DRUMMER CAFE

Hi.  I'm bored.  I don't have a gig.  My tennis elbow and bad shoulder are killing me so I asked our very own James Walker if I could make this a thread.  He said, "well if you have to felix." 

Ok.  Here's the story.  So if you're bored too, read on.  James asked me if I wanted to borrow his Tempus snare drum.  I said no.  He begged and sent it to me anyways      JK. 

Well I got it.  Check it out.  I think it's kinda beautiful in disgusting sorta way.  The drum is light in weight.  Fiberglass is not inherently light by any means, but the shell is very thin as you will see L8R.  Tempus shells are made in Canada.  I like things from Canada personally. 



I think DfC donated the DW lugs (which are the best lugs on the planet btw)... the nickel matte finish was an upcharge.  Not bad depth on the wrap.  Chrome was kinda weak in places, well it wasn't chrome, more like rust.

Here is a pic of the fat cat snares.  Very nice.  Too sensitive for my taste, but I did not goof with the middle screw to take off some of the wires.  If I had I could have converted it to more of a Puresound equalizer sound, but with a cleaner decay.  Probably should have done this, but I would rather complain than do the work of adjusting.  All kidding aside- these wires are hot.  The dremel job shanghai'ing a 14" batter hoop for snare reso side has a nice frankenstein feel to it. 



Here is a pic of the thin fiberglass shell.  It is an entirely different sound for me.

Look how thin this puppy is, that is light on the right side of my finger btw, not shell:



And dig how the fiberglass looks



I do not endorse evans heads, nor do I like them much.  So I put the logo on upside down.  Definite improvement on the bologna skin that was on there though.  Tsk Tsk Tsk James, James- everyone knows your name!

The vent grommets reminds me of the terminals that come out of frankenstein's neck (well so do the dw lugs come to think of it).   They should be pulled out and put in backwards for greater visual effect.  I have a sick facination with this snare drum.  I had it boxed up twice to send away but kept unpacking it.  It's very very loud.  It's got a soul/voice and it sounds phenomenal.  It took me awhile to come to that conclusion because it's voice is  so different than anything I have.  The unknown is scary but exciting.

Uhh, lets see what else?

Hmmm.  I guess you want to hear it.  Alright.  There are no vocals on this track.  It's an MP4 so you will need Itunes software or something that plays them.  When I got the drum it was tuned very jazzy.  I don't play jazz (sorry or "thank God" whatever you prefer) so I had to lower the pitch some.  I think the drum's crack is very piercing and edgy, with a reflective quality to it.  It's on the dry side, which I like.  I recorded it with half a studio ring.  The batter head is an Aquarian TC.

Enjoy!? Your comments are encouraged 

http://www.woolyinc.com/images/BROKBUST.m4a

Hi Guys,

I must say I got rather a kick out of the... well, the review, I suppose.

Thanks!

Jim's comment did clarify ( I hope ) the matter of the finish itself; it isn't a wrap, more acruately the outside of the shell itself. And, just for laughs, had you taken the butt end of your favourite stick and given said finish as good a thrashing as you might have found the energy to administer, you'd have left not a single mark on it.

Still, what's important is that you seemed to like the way the drum sounded.

So, again, thanks!

Paul Mason
Tempus Drums
Vancouver, B.C.

Felix, what's that on your finger nail ..........     Is that one of those hip new finger nail tat's...you trend setter you.     LOL         

yeah it's my hip new finger nail tattoo, that's it.  I made it with a sharpie, cause I was bored looking at my index finger last night.

I can relate.  Although it took a while to give it my Tempus snare drum substantial playing time, once I did, I realized how great these drums sound.  It is now my favorite.  ...Cool post, Felix.

what is this, drumsmith.com ? after all the hype over there i got myself a FG shell and asked GMS to build me this.



it's an all around great drum. my only complaint on the sound is that the size is not very versatile. i got a an 8x14 shell because i was not willing to wait for Paul to trim it down. i should have made it a 6.5. i could see myself using it more.

Funny thing about Paul's drums -- the thin shells make for a lot of low end.   
They don't sound at all like the old Fibes or Pearl fiberglass drums.

You want the truth?, well?, um?, the (real) truth?, my fiance and some folk are listening to your Mp3 and (thank you!) felix for that. It is UNANIMOUS starting with me that the snaredrum sound is totally happening. BETTER than just good, nice and FAT, warm, punchy, and every other word used to describe a GREAT sounding snaredrum. It has an airy quality i particularly like. I am real excited about the sound of this drum. Thanks felix, ill pick up some sleeping pills on the way home .

Morning felix and you other drum crazed goof balls! . There are a multitude of reasons for my interest in Tempus. No matter how odd the set might look i am dead set on the SIZES this time around. 8x10, 8x12, 10x14, 16x16. No second floor this time..... as cool as it looks. This set will be comfort and sound first, set up looking cool is out the door. NO....HANGING.....FLOOR TOM. Ive got plenty of time to grab the right deal so im doing some searching right now. How could anyone NOT dig that snare sound felix?. That thing sounds like an 8x15 with the centeredness of a 13'' drum. Its a dam dream drum.

I usually dont like crap!, im rediculous, THAT is a sexy sounding snaredrum.