Sonor drums, in their various stages of development, have been in existence for just over 100 years and, since 1950 when the company was nationalized, have been made in Aue, Westphalia, Germany. I remember the old Sonor kits and recently had occasion to have a good look at one. They have a very good sound but rather antiquated-looking fittings with staggered nut boxes and flimsy stands. That has all changed and the kits that are produced today are as good, if not better, than the best of the American/English/Japanese kits, made from 9 ply beech, cross-plied with staggered joins. Also all the hardware and fittings have been beefed up and improved far beyond the originals.

The review kit features 6 concert toms: 10" x 6", 12" x 8", 13" x 9", 14" x 10", 15" x 12", 16" x 14", an 18" x 16" floor tom tom, 24" x 14" bass drum and a 14" x 6½" snare drum. The set includes hi-hat stand, snare stand, 2 cymbal stands, 2 concert tom tom stands, bass drum pedal, double tom tom holder (bass drum mounted) and, of course, 3 floor tom tom legs. Sonor make a range of different stands and accessories and those supplied with this kit are optional. It would be as well to check out from the catalogue or your local drum shop the different types available; there are three types of bass drum pedal alone, for example.

I found the kit sounds as beefy as it looks which, considering the thickness of the shells, is not really surprising. The one thing that did surprise me was the volume of the drums, since at first sight they look as if the sheer thickness of the shells would stifle the volume a little; but not so as I found they have a good degree of 'cut' as well as a thick, warm sound which is characteristic of wood shell drums as opposed to fibreglass or phenolic in other makes.

The concert toms and floor tom tom came supplied with Remo centre spot heads and the sound of the drums with these heads was bright and loud. Many drummers have different ideas about how a drum should sound but I think you would be hard to please if the sound of these drums did not impress when tuned correctly. Personally I like drums tuned fairly high (with the exception of the bass drum) for maximum response and tone. I know a lot of drummers who have beautiful kits but the heads feel like wet pillows and anything other than a single stroke roll is impossible. With a kit of this size you can have a range of pitched tones from high to low by tuning carefully.

The 24" bass drum has ten lugs each side, twenty steel claws and twenty tensioners with butterfly-type handles similar to, but larger than, the wing screws on other parts of the kit. The hoops on the bass drum are made of polished metal and have a groove on the inside with the customary rubber block to hold the bass drum pedal firm. The bass drum did seem to be unusually heavy and metal hoops do not help on that score. I would have preferred wooden hoops, but metal will obviously be more durable. While on the question of weight, the whole kit is heavy due mainly to the thick shells, large square nut boxes and chunky fittings, so if you live in a 12th floor high-rise flat with no lift, bear this in mind!

The spurs on the bass drum seemed rather unusual on close investigation, similar in design to the Premier/Ludwig folding spurs, but with a triangular-shaped double rod for added support. When set down the tips have spikes or rubber feet which are threaded and can be screwed down as an alternative. As to effectiveness, they work well but only in such a position that the bass drum is raised about half an inch from the floor at the front. In this position it seemed very logical because the harder you hit the bass drum the more they dig in. The 'T' shaped concert tom tom holder mounted on the bass drum is one of the best I have seen and has a lot of angle adjustment, unlike some other makes which just go up, down, forward and backward. With this holder you can turn the toms towards you and bring them close together or space them up to nine inches apart. They can also be angled in towards each other or out from each other if you so wish. There are two blocks at the top of the holder which are held in place with two screws (each the same size as the tension rods on the snare drum and toms). These two parts clamp together and secure the arm which is set in a 'V' shaped groove, with the other part of the arm going into the tom tom and a ratchet-style wing nut which enables the angle between the two arms to be adjusted.

The bass drum receiving device is slightly larger than those fitted to the tom toms and has a nylon block on the inside of the tube which, when the wing bolt is adjusted, applies pressure to the arm. This system seems to work well enough although a slight twist is needed to free the arm from its socket and the wing bolt, which protrudes at a 70-degree angle from the bass drum, is dangerously protrusive and, if the drums were roughly handled, could snap off.

The concert toms in this kit look very strong and well-made as does the rest of the kit. I would personally have liked an 8" concert tom added to this kit to make up a full octave. The whole kit has the square nut boxes which have a larger tension rod than other makes. This would suggest added strength, apart from looking better on the large nut boxes.

When playing a concert tom kit of this size, you begin to realise how unfit you are (if you are like me), as doing fast single stroke rolls around the concert toms a la Billy Cobham really takes it out of you physically. I would suggest, if you are serious about playing a kit of this size, that it would be as well to do a few exercises and cut down vices like smoking and boozing.

The 18" x 16" floor tom tom has a very nice deep resonant sound, even without slackening the heads off too much. The drum has three legs bending outwards just over 6" from the bottom which have the obligatory rubber feet. The legs were held by a similar style bracket to the spurs mentioned earlier, with a centre groove. Although the legs had no knurled top they held firm very effectively. The top head of the floor tom tom has a very effective steel spring screw-up damper which can be adjusted and has a very large felt pad set about 2" in from the rim.

The snare drum (Catalogue No. D 506) is a new line from Sonor and measures 14" x 6½" with 45 degree centre bead inversed flanges. As with the rest of the drums, the counter-hoops are seamless and the snare action is an adjustable throw-off type similar to Ludwig with a cord tie-on snare. Also fitted is a damper, similar but not as large as that on the floor tom tom. I tensioned the batter head up fairly high and the snare head just enough to get rid of the wrinkles and achieved a very responsive crisp sound with a good round tone which would cut through in most electric bands. The advantage of having a 6½" deep snare drum is to retain some body and depth in the sound even when tensioned tight; Sonor are a good example of this. The actual sound of this drum did remind me of Bernard Purdie on recent recordings, and coincidentally Sonor do in fact claim that Mr Purdie is a player of Sonor drums.

The stands supplied with the kit are obviously made with quality and durability as a first consideration. My only real criticism is their price, which works out at about £250.00, which, considering the stiff competition from the land of the Rising Sun, is a bit steep. But if you want the best and are not counting the pennies, the Sonor stands and accessories will give you good and reliable service.

The snare stand is the Buck Rogers type which has the same adjustable spikes at the end of the legs. A large wing bolt at the top of the bottom section and the basket mechanism for holding the drum can be set by means of a knob at the bottom of the tube and a large lever will release the arms holding the drum. This would be a great help in packing away fast after a gig or when changing snare drums. The hi-hat stand has a single spring pull action with a locking clamp on the top half, which is standard on most reputable makes. To be honest, I found the hi-hat a little stiff and there seems to be no means of adjustment, but I am told that Sonor do supply different strength springs.

The bass drum pedal was very impressive and came supplied with a tapered wood beater which hit the head of the drum at the correct angle for maximum impact and volume. Unlike the hi-hat stand, it had a lot of adjustment available both on the single spring action and the cross-bar and cam. On this twin post pedal was a large clamp for fixing to the bass drum which in turn is operated by a long wing screw which worked very well, although you would have to make sure the pedal is exactly in the middle of the two tensioners on the bass drum, otherwise it would make the pedal lopsided.

The cymbal stands and concert tom stands are all very sturdy and have extremely wide tripod bases, and all have the adjustable spikes and rubber feet as mentioned previously on other accessories. The concert tom holder is the same at the top as the one mounted on the bass drum, along with the cymbal stand tripod bases.

Sonor drums do look very good and are available in a range of attractive metallic plastic finishes, my favourite of which are the metallic white and metallic bronze. They also come in two very nice wood finishes, maple and rosewood, but a little more care needs to be taken with the wood finish kits against scratching and knocks. Sonor also do acrylic kits. The only one listed in the catalogue is smoky-grey, but I understand they will supply other colours to order. John Stevens has an acrylic kit and told me recently how pleased he is with it and, knowing how particular John is, this is a good recommendation. There are many good drummers all over the world playing Sonor drums, and the ones I have talked to have been very pleased with their kits both for studio and live use. In fact studio engineers seem to love Sonor drums for their thick, warm sound, so if you play a lot of sessions or own a studio and require a studio kit, you will not go far wrong with a Sonor.

As I mentioned previously, the price of the stands tends to up the price of the kits a bit, but you can, of course, purchase just the drums and use alternative or cheaper hardware which you may prefer anyway. Finally, Hohner (the British importers) provide an excellent back-up service for spare parts if needed, and every Sonor dealer should have a Sonor spares box which should provide you with anything you may need, i.e need.

rrp £1006.61/$1795.00