Just supposing you had a burning desire to own a Yamaha 9000 series set with a lacquered finish but were £324 short of the asking price, what could you do? Up until February '85 the answer to that question would have been nothing. But Yamaha have just gone out of their way to bridge the gap between their ranges. Their latest sets are made more or less like the top of the range ones, but from a slightly softer wood combination of birch and mahogany. The exterior finish of the shell is lacquered (like the Recording Series) but not rubbed down by hand, and 8000 sets have single nut-boxes too instead of the extra long, full shell ones. There aren't any stands to go with the set (except for two cymbal stands), so one is expected to choose either those from the cheaper 5000 series, or splash out and go for the 9000 ones.

The set I played had extra depth 'power' bass drum and mounted toms, with a normal sized floor tom and a metal shell snare. So, the set sizes were 22" x 16" bass, 12" x 10", 13"x 11" and 16" x 16", with a 6½" snare drum. The price quoted at the top of this article includes one of Yamaha's double tom holders too, but no other stands.

The bass drum

The bass drum was fitted with 20 single nut boxes, cast claws and 'T' handled tension screws. As with all their sets, the 8000's bass drum has four square-headed tension screws at the floor position. These perform a dual function; they help the footpedal to fit without fouling them, and they enable the player to tune without too much trouble. (They also allow the drum to sit on the floor better.) The nut boxes by they way look like the very ends of the 9000 ones. They're springless too with just a piece of thin metal to hold their swivel nuts in place. They are meant to be very difficult to detune from vibrations alone. I've always been impressed by Yamaha's wooden bass drum hoops, and these are no exception. They have genuine right-angles machined into their edges to allow them to locate with the head better, and are lacquered to match the rest of the set. A small piece of rubber is glued to the batter hoop to locate the bass pedal without ruining the finish. (It's not a bad idea to do this with your own bass drum hoop, it wouldn't be difficult and would save wear and tear.)

Yamaha's cast tom holder receiver block is fitted well forward so you get your toms well together and the only other thing to comment upon is the movement arrest system. As far as I can see, the spurs are the same as on the 9000 bass drum. They have have a cast plate with a pair of grooves in it which is fixed to the shell. These grooves are 'V' shaped and locate the spur itself. One of the slots is parallel to the floor to put the spur in its forward facing position, while the other puts the spur parallel to the floor for packing away. The overall length of the spur may be adjusted since it's telescopic, and the end of it can be spiked metal, or rubber tipped simply by turning the ball. A drum key operated screw holds the telescope at the required length. A Remo 'pin stripe' batter head was fitted with a black Yamaha front head complete with medium sized hole. I couldn't find any evidence of a felt strip damper, but then I didn't put the set together so it could be lying in the box.

The tom toms

All Yamaha toms have triple flange hoops with extra large ears to accommodate the square headed tension screws. The two smallest drums have six tensioners per head and the floor tom has eight. These drums too have the single nut boxes without the springs and the mounted drums have a smaller version of the bass drum mounted receiver block fixed to them. This is to join them to the holder itself. The 16" x 16" floor tom has the usual three cast blocks fitted to it to locate the double bent legs. (Inside these is an 'O' bolt to grip the rods of the legs, and a large cast wing nut to lock them tight.) No internal dampers are fitted, but the company do produce external ones should you so desire. While I think about it, the 8000 legs are exactly the same as their more salubrious brothers, they have the option of a rubber foot or a spiked one. These drums too are fitted with 'pin stripe' batter heads which give them a really meaty sound. This sound is rounded out very nicely by the see-through Ambassador heads fitted to the bottom of all the drums. I would say that the tom shells are a couple of plies thinner than the bass drum but constructed exactly the same. They don't have any strengthening glue rings, and their plies are joined at an angle to minimise the risk of breakage.

The snare drum

The set I played had a metal shell snare drum, but my brochure has a photo of a set with a wood shell drum. I know that Yamaha do make two wooden 8000 drums but they don't come with this set at the price quoted. However, should you want one they are available with 5½" or 6½" shells and have eight lugs but seem to cost quite a bit more. Anyway, set YD822F comes with a 6½" metal drum. It too has triple flange hoops and eight square headed tensioners and eight double ended nut boxes. The shell it must be said is not particularly thick, although this in itself is not always a bad thing. It has an inverse flange to each bearing edge, and the lower one has a snare bed pressed into it. There is no damper fitted inside this drum either which is unusual. The snare mechanism itself is very good. It uses plastic outriggers to enable the use of extra long snares. (This is done so that the snare butts, which hold the wires apart at each end of the unit, do not touch the snare head to run the risk of deadening it.) These outriggers sit below the snare on/off mechanism and the butt end retainer and simply allow the snares to extend even further before they double back to the strainers. A clip is incorporated into the 'roller' to hold the plastic tape from the snares in the right position. (This packing filament tape joins the 20 strand snares to the mechanism.) That's about it for the snare drum except to say that it's fitted with a genuine Remo Ambassador batter head, has a guard for its snares, a cast side-cam action strainer, and three strengthening beads pressed into the side of its shell.

As I said there are two alternatives for stands and things. They are listed as sets, and both consist of two cymbal stands, one snare drum stand, one hi hat and one bass drum pedal. The 900E hardware set sells for £329 while the 700E set will set you back just £244. (I must say that the upmarket set is worth the extra £85.) But, if you ain't got the extra, then the 700E is not too bad.

The only stands which are produced for the 8000 series sets are the the CS810 and CS812. (The higher number denotes a boom stand.) They are made from the same diameter tubes as the 700 stuff, but have double legs just like the 900s. Both stands have three stages with plastic ferrules at each adjustment block to take the wear, but the boom stand has a splined ratchet at its top to take the short, yet useful boom arm. The filter itself is sensibly long with the usual collection of nuts and washers to keep the cymbal safe, and its angle is held by the same splined, cast, ratchet filter as the boom. These stands are possibly the best on the market since they combine strength with good portability. I've mentioned these stands because they exist, but the ones which are supplied with the 700E are designated CS710 and CS712; the only difference is in the double struts of the tripod base. (Yamaha will charge you a fiver more for these stronger legs.)

The snare stand is, to be honest, not as good as its upmarket counterpart. It's not just the base which is different, it has a totally different holding mechanism. The HS710 has a single strutted tripod base with the usual plastic block at its height adjustment point. It's a basket-type holding mechanism, with its playing angle held by a 'sandwich' clamp which is locked with a large wing-nut. The basket arms are sheathed in rubber, and their arc is changeable via a screw to lock the stand to the drum. (The basket by the way, is fixed in such a way that the stand will go very low, so it should allow you to sit comfortably and play a very deep snare drum.)

The hi hat pedal supplied with the 700 hardware set is called HS710. It too has a single strutted tripod base, wideish diameter tubes and the usual plastic ferrule to take the wear as the tubes telescope together. There's a two piece cast footplate to match the bass drum pedal's and the inverted 'U' shaped framework has a pair of sprung, screw spurs tapped into it. The action of the pedal can be made harder or softer by adjusting the spring with your drum key. A plastic strap joins the footplate to the down tube. The bottom cymbal cup is adjustable in angle, large and steady, while the top cymbal clutch is also substantial; it's equipped with all the usual bits and pieces to hold the cymbal. I found this pedal to be very easy to play.

The bass drum pedal would appear to have been breathed on since I last saw it. It has as I said a two piece sand blasted footplate with a metal rod stretcher below. It works with an expansion spring which is fixed to a cam and then joined by it to the beater axle. There's a large cast boss which goes around this axle to contain the felt beater and yet another drum key operated screw holds it there. This strap is made from industrial fibre and appears to be pretty strong. This pedal too has a pair of sprung spurs tapped into its framework and a very interesting mechanism to join it to the bass drum hoop. It uses a cantilever to close the jaws on to the hoop via a large screw fixed to the left side of the framework. It's not wonderfully sophisticated as a pedal, but it's smooth enough and easy to play.

Yamaha's double tom holder too has been 'breathed on' since my last review. It still uses the same ball and serrated cage method to lock the playing angle by way of a large wing bolt. This cage has a short piece of hexagonal steel fixed securely into it and it's this which locates into the holder block fixed to the tom. Several memory clamps maintain vertical height each time you set up, and these can be locked with a drum key. (The angle of the drum however doesn't have a memory clamp.) The ball itself has a thick piece of rod fixed into it and this locates into a cast block fixed at the top of a thick tube which locates directly into the holder block fixed to the bass drum. The block on the tube is triangular and has opening jaws, which are tightened by large wing bolts to hold the rods from the holder proper.

I found that the drums had a nice 'zonky' sound with cut and depth. (The mahogany used in the shells gave a lot of warmth too. I must say though that I have reservations about the snare drum. It just didn't sound very convincing to me, as a matter of fact it was rather thin. I feel that a thicker head would definitely help to modernise its sound. (For some reason the Ambassador coated head didn't seem to be all that resilient.) There are only three finishes available for these 8000 sets. They're all spray lacquered and can be found in solid black, pure white and fine blue. They all look great, and it's amazing that very few years ago manufacturers were having problems to produce good natural finishes for their top line sets, and you had to pay more for the privilege, and here Yamaha is offering an excellent finish on a middle line set.

Anyway, to sum up, this set certainly looks good, sounds good and by golly it is good!

YAMAHA YD 822 (Five Drums) - RRP: £769