DRUMMER CAFE

Peace Onxy Chrome Series Drums

 I got my five piece Peace Onxy kit today. Here is my review from having played the kit only here today.


 For starters the kit is comprised of 6-plys of Maple, 4-plys of Mahogany.The Mahogany brings depth and dark body to the rich Maple shells open tonality. This makes for a very nice,crisp drum sound. A sound that honestly rivals that of more known higher end kits. The kit I have has a 10" tom,12" tom 14" tom,22" bass drum, and a 14" wood snare. Also the kit came with  single bass pedal,snare stand,hi-hat stand,and a cymbal stand. As well as the apropriate mouting arms,clamps.

I'll start with the hardware. In terms of construction the hardware is well built. Double braced and very sturdy. All the adjusters for anle have fine points to creat many angles for more or less any position one needs his/her gear to be in. The cymbal stand has two points in which the stand can be raised or lowered. This is a good feature. Many heights can be created and we as drummers need specific heights for certain cymbals. The hi-hat stand is equally as good as the cymbal stand. The tension is just right and it has a good response and feel. My only grief was that the legs do not rotate. But thats a minor grief and bears no issue for the single bass drum player. The hi hat has a fine point tilter as most hats do and it works well. I have seen some that don't I assure you this one does. Also on the bottom there is a spike to make the stand stay in the floor. A small feature but a good one none the less. Also the hi-hat stand has a memory lock.Onto the snare stand. Again great quality. Has good height adjustment,the basket is precise and tight, and again has good angle adjustment. The basket stays in place nicely and all around this is a good snare stand.And last onto the bass drum pedal. One of the main points of playing a good pedal is essencial to the drummer. Some pedals today that are of lesser origins are cheap and useless to be exact ( at least from my experiance ) this however isn't the case with peace. The pedal has two springs ,a thick heavy chain,angle adjustment, and a good rubber / plastic beater. It has a good response and will become a regular of mine for single bass drum gigs. Again the quality is amazing. All in all this is great hardware. I give it all an 8 out of 10.

Now to the drums. The 10" and 12" and snare came tuned with heads. The snare drum I gave a quick head tighten to. This is simply because I like a tight snare head. But the sound out of the box was good and will suit someone's needs. The strainer is great quality and isn't the basic strainer that are on cheaper quality snares. As well as the butt plate...unique to Peace and great quality. This is a snare that again renews my faith in wood snares. It has a good loud sound,but has a good warm body for lighter works. And sutle notes come acorss very well.

The 10" Tom has a nice " pop " to it. No tuning was needed for this guy. The heads are standard heads but can take a few punches to them. No dents have appeared yet which shows me these heads will last a good few weeks before they need to be replaced. Definatly a good sound though. Same with the 12" came tuned and has an out standing sound. And the 10" and 12" and in perfect harmony with themselves as well as the rest of the kit. The 14" tom needed to be assembled. Once the heads were on the drum tuned up quick and quickly matched in pitch with the 12" and 12" toms. Within five minutes the 14" was ready to rock. Now onto the bass drum. The legs again are good quality and when set up the drum didn't move at all in any direction. I cut a 4" hole in the front head as I like a vented sound. All the tention rods are to be tuned with a key which is good for more precise tuning. The hoops are wood so the drum has a good continuity to it. Once I had the front and back heads on I tuned them the same and all I needed on the drum was a small blanket and the sound became perfect for me. The drum has a good sound when no muffling is inside I just prefer to have a slight muffle in my bass drums. Drum wise the drums recive what the hardware got. A solid 8 out of 10.

The tom mounts attatch to the shell and are Pearl in design. They all have plastic in them for added strenght and protection. All the lugs are small and lightweight with two screws holding them in place and there is rubber between the lugs and shell. Minimal contact. The tom holders have memory locks as well And when things are tightened they stay that way. And in no way come loose.

This is an amzing drum set. Peace is still a new company in the market but if they keep this quality up they will go far. The Onxy kit is like a swingstar / rockstar of the Peace line but is far superior to the swingstar / rockstar in terms of sound. As a Tama fan I never thought I would say that...but I did and I mean it. Peace is definatly a company worth looking into if you want a new kit and don't believe what people have said. I have heard rumors of poor quality,bad hardware....but I have no reason to believe any of it from what I have here. And what I have is a great kit that is priced right and will do any drummer in any situation good.

* Note * I found out by looking at my invoice that the hardware is Peace Arena 600 hardware.

One of these days, I'm going to finally sit down and pen something comprehensive for the "reviews" section, dealing with my composite shell snare drums...but for now, I thought I'd share some thoughts on a new carbon fiber snare drum I put together last weekend - and on the shell in particular.

I decided to take the plunge on a non-Tempus c/f shell:  a 6x14 carbon fiber shell from Marcato Percussion:



And here are the requisite amateur sound files (FWIW, the first two have a slightly lower tuning than the last three):

- marcato1.mp3
- marcato2.mp3
- marcato4.mp3
- marcato6.mp3
- marcato7.mp3

(FWIW:  on the recordings, the drum has a coated Ambassador batter, an Ambassador snare side, & Puresound Blasters.)

At first blush, the Marcato put me in mind of some copper and aluminum snare drums I've played.  I've actually been looking for a "boffo metal snare drum" to add to my collection (the subject of another thread here at the Cafe), and while this drum doesn't sound exactly like a metal snare, it sounds close enough to that copper/aluminum sound that I'm putting the "boffo metal" search on the back burner - hopefully, this drum will let me be patient enough to save up the extra money to get something really REALLY special in the way of a metal snare drum (but that's another discussion for another time).  

In the week since I put it together, I've been trying to figure out what it was that I was recognizing in the sound of this drum - I knew I'd heard "that sound" somewhere before, but I couldn't put my finger on it.  Finally, this morning, it hit me - this drum sounds (and plays) remarkably similar to a Hinger snare drum we had back in college.  As wonderful as this drum sounds on a drum set, I'm very tempted to go get some cable snares - this could be an outstanding orchestral snare drum, IMHO.

For the sake of the other Tempus owners here at the Cafe:  how does it stack up to my Tempii?  Well, compared to my 6x14 Tempus f/g, this shell has a much more metallic sound.  My somewhat-educated guess is, this has something to do with the fact that 1) the shell material seems denser than Tempus f/g or c/f (drilling it was a bear-and-a-half), and 2) the interior wall of the shell is smoother than the interior of Tempus shells, so interior reflections aren't broken up the same way (it's a subtlety, but I'm guessing it makes a difference).

As with my Tempii, the dynamic range of this drum is off the map in both directions, and the snare wire sensitivity is outstanding - you can take the drum down to a whisper, but it doesn't choke at high velocities, and the "sweet spot" is large enough to make the drum very comfortable to play.  I haven't really tried taking the drum to the extremes of its tuning range, but I've had it high and low, and it sounds great wherever I put it.

Do I recommend these shells?  Ohhhhhhh, yeah...this drum is quickly becoming my overall favorite snare drum.

...and yes, I know - if I'm going to keep the SlingerYo Lugs on the drum, I need to go get some sticksaver hoops to match.  

Just thought I'd share...

After cracking my Sabian 8" B8 Pro Splash, the very small crack expanded and messed up the thing badly. Yesterday, one of the cracks, which expanded off another one, reached the bell. I needed a new one. After playing for the (get this) adult band(!) yesterday for the first time, me and my family went to a guitar center about 40 minutes away from home. When I got there, I went into the drum department and started looking at splash cymbals from Sabian, Paiste, and Zildjian. After checking the price on 2 Paiste Splashes, 1 of them was over my price range. But I liked the sound of the other one. It was a PST 5 10" Splash. I also had enough for the $9 warranty, so I got it. While I have only had it for 1 day, I must say that it is worth it. It has an excellent sound. It sounds a little bright and washy, but it has those great glassy overtones that I love in a splash. It's a great splash cymbal. And with everything, it was only about $45.

Here's a picture:


Paiste PST 5 Splash

It's highly recommended

The Rubber Iron cobra beaters are what im talking about I havent tried the felts or the wood

I am really really disapointed

they stick to ur bassdrum head
they dnt stay tight at all, u can tighten them to the max and they still move around.

well maybeh I just got some defect beaters or something. Its only happening with the right beater, either because of it being a defective beater or more power with the right foot or they are plan crap.

I also have a Pst5 splash and it sounded good for awhile but now the decay seems to have become a bit trashy,  Paiste is good stuff though, I recommend any Sig series cymbals specially the Dark Crisp hats and the Fast Crashes, they record flawlessly. (as long as you play flawlessly)

I just got my Sonor Force 2005 drumset yesterday.  I got in a delicious amber fade finish seen here.



I got it from a seller on ebay with sabian B8 cymbals and a throne and an upgraded pedal for $800 plus free shipping.

The finish is quite stunning. its a sort of stain that isnt shiny or reflective.  I chose this one because I figured it would hide scratches and dust and look good at the same time.  I got it together and set up and was very pleased with the results.

Toms: Normally toms are a pain to tune and I can never get them the way I want them.  I found that these were incredibally easy to tune.  They came with thin remo heads but still sounded remarkabely full and deep.  I could tune them up or down and still get an excellent sound.  They are most definately my favorite part of the kit.

Bass: I havent had a chance to play with the tuning as much but I was able to get a pretty good sound right off the bat.  The heads appear to be single ply remos with a ring of plastic on the inside of both resonant and batter heads.  It is quite loud and has a lot of sustain and resonance, perhaps too much for my tastes.  I think that an emad would take care of that nicely and calm it down a bit.  Still has a good sound though I am not at all dissapointed.

Snare: The snare was a kind of a pain for me.  It sounded muddy and didnt have a real sharp sound which is what I like.  I am gonna play with the tuning some more tonight.  If I cant get what I want I am gonna toss the heads and try an evans genera.  I am confident that new heads will cure this issue because I dont have a whole lot of faith in the stock ones.

Hardware:  The cymbal stands are really heavy duty, excellent quality.  The throne was solid and soft and quiet, no creaky sounds.  The pedal and high hat stands have thick quality foot boards.  The beater has felt and rubber and pretty good feel.  It is very adjustable as well which is a plus.  The tom mounts are study.  The only part of the hardware that I didnt like was the way the 14" tom was mounted.  it clamps on to a cymbal stand.  I found that in order to put the tom low enough I had to put it on the fat part of the stand.  This meant that the wingnuts were not screwed in as far as they probably should be and maybe arent as solid.  Also the addition of the clamp made the tom a bit wobbly when I played it hard. 

All in all I am extremely happy with my purchase.  The sound is really good even with the cheap heads.  The hardware is pretty solid and the kit looks amazing.  I would definately suggest this for someone looking in this price range because for for $800 you can get a kit that sounds and looks top notch.

hey thanks for the tip I worked with the tuning and got it sounding pretty good.  I went out and bought an evans genera and am gonna put that on pretty soon probably.  I may have to go with some 42's on this snare.  I put them on my yamaha and love it.  I am definately extremely pleased with the sound of this kit it sounds and looks like so much more than just an entry level kit.  

from ebay, I recently bought a "billy hyde natural rebound practice pad". I took one hit on it and realised that it wasn't what I wanted at all - it didn't feature a rebound that was at all natural. luckily I managed to sell that off a couple of days later, incurring a mere £0.50 loss. I purchased the big dog j001, took one tap on it and realised that it was EXACTLY what I wanted.

one side is soft rubber, the other hard. both give good rebound, although the soft (white) side does rebound a little more. the hard rubber side is excellent for picking out any inconsistencies in stroke volume. both sides grip surfaces very well, hardly slipping at all whilst taking a rather hefty battering.



the only negative thing that springs to mind is the size of the pad, it's only about 7" across. unfortunately, big dog don't make any larger pads.

having never played on a real feel pad, I can't compare the two on how they feel, but the big dog costs about 1/4 as much as the equivalent real feel model.

if you're looking for a very good, very cost effective practice pad, this one definitely warrants a second look. recommended.

I have a TAR mount on the Delite 14" hanger.  That thing resonates forever.  But in defense of your comment- I have heard other people bagging on the T.A.R. system on the sonor board.  

I'm currently tuning my sonor toms to full resonance (both heads equal in pitch/lug to lug) and by the time I got to the 14" tom, even on a drum that small I was like * this is too much for a studio sound* so I knocked 3 T rods out of tune.  I really like this drum, but it's still a bit of a rascal.  

Anyways, you could be right about the TAR in your case- I'm alright with it.  And in my opinion, I think you will get your kit dialed in more as time goes by.  It literal took me YEARS before I got my sonor force 3000 kit dialed in.  I'm glad I stuck it out.  The 3000 series (and it's relatives) are a great bang for the buck.

Don't think twice about it.  The lugs screw solidly onto the ring chassis, and turning the tension rod on one side won't affect the rod on the opposite side.

Great drums, those FFs are - I don't think you'll be disappointed when you finally save up for yours.