Tru Tuner

Hello people! I’m back!

Today’s review is on the Tru Tuner. This is a new device used to quickly tune your drums. Out of the box, it’s a little confusing; luckily they sent me some pretty good instructions! Once I got it set up I realized that there is a little bit of a learning curve to using it. After a while of playing with it, I think I finally got it down.

Basically, it’s designed to tighten down all the lugs simultaneously and apply equal amounts of tension. It comes with modified keys that go onto the drum’s lugs and then fit into holes in the plate. You tighten the lugs by moving the plate in a circular motion…this takes practice. The first time I did it, I had some of the keys going into the wrong holes (there are holes set for different diameter drums) and putting the keys in the wrong holes makes it REALLY hard to function properly. Once I figured that out, things worked much better. It does a really good job loosening and tightening evenly. The only issue I noticed is that as they rods tightened down, it became more difficult for me to turn them.  I may have still been in the learning curve though so I’m not going to fault the device.

Overall this is a cool invention. It seems big but it was designed to fit in your cymbal bag, so with that in mind, its size is acceptable. I’m not sure of its practicality in a gigging situation because by the time you set it up you may have been able to tune or remove the head with a standard drum key. I could see this coming in handy for someone who has to maybe change the heads on a kit or multiple drums though.

I am in need of more products to review so if you are a company, feel free to contact me, if you know of something cool you want reviewed, please contact me at timekeep69@aol.com.

Until next time!



Sleeved Washer by Hendrix Drums

There are a lot of products out there that try to reduce tension rods from backing out and help tune a drum a little easier. Most of what is out there is either expensive, ugly, or both. I think I finally found the product that takes care of BOTH issues!

Introducing the Sleeved Washers by Hendrix Drums! These are plastic washers that fit on to your tension rods to help keep them in place. I know, I know, you’re thinking “big deal, there’s already products out there that do that.” You’re right but one of the cool things about these is that they’re small enough that if you use black one, you won’t really see them but what’s really cool is that they come in 16 different colors so if you want, you can use them to accent your drum as well!

I put these on my Medicine Man snare drum a couple weeks ago, recorded tensions with my handy dandy Tension Watch and didn’t touch the tension rods the entire time I was testing them. I played the crap out of that snare. I’m a heavy hitting metal drummer so I know the issues with tension rods backing out. The results? Today I took my tension Watch out and there was barely any change in tension! These things really work!

So, now that they work and are cosmetically pleasing what’s next? Price. I did a review a while back on a different product that does the same thing and even though it did a good job, the price was ridiculous. Well, the Sleeved Washers have taken care of that too. They come in three different quantities:

20 - $8.99

50 - $16.99

100 - $25.00

Those are some good prices in comparison!

If you are looking for a product to keep your tension rods from backing out or…hell, you just want to put something on your drum to subtly accent it, these are excellent for both jobs!

So make sure you check em out at http://sleevedwashers.com and tell them PJ sent ya!

Until next time!

Exodus Cymbals

Wow”! It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write a review!

OK, there are a lot of new cymbal companies popping up nowadays. I did a review on one quite a while back and now here’s another one worth checking out!

Exodus Cymbals. They’ve been around a short time but are making some noise in the industry. The cymbals are Turkish and made very well. They have ten different lines: Altavox, Armageddon, Emunah, Kaphar, Koinonia, Shalom, Shofar, Sinergy, Worship, and Yuhbal

I’m going to talk about two of the lines that I have, Altavox and Worship.

First up, the 22” Worship Ride, This is a pretty heavy cymbal, I didn’t weight it but it’s got some bulk to it, nice and pingy with just enough wash. It’s also pleasing to the eyes (not that that matters, sound is more important but I give credit where it’s due). Nice finish (I like shiny cymbals), great sound and a decent price. Can’t beat that.

http://youtu.be/o7Ne5BPrLso 

Next up 13” Altavox Hi Hats, I’ve always like the crispness of 13” hats over 14” and these reinforce my belief. These hats are nice and crisp and cut through the music like no other!

http://youtu.be/xqFFxOK2bDY 

I really don’t know how to explain any of these cymbals effectively enough so I posted some videos of each cymbal so you can hear it for yourself. I mainly have Worship and Altavox cymbals in my collection but I can see myself trying some of the other lines as well. Maybe we can talk Exodus Cymbals into giving up a cymbal for a giveaway?

Be sure to check them out at www.exoduscymbals.com.

Until next time!

Still here!

Hi all!

Sorry I haven't been posting reviews lately, I got a new day job that has been taking me out of state for most of August. I'm still here and will be adding reviews as soon as I can get them written! I have some cool ones coming up!

Thank you!

PJ

KG Cymbal Blast Rim

Hi guys! I’m going on vacation tomorrow to sunny San Diego, CA so I am posting this weeks review a little early!

This is for the KG Cymbal Blast Rim. This product is brought to you by the Billdidit, the makers of The Coady Clutch! It’s mainly for the death metal drummers out there but I can see it being used elsewhere. Everyone has heard of the one handed drum roll right? In the metal drumming community it is referred to as the one handed blast beat. It’s a technique that uses the rim of the snare drum as a fulcrum  to play a drum roll/blast beat with one hand. Well, the people at Billdidit asked themselves “How about being able to do that on a cymbal?” And the Cymbal Blast Rim was born.

 Now I don’t have the technical abilities to play one handed rolls/blast beats so I enlisted the help of my friend Matt McKasty, drummer for the brutal metal band Warfear. Below is his unedited review of the product.

“Today I will be reviewing the KG Cymbal Blast Rim made by Billdidit. The KG Cymbal Blast Rim is a product designed to enable a player to apply the freehand technique to one or more of their cymbals as opposed to just their drums. For those of you who don't know what the "freehand technique" is, it is when the player uses the rim of the drum a fulcrum on the center of the stick to get even single strokes with one hand using a see-saw motion. It is also commonly referred to as a "gravity blast". The KG Cymbal Blast Rim represents a small section of counter-hoop just like the one you would find on your drums, which threaded to mount on any standard 8mm cymbal post. When mounted in front of a cymbal it gives you a fulcrum point to execute the technique just as you would on your snare. You can use is on any of your cymbals, but I found it to be intrusive on anything other than the ride cymbal. I can see it being used off to the left of the hats and being played with the left hand as well, but anywhere else it seemed to get in the way of my playing. When positioned in front of the ride cymbal the piece worked surprisingly well. It didn't encumber my ability to play around the kit and it allowed me to play clean one handed rolls on my ride with little effort. I sometimes use my floor tom rim to do this, (which is really only possible because of how low my ride sits in proximity) but having a rim exactly where I need it in front of the cymbal made it much more comfortable and practical. The only issue I ran into with the KG Cymbal Blast Rim is that it must be threaded all the way down onto the post to be stable, so you cannot twist it on the post. This isn't a huge issue being that it is designed to mount on a separate stand which can be rotated in itself, but I used the product on a boom arm that I clamped to my ride stand and it created a small issue, though nothing that can't be solved by the implementation of a small counter-nut on the cymbal post. All in all I have to say the KG Cymbal Blast Rim functions exactly as it was intended to. It may be impractical for some, but the bottom line is it works. If you want to be able to apply the freehand technique to your ride cymbal, but can’t because your ride doesn’t have a rim, this product may very well be the answer.”

The KG Cymbal Blast Rim runs 15.95.

For more info, go to www.billdidit.ca.

Until next time!

Bum Wrap Winner!

Congrats to Chris (Cutaway79)! He's the winner of the Bum Wrap Drum Co wrap!

Bum Wrap Drum Co.

There have been quite a few custom drum wrap companies popping up here and there lately. For a while there was only one that was owned by a well known drummer but now there are quite a few. This review is on one of the newer people coming into the game…or at least the newest one that crossed into my RADAR.

They are called Bum Wrap Drum Company, They are based out of Maryland and sell primarily on ebay. After finding them on ebay I looked to see if they had a Facebook page (who doesn’t have one?) and contacted them for a price list. They returned my email quickly and offered to send me a sample of their wrap. They asked what size I would like and told me they would send it out.  Of course I accepted and waited for my sample to arrive. About a week later it showed up on my doorstep. They actually sent me quite a few samples since I had told them I was going to write this review.

I was very impressed with the wrap samples I got! One of the biggest problems I had with the “original” custom wrap company was that the images on the wrap weren’t always sharp. Some even were slightly blurry, but Bum Wrap’s images are SHARP. They look great and the wrap is sturdy! I’ve ordered wrap off ebay before only to find that it’s about as durable as shelf paper…not something you want to put on a production drum. Bum wrap is maybe slightly thinner than standard wrap but not much. Sorry, I don’t have the specs on their wraps.

Their webpage is www.bumwrapdrumco.com, it has quite a few standard samples but nothing close to what they can do.  I wish they would put some of the samples they sent me on it because they’re pretty impressive. Their Facebook has some additional samples.

So if you’re in the market for affordable custom wrap, I recommend Bum Wrap Drum Co. They can do pretty much anything you can imagine. So check them out and tell them PJ sent ya!

I do have a couple pieces of wrap for a giveaway! I have chosen a couple pieces that I am going to use for drum builds and I have some left over, not that I don’t want to use it, but because I want to help them get their product into other people’s hands. The wrap pieces measure 4.5” x 46” so basically they will work on a 4.5 to 5x14 shell. I am only going to give one piece away at this time, I will do another give away at a later date. Below is the sample that is up for grabs.  To enter into the contest, you must go to their Facebook, www.facebook.com/Bumwrapdrums, and post a positive message on their wall and mention this blog in the post. That will enter you into the drawing!

Here is the piece for the giveaway! It's a really nice wood grain burst!

Good luck!