PDP Classic Wood Hoop Drums

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| APRIL 2016 WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM

GEAR REVIEW

t is becoming increasingly difﬁ cult

to distinguish between recent PDP

wares and those of its more high-end

drum-producing parent company Drum

Workshop – attempting to ﬁ nd clues in lug

design, lug count, the badge and often the

price. The question is, has the latest offering

of the “re-imagined line” of Concept Series

drums taken PDP yet another leap forward

in mirroring their DW parentage?

Build

Up for review is a brand new Classic Wood

Hoop shell-pack, speciﬁ cally designed for

its retro allure. This three-drum selection

consists of a trio of classically proportioned

drums with a 13"x9" rack tom, 16"x16" ﬂ oor

tom and a portly 24"x14" kick. Add-on

drum options include a selection of “old

school sizes” with an additional 12"x8" rack

tom, 18"x16" ﬂ oor tom, 22"x16", 26"x14"

bass drums and a matching 14"x6" wood

hooped snare drum.

In a departure from PDP’s oval lugs,

the Concept Series has adopted a

“retro-inspired” double turret ‘tube’ design.

Even with a long hard look at each of the

solid looking lugs, it leaves you scratching

your head in fathoming how they can be

described as ‘tubed’.

An example of the strong inﬂ uence from

DW is that the oval PDP badge has now been

superseded with a circular one, with the

position and placement of it on the kick

exactly the same as on DW drums. While

I’m on this point, though it’s the Concept

Series which dominates the badge metal

work, the PDP and DW logos are given the

same prominence.

All of the drums have maple ply hoops

and feature low-mass pressed steel or

‘stamped’ claws to help create that vintage

vibe. The tom hoops (similar to the ones for

From £499 A ‘modern take on a classic wood hoop’ with a

retro styled shell pack from Paciﬁ c Drums and Percussion

PDP CLASSIC WOOD

HOOP DRUMS

WORDS: DAVE HOLMES

the bass drum), have no holes or any type

of tensioning hardware built-in. Instead they

are gripped by the claws (sitting atop of each

rim), and held under tension by a set of True-

Pitch tuning bolts.

Each claw has a small piece of felt ﬁ xed

to the inside to help avoid them digging

into the surface of the maple hoops. Other

damage prevention measures include the

thick rubber gaskets of the twin-turret lugs

and the provision of the pad on the hoop

of the kick for the pedal attachment.

There is no mounting hardware on

either the rack tom or the bass drum. Prior

to the release of this wooden hooped kit,

all of the Concept Series bass drums were

ﬁ tted with a bass drum-mounted tom post,

had die-cast claws and triple-ﬂ anged steel

hoops. In fact, up until the release of this

retro set, PDP had no plans to introduce

undrilled bass drums either. Of course it

would be a crying shame to cut a sizeable

hole for the mount within the maple mass of

this 24" diameter shell! The rack tom has no

form of mounting either, and so is designed

to ﬁ t into a snare stand – so it’s worth

bearing in mind that, when choosing

hardware, you may need to factor in an

additional snare stand. PDP has very kindly

provided one for the purposes of the review.

Drums of the Concept Series are offered in

either maple or birch, however, these Classic

wooden hooped models are available in

maple only. This wood has been chosen

speciﬁ cally for its mellow tone – PDP say they

have no plans to introduce a birch version.

As we have come to expect from DW/PDP,

the standard of build and ﬁ nish is nothing

short of superb. It’s not simply skin deep

though – behind the scenes we see

beautifully sanded interiors, well-engineered

metal components and all three drums

appear to have perfectly rounded shells.

THE HOOPS APPEAR IMPRESSIVELY

RIDGED AND THE GENEROUS

QUANTITY OF LUGS HELP MAKE

TUNING A REAL PLEASURE

PRESSED STEEL CLAWS

All drums have maple ply

hoops and low-mass

pressed steel claws to

recreate a vintage vibe

Watch our PDP Classic Wood

Hoop kit video demo at

http://bit.ly/PDPdemo

RHY253.gear_pdp.indd 98 25/02/2016 15:25

Summary of content (3 pages)

PAGE 1
GEAR REVIEW PDP CLASSIC WOOD HOOP DRUMS From £499 A ‘modern take on a classic wood hoop’ with a retro styled shell pack from Pacific Drums and Percussion WORDS: DAVE HOLMES I t is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between recent PDP wares and those of its more high-end drum-producing parent company Drum Workshop – attempting to find clues in lug design, lug count, the badge and often the price.
PAGE 2
WOOD FINISH Drums are only available in maple, which has been chosen specifically for its mellow tone Review kit has a walnut stain on the outer sides of the maple hoops, and a natural finish shell exterior Essential spec PRICES PDP Concept Series Classic Maple Tom Pack: 13"x9" rack tom, 16"x16" floor tom, £499; 24"x14" bass drum, £529 SHELL MATERIAL Maple CONSTRUCTION METHOD Ply NUMBER OF PLIES 7 BEARING EDGE 45° FINISHES AVAILABLE NT: Natural maple shells with walnut stained hoops; TN: Walnut st
PAGE 3
GEAR REVIEW SHELLS They say… Drums have beautifully sanded interiors, well-engineered metal components and shells appear to be perfectly rounded Scott Donnell Vice-President of Marketing at Drum Workshop Are there plans to introduce an additional range of sizes with wooden hoops? “The sizes will continue to be limited – an 8" wood hoop tom probably doesn’t make a lot of sense. We offered larger bass drums and traditional sizes out of the gate because it seemed logical to most players.