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The shells have eight plies and are 7mm thick.

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• Review

A few years ago, in Wembley Drum Centre, we spotted a most unusual drum set with an unfamiliar name. Turned out it was made in Brazil by a company called Odery, using spectacularly grained native woods such as imbuia and araucaria.

For our first Odery review, however, we have the budget Fluence line, made in China like everyone else's. No matter, the drums still look special, and they come with a complete hardware package.

Build

There are two Fluence series: the Jazz, with maple and basswood shells, and the Fusion (which we're reviewing), which has maple and birch shells. WDC supply three different six-shell Fusion packs with full hardware and stands.

"Looks-wise, the kit could easily be a top pro outfit. The two-tone lacquered sparkle is superb."

Our featured kit has 10"x8" and 12"x9" mounted toms, 14"x13" and 16"x15" floor toms, 22"x18" bass drum and 14"x6" snare. The exact shell lay-up is two outer plies of American maple, three middle plies of birch and three inner plies of Chinese maple – eight plies, 7mm thick. Bearing edges are cut at a standard 45°, sharp and accurate.

The inner, horizontally-laid ply of Chinese maple has a pleasant grain and warm, creamy appearance. The shells are accurately round to within a couple of millimetres, which is good.

Looks-wise, the kit could easily be a top pro outfit. The two-tone lacquered sparkle is superb and both snare and bass drums have 20 lugs. The bass drum claws are die-cast with thick rubber underlays, while the small generic cast lugs also have rubber gaskets.

The 12" and 13" toms are mounted centrally on the bass drum via a sturdy three-way bracket. It has ball and socket, knurled 'L' arms assisted by memory locks at each stage. Each 'L' arm slots into a tom isolation mount which is a thick steel 'Y' shaped plate attached to paired lugs. It's not free-floating but is screwed into the shell at the base of the 'Y' via a hexagonal grommet, which also serves as an air vent.

Turning to the hardware, the bass pedal has a full baseplate with thick rubber grippers underneath, and is clamped to the bass drum hoop via an easy-to-reach lateral thumbscrew. The drive is a double chain, while the beater has a dual felt or plastic head. There's a five-point calibration for adjusting the beater angle, and the cast footplate itself is solid with good grip.

The hi-hat has a single chain-pull but looks equally sturdy. Tension is adjusted via a large plastic knob and the top cymbal is loosely held between two plastic hemispheres. The tilter has a neat, minimum-contact design, too.

Hands on

With the maple construction we were expecting a relatively warm sound with strong mids. We tried the bass drum first, however, and found the tone a touch hard and cold, although powerful and resonant.

The drum comes fitted with an un-named Powerstroke-3 style batter and a single-ply front head with port. Changing the batter for an Evans Emad and putting a small towel inside against the bottom of the batter improved matters, warming the tone and drawing out the bottom end. The drum probably just needed a bit of playing in.