really played.
Really? I hate those heads and still budget for what I like with any DW kit. The new pillows aren’t that great either. I still like the hourglass pillows because I get consistent pressure against both heads. It would be cool if DW does what Pearl does: emperors on top and ambassadors on bottoms and a PS3 on the kick.
Bo - I thought you were a Pearl endorser. What new DW kits have you bought and thus had to change heads?
 
Bo - I thought you were a Pearl endorser. What new DW kits have you bought and thus had to change heads?
I’ve bought Collectors and Design kits over the last 20 years and although the Collectors heads work out of the box, it’s not a preferred sound I like. So those get changed. The Design drums come with a Remo UT equivalent which also works, but not a sound I like. Sometimes I think if DW is gonna charge you so much for a new custom Collectors kit, they might as well take a head order too and give you what you want. Beginners don’t buy those drums so you should know what you want.
 
I’ve bought Collectors and Design kits over the last 20 years and although the Collectors heads work out of the box, it’s not a preferred sound I like. So those get changed. The Design drums come with a Remo UT equivalent which also works, but not a sound I like. Sometimes I think if DW is gonna charge you so much for a new custom Collectors kit, they might as well take a head order too and give you what you want. Beginners don’t buy those drums so you should know what you want.
My new kit is Performance.
 
My new kit is Performance.
How do you like the drums? I bought a performance set last year and I love em. They tune up easy, sound and feel great and really hold their tuning. I really like the true pitch tuning rods...they make fine tuning easy and increase the sweet spots at various tunings.
I was pleasantly surprised by the stock heads. I really liked the sound on the rack toms but the heads were a little too attack heavy on the floors. I also play like an ape with barrel tip sticks, so it didn’t take long for me to damage them. Btw, DW has a line of heads where the clear and coated areas are reversed. Clear at the edges and coated on top. I may try those at some point. For now, I’m using Evans UV1s and love them on this set.
 
How do you like the drums? I bought a performance set last year and I love em. They tune up easy, sound and feel great and really hold their tuning. I really like the true pitch tuning rods...they make fine tuning easy and increase the sweet spots at various tunings.
I was pleasantly surprised by the stock heads. I really liked the sound on the rack toms but the heads were a little too attack heavy on the floors. I also play like an ape with barrel tip sticks, so it didn’t take long for me to damage them. Btw, DW has a line of heads where the clear and coated areas are reversed. Clear at the edges and coated on top. I may try those at some point. For now, I’m using Evans UV1s and love them on this set.
I just set up my new Performance yesterday, so no long-term evaluation. I did find them easier to tune up than most any other kit I've had. There is a very positive difference with Tru Pitch rods, too. And the wrap (well they call it a finish ply it is so thick) looks great. I got Pewter finish. It's very dark gray (really more black) with sparkles. The sparkles are not exactly silver. They have color to them. It looks like an old school finish.

From one day of experience, my favorite sounding drum so far is kick. The batter head it came with is somewhat like a PS3. And the reso has smallish holes around perimeter. I didn't use the pillows that come standard. They're a very nice feature, if needed for certain sound, but too muffled for me.

I am the opposite of you, Incrementaig. I use thin maple sticks and play rather quietly. I don't often go to the floor tom. I was able to tune both toms to nice musical notes. I don't understand other people's comments on the drums being thuddy or boxy. Mine with stock heads are, if anything, the opposite. Musical with ring and sustain. I have tuned on high side of medium. Comments like they sound better with Ambassador batter heads don't make sense; you'd use Ambassadors to dry up the sound. If a drum is boxy/ thuddy with stock heads, Ambassadors will make them sound like you're playing on a piece of cardboard.
 
I just set up my new Performance yesterday, so no long-term evaluation. I did find them easier to tune up than most any other kit I've had. There is a very positive difference with Tru Pitch rods, too. And the wrap (well they call it a finish ply it is so thick) looks great. I got Pewter finish. It's very dark gray (really more black) with sparkles. The sparkles are not exactly silver. They have color to them. It looks like an old school finish.

From one day of experience, my favorite sounding drum so far is kick. The batter head it came with is somewhat like a PS3. And the reso has smallish holes around perimeter. I didn't use the pillows that come standard. They're a very nice feature, if needed for certain sound, but too muffled for me.

I am the opposite of you, Incrementaig. I use thin maple sticks and play rather quietly. I don't often go to the floor tom. I was able to tune both toms to nice musical notes. I don't understand other people's comments on the drums being thuddy or boxy. Mine with stock heads are, if anything, the opposite. Musical with ring and sustain. I have tuned on high side of medium. Comments like they sound better with Ambassador batter heads don't make sense; you'd use Ambassadors to dry up the sound. If a drum is boxy/ thuddy with stock heads, Ambassadors will make them sound like you're playing on a piece of cardboard.
I also prefer medium to a little higher and found the heads really allow the drums to sing at any volume. DWs out of the box tuning is low for my taste and I think they sounded flabby/tubby. But, I tuned em up to my liking in just a few minutes and the tubby-ness went away.

I dig the pewter sparkle finish. What sizes did you get?
 
I also prefer medium to a little higher and found the heads really allow the drums to sing at any volume. DWs out of the box tuning is low for my taste and I think they sounded flabby/tubby. But, I tuned em up to my liking in just a few minutes and the tubby-ness went away.

I dig the pewter sparkle finish. What sizes did you get?
I got a "Bop" size kit. 18x14 kick, 12x9 rack, 14x14 floor. Even though kick is a virgin and undrilled no mount, the rack still came with mounting. That will be coming off. I got them from The Drum Shop in Portland, Maine. They had to special order the kick. When I ordered back in January it was a real buyer's market you could almost name your own price. They gave me a very excellent discounted price. And they were very helpful and accommodating.IMG_8340.JPG
 
I got a "Bop" size kit. 18x14 kick, 12x9 rack, 14x14 floor. Even though kick is a virgin and undrilled no mount, the rack still came with mounting. That will be coming off. I got them from The Drum Shop in Portland, Maine. They had to special order the kick. When I ordered back in January it was a real buyer's market you could almost name your own price. They gave me a very excellent discounted price. And they were very helpful and accommodating.View attachment 104884
I got mine from the guys in Portland as well. Chris, the owner, was really helpful with my questions and put together a good package deal for me. Due to the Covid lockdown at the time, there was no in store shopping, so Chris shipped me a Performance tom in the Black Mirra finish I was interested in with no obligation to buy anything. It was super helpful to compare the tom with my existing drums. I played it for a couple of days, then purchased a set. My goal was to have a sort of shell bank, so I could change out the toms as wanted. Even though the finish was discontinued a year or two prior, Chris offered to order the add on toms from DW and we struck a good deal on the package. They shipped the drums they had and it took about 14-15 weeks for DW to make the add ons. (I thought that was pretty fast turnaround considering this was April 2020 when everything was shut down).

Great service all around.
 
But what will you do with the drums themselves?
 
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