Premier coming back to the US!

[purity]

There was a Project One.
Mine was not that model.
This is a strange one that they built for maybe two years in the late 70s?
The one I had was dead on mint ... still had the unplayed original heads and the store tag.
It was handed off to one of our very own.
Here ya go.


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I have the same snare, didn't realize it was only made for such a short period. Just my uneducated opinion, but I think it sounds pretty dead with the liner...I removed it and never looked back, and now have a snare that's more to my liking. The brushed aluminum finish is pretty cool on those.

 

[Mcjnic]

I have the same snare, didn't realize it was only made for such a short period. Just my uneducated opinion, but I think it sounds pretty dead with the liner...I removed it and never looked back, and now have a snare that's more to my liking. The brushed aluminum finish is pretty cool on those.

They sold the non-liner version for years and years.
It‘s a good sounding snare.

 

[K.O.]

For me to have any interest they'd need to go back to their original lug designs and die cast hoops. But I bought a set like that a few months back for cheap so why get new?

 

[Elvis]

They sold the non-liner version for years and years.
It‘s a good sounding snare.

I thought the Project One was unique to itself. There's like more than "just a liner" going on there. They built a whole vented chamber inside the shell.

What was the "non-liner" version called?

BTW, I looked it up and the Project One debuted in 1984. It's included in the 1987 catalogue, but not in the 1990 catalogue.
Maybe someone else has more solid dates of manufacture for that drum, but that's as close as I could get.
I do remember being sad when someone told me the snare drum went out of production, as I wasn't aware of it until a few years after the fact.
Back in the 80's, one of my "dream kits" would've been a Black Shadow with a Project One snare drum.

 

[Mcjnic]

I thought the Project One was unique to itself. There's like more than "just a liner" going on there. They built a whole vented chamber inside the shell.

What was the "non-liner" version called?

BTW, I looked it up and the Project One debuted in 1984. It's included in the 1987 catalogue, but not in the 1990 catalogue.
Maybe someone else has more solid dates of manufacture for that drum, but that's as close as I could get.
I do remember being sad when someone told me the snare drum went out of production, as I wasn't aware of it until a few years after the fact.
Back in the 80's, one of my "dream kits" would've been a Black Shadow with a Project One snare drum.

You and I are doing the "mistaken" dance tonight ... hahaha.
The comment you referenced was to the member - Purity.
He mentioned he had a snare like mine ... without the liner.
I had said that they made his version for years ... without the liner.
My version with the liner ... only for a couple.

Ok ... tag! You're it!

 

[purity]

You and I are doing the "mistaken" dance tonight ... hahaha.
The comment you referenced was to the member - Purity.
He mentioned he had a snare like mine ... without the liner.
I had said that they made his version for years ... without the liner.
My version with the liner ... only for a couple.

Ok ... tag! You're it!

You may want to re-read the few posts you are referencing.

 

[Mcjnic]

You may want to re-read the few posts you are referencing.

Now this is just getting silly.
I was commenting to Elvis on the referenced post.

 

[Elvis]

Mcjnic,

Ok, just so we're clear who I'm addressing this time ( ).
Yes, I realized I was addressing Purity, but I thought he was talking about the Project One snare drum, since that seemed to be the topic shift of the moment.
My sincere apologies for the mistaken snare drum identity.
...anything to give me a chance to reminisce these days, and bore everyone around me by posting those.

 

[Mcjnic]

Ah ... yes.
I did love the Premier Heavy Rock Nine Brass snare WITH the Resonator liner ... they actually made those for a brief time.
I owned one back quite a few years. It was a gift for one of those "life achievement" things.
But I digress ...

 

[Madmarian]

Who is "our" -- what company are you with?
And I don't think it's unusual for many drum companies to source their drum shells elsewhere. I have no idea how good or bad these new Premier shells are, but there are some very respectable drums out there coming from those big factories.

I work for a German drum company. And yes, it is common now to outsource some production, even most, but all, that is usually the approach that music stores have to their house brands, and this is what Premier has sadly become: a house brand, in the literal sense, as it seems they now are the house brand for Gear4Music.
Premiere used to be the OEM manufacturer for many other brands, as Yamaha, now all Premier does is order ready made drums at several drum companies. I just think it is a shame. Anybody here with enough cash can do this, there is not much skill involved to get your own brand drums, especially when you can use branding from the glorious past of a great brand. As far as I know the only thing still made in UK is the Timpani, as they are being built for them by a UK wagon manufacturer. Then again, most of my insights are from the time around 2015/16, so not sure if tht is still recent.

 

[TheDrummerFromAmsterdam]

To add Premeir never made antything for Yamaha as OEM factory.

Yamaha owned Premier from 1987 to 1992.

This so they could keep up with the demand, just like they did with their factory in Taiwan.

In that period tooling was used form the Japanese factory (like the Air Seal System) and that is why you can find both Yamaha and Premier badged hardware that almost looks (there are minor differences) the same.

After that both parties, parted ways and went on about their business. It suffices to say both companies plucked the fruits of those 5 years.

 

[BennyK]

 

[Elvis]

Taking a nod from Benny's point about old vs new and Drum Mer's correcting of the Premier/Yamaha timeline (thank you Drum Mer), it would almost be poetic if the new Premier drums just happened to use the same shell that Yamaha uses for both their Tour & Stage Custom lines.

 

[Michael M.]

I just talked to a Premier rep here in the US (There is 1 and it is called Musick Ltd - Premier USA) and they are bringing full range of Premiers to the US. 3 compact shell packs with 16”, 18”, and 20” bass are coming in the Artist series. Birch shells and they are all priced at $840 for 4 piece.
Not planning to get a kit but this is great and the burgundy pearl looks great.

Artist Heritage - Premier Drums

Step back in time with Artist Heritage. Compact and portable, the reduced footprint means each kit can easily be stored and transported to suit the needs of gigging musicians. The all-birch shell ensures the Artist Heritage produces larger than life tones that truly belie its size, making it...

www.premier-percussion.com

That's great news ! I've been trying to find a Premier HH stand for ages . Do you know of a timeline ?

 

[Michael M.]

As an owner of a custom Premier Series all birch kit I hope they stick around. Especially so I can get replacement parts.

A little surprised they put pinstripe heads on the higher end stuff for their demo videos.

I take it you like single ply heads ? I use pinstripe heads because they give me plenty of resonance but not so much that any kind of muffleing is needed. But that's just me.

 

[kevinyarger]

I take it you like single ply heads ? I use pinstripe heads because they give me plenty of resonance but not so much that any kind of muffleing is needed. muffling

I would say I have leaned pretty heavy on single ply's these days, so I'll admit some bias. I would also say, in my experience with high end drums they've all been stocked with single ply heads. Only exception was my Pearl Masters Maple Complete(it came with pinstripes but I'm not sure it is really considered their top of the line like it was in the 90's, but my 90's Masters had Ambassadors) To my ears with thicker heads, I tend to hear more of the drum head/stick attack and less of the drum shell itself, it's not a deal breaker for me by any means(you could probably blind sound test me and I'd get it wrong too). The newer Pearl masters still had a nice sustain with the pinstripes they came with, I just wanted more overtones. Plus for some reason, with single ply heads I feel like I get a better rebound even if I have to muffle the drums with some snare weight muffles.

 

[lossforgain]

Looking forward to that review @mgdrummer! Any first impressions?

 

[ppfd]

Listened to the drum history podcast about Premier from about a year ago, very informative.
No mention of this recent news in the podcast

 

[spaeth]

I have a friend with a pristine set of Resonators. I want to like them sooo bad. Big Moon fan, closet Premier fan and lover of most odd ideas that could make sense. I couldn’t get them to sound good. Not bad but as said earlier my cheap XPKs sounded much better to my ears.

Odds are against them but it would be cool if some nice drums come forward from this new Premier.

 

[mgdrummer]

Looking forward to that review @mgdrummer! Any first impressions?

Trying to get to recording/videoing this week.

My first impressions: It has the look and feel of the real deal Genista snares. It sounds good but not great, I’ve still got the stock heads on it and I can’t wait to get some real Ambassadors on it. There’s a sponginess to the snare side head that is distracting while playing regardless of how much tension I put on it. My other observation is that they are using generic 2.3mm hoops top & bottom and the bottom hoop doesn’t have the gates cut out so the quick release butt end of the 610 throw off system is somewhat ineffective as the snare wires stay trapped through the hoop.