DW Performance BOB Installation - Made in the USA

Until recently, DW at their office in Oxnard, California, only made custom rigs. All the rest were made at foreign factories. That all changed in late 2010 when DW started making Performance Series units in America. For these setups they use the same maple as they use for the higher end drums, the same True Pitch rims and the same MAG strainer. This list goes on and on. However, Collectors drums still sell 30% more successfully due to their unlimited customization options.

So, compared to the Collectors Series, Performance Series drums are only limited by your imagination. When ordering Collectors series drums, you can choose the color, size, configuration and whatever you want. DW will do what you can think of for you, and John Good will then tweak and fit the drums so they all sound good and in tune. As for the Performance series, DW is lowering the price due to the fact that the drums are not tuned so carefully, they use small lugs, only certain colors and sizes are available. Yes, and the drums themselves are sold either individually, or just a set of "cases", and not a full-fledged installation. For example, the Performance series offers you a 22" diameter and 18" deep bass drum, but unfortunately they do not have a 16" diameter and 14" deep bass drum.

Not every drummer wants a 22" kick drum. For these people, DW offers a 4-piece bop kit. The kit I received for review consists of three components that can be purchased separately: an 18?x14? kick drum, set of toms 12x8 and 14x14, maple snare drum 14x5.5.

First Impressions

Every bop setup I've seen lately has been in one of two extremes. Either $500-$800 budget drums or $2,400 or more super duper custom kits. The setup that was sent to me costs $1,740 (at regular stores, not cataloged), so I was intrigued and eager to try it out and compare.

As soon as I took the drums themselves out of the boxes, I was impressed with the tobacco stain color. No dots, textures, or fades, just solid, matte and smooth color. The drums are not varnished, but covered with oil, due to which they become a little cheaper, because. varnishing is an expensive pleasure. The inner surfaces of the drums are also covered with oil, which pleasantly impressed and amazed me. On a purely aesthetic level, I was annoyed only by the fact that each drum has a gray badge that looks like some kind of quality certificate. It seems to me that gray does not go well with satin. Of course, I'm glad that the drums are not some kind of fake, but really from the DW factory, but the guys could have chosen a more harmonious color for their badges (for example, beige, white, or ivory).

The lugs made me happy - the same legendary lugs that DW have been using since they bought the Camco Drum Company many years ago.

For the Performance DW series, a smaller version of the Quarter Turret lag has been specially developed. The smaller the size, the cheaper it is to manufacture. But, despite the price, I would still prefer that the original original Quarter Turret lugs were put on the drums. Although, due to exactly the same chrome plating as on older brothers, smaller copies look like actually smaller “brothers”. And they fit well in size so as not to scratch the paint. In addition, the STM volume mount looks less bulky to fit into the overall concept of the installation.

All earlier DW snare drums had Dual-Turret lugs. However, the snare drum I received for review also has smaller single Quarter Turret lugs (10 in total), which I honestly like a lot more.

Tool tuning can be fun too

I didn't have any problems getting this set up, thanks to several factors. Primarily due to the high quality rims used for this setup. Not only because they are perfectly round, but they are also perfectly smooth, without nicks and bumps. Secondly, the 45-degree edge of the drums is also perfectly cut, which allowed me to achieve the same tone on each lug very quickly. Thirdly, the True Pitch bolts that hold the plastic are 20% stronger and more accurate than regular ones. According to the manufacturer himself, all these factors allow you to engage in finer tuning. As for me, all this, of course, makes the setup easier, but not much, and in principle, few people other than professionals will use these features to the fullest. Although the True-Pitch bolts hold the head tension really longer. This is the main pleasantness.