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There are four maple and five burled ash finishes with your choice of gold or chrome metalwork

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• Review

Behold the future – for Yamaha at least. The PHX-Phoenix represents a major departure for Yamaha and a bold step towards how the company sees its future. While current fashion says expensive shells equal thin shells, the PHX bucks the trend with heavyweight 11-ply walls.

Yamaha has previously championed neglected timbers: beech, oak and bamboo come to mind. The PHX mixes exotic new timbers with trusty maple. Add to this the hook-over lugs and you have a genuinely different kit. It all comes at a shattering cost and Yamaha is keen to point out the PHX is not replacing its established high-end Absolutes.

"The PHX-Phoenix represents a major departure for Yamaha and a bold step towards how the company sees its future"

It's a painstakingly built custom order for the drummer with serious cash.

The Phoenix name refers to the mythical fire-bird, which appeared as Yamaha's first logo back in 1897. Yamaha produced Phoenix (no relation) snares for its 40th drum-making anniversary in 2007. The new kit's badge features a phoenix with a tuning fork.

Build

We've rarely seen such weighty shells since Sonor's Signature 12-ply beech of the 1980s. The PHX's shells are 11-mm thick, utilising a so-called 'hybrid' construction. There's a single ply inner core of jatoba, a South American species sometimes called Brazilian cherry, although not really a cherry. Jatoba is an extremely hard timber, sometimes used in parquet flooring and quality furniture.

On either side of the jatoba are four plies of softer kapur (camphor), an Asian 'mahogany' which is there to add warmth and depth. Lining the shell is a single ply of North American maple, while completing the outer veneer is your choice of either maple, or a fancy burled ash, like the review set.

If you choose ash you get a textured rivulet-grained finish rather than the more familiar smooth maple. It's lightly, patchily lacquered for an artsy look. There are four maple and five burled ash finishes, partnered with your choice of gold or chrome metalwork.

The review kit is Ash Chrome Textured Black Sunburst. The maple lining ply is sealed with reddish stain and polished to a silkier finish than inside most drums.

Bearing edges are steeply angled at 30 degrees with a different peak profile for each type of drum. Small toms are rounded for warmth and sustain, floor toms slightly less rounded, while bass drums are sharper for attack and shorter sustain. The review kit sizes, incidentally, are 10"x7", 12"x8", 14"x13", 16"x15" and 20"x18".

Unsurprisingly, the thick shells add to the weight. But note that the tasty cast hoops are aluminium rather than most other's zinc and correspondingly lighter while still rigid. Just for the record, on the bathroom scales the 12"x8" PHX weighed in at about 3.5Kg, while my old 12"x8" 9000 (with full braced lugs but no Yamaha Enhanced Sustain System – or YESS – mount) was only 0.5kg lighter.