6-15-2018: Pearl Decade Maple Upgrades

Joseph "Stix" Davis

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Pearl Decade Maple Upgrades

By Joseph "Stix" Davis - 6/15/18

Last week, I reviewed the Pearl Decade Maple kit in all of its stock glory, which you can read here. This post is about the changes I made before I brought this kit to the stage. One change was out of necessity, the other changes were simply preference. There is a video demonstration at the end of this post.

Heads

New drum heads, the first order of business.

Aquarian Drumheads

Snare (Batter) - Texture Coated (10-mil, single ply)
Snare (Resonant) - Hi-Performance (3-mil, single ply)

Tom (Batter) - Response II Coated (7-mil, double ply)
Tom (Resonant) - Classic Clear (10-mil, single ply)

Kick (Batter) - Super Kick II Clear (7-mil, double ply)
Kick (Resonant) - Regulator (10-mil, single ply)

Snare

The Texture Coated head is bright and responsive. I'm not a heavy hitter, and I do a lot of ghost notes. The Hi-Performance is the same head as the Classic Clear Snare Side head, but has strips of protective material to help prevent tears in the head due to broken snare wires. I've never had snare wires break on me, but it never hurts to take precautions.

Tom

The Response II Coated and Classic Clear heads are easy to tune, versatile, and produce a warm and open tone. The Classic Clear can be used as a batter or resonant head, but I use them as a resonant head on all of my kits.

Kick

The Super Kick II head has an internal muffling ring that, combined with the Regulator head and mini muffler pillow, produces a focused, punchy sound.

OptiMounts

The Pearl Opti-Loc suspension system is vastly more sturdy than the old ISS mounts. The Opti-Loc attaches to the top two tension rods, and a third point attaches to an air vent approximately 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the drum. The only system more sturdy than that, while allowing the drum to move freely at the same time, is the Pearl OptiMount. The OptiMount attches to two tension rods on both the top and bottom of the drum. The tension is more evenly distributed, and there is no contact with the shell. Plus I like the way the OptiMounts look.

Nylon Sleeved Washers - Hendrix Drums

Nylon sleeved washers eliminate the metal on metal contact between the tension rod and the hoop. This protects the hoop and allows for looser tunings and reduces tension rod rattle. Less rattle means the drum stays in tune longer. Simple, yet effective.

Kick Drum Masking Plate

If I'm using one or two rack toms, they are off to the left. If I'm using three rack toms, I have a drum rack. I also like having my toms really close to me. With all of that in consideration, I didn't want to use the tom mounting bracket. I didn't want to just leave it there, so I installed this stylish kick drum masking plate.

Note:

For this demonstration, I used 2 overhead Audix F9 microphones. I used no EQ or compression. I wanted the drums to sound as authentic as possible. I did have to tune the floor toms up a little bit for the overhead mics to pick them up, otherwise they sounded too thuddy.

There are an overwhelming number of options when it comes to customizing a drum kit, and I'm proud to call this kit mine.

Cheers!

- Stix