![[DFO] Drum Forum](https://www.drumforum.org/styles/drumforum/xenforo/logo.png){kind=logo}
I was beginning to scale down my drum collection and thought to start by selling my gorgeous Sonor Vintage Series Red Oyster kit, but I just couldn't do it. These drums just sound too amazing and I have decided to add a few more sizes to the shell bank and just play the snot out of them. Anyone else just in love with their Sonor Vintage Series Beech drum sets? I can describe the tone of these drums as just the perfect blend of everything. They are FAT, warm, but still have very clear and precise pitches...they tune up just beautifully and easily and its really hard to make these drums sound bad. The bass drums are just killer too. My kit has a 24" bass drum and I find that it is just the perfect size for maximum thump. I managed to find a local seller of a gently used matching 12" tom in MINT condition for a nice price, so now I have 24, 12,13,16,18 sizes. I think I will add the 10" down the road too. I think that I will thin the herd elsewhere and keep these pretty amazing drums.
The vintage Red Oyster finish just checks a lot of vintage boxes for me without the obvious issues that come with vintage drums. The proprietary engraved hoops are marvelous and the vintage style bearing edges just make for a perfect drum. The chrome plating on these drums is far superior to anything I see being made today...it is astounding how good the chrome plating looks, especially with the engraving! The entire kit together just creates a big, beefy tone with lots of MOJO. The tones are very warm, but not dull sounding, like many vintage era drums sound to my ears.
I am keeping these drums, including my Rosewood kit.
I think that in general, these drums aren't getting the love that they deserve by the general drumming public. It's probably because not a lot of shops carry Sonor drums and in general...drum shops are beginning to be a thing of the past. They do come at bit of a premium, but they aren't prohibitively more expensive for the average drummer. I do know that what originally convinced me was playing this kit at the Chicago Drum Show in 2019. My original thoughts were that I didn't like the look of the offset lugs and the squatty drum sizes (I still think that they should be traditional sizes, e.g., 9x13, 14x14, 16x16 rather than 8x13, 12x14, 14x16, etc...). However, I must admit that while I have owned many Sonorlite, Hilite, Designer kits, I have never owned a 60's vintage kit and didn't know much about the drums made from that era. These drums are an homage to those 60s drums...only, much better in my opinion. I know that some people love those 60s versions and I don't mean to offend, but these new Vintage Series Beech drums just have it in spades. I am pretty convinced that Beech wood might just be the best of all worlds sonically for drum making. It's hard not to LOVE the sound of these drums, but it is also the FEEL of playing these drums that leaves one with a wonderful impression. I love the feel of the drums under my sticks. Not many drums give me "that" feeling under the sticks. I recently sold a very special Gretsch USA kit in the same sizes to a friend of mine that gave me that same feeling playing them: Huge tone, amazing feeling under the sticks while playing them. Very few special drum sets will do this for you, IMHO.
Anyway, forget about everything else...just play them and listen with your ears and feel that uniqueness when you play them. These drums are keepers!
The vintage Red Oyster finish just checks a lot of vintage boxes for me without the obvious issues that come with vintage drums. The proprietary engraved hoops are marvelous and the vintage style bearing edges just make for a perfect drum. The chrome plating on these drums is far superior to anything I see being made today...it is astounding how good the chrome plating looks, especially with the engraving! The entire kit together just creates a big, beefy tone with lots of MOJO. The tones are very warm, but not dull sounding, like many vintage era drums sound to my ears.
I am keeping these drums, including my Rosewood kit.
I think that in general, these drums aren't getting the love that they deserve by the general drumming public. It's probably because not a lot of shops carry Sonor drums and in general...drum shops are beginning to be a thing of the past. They do come at bit of a premium, but they aren't prohibitively more expensive for the average drummer. I do know that what originally convinced me was playing this kit at the Chicago Drum Show in 2019. My original thoughts were that I didn't like the look of the offset lugs and the squatty drum sizes (I still think that they should be traditional sizes, e.g., 9x13, 14x14, 16x16 rather than 8x13, 12x14, 14x16, etc...). However, I must admit that while I have owned many Sonorlite, Hilite, Designer kits, I have never owned a 60's vintage kit and didn't know much about the drums made from that era. These drums are an homage to those 60s drums...only, much better in my opinion. I know that some people love those 60s versions and I don't mean to offend, but these new Vintage Series Beech drums just have it in spades. I am pretty convinced that Beech wood might just be the best of all worlds sonically for drum making. It's hard not to LOVE the sound of these drums, but it is also the FEEL of playing these drums that leaves one with a wonderful impression. I love the feel of the drums under my sticks. Not many drums give me "that" feeling under the sticks. I recently sold a very special Gretsch USA kit in the same sizes to a friend of mine that gave me that same feeling playing them: Huge tone, amazing feeling under the sticks while playing them. Very few special drum sets will do this for you, IMHO.
Anyway, forget about everything else...just play them and listen with your ears and feel that uniqueness when you play them. These drums are keepers!
