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Howdy. I spent last evening visiting Jim in Bal'mer and checking out the z-drums. Technically, they work fine except for a puzzler about snare rimshots. (See the tech forum for details.) I just want to share my overall impression here.
Basically, I really like them. Jim had some black and some white ones. They look very neat, with steel shells and fine 'real drum' hardware-rims, lugs, tom mounts. They actually look like genuine open-ended drums.
The heads are interesting. Definitely different from the Roland/Remo heads I've seen and used. The material is a flat black weave, which is coarser than the V-drum mesh heads. Because the weave material is flat, the heads actually feel smoother. When I tightened up the head on the 10" and 12" Z's, they were not quite as bouncy as the Roland heads. (I'm comparing this mostly to my 8" Customs pads, although the same can be said for the PD100/120's that I've tried.) That's not a bad thing, as the V-drums can feel pretty bouncy, and the Z's felt a bit more natural. Although if the heads are loose, they feel kind of dead. (So just tighten them!) The heads also have a neat cast-in resin rim, rather than a crimped aluminum one. Seems to work fine, and it's a neat design.
As for the shell and mounting, I would say these are probably better mounted using the attached L-rod clamp, rather than on a snare stand. The bottom of the steel shell is unsupported (the top is hekld round by the rim) and it could deform a bit from overzealous snare stand tightening. If the arms of your snare stand are flat by the outer edge (rather than angled), then the shell should sit nicely on it. The stand we used was angled and so it diodn't hold the shell as solidly. Here's a pic of what I mean!:
('H's are the shell, single lines are the end of the snare support arms)
Good Bad
H H
H | H |
H | H |
/----- /
/ /
Overall, I do give them the thumbs-up. If the rimshot problem can be addressed, I plan to get one (probably a 10") to use as a snare with my Customs. (Oh yeah, and they *do* dial in for good Positional Sensing as well!)
Basically, I really like them. Jim had some black and some white ones. They look very neat, with steel shells and fine 'real drum' hardware-rims, lugs, tom mounts. They actually look like genuine open-ended drums.
The heads are interesting. Definitely different from the Roland/Remo heads I've seen and used. The material is a flat black weave, which is coarser than the V-drum mesh heads. Because the weave material is flat, the heads actually feel smoother. When I tightened up the head on the 10" and 12" Z's, they were not quite as bouncy as the Roland heads. (I'm comparing this mostly to my 8" Customs pads, although the same can be said for the PD100/120's that I've tried.) That's not a bad thing, as the V-drums can feel pretty bouncy, and the Z's felt a bit more natural. Although if the heads are loose, they feel kind of dead. (So just tighten them!) The heads also have a neat cast-in resin rim, rather than a crimped aluminum one. Seems to work fine, and it's a neat design.
As for the shell and mounting, I would say these are probably better mounted using the attached L-rod clamp, rather than on a snare stand. The bottom of the steel shell is unsupported (the top is hekld round by the rim) and it could deform a bit from overzealous snare stand tightening. If the arms of your snare stand are flat by the outer edge (rather than angled), then the shell should sit nicely on it. The stand we used was angled and so it diodn't hold the shell as solidly. Here's a pic of what I mean!:
('H's are the shell, single lines are the end of the snare support arms)
Good Bad
H H
H | H |
H | H |
/----- /
/ /
Overall, I do give them the thumbs-up. If the rimshot problem can be addressed, I plan to get one (probably a 10") to use as a snare with my Customs. (Oh yeah, and they *do* dial in for good Positional Sensing as well!)
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