MusicRadar

• Related News
• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

The Cabria was first launched in 1998, taking its place as Premier's most advanced budget-level kit. Today the Cabria is sandwiched between Premier's Olympic beginners' kits and the company's Artist and Series professional ranges.

 

Cabria itself has been sliced into three bands, the entry level PK, the middle level APK and the top level XPK, with bronze, silver or gold badges assigning rank. The whole Cabria series has undergone a total redesign, with new shells and finishes and new hardware.

 

The main difference between the three levels is in the wood chosen for construction. The PK has basswood, the APK is ash with a maple inner veneer, and the impressive XPK now has a 100 percent maple shell, for the first time on a budget Premier kit. Yes, it's Chinese maple as opposed to premium North American rock maple, the material associated with more expensive pro kits, but we wonder just how big a difference that makes? Assuming it's the same genus then maple is maple, surely?

 

Rock steady

 

There are four set-ups available - a Rock 22, a Heavy Rock 22 (the review kit), a Jazz 22 and a Jazz 20. They all feature the same 14"x5½" wood snare drum. The Heavy Rock kit follows the currently popular one-up, two-down plan with a 22"x18" kick and a single 12"x9" mounted tom together with 14"x14" and 16"x16" floor toms.

 

The Rock 22 has the more conventional 12"x9" and 13"x10" mounted toms with a single 16"x16" floor tom. The Jazz kits both have smaller 10"x8", 12"x9" and 14"x14" toms, but the 22 has a 22"x18" bass drum while the 20 has a 20"x18".

 

There's a choice of six lacquered finishes, all of which look very cool. The review kit is in Topaz lacquer, a sort of orange which reminds us of David Dickinson's tan. Incidentally, why is there no natural maple lacquer among the finish options for this kit?

 

The toms and snare have die-cast hoops/rims which Premier has taken to calling rings. Surely there's enough confusion with drumset nomenclature as it is, without adding another term? Not to worry... These die-cast hoops appear on the XPK, but not the APK or PK. The idea is to distinguish the XPK from the others.

 

The updated single Roklok tom holder is a sleek, simple unit, just what's needed. I like the look of it better than Premier's double tom holder, which is a bit lumpy.

 

Generous Package

 

Turning to the pedals and stands, the special XPK hardware pack is generous, boasting two boom cymbal stands no less, plus hi-hat, bass pedal and snare stand. Everything's double braced and similar to Premier's new middle level 4000 Series.

 

All of Premier's hardware has recently been overhauled, with much appreciated inventiveness lavished on the details. There are one or two niggles, so let's get those out of the way first.