MusicRadar

The undrilled super-long bass drum and shorter tom sizes are very of the moment

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• Review

The mid-range Reflex kit is the latest addition to ddrum's roster. Made in Taiwan, Reflex drums take the place of the now discontinued Duo Fade range in ddrum's catalogue, although ddrum is keen to stress that it's a brand new product rather than a replacement series.

Build

After being launched at NAMM 2010, Reflex kits were initially rolled out in the USA before reaching the UK early this summer.

Two shellpack options are currently available: the five-piece Player kit on review, made up of a 22''x20'' bass drum, 14''x5.5'' snare, 10''x7" and 12"x8" toms and 16"x14" floor tom; and an alternative four-piece kit consisting of a 20"x20" kick, 13"x7" snare, 12"x8" tom and 16"x14" floor tom.

At the time of writing, supplies were still limited, to the extent that there were no examples of the four-piece shellpack in the country. Additional individual drums come in the shape of an 8" tom and 14" floor tom. ddrum devised a new shell for the Reflex Series, settling on alder after experimenting with a variety of woods.

A member of the birch family, alder is commonly used for smoking food. It has some history of musical applications, with the bodies of Fender Stratocaster and Telecasters – guitars renowned for their bright, sparkling tone – being made from alder. As a drum shell material, alder is reckoned to be fairly close to birch in character.

The shells are a mix of red alder and another, lighter-coloured alder with contrasting bands of colour marking out the different woods. Red alder is the inner ply on all of the drums and, as its name suggests, gives the shells a reddish tinge.

The ply count varies according to the relevant drum, with the bass drum and snare both having eight plies, while the toms and floor toms are six plies apiece. Bearing edges are cut at a fairly sharp 45 degrees, with a backcut intended to maximise head contact. The company's own Face-Off lugs are fitted to the kit.

An existing ddrum design, they have until now only appeared on ddrum Signature drums, most notably Vinnie Paul's limited edition kit. They are compact, turret-like structures that stand almost 3cm proud of the shell. Despite obvious low-mass qualities (they are only 25mm in diameter) the lugs are fixed to the shells with two small screws, which are located just inside the edge. This is because the centre of each lug houses a front-accessed thread that winds back into the body of the lug, towards the shell.