MusicRadar

Classic looks, Classic sound... Classic.

1 of 4 » View in gallery

• Related News
• Review

In use

Soundwise, our first impression was that the toms and bass drum really kicked ass but the snare was not quite so enthralling or easy to tune. There's something about straight-sided maple-ply snares which means they often have a really honky edge ring. It's easy to subdue if you slap a half 'O' ring on the batter, which gets you a fat Ringo-ish crunch. But getting this snare to work with no damping at all was a bit of a challenge. It took a day or two of occasionally coming back, giving it a good thrash and tuning it up and down before it started to bed in and calm down a little. After that it was fine so long as we kept a small square of Moongel on it.

We should know by now, but we're still often surprised when a wood shell snare rings more than a metal one. You can take it as a good sign, meaning the drum has plenty of resonance – which, incidentally, the 2.3 mm flanged hoops have also. Tapping the top hoop, there's again a distinct ring. This all makes for extremely lively cross-sticks and rim shots.

While the snare might take some taming, we had no such problems with the toms and bass drum. Premier's shells are made 3mm undersized, which gives the heads good clearance with no chance of choking. The supplied coated Ambassadors (clear Ambassadors underneath) sounded just the job – warm, resonant and yet quite dark – needing just the slightest tweak here and there. The bass drum, straight out of the bag with clear Powerstroke-3 batter and uncut front head, was a slammer; with so much punch and tone yet barely any troublesome boom you'd think there was a hole in the front. And this with no internal damping – we never even considered it as the drum just sounded great from the off. Result.

For us, the fact the toms are mounted on the bass drum in the old-fashioned way improves the overall sound. The drums all resonate off one another for a more rounded, integrated and complex tone, like your kit is indeed one instrument.

Conclusions

The Classic is a smart move by Premier. A top-line Series kit in attractive size and finish options at a reduced price. Most drummers will find the set-up options are all they need, while the finishes and details such as the new unobtrusive tom mounts are top notch. Taiwanese manufacture is not really an issue – it might indeed be a plus. We'd pass on the snare, but jump at the rest of the kit.