Drum Kits · Models

Model

Taye StudioMaple

Drum kit

StudioMaple pairs maple shells with Taye's SlideTrack mount, which carries a tom on a rail so it can be moved without changing angle — a small idea that solved a real setup problem.

Model

SJC Tour Series

Drum kit · United States

Tour Series is SJC's production custom kit: maple shells in whatever finish the order specifies, from plain lacquer to inlaid and painted work built for stage visibility.

Model

Player Date kits use thin mahogany, poplar, or maple shells with reinforcement rings and minimal hardware, and the resulting warm, quick-decaying tone put C&C behind a wave of Americana and indie rock records.

Model

Natal Arcadia

Drum kit · United Kingdom

Arcadia is Natal's mainstream line under Marshall ownership — birch, maple, and acrylic shells with the company's own hardware — and the range that reintroduced the name to drummers who knew it only from congas.

Model

Sonor SQ2

Drum kit · Germany

The SQ2 is less a kit than an order form: shell timber, thickness, bearing edge, hardware, and finish are chosen drum by drum, with maple, beech, birch, and American walnut all offered in more than one thickness. Every SQ2 is made in Bad Berleburg and takes months.

Model

Mapex Saturn

Drum kit · Taiwan

Saturn is Mapex's long-running maple/walnut hybrid drum series. The hybrid shell pairs the bright attack and sustain of maple with the warmth and depth of walnut for a fuller, rounder, versatile tone, and current Saturn Evolution kits add the SONIClear bearing edge and Halo tom suspension.

Model

Pearl Reference Pure

Drum kit · Japan

Pearl's flagship professional drum kit series using blended shells of maple, birch, and African mahogany, with thinner shells than the original Reference line, engineered so each drum size produces its optimal voice.

Model

PDP Concept Maple

Drum kit

Concept Maple is the kit that made PDP's reputation: 7-ply maple shells with DW's bearing edge angles, low-mass lugs, and suspension mounts, at a fraction of a Collector's Series price.

Model

Tama Starclassic Maple

Drum kit · Japan

Starclassic Maple is part of Tama's flagship Starclassic line, built with all-maple shells for a warm, full-bodied tone and a broad tuning range. Over its history the Starclassic family has been offered in maple, birch, bubinga and walnut/birch shell formulas.

Model

Canopus Neo-Vintage

Drum kit · Japan

The Neo-Vintage series builds thin three-ply shells with reinforcement rings and rounded bearing edges — the 1960s American construction — with modern tolerances and Japanese hardware.

Model

Camco Oaklawn

Drum kit · United States

Camco's Oaklawn-badge drums, built in Illinois before the company moved to Kansas, are the most sought of the brand: thin maple shells, minimal hardware, and a following far larger than the production numbers justify.

Model

Dixon Little Roomer

Drum kit · Taiwan

The Little Roomer packs a full kit into small diameters and shallow depths so it fits on a stage that cannot hold a 22-inch bass drum, and it ships with hardware built for the same constraint.

Model

Pearl Masters Maple Reserve

Drum kit · Japan

A professional Masters-series drum kit built on a 4-ply 100% maple shell with maple reinforcement rings, delivering the warm, full, classic Masters maple voice for stage and studio.

Model

Pearl Decade Maple

Drum kit · Japan

A mid-range drum kit series with thin 6-ply, 5.4mm all-maple shells, the Opti-Loc mounting system, and low-mass hardware, offering an affordable all-maple Pearl kit.

Model

Gretsch Renown

Drum kit · United States

The Renown is a Gretsch maple drum series built with the classic 7-ply Gretsch formula maple shells, 30-degree bearing edges and the exclusive 'Silver Sealer' interior. It delivers Gretsch's signature warm, focused tone in a more accessible imported line.

Model

DW Collector's Series

Drum kit · United States

DW's Collector's Series is the company's flagship line of American-made custom drum kits, handcrafted to order in Oxnard, California. Kits are built from premium shell woods such as maple, birch and mahogany using DW's Specialized Shell Configuration, then finished with hand-applied lacquers and exotic veneers. It sits at the top of the DW range, with extensive options for sizes, finishes and hardware.

Model

Canopus Yaiba

Drum kit · Japan

Yaiba applies Canopus's thin-shell brief to a production kit, in birch and maple, with the small bop and medium sizes the company favours over modern rock dimensions.

Model

Pearl Masters Maple Complete

Drum kit · Japan

The Masters Maple Complete is a professional Pearl drum series built on the EvenPly-Six shell, a premium six-ply North American maple shell with reduced-thickness, cross-laminated plies. It blends the tonal purity of Pearl's Masters MMX with the projection of the thicker MRX, and ships with triple-flanged SuperHoop II hoops for resonance and articulation.

Model

DW Performance Series

Drum kit · United States

The DW Performance Series is a handcrafted, U.S.-made drum kit line built in Oxnard, California from 100% North American maple shells (DW's HVX construction). It pairs professional shell tone and hardware, including True-Pitch tuning rods and triple-flange hoops, with a more attainable price than the flagship Collector's Series. A limited birch shell option is also offered through DW's California Custom Shop.

Model

Ludwig Classic Maple

Drum kit · United States

Ludwig's Classic Maple is a professional drum series hand-crafted at Ludwig USA in Monroe, North Carolina. Kits use 7-ply, 6mm cross-laminated North American maple shells formed with Ludwig's Radio Frequency Shell Technology, giving full tonality, rich sustain and a wide tuning range across many size and finish options.

Model

C&C Gladstone

Drum kit · United States

The Gladstone line takes the same thin-shell approach into maple with more elaborate hardware and finish work, aimed at drummers who want the vintage voice without the vintage condition.

Model

Slingerland Radio King Outfit

Drum kit · United States

Radio King outfits paired the solid-shell snare with maple toms and bass drums, and Gene Krupa's endorsement made them the most visible drums in America through the late 1930s and 1940s.

Model

Ludwig NeuSonic

Drum kit · United States

A modern drum kit series built on a 7-ply crossover shell with a 4-ply maple exterior and 3-ply cherry interior, made in Monroe, NC using Radio Frequency Shell Technology for a warm, full Ludwig voice.

Model

Tama Starclassic Performer

Drum kit · Japan

A Starclassic drum kit series built on a hybrid maple/birch shell (6mm 4-ply birch + 2 inner ply maple on toms), combining maple warmth with birch clarity for a complex, powerful, expressive sound.

Model

Sonor AQ2

Drum kit

AQ2 puts thin maple shells, low-mass lugs, and Sonor's SmartMount tom suspension into an imported kit, and is the line most often recommended when a drummer wants the Sonor shell profile without the German price.

Model

Rogers Londoner

Drum kit · United States

The Londoner sets were Rogers' answer to the growing kits of the 1970s, offered in numbered configurations that ran up to double bass drums and five toms.

Model

Gretsch Brooklyn

Drum kit · United States

The Brooklyn is a USA-made Gretsch drum series built with 6-ply North American maple and poplar shells, made slightly thicker than Gretsch's USA Custom. It uses 30-degree bearing edges and classic Gretsch 'Silver Sealer' shell interiors for a punchy, vintage-leaning voice.

Model

DW Jazz Series

Drum kit · United States

The DW Jazz Series is a Collector's Series configuration inspired by American jazz. Its shells use a 3-ply gumwood core, paired with maple, mahogany or cherry plies, to produce a round, focused tone suited to everything from bebop to pop on stage and in the studio. A vintage-style rounded bearing edge broadens the kit's tonal range.

Model

DW Design Series

Drum kit · United States

The DW Design Series was conceived at DW's California Custom Shop to bring custom-inspired drums to a wider audience. Kits use 100% North American maple shells in DW's HVLT construction, with precision-cut bearing edges, UV-cured lacquer finishes and Mini-Turret lugs. It is positioned as a more accessible entry into DW's professional drum kits.

Model

DW Collector's Series Classics

Drum kit · United States

The DW Collector's Series Classics is a vintage-voiced configuration of DW's flagship line, built to revive big-band-era drum tone with modern construction. Its shells pair a 3-ply poplar-and-mahogany core with maple reinforcement hoops and DW's vintage-style 'butter' bearing edge for dark, punchy, quick-sustaining tones. It offers the Collector's Series' full range of finishes, shell sizes and hardware options.

Model

Mapex Armory

Drum kit · Taiwan

A versatile drum kit series built on Mapex's hybrid shell concept, fusing birch and maple with a SONIClear bearing edge for broad tonal expression across studio and stage.

Model

Craviotto Solid Shell Kit

Drum kit · United States

Building a full kit out of solid steam-bent shells is slow and expensive, and the result is unusually loud and open — closer to a set of orchestral drums than a modern ply kit.

Model

Mapex Mars Maple

Drum kit · Taiwan

A mid-range drum kit series made of 100% premium European maple with SONIClear bearing edges, delivering a warm, smooth tone at an accessible price.

Model

Rogers Holiday

Drum kit · United States

Holiday kits carried Rogers' Swiv-O-Matic ball-and-socket mounting, which let a tom be positioned in ways competitors' hardware could not, and thin maple shells with reinforcement rings. The Cleveland- and Dayton-badged drums are the ones collectors chase.

Model

Tama Superstar Classic

Drum kit · Japan

A popular mid-range drum kit series with all-maple shells (6-ply, 5mm toms; 8-ply, 7mm bass drum), reviving the Superstar name with a full, powerful, balanced maple tone.

Model

ddrum Dominion

Drum kit

Dominion is ddrum's acoustic line, built in ash, maple, and birch, and sold to drummers who know the brand from its trigger and electronic work.

Model

Ludwig Downbeat

Drum kit · United States

A 20" bass drum, a 12" tom, and a 14" floor tom — the configuration Ringo Starr played and the one every jazz and small-club drummer bought. Its size is the reason 1960s records sound the way they do, and the reason the format came back.

Model

Gretsch Round Badge

Drum kit · United States

Round Badge kits — named for the badge shape used until about 1971 — pair three-ply maple and gum shells with silver-sealed interiors and die-cast hoops. The dry, woody tone is the sound of American jazz drumming, and Art Blakey, Tony Williams, and Elvin Jones all played them.

Model

Gretsch Progressive Jazz

Drum kit · United States

An 18" bass drum with a 12" tom and a 14" floor tom: small, quick, and pitched high enough to sit under a ride cymbal rather than compete with it. The configuration is named for the music it was built for.

Model

Ludwig Super Classic

Drum kit · United States

A 22" bass drum with two toms, in three-ply mahogany and poplar with maple reinforcement rings — thin, resonant shells that are loud without being hard. Along with the Downbeat, this is the kit most 1960s and 1970s American records were made on.

Model

Slingerland Buddy Rich Outfit

Drum kit · United States

Slingerland catalogued a Buddy Rich configuration for decades, and the association — like Krupa's before it — did as much for the brand as any shell specification.

Model

Sonor Delite

Drum kit · Germany

Delite paired very thin maple shells with minimal hardware mass, aiming at maximum shell resonance. It sat between the imported lines and the German flagship for most of its production life.

Model

Sakae Trilogy

Drum kit · Japan

Trilogy shells combine maple, birch, and beech in one lay-up rather than choosing between them, which Sakae argued gave the attack of birch with maple's low end.

Model

Slingerland Modern Solo

Drum kit · United States

Slingerland's professional outfit through the swing years, sold around the Radio King snare and the endorsement that came with it. Original Modern Solo kits in white marine pearl are among the most photographed drums of the century.