Spectrum in Japan
11/11/2008

SPECTRUM TOUR  of JAPAN 2008

 

SENDI, JAPAN “Enn”                                                                                                11/11/08

Setting up the Phoenix Kit:

            The color: ASH GOLD TEXTURED BLACK SUNBURST

Opinion: When we arrived in Japan a couple of days ago, I had an opportunity to see and feel the drums. Upon checking out the drums, for weight and visually I found that they were pleasing to the eye but looks can be deceiving, as we all know and it’s really about ‘how they sound or translate my ideas through them’, first and foremost. But, weight has very much to do with the way a drum sounds, pretty much in the same way that a singer who is slight of build or a trumpet that is made with light materials in a particular manner, might not provide the depth of tone of another of heavier structure when played by the same individual.  I was told that the Phoenix drum carried a bit more body than the more well know high end drums made by Yamaha yet I did not really find this there to be that great difference between what I currently perform on and this new gear when I held the toms or bass drum. Tonight we play a small place, about the size of the “Baked Potato” in North Hollywood as a warm up to the other presentations later in the week (Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo). Early this morning, around 00:30 I was testing the new Phoenix out with my technicians, seeking some reasonable compromise between what I am used to with the Birch, Maple and Oak kits and what it was giving me in terms of response. This is quite different in that each drum in the Phoenix setup is very responsive and holds tone very well and that is not to say that my other drums don’t do that but just not to the extent that Phoenix does. I am playing a kit that I believe is not “straight out of the box” because it holds tone and pitch well for something new and it is a loner kit and not a set that was made for me in particular as the color of the kit was not my choice but I knew that before I arrived in Japan. I was told that the make up of the shells provide two options: one with a longer sustain ratio than the other and due to the cost of making a kit of the nature that I play, Yamaha wanted to get my input before hand which I felt was fair enough. I hope that Yamaha has some kind of program that provides for the breaking in of the drum set, just like when you buy a new car and find that you don’t have to break it in before you can accelerate past 100 kilometers per hour. But, then again, maybe this kit doesn’t require it?

Drum sticks: Unfortunately, I have only my Maple “Bill C” sticks with me as I would like to experience what the Hickory “Bill C’s“ would sound like but, there we are. The drum heads are almost what I would like but still not quite there as I chose to go with EC2’s (Clear) on all of the rack toms but ended up receiving a G1 white head for the 13”, 16” & 18” Toms:NOT WHAT I HAD REQUESTED and NOT WHAT I WAS TOLD WOULD BE SENT. The Bass Drums are 24” and have EMAD 2’s on the batter side. I am waiting for the correct resonant heads to show up from TAMA, the EVANS representative here in Japan. Again this was not what I requested or what was agreed to and just makes me shake my head when simple bits like this don’t get sorted out and fall through the cracks but there we are again.

Playing the kit with all that I have said above, they still respond very well with sustain in tone, keep relatively true pitch (more than other kits that I have played over the years) even with the hodge-podge drum head set up that I have now. They are very bright sounding without losing depth and body. I would recommend them to the player who has a definite idea of what to do them. They will not make you sound like your favorite drummer unless of course that favorite player is yourself. They allow me to play with a flow that I would normally get from my other Yamaha drum set after a period of a few performances over time. I am very optimistic about what is to come this week and look forward to reporting this after the gigs here.

The new rack set up is very impressive and invites me to expand upon the percussion environment thatI have been working in for the past few years. I believe that I now have the correct platform in which to make my combined electronic and acoustic production a reality. This is because I can set up just about everything I need in the right place consistently with a minimum of problems so, the new rack has my vote as 4 **** stars. Add this to the fact that I can tear down and set up my drum set in a few minutes and I have a win and win all around for my performances.

It will be interesting to see how the drums sound with the band and how the musicians respond to Phoenix.



back