MusicRadar

Clear Ambassadors come as standard for the top and bottom tom heads

1 of 2 » View in gallery

• Related News
• Review

Pearl has always produced one of the widest ranges of any of the top manufacturers. While this is admirable it can also be confusing, and it's not helped by Pearl giving its series obscure titles like 'MMP' or 'SBX'. Now, here's the 'MCX'.

'MC' equals Masters Custom, and we don't know about the 'X', but the drums are maple. The Masters series is a professional range that slots in above Pearl's starter Forum and budget Vision lines. However, it's not quite so luxurious as either the mega-bucks Reference or Masterworks.

Build

MCX replaces the Session series and is a sort of bargain basement version of the already established Masters Custom Premium. The reason for this is that the MCX is available only as six-ply maple, in a limited range of sizes and just five finishes. The Premium, though, is made with two shell choices: six-ply (like the MCX) or four-ply with reinforcing rings, both in maple or birch.

Our review kit is 22"x18", 10"x8", 12"x9" and 14"x14". There's no snare drum, although you can buy a matching wood 14"x5½" or 6½". Two other four-shell packs are offered, and you can buy extra drums individually.

MCX shells are Pearl's trusty 7.5mm six-ply maple. 7.5mm is a little thicker and heavier than many top-end drums these days. The result should be to make the shells stronger and heavier, and also a fraction louder and brighter.

Looking inside the shells, you'll notice that Pearl's are slightly different from most others in that they have traditional, overlapped scarf joints. All the review shells were perfectly round and between 1 and 3mm undersized, allowing a bit of clearance for the head collar. The sharp bearing edges have a 45-degree cut right up to the outermost ply, with just the last ply routed over.

They're among the best finished we've seen, absolutely smooth and flat.

The review kit is finished in a luxurious Delmar bronze glitter wrap. There are two other wraps and two lacquer finishes also available. This is a much narrower choice than the 30 Masters Premium finishes, but it means that the MCX is more readily available in the shops, whereas the Premium is special order. Certainly the review kit looked fantastic, and if you like one of the five finishes you could save 20 percent on the equivalent Masters Premium.

The two small toms are mounted via Pearl's OptiMount isolation brackets, a particularly sturdy system that grips both top and bottom lugs yet is still quite unobtrusive. Combined with the thick shells and die-cast hoops, it makes the drums noticeably heavier than some others. For example, on a set of bathroom scales the 10"x8" was 31kg while a Yamaha 9000 10"x8" (with no isolation bracket) was 25kg.

Every detail of the build should bring a smile to your face. MasterCast die-cast hoops and Masters Bridge lugs are beautifully chromed. All lugs and bass drum claws have rubber isolation gaskets, the lugs have brass threaded inserts and the stainless steel tension rods have white nylon washers. The bass drum hoop has a steel plate for scratch-free pedal mounting. Finally, there's a full compliment of 20 lugs on the 22" kick, whereas the previous Session series had 16.