paradiddlesjosh's Reviews

Best kit I've ever owned! Those rack tom arms, though.

I've gigged with the smaller 5-piece version (20" x 17" bass drum, 10" x 7", 12" x 8" rack toms, 14" x 13" floor tom, 14" x 5-1/2" snare) in natural wood with an added 16" x 14" floor tom for a two-up/two-down configuration. The 20" kick sacrifices very little low-end punch for the height clearance I need to put my rack toms where I want them -- I'm only 5'7" and I've struggled for years with 22" kicks. Throw your favorite heads on them, tune 'em up, and play your heart out; these drums are fantastic on stage and in the studio.

My only gripe (and this is more Yamaha kits in general, less so this specific kit) is Yamaha's rack tom mount design. The short hex-shaped arms impose constraints on positioning, especially if you're mounting the rack toms from the kick. I worked around this problem by mounting them on a rack, offset from the kick, but ymmv.