On drums...

Kelly,

Those original Signia die-cast hoops with the wide edges that came stock on the Signia snares (not the low profile Marquis ones), along with a 14x7 drum ought to give you some serious caliber! I love wood hooped snare drums but they probably won't cut as much as you'll need. And if you play them too hard looking for volume you'll probably end up pissed that you ruined them.

If you want to explore with an oak shell snare drum (they are loud!), I would look into used Yamaha Oak Custom rather than blow the money on a new Aviator. They are very affordable used and easy to re-sell.

Other than that you might want to try some kind of metal shell drum, maybe just for rehearsals before you end up with some arm problems.

Good luck,

- D.

All great points.
I have considered metal, and hopefully that is not the answer, but I'm open.
Those Oak customs seem to be pretty light weight, have not played one though.
Is there something you see about the Aviator line that turns you off David?

Sorry Greg, I did not see your question.
By mainsteam I meant the "in thing" these days are shallow thin snares, 14 x 5's, 5.5's, even 4's.
Nice to see someone thinking on their own and doing some out of the norm things. Is it a great company financial decision? I don't know, and don't really care. They seem to have enough of the norm available also so maybe no harm no foul. I know thinking outside of the mainstream and catering to the few is costly, which is reflected in their asking prices for some of these.

I'm always looking and always curious, part of my nature. But my nature has changed in the sense where I don't want to pay big dollars to find out if I like something.

All this is pretty much unfounded anyway for a first practice. Didn't want to be the whiner and squelch the excitement. We will work on sound coming up. Still looking forward to hopefully trying the 14 x 7 Signia though.

Late in this topic but still - I hope every opinion counts...

I've played a Yamaha OAK Custom set - if it is deep tone You're after, this is Your drum...
Their Beech Custom is (was) also great sounding.

Nice repertoire You got there Kelly - I would love to hear/see some tunes from the band...


And finally, after watching the Premier site, I must admit their snares are eye catching, but I'm sure the price could be "catchy". So, maybe it is better to try those out first...

Snares - a new one is never one-too-many...

_________________
Goki - short from Goran

Let the good drums roll!!!

I have Tama Copper shell I should ship you to check out. It's only 5.5" deep but I think it rocks big time... I just ended up buying a used Yamaha Copper because I have other Yamahas and no other Tamas. Looks like this...



- D.

That don't look cheap either David lol
Great looking snare.

Video's will be coming Goki. This weekend I'll try the Zoom on a couple songs and see how it does.

Definitely check out the Oak Custom line if you can, serious bang for the buck, especially since they are undervalued used, you could prob pick up a 5.5 and a 7 deep for under $350 and see which one you like better.
What about a 6.5 ludwig bronze? Those have serious rock balls as well.

that premier does look cool though, glad you found a band that you are digging on all levels!

A five dollar hammer to hit some guitar players over the head and I'll be good to go.

Great to hear all the recommendations. I played those Oak Customs once, it didn't have a matching snare though. I wasn't that impressed with the kit at all. But that does happen.
Look at SClass Pro's, the kits are out of this world, the snares were seriously neglected.

See, it was nice having my own sound system. No problems then