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X Shell toms sound bigger and more resonant. The new cross-lamination works wonders

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Drum Workshop began life as a hardware company (a fact reflected in its class-leading stands and pedals) and expanded into drum manufacture in the late 1980s. Since then it's progressively strengthened the brand, earning a reputation for constantly evolving designs. DW's newest drums – dubbed X Shells – represent a departure from the accepted norms of drum construction. The clue's in the name people…

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If you're familiar with existing DW drums you may well recognise the acronym VLT. It stands for Vertical Low Timbre and describes a manufacturing process by which the outer and inner plies of a drum run vertically. Drums have to be cross-laminated for strength – at 90° to one another – but keeping the outer and inner plies vertical places less stress on a shell, giving it a lower fundamental tone.

In theory, a shell made up of exclusively vertical plies would possess enormous amounts of bottom-end. In reality, such a shell would not be strong enough to be fitted with heads.

"Without any dampening, things got understandably boomy, but a felt strip across the front head calmed down the ringing, leaving a wide open-sounding and distinctly Bonhamesque drum"

John Good at DW's solution to this conundrum was the X Shells. He proposed that a shell made with plies laid diagonally at 45° to the vertical axis of the shell – still cross-laminated at 90° to each other – would give the closest results to a fully vertical shell. According to DW, Good's first attempt at creating an X Shell was spot on and the X Shell option now forms part of the Collector's Series range.

DW reckons the diagonal cross-laminating technique will work its magic with any wood; the review kit is made from maple. X Shells don't cost any more than other equivalent Collector's Series drums and can be ordered in any Collector's size, finish or hardware option. A typical five-piece kit will take between eight to 12 weeks to turn around.

X Shells are eight plies thick for all toms and bass drums, while snares come in at 10 plies. In addition, toms and bass drums also feature three-ply reinforcement rings (optional on snares). These are beautifully made, with the innermost plies being fashioned from the sort of superior cut of wood that's normally reserved for a final exterior ply.

Interestingly, the grain on the reinforcement rings runs vertically, so DW could be looking to induce a subtle VLT effect as a bonus.

Peering inside each drum at the main shell visible between the two sets of reinforcement rings, the diagonal pattern of grain registers immediately, as it's such an unusual sight. The bearing edges are DW's standard 45° cut. The kit supplied for review consists of X Shell drums with three exceptions: the snare drum is a standard Collector's Series model with VLT plies, while a pair of Octoban-like Rata drums have also been included.

"We likened the sound of the toms to those of Keith Moon's on Live At Leeds, which is a suitably apt and graphic comparison"