NAMM 2008 was like a theme park for musicians to say the least. Unfortunately, the convention was not open to the public. Luckily for us at DrummerConnection we were able to attend NAMM to see everything there was to offer. So we thought it would be great to let other drummers, also attendees of NAMM 08' to share their experience to everyone that were not able to be part of such a life-changing event. Mike Tocker, Percussion Specialist from Daddy's Junky Music was generous enough to give us his take on the whole event.

"I came, I saw (and saw, and saw, and saw), I left..." NAMM Show 2008

I went to the NAMM Show in Anaheim Ca. this year from 1/16-1/20. I trudged the enormous showroom floor for 3 days, dehydrated, with worn soles on my shoes, a camera, a mailbag sized satchel for schlepping new literature, and with nothing but an apple, mints, a pen and a picture of my grandson in my pocket, scouring the thousand of new drum/percussion items for new things that we simply “couldn’t live without” in our stores. Well I found that and whole lot more. As the days went by and I revisited areas I started to narrow things down in my head a bit. Along the way I saw square drums in plexi-glass and wood, a drum set built on a bike and a drum lit with 23” bass drums among other things. The trend towards sexy sparkles, sparkle fades, and glitter finishes in any color/color combination that you could imagine continues. There were also drums in more exotic wood finishes shown this year. The quality of drums manufactured in China has continued to get better as the prices of them stay the same. Like real estate in my neck of the woods, it is definitely a buyers market and the “bang for your buck” factor on new drums is at an all time high. The following, grouped by manufacturer, is a sample of some of the cool things I liked.

ZILDJIAN

I felt privileged as we had already had prototypes of a lot of the new Zildjian cymbal models at our Zildjian Day in Boston at the end of September. They’ve expanded the K Hybrid of half lathed cymbals to include 5 new models (3 crashes, a china and some hats). I liked them all but especially the 16 and 18” crashes. Both were dark, with a short sustain and a nice penetrating bell area. They also lightened up the Terri Lynne Carrington inspired 22” K High Definition Ride to make it dryer with less sustain. Like a baby’s diaper, the dryer the better seems to be the way now in rides for playing jazz, fusion, or funk. They also have added a set of 14” High Definition Hats to add to the dryness. K Light Hats are now available in 15 and 16” for extra sloshiness, to go along with the popular 13 and 14” Hats released last year. The K Light Ride that came out last year in 24” is now available in 22”. This is great for when bigger isn’t always better or you simply just couldn’t fit a 24” cymbal in your cymbal bag. The 22” still offers a nice bit of sustain when crashed on. There is also a new Antonio Sanchez (Berklee Grad, Pat Metheny drummer, Daddy’s Boston customer) Signature Drumstick Model available. This stick features a small barrel wood tip and is a like a pregnant version of the Dennis Chambers Signature Model.

REMO

Remo has expanded the Vintage A line of drumheads that was introduced with a 14” last year, to include tom sizes from 10-16”. This head features 2-plys of thin Diplomat weight Mylar. It is a bridge between an Ambassador (1 ply) and Emperor (2 ply), where the top ply is very sensitive but the bottom ply helps add fullness and controls sustain. I was impressed with the feel and the attack of The Vintage A. Remo has also added flat black heads to their Suede line of heads in Ambassador and Emperor Weight. These heads are manufactured slightly differently than the normal Suede Heads and have more attack than the originals. They look cool too. In the hand drum area Remo has come out with a new Designer Series of Djembes.These drums are variations of their popular key tuned drums. They are starting to match the graphics featured on the shell of the drum on the drumhead. These drums now feature the thinner more sensitive Skyndeep Heads. I though they looked and sounded awesome. Remo also has a whole new line of tube style graphic shakers. My favorite was the Ginga Shaker which was 6” long and had 2 sets of jingle’s mounted inside. The combination of tambourine jingles and shaker pellets is a great effect together and would be cool for recording when overlaying a tambourine and a shaker part.

TAMA

Tama had a great looking booth as per usual and featured some limited run items. The first and most striking was an all-steel shell 7 piece featuring shell hardware from their Warlord Exotix Drums. This kit was heavy, loud, and limited to only 50. Sell price looks to be around 8K. They also showed a limited Stewart Copeland Signature Kit in Police Blue Sparkle identical to the kit that Stewart has been using on the Police reunion tour. They have also come out with more of the punchy and dark sounding Starclassic Bubinga/Birch kits. I really liked the Lava Sparkle, though the Supernova Sparkle (Champagne Sparkle-like) was pretty cool. There is also a Bubinga Kit available with a beautiful ply of Cordia Wood on the outside. This is a beautiful, dark and exotic wood and reminds me of the original Tama Artstar 1 Kits. They have expanded the ever growing birch Superstar line as well with several new colors and configurations. The Superstar Custom is now available in Dark Desert Fads which looks very expensive and is similar to the Antique Fade on the much more expensive Starclassic Maple Kits. This kit is available in a cool 4 piece configuration with a 24” kick,12 and 16” toms and a 14” snare. They are also featuring a lot of Superstar kits with the shorter stand-mountable Hyper Drive toms and deeper bass drums. They had a new Brushed-Burgundy-shells-with-black-chrome-hardware-covered-kit in the Super Line as well.

GRETSCH/KAMAN

This pair showed the 3 limited 125 Year Anniversary Kits which I wrote about last month. They were beautiful, as I had expected. The Cadillac Green color of the two Jazz size kits is hard to describe. I went back to “visit” them several times during my stay. The kit with the 20” kick, 12 and 14” toms, and 14” snare featured gold hardware. It looked majestic with the green shells. All 3 kits are very expensive, but I’m hoping to get one in the Boston Store (I’m leaning toward the kit with the 20” bass drum).We’ll see. I wrote about most of the new Latin Percussion stuff last month. One thing that I didn’t mention was the Monsoon Rainstick. It is made from wood and stands 24”tall. It sustains for around 45 seconds .You could go out for a bite and come back and it would still be going. I took a peaceful 23 second nap and woke up with time to spare. Gibraltar has redesigned the footboards of their pedal and high hat stands to lighten them up a bit while still retaining durability. I like the 5007 Hi-Hat Stand which is a good affordable (around $70), mid weight double braced stand sans bells and whistles. It does the job and nothing more.

PEARL

Pearl has streamlined their lines of drums. Last year after they opened up their factory in China to make some kits, there was a breaking in period. It looks like they have “settled in” and are ready to “bring it” again. The famous Export Line has been temporarily retired for now and has been replaced by 4 lines of drums from the Vision Series which was introduced last year. I think they are trying to have Vision be what Export was in great affordable drums, only with more options to choose from. The following is a list of the different Vision Series Kits:

1) VX Vision.. This is the least expensive Vision Kit. It is made in China and features a Birch/Basswood blended shell. These kits also feature a steel snare drum and are available in 9 configurations. They also come with heavy duty 900 Series hardware (2 cymbal stands, snare stand, hi-hat stand and a pedal) and are available in 6 colors including 4 that are brand new. My favorite color was the Metallic Orange, though the Olive Green w/ black hardware was pretty cool. Selling price for a 5 piece kit is $759.99.

2) VSX Vision.. This kit is very similar to the standard VX kit with a few exceptions. The main differences are that it comes in 6 fancy finishes (I love the Orange Sparkle), ships with 2 ply Pearl heads (deeper tom sounds) and features the Uni-Lock gearless tom mounts for unlimited tom positioning. A 5 piece kit sells for around $850.

3) VBX Vision Birch... This Vision Kit is also made in China. It features a 100% Birch shell and is available in 9 configurations with 900 Series hardware. It comes in 6 different lacquer finishes. I’m a sucker for Natural, so my favorite finish is the Natural Birch. The Concord Fade w/ black hardware was pretty cool as well. I am not sure of the sell price on these drums yet, but I think a 5 piece will be around $900.

4) VMX Vision Maple... This is the least expensive 100% Maple kit from Pearl. It is in the factory in Taiwan where Pearl make all their high end drums. There are also 9 stock shell pack configurations (I’m seeing a trend here) available. They are available in 5 lacquer finishes. My favorite was the Red Sparkle, though the Terracotta was cool as well. This kit also comes with a matching Maple snare drum. This is a really nice affordable maple kit. The 5 piece shell pack will sell for around $950.

All of the Vision kits sound great and are made well. Pearl has also expanded the colors of all their Maple Masters Custom Kits. These awesome drums are available in five 4 piece configurations (no snare drum) with Die- Cat Hoops on tops and bottoms of all toms. They are available in 4 lacquers and 3 covered finishes now. The Lime Sparkle Fade and Orange Sparkle Fade were very interesting, but I think my favorite is still the Red Glass Covered Finish. These Shell packs sell for $1500.There are many new finishes available in the Reference (different woods and thicknesses used on each drum depending on size) Series Drums. There are 5 basic 4 piece shell packs available. The Shimmer Of Oz finish is my favorite of the new colors and I like the Natural Maple a lot as well. You can now get these drums with a choice of Chrome, Gold Plated, or Black Chrome Hardware. I heard Chad Smith play a set of these drums with Glen Hughes at the Sabian Live Show on Friday night and I was blown away how great they sounded (though it was Chad Smith playing them). Master’s Premium (Birch and Maple) and Masterworks are still available as well on special order. Pearl also showed 3 new signature snare drums.The Mike Mangini Signature snare has a 6.2”x10”( The Golden Ratio) Birch Shell with tube lugs , an OptiMount, and a unique finish. This drum will be available in March for around $300. The MR1450 Morgan Rose Signature Snare is very similar to the popular Chad Smith Signature Drum. The Stainless Steel Shell is 1MM Thick and is LOUD. The shell is colored green and has Morgan’s famous Alien Logo’s all around it. The Aliens glow in the dark. This drum will also be around $300. The Jimmy Degrasso Signature drum is 5.5x14” and features a Beaded Hammered Brass shell. Hammering darkens the sound of the drum as it does with cymbals. The hoops on this drum are gold plated to match the shell. This drum which is also very loud will sell for around $450. Pearl also had some unique new Percussion items which I really liked. They now have Travel Congas available in 3 sizes with stands available. These drums are so portable and they sound great. You can fit each drum into a case around the size of a snare drum case which would make traveling with a Conga set easier than carrying around full size drums. You can use these drums on snare stands (Pearl makes a bridge that helps attach the stands together to prevent creeping) or a taller stand for stand up playing. There is a case available for the stand as well. Pearl also has a new Ultra Grip Tambourine. This model features a large grip (modeled after a cross country ski handle) located near the center of the half moon style tambourine for ease of play. It also features Jingle Control in the form of small white disks near each set of jingles that can be moved to mute selected jingles. This could be useful in recording where you might want a less jingly more attack driven part. You can make one tambourine sound a bunch of different ways. This available with steel or brass jingles (a slight upcharge). I thought this was a cool idea.

SABIAN

Sabian has a new line of cymbals called APX. They are loud! There is no doubt about it. They are advertising them as cutting through loud music. The ad shows a guillotine made from a cymbal about to drop on a 4x12 guitar cabinet. There are 23 Models total. The Crashes, Rides and Hats are divided into 2 weight clashes: the regular APX (medium weight), and the Solid APX (Heavy weight). The regular APX had more shimmer and sounded more musical to me, but I’m guessing that the Solid Series Cymbals may cut through louder guitar amps a bit better. My favorites of the bunch were the 22” APX Ride, 20”APX Solid Ride, 16 and 18” APX Crashes, 20” APX Solid Crash (a 20” Crash, subtlety is already out the door), 14” APX Hats, 16” O-Zone, 18” China and 14” APX Hats. These cymbals have almost a rainbow, oil slick, tinge to them. If your guitar players keep turning up, you may want to turn up, with a set of these cymbals (and a set of earplugs for them maybe to be nice). Also new from Sabian are a set of JoJoMayer Signature 13” Fierce Vault Hats. Like The whole Fierce line of cymbals, these hats are dry, dark and complex and probably the exact opposite of the above mentioned APX Hats. There is also the new 21” Vault Crossover Ride. This cymbal is a medium light weight, would seem to be fairly versatile and could be used for funk, fusion, pop or jazz. It is dark and somewhat dry, but not too much, and has a decent amount of sustain. The last 2 Vault Series cymbals mentioned will probably only be stocked in our Boston Store and maybe one other.

MEINL

These guys have seemed to be trendsetters in the Percussion world in the last couple of years. They throw a lot of things against the wall, and most of them seem to stick. They were the 1st to really push and produce many varieties of the now popular Cajon One of the coolest unique items I saw during whole show was the new Foot Cabasa (FCA5-L). This is a specially designed heavy duty foot pedal that you attach an included large Cabasa to. You can keep Cabasa grooves going while you play the Congas, Cajon, Timbale or even drum set. It sounds like a loud shaker when you play it straight ahead. Maybe you are playing a song that has a shaker part over a ride cymbal during the chorus or over a high hat part during a verse on a recording. You can now do this part while playing live. You can set the pedal for single or double strokes. This seems like the next step from the Gajate which allows you to play woodblock or cowbell parts with your feet. The whole unit (pedal and Cabasa) is going to sell for a bit less than $200. What more can be done with a cowbell that hasn’t been done already, you ask. Meinl has the new Russ Miller designed hammered Multi Bell. This big 8” wide moth bell features a built in adjustable muffler. It is designed like the internal muffle that used to be on most snare drums. There are 2 cymbal stand felts attached to a screw that goes through the bottom side of the cowbell. On the outside and at the end of the screw there is a rubber ball that you turn to brings the felts up against the inside of the cowbell. The more pressure on the inside of the bell the more muffled the cowbell sustain will be. If you want the cowbell wide open, just loosen the muffler. No more duct tape, stickers or Moon Gel. This is about a $45 bell. For the kids and part of the Nino line, Meinl has a game that is a variation of the famous Memory Game (all my kids played that) called Shake And Play that will help kids to recognize percussion sounds and help develop their memory. The game consists of 16 small orange plastic tubes (8 pairs) that all look the same. Each pair features a different sound of which instrument is imitating are pictured on the bottom. There is a wood base that the tubes fit in. Each player takes turn by shaking a tube loud enough for everyone to hear and then try and match it up with its mate. Whoever picks the most pairs is the winner. This is a great way to combine a family game with introducing your kids to percussion.

MAPEX

Mapex has definitely moved up on the drum food chain the last couple of years. They make great-sounding drums at a great price, and in the M Birch (free tom) and Pro M line (free 6x13 snare) they throw stuff in. Free stuff is good! This year they have a M Birch finish called Hermosa Fade (Orange to Amber) and a couple new Pro M finishes (Sienna Burst and Sapphire) In the M Birch they are also offering a cool Rock 22 configuration which has a 22” kick w/ 12 and 16” toms and a 14” snare. They throw in a 10” tom for free. Along with a complete set of hardware (minus the thone) this 100% Birch kit will sell for around $700.T Saturn and Orion higher end drums are also available now in 3 Glass Glitter finishes, Crystal Krush, Cosmic Crush, an Copper Krush. Coming shortly Mapex will be offering a way to design drums from their web-site by offering Pro M in Saturn Colors or Visa Versa. You will also have the option to select chrome or black hardware. This will allow you to customize a kit a bit different from what is offered in the catalog without breaking the bank. You would actually order the kit once you’ve designed it through Daddy’s of course.

OTHER RANDOM THINGS THAT WERE INTERESTING

HQP PERCUSSION

HPQ has designed a new more compact bass drum muffler that is held on by an adjustable rod that connects to the hoop on either side of the batter head. This will allow the same muffle that you use on your 18” bass drum to fit your 24” bass drum head as well.

PRO-MARK

Pro-Mark are the original, and now copied by EVERYBODY, maker of the wood dowel Hot rod Sticks. They have 2 cool new Models of Rod sticks. The 1st is Stealth Rods which are maple sticks with a plastic red handle that have a section of black thick nylon brush at the top only. This design will allow you to hit rim shots and do cross sticking. They are also available as Rocket Rods with a Bamboo top section for a slightly different, but less durable, effect. Pro-Mark also has a new and beefy wood tip Jason Bonham Signature Stick.

AHEAD

Ahead has a new line of Rod Sticks as well. I liked the Tip Sticks best. They are thick nylon brushes with a nylon drum stick tip that sticks out at the top. Maybe you want the pinginess of a stick on a cymbal in a lighter song where you are using brush rods. This may be the stick for you.

DRUM WORKHOP

DW 8000 Series Single and Double pedals (a cross between 5000 and 9000 pedals), shown at last year’s NAMM Show are finally starting to ship. I can’t wait. Also the 9000 Series Hi-Hat Stand is now available in a 3 leg version.

VATER..Has 2 New Stick Models for the jazzers. They are Super Jazz and Jazz Ride.

Anyhow, it was a great NAMM Show. The bar has definitely been raised in regards to great affordable sexy drums and innovative percussion. You’ll be seeing some of this stuff at a Daddy’s near you in the coming weeks and months. Oh Yeah, Daddy’s won the Music and Sound Award from Music And Sound Retailer for Best Multi Store Dealer PERCUSSION (and Clinics ) for 2007 for the 2nd year in a row…so that’s a good thing.

til next time...Keep Rockin’...MT

Here's more pictures Mike Tocker shot at NAMM: (click on photo to see full gallery)

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