Pearl Japan's Drumstick Bag

I just fisnished my second last paper and its time for an update before I left the hostel. Unfortunately my house havent equipped with internet connection yet and I dont have any idea when will Telekom provide the line to our area. This is what happened when government let a company to monopolize certain crucial service.

I have a friend studying in Japan. He was my neighbour when I used to live in Ampang, my hometown (although I dont have any house there anymore). He will come back to Malaysia twice every year and during his last return, I have ordered something that is only available for Japanese market. Yes, only Japan; USA and Europe didnt get a chance to have this thing in their local store unless they special order it through a Japanese website. When I'm thinking of something that he will bring it in his bag easily, I surfed to a Japanese's musical instrument website and came across Pearl's section. I am abit surprised with my finding. I've found a whole range of Pearl's very own cases and bags and also a whole range of Pearl's drumsticks. As a Pearl fan, I dont want to miss a chance to have one drumstick bag and a pair of Pearl's drumsticks for my collection. I will upload the drumsticks pic later, but here is the Pearl's Drumstick bag.

I also went to Singapore recently with my friends to watch Rachael Yamagata. Singapore as we all know is like a heaven for musicians because they have lots of amazing gear with amazing price. So I already have made a list things that I want to buy for Blackpearlz such as Ritter Cymbal bag, bass drum spurs, tension rods, washers, drumheads, HOLZ ring and few more which I couldn't remember. So when I was already in Swee Lee, I'm a bit disappointed because there's not much things there. There are things but not in my list. I also found that the Ritter bag is very expensive. So I bought things that were not in my list which are a pair of rute and mallet from Vic Firth. I also bought some plastic Tama washers. After that we went to a music shop in front of the Swee Lee and I bought 16" EC2 and clear G1 drumheads. I am looking for bass drum spurs but they only sell cheap looking spurs which I dont think I want to buy it. Later in the evening after the drum meetup with Soft drum community, I went to other drum shops in the city. I did found Holz but I decided not to buy it because short of cash. I must say my visit to Singapore's drum store this time was a bit disappointed simply because KL offer more things compared to what is being offered by them. But Singapore's Swee Lee does offer crazy discount few times a year which will never done here in KL.

Drumpad and hoop.

When I first received the drums. I was like "man... this drum is horrible!". And I do realize the fact that the 16" floor tom doesnt have its bottom hoop and the leg bracket has damaged. It was ok with me because it can be replaced with a new one. After my visit to Woh Fatt which I acquire my cheap hi-hat clutch and floor tom's bracket, I do realize that cheap China-made hoop is only available for 6 holes drum only. Mine is 8 hole. So after few weeks I went to Bentley and it surprised me because they didn't bring in normal hoop and the one that they have is the same China made 6 hole hoop. The salesman said that they will bring in the Pearl Superhoop II but its kinda pricey but that is the last resort for getting a 8 hole hoop. So at November 06, before I went to Penang for my industrial training; I placed the order together with deposit for 16" 8 hole Pearl Superhoop II. But when I get back from Penang after 3 months, the hoop still couldnt be seen in Bentley. I waited again and finally in somewhere March 07, I received a call from Bentley saying that the hoop has arrived. :) So here it is. I still didnt install it until now because I'm too busy with my school. I also grab a pair of Tama sticks which little heavier than I use before and it will be strictly for my rudimental practice.

*Pearl Superhoop II is a 2.3mm hoop which is a standard hoop for Session series between the entry level Export series and Professional level, Masters. Since Session has been discontinued, Pearl Superhoop II is now available at Vision and ECX Maple series. The normal hoop is 1.6mm.

As I said in previous post, I have receieved a gift from my gf which is the 12" Vic Firth drumpad. It imitates almost the same feel of real snare on the black surface. The grey surface on the other hand has more rubbery feel and softer rebound compare to the black one and it is also for quiet practice. The dual surface is a brilliant idea because I can play both surface and make a variety of sound with rudiments. It really a good buy (although i didnt buy it) and I will recommend it at anybody who are looking for a drumpad.

Practice kit: Drumpad, metronome, timer and a pair of sticks.

My First Zildjian

Its been almost a year since my last post. Yeah.. I'm so lazy to update it. As for the project, it dont really go well simply because I dont have enough fund to complete it. So I started fast at the beginning, bought used cymbals, new snare and new heads but getting slow in the middle because of some financial problem. But now, I want to restart it back. From the last post, I managed to get new crash, new drumpad (thanks for my lovely gf who bought it for me), new heads for toms and many more. So its not dead yet and I still play on my drums regularly.

As for the updates, I recently moved to a new house and get myself a bigger room and I have this space perfectly for the drums. I love the new house but one thing is behind my room is a house where have little baby and little kids. So I have to play softer with limited time. :( But its ok because since I have the drumpad, I practiced a lot in rudiments. And yes this rudiments really help to improve my stroke. I also deleted the post of the "Brass Snare" previously simply because the snare is actually not a Brass Snare. Its a Bronze snare. I managed to find the old catalogue of Tama's snare and found my snare on it. Sorry for the false information. Btw, this is the image from original catalogue. The code number for the snare is PB365. Bronze shell with Brass Mighty Hoop.

I also managed to get a used 18" Zildjian K Custom Dark Crash from a friend. Its really satisfied me because only god knows how I wanted this so bad and seeing it up in a classified, its no way I will let it go away. Although I have to wait about 3 months to pay it, it really worth waiting! It have unique crash sound with dry, trashy overtones. Fast response with very quick decay. Speaks quickly, then dies. Very dark and full-bodied. So thats all for now. I'll update more if I have the time.

Spaces and the "Feel".

A few weeks back, I cleaned my room, clearing unwanted things, vacuumed and put on the carpet. So its a new look for my room. After having so much space in the room, I cramped it up with the drums. And suddenly I am craving for more spaces for my room!!! Now I can either sit on the stool to play drums or lying on the bed playing with my N-Gage. How sad!!!

After a week or two, the drums on the first placement really giving me a headache. It is because my leg always end up stuck in the bass drum's leg, floor tom's leg and the boom stand's leg. It really annoys me, and I am thinking of changing the placement of the drums. By removing all the drums outside my room, I am placing the drums virtually imagining the drums to be place here and there and after a while, I make a decision-to put the drums facing the wall.
Now I can walk freely without stucking my leg to the drums anymore!

the room before setting up

the first placement

the new placement

Wondering whats inside the rack and floor tom? Its actually a DIY internal muffling system. Done by my drum teacher Mr Zafran, its basically using old newspaper to absorb the sound and resonance from the drums. Sounds? Like hitting a box. Personally, I really dont like to play on this "box". The feel just aint there. When I'm playing through a records, I just cant play like I normally play with the "real" thing. When I do simple rolling, I cant do it properly as the bounce of the stick just didnt matched what I used to. I really have this "feel" thing. I remembered when I'm with my previous band, playing in an acoustic set for a competition. The drums provided is out of tune and the cymbals had crack and I cant concentrate on my playing at all. I kept doing mistakes and keep hitting the hoops as I really not enjoy playing at all. So for me, the feel is important and the feel come from a nicely tuned drums. I dont care wheter its a Forum or a Masters but the owner must knew how to tune the drums properly so that you wont hearing a "China Made" drums from a Reference. So I was thinking to change the heads of the toms and getting the bottom hoop for my floor tom.

Next post, "The EC2".

Pearl Eliminator Single Pedal.

Its been a busy month and i dont have a chance to update this blog. So i bought this pedal. Why Pearl Eliminator? Why not Tama Iron Cobra (IC)? A lot of people will ask me why that i choose Pearl Eliminator instead of Tama IC. Okay, we go back to 2003 where im with SPFTP and one day we were jam at Soundcheck Studio at Pandan Indah. Fazly told me that the drummer that is currently jam before us (we were waiting for them) is using Tama IC. I was like...Iron Cobra???? WTF?!! So he said that this pedal is the best pedal available in Msia. And i was like.. oooooooooooo... And since then i only know the best pedal is Tama IC. End of story.

And when i bought the drums, i just planning to get cheap pedal as i would only use as practice and not to bring to gig. But then when my first visit to Bentley to look for stands, i am eyeing for Pearl Power Shifter (lower model than Elims) that retailed RM200 just because the look of the pedal. And i swear i dont even know what the hell Power Shifter is! So when i get back, i chatted with a friend that are have a lot of knowledge abt drums. So he said to me, his dream pedal is Eliminator. And i was like "why not Tama IC???" He said he had IC before and when he tried Elims, he just dont want to play IC anymore. Is Elim really that good???? And starting from that, i keep browsing through internet to make an online research for this Eliminator and also starting to save my money for it! :D

and this is the best review i found on internet from TAMA FORUM!!!! Hahahah!

Mr_Mark, Senior Member of Tama Forum.
Posted: 20 March 2006 at 12:31am | IP Logged

Ok well depending on discount situations and where you buy them from, The IC and the Elim will be priced within $10 of each other for all models.

now...
The IC comes in 3 models - Flexi Glide (belt driven), Power Glide, and Rolling Glide. The main feature of the pedal is Beater Level Adjustment INDEPENDENT from the footboard height, as well as footboard height adjustment. The IC is freakin good pedal, id put it equal to the Elim in performance, sturdiness and ability to last you, if you tend to it well it will last a very long time. All models come in Double versions as well.

The Eliminator. It comes in two models, P-2000B and P-2000C, with the B version being belt driven and the C chain driven. The eliminator comes with 4 different shaped cams, starting from fully round to offset (comparable to Rolling glide to Power Glide, with 2 cams in between), you can interchange these cams in a few moments and have a completely different pedal, so i see it as having all the IC models rolled into one. It also has the PowerShifter feature, and what this does is let you move the heelplate/footboard assembly backwards and forwards on the base plate, and that changes the feel from light to powerful - its a great feature and really helps in creating the feel you want. The pedal has Beater level adjustment but this also moves the footboard up and down, but there is a footboard height adjustment as well. The footboard also has a grip plate that you can adjust, turn around, decrease/increase grip on (this is on the footboard) Also, there are 2 optional cams for totally different feels, and any model is convertable from belt drive to chain drive and vice versa. The double is also easily converted to two singles.


Now... Personally i find the eliminator a better pedal (hence i bought one), but if the IC offers the perfect feel for you, then there is no need to buy the Eliminator. But i bought the elim cos i had no idea what feel i wanted in a pedal, (i had a general idea, but nothing specific) after playing around with my pedal i have one hella sweet setting perfect for my needs.


So for conclusion, if you buy Eliminator, you can utilize it to the maximum to suits your need. You can change the pedal position, change the cam feel, have quadbeater that have 4 types of beater, and a very strong build and very rigid body. Beginner or Pro, Punk or Classic; you will love this pedal. And after i tried it, i might configure my setting a bit and no doubt its the smoothest pedal ive ever tried. Period!


Power Shifter

Spring adjustment

Quadbeater

Dual Chain.

Semi Hard case(not plastic hard case like IC that can break if you drop it)

the pearl drum key

chad smith use it. hehee

I'm an Aquarian army.

From the start of the new semester, I've been browsing through the Pearl Drummer Forum and browsing through a lot of drum website. In Pearl Drummer Forum, there is a thread where the user can post their kit or in other word, "show off" their drumset to other user. Most of the user are from United States and yes their kit is most likely equipped with a lot of high end cymbals, hardware, and not to mention their drums are from Master series, Session, DW, Gretsch and other custom made drum such as OCDP, Taye, Epiarch which the price tag you can buy a Kancil or a Kelisa CASH! Everytime I browse through their pages, I was like "wahhhh.... shet....damn...." while looking at their AAX, HH, A custom, Z custom, Avedis, Elliminators, Iron Cobras, OCDP vented snare, Pork Pie's throne and many more things that would take me years just to have those. But in the end Im asking myself back, IF i had the money and are afford to buy those super expensive gear, would my skill improve? Would i become a better drummer? Would my rolling would be as fast as Travis' rolling? Would my footwork will become as good as Dave Weckl? Would i can play oddtime beat like Portnoy???? It is absolute NO, NO, NO! Hell NO! A good drummer should play well in any kind of sets wheter it is a crappy one or a good one. So i decided to get slow and not planning to buy anything expensive after this. Maybe later but currently, I will stick to what i had first.

The head (finally).

From my previous post, you can see my bass drum head have been abused so bad that both batter side and reso side of the head are all damaged. So last week after class, we first went to Woh Fatt to buy a few replacement parts for my floor tom, top hi-hat cymbal holder, and a few things. So i bought floor tom leg bracket, the hi-hat thing, ring muffler for my snare(cant afford to lose my hearing), clamp/adapter, and Modern Drummer Jan 2006 mag. All for less than hundred.
Then, we head to JS Music to buy bass head. It is Aquarian Super Kick II (double layer) for batter and a Aquarian Regulator pre potted for reso head. So on thursday i get back to my house and was excitedly put the new heads for my bass drum. I also replace the floor tom bracket with the new one and also finally can put the hi-hat cymbal. I moved the drums to the hall and set it up there because i want to tidy up my room and put away the table inside my room. So it is a 4 piece setup without the pedals. I need to get a boom/straight stand to make it a 5 piece setup. So here you go, my 80% of the incomplete Blackpearlz.

Old school style claw.



The bass head before



Aquarian Super Kick II



Setting up



Closer look



Ride view



80% complete

Gibraltar Hardware.

Last time when we first jammed at Mokhtar's house after semester break I've asked Mokh what stands that are good. Good for use and money. He simply say Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a company that ONLY makes hardware for drums and this company officially make hardware for drum maker such as Gibraltar and others. So I started to search about this brand on the internet and I found good reviews on it. So somewhere on February we went to Bukit Bintang in a search for stands. We first go to JS Music that the only official dealer of Gibraltar in Malaysia. I am looking for snare and boom stands. The retail manager there that is Jee is very helpful. She show to me and answer all my stupid questions on drums without hesitation. So I get the price and ordered a snare stands and boom stands. Its all around RM300. So while waiting my stands to be delivered to the shop, we went to Bentley to pick up my guitar.

After paying up my bills we went to percussion department. I've asked about my defected brackets and it is out of stock and they will order it and will take about a month to reach here. So I'll wait. Here are the defected bracket.



And I also checked out the price of boom stand for Pearl Hardware. Damn the price is so much higher than Gibraltar. So expensive. I stick with Gibraltar. So I also checked for pedal's price. The standard P-120P pedal price is RM190.00 Hurm... quit pricey for a stock pedal. I dont know about pedal yet. But after chatting with a friend, he suggest me the Pearl Elliminator Pedal. And its price tag is around RM500!
Nice. I will do some research on this pedal comparing with Tama's Iron Cobra and other pedals too.

So on Wednesday I went back home to set the stands and it looks more like a drumset now. Hahaha I felt so excited to complete this project! Here the pictures of blackpearl with the new Gibraltar snare stand and boom stand.

Snare stand



Snare stand with snare



Boom Cymbal stand



The Uncomplete Kit



Side View

Pearl International 1985

My journey to this "project" starts when I randomly post "anyone selling used bass drum, floor tom and toms" in Jamtank Classified Forum. It's not my intention to set a full drumset but I dont know... Its just happened to be that one of Jamtankers PMed me and yes he is selling those things plus hi-hat stand. The brand is Pearl Forum. I am so excited because the price is very reasonable and I started to collect all the resources that I've got and when the day is come, me and my brother went to Ipoh to get the drums.

As we waited about 2 hours at Pekan Lama in Ipoh, the seller came to us and brought us to his studio. It was Bacteria Records, one of leading Metal Label in Ipoh besides Indie Label, Bodysurf Music. Me and my brother was a bit dissapointed to see the drums. It was a badly abused drums. The batter and reso heads for the bass drums were worn, and there is also a defects on one of the floor's bracket. We had no choice to bring back the dusty drums and pay RM600 to them.

We headed back to our house and unloaded it. I took a plain white
cloth to clean all the dirts on the drums. It a bit rusty and am thinking of cleaning the whole drums. Gonna do it in my free time. The toms arm also look very worn but still can use. After cleaning it, setting up to 4 piece as I didnt bring my snare and are not buy any stands yet. It looks very old drums as I setting it without any cymbals. But it is what you get with that price. Patience is everything in this journey to complete my kit.

After I went back to campus to start my new semester, I start asking to Pearl's Forum about my drums. It is actually a Pearl International and it is 1985's model!!! So I guess my drums is 2006 minus 1985 is 21 years!!! Is it a vintage? Heh... I dont think so simply because I dont think the owner bought it at 1985. Maybe? Or maybe not.

The "Black Pearl" arrived.


The defected bracket, dusts and wrecked heads.


The setup after cleaning the dust.


The "Vintage" Pearl plate.(Its metal sticker btw)

History.

1999
Its all started when I was invited to play for my friend's project band when I was in form 4 that is 16years old. Metallica for newbies? I dont think so. But its all started there. From the very first I experieced playing a thing called drums, i know this is the musical instruments I will be playing. Thanks to Butterfingers who influenced me a lot in musical generally.

Middle 2005
In desperately to shut my bandmates' mouth to stop asking me to buy drum things since they had spent thousands for their effect pedals, I accidentally bought a crash/ride cymbal at a music shop in SS15 where I usually buy my sticks. It is 18" crash/ride Headliner cymbal. It's just a normal crash/ride and nothing special about this cymbal. Owh there is a special about this cymbal, that it is affordable 18" crash/ride. And when I play this cymbal at jamming studio, i prefer play it as a crash because it have a very bright sound since it is 18" size. This crash/ride have travel across to singapore twice as we have gig there twice. Now it is kinda mess with stick's hit and i am super lazy to clean those up. Have to buy cymbal cleaner after this. Here are the pics

Owh yea... the sabian bag i got it from a friend who sell to me for just RM50. And the condition of the bag is like new. Good deal.

Introduction

Welcome to the drum journal of my Drum Project of 2006.

In this journal, i will post anything that related to building my dream drumsets. Any updates of the drumsets will be posted here. I also will put reviews on gears that I will be use to build my first ever drumset.

Regards,
Umarz.