These Export sets were originally formulated to bridge the gap between Maxwin and Pearl Professional. They're built with a good deal of care in Taiwan and use many of the same components as their more salubrious big brothers. The shells are made from two plies of Birch and six of Mahogany. (The Birch being the inner and outer layers). Pearl have just begun to apply a sort of emulsion-type paint to the insides. It's cream with white flecks and does not appear to be there to cover any imperfections; it's more of a sealant to keep the drum stable.

Anyway, this particular export set has extra deep toms and bass drum, a deep metal-shell snare drum, one boom and one straight cymbal stand, hi hat and bass drum pedals, a double tom holder and a snare stand.

Bass drum: This bass drum is fashionably a couple of inches deeper than usual. It measures 22"x 16" and Pearl call it Deep Force. It has metal hoops inlaid with plastic and is, I understand, the last Pearl to have these: all the others use wooden hoops these days. (Perversely I feel that metal hoops give more 'life' and 'cut' to the sound). The metal ones have a channel inside them and this necessitates a block of rubber being added to allow the pedal to grip the hoop properly. As with most of the cheaper basses this one has a total of 16 nut-boxes, pressed steel claws and timpani-type tensioners with 'T' handles. The bottom four of these, however, are operated by the drum-key and are therefore square headed. (This makes it easier to tune when the bass drum is in the playing position, and allows the pedal to fit properly without fouling the 'T' screws.) The usual Pearl-type double pipe holder block is mounted well to the front of the drum with an air hole set closer to the back. The spurs are new to me, but work very much in the traditional Pearl style. They have a cast, swivelling retainer block mounted to the bass shell that fixes a telescopic spur in position. The length of the spur rod may be locked with a drum key operated screw. The very bottom has an optional rubber foot or spike. It's operable by screwing the foot (which has a threaded sleeve inside it) up the spur itself. The angle may be locked very securely with a large 'T' handled screw. There did not appear to be any damper strip supplied for the bass drum.

Tom Toms: The two mounted toms are extra deep too. Their dimensions are 12" x 10" x 13" x 11". The floor tom is what I thought was the normal Pearl size of 16" x 16", but it appears that over the years their floor toms have measured something like 15½" deep. Anyway, this particular one has the same dimensions for head and shell depth. All three toms have triple flange hoops and the smaller drums have six nut boxes and square headed tension screws per head while the larger drum has eight. As per usual the floor tom has bent rod legs which locate into cast blocks fixed to the side of the drum shell. These blocks have a retaining screw tapped directly into them and the legs have substantial squashed-cone shaped rubber feet. None of the toms are fitted with internal dampers, and strangely enough I couldn't see any reference to them being available in the export catalogue. Mind you, Pearl do make external dampers for their 'pro' range so you can get hold of them if you need to. Those mounted toms, by the way, are fitted with Pearl's open-jaw type receiver blocks which locate the tubes which mount them to the bass drum. (These have, as ever, a cast memory clamp which is drum-key-lockable and has a protruding lip that locates into a slot formed into the holder itself. All the drums I've written about so far in this article are fitted with Pearl's own heads. The batters have a see-through CS-type and the bottoms have a see through Ambassador-type. They give a very bright, clear cutting sound. (It is surprising to me but often I prefer the more open sound that cheap shells and cheap heads give. Of course it doesn't last, but for a while I find it very attractive.)

Snare drum: The snare drum with this particular export set has a deep metal shell. It's not made from particularly heavy gauged steel, has a pair of strengthening 'beads' pressed into the side, a narrow snare 'bed' and an inverse flange. Eight double-ended nut-boxes are fixed to the shell and these locate the usual square headed tension screws. In common with all other Pearls it has triple flange pressed steel hoops to hold the heads in place. The snare strainer is part cast, with a sideways cam action and a non-adjustable 'butt' end. (Just in case you're not familiar with this term; the 'butt' is the clamp opposite the on/off mechanism which retains the string, or in this instance the plastic strip which is attached to the snares). Of course the snares can be tightened against the bottom head by turning a knurled screw on the strainer. Only the snare drum has an internal, under-batter-head operating damper; it's made from spring steel, with a large felt pad and a large actuating button set aside the shell. (Stop press: Pearl no longer produce a 5" shelled drum, according to catalogue).

Stands and accessories etc: All Pearl sets come with stands and EX-22 D50 is no exception. No less than two cymbal stands are supplied. One is straight and the other has a boom. To all intents and purposes these stands are with one exception exactly the same as those on the up-market GLC set we reviewed not long since: the more expensive sets have double braced legs, the exports don't. Anyway, C and B800 are supplied; B is for boom, and C isn't. Both have three stages with the boom attached to the top of stage three via a cast boss. As with the filter itself, which is also cast, there's a cylinder which is arrested by a large wing bolt pressing directly against it. This cylinder is solid and has the longish tilter rod joined to it. (The end of this rod has a substantial cast wing nut on top as well as felt and metal washers and, of course, a plastic sleeve to save any wear on the actual hole of the cymbal). The top section of the boom stand uses the same equipment as the ordinary one. There's no counterweight fitted but the actual tilter for the boom has ratchet teeth inside it to make sure. All the stands with this set have single-strut tripod bases with large wedge shaped feet. Each stand has exactly the same sort of height arrest clamp. It's an opening jaw sort of thing with its inside surfaces coated in plastic to take the general wear and tear. A large wing bolt locks everything solid.

The snare drum stand is a slightly scaled down version of one brought out by them years ago. It was designed to accommodate their 8" and 10" deep snare drums and is an adjustable basket model which, because its angle adjustment is inside the bottom of the basket, gives much lower adjustment. It has the same base and height locking system and a capstan nut which runs up the cast thread in the centre of basket. It pushes the 'L' shaped arms against the drum and holds it tight. The actual angle adjustment of the drum is held by a pair of flat steel plates joined together with a bolt and wing-nut. (One plate is joined to the top of the stand, and the other to the bottom of the basket's centre rod).

The hi hat pedal supplied is nowhere near as substantial as the cymbal stands; but then neither is the bass drum pedal. It's a centre-pull model without any spring adjustment and a plastic strap to join to the cast, sand-blasted, two-piece footplate which matches the bass pedal's. It has a toe stop and the same jaw-opening height arrest as the others but this time with a memory locking clamp to make sure the stand sets up the same each time. The pedal uses the same thickness of centre-rod as on the upmarket sets and a good sized bottom cymbal cup which has adjustable cymbal angle. There's the usual sort of top cymbal clutch which is very good. It actually doesn't feel too bad.

Export's P-750 bass drum foot pedal has twin parts, a single expansion spring with adjustment and a two piece footplate without a toe stop. It uses an industrial fibre strap and has a cast block which is wedge shaped and joined to the centre axle. The unit clamps to the drum hoop in the normal fashion with a loose jaw which can be tightened with a single screw. It has a nicely balanced felt beater and all things being equal doesn't have too bad a feel.

The only other piece of equipment to comment upon is the double tom holder. Pearl have been fitting this type of holder to their drums for several years now. It consists of a cast block with two holes formed into it which is bolted to the shell. These holes are actually jaws which can be locked with a large screw and their gap further closed by means of a sprung, drum key operated screw. It's into this that the angle retaining tubes are inserted. (A cast clamp is fitted to the tube to ensure the same set up each time). On the toms we have corresponding cast pipe-holder blocks to retain the other end of the tube. In between the two ends we have a simple swivel joint whose angle may be arrested by a drum-key-operated screw; so between the swivel joint and the horizontal adjustments on the pipe holders all angles are possible. (The only thing it won't do is move the toms away from the player. This is why the holder block is set well forward on the bass drum shell).

Appearance/Conclusion: These particular export shells are, I understand, rather unique in that they have their interiors painted. The Pearl people are spraying a cream emulsion-type, white, flecked paint inside to stabilise the shells and stop any warping. (It's important to seal both sides of a wood shell otherwise it may react adversely to humidity if one side is untreated). The drums are clean inside and out and new finishes are available. I am especially partial to the Japanese flag one which is of course red on white, but I'd like to have seen red bass drum hoops with it. I understand that it is something of a limited edition, though, and the main sets have safari stripes in black, orange and red. (A bit like Eddie Van Halen's guitar).

The sounds on the set are very clear which I attribute to thin(ish) shells and cheaper heads. They're made by Pearl themselves and one CS-type batters with plastic hoops. The bottom ones are Ambassador-type see through. (There's something very attractive about the sound they put out). The snare drum has a very brittle sound and a coated Ambassador-type head. It feels a little puddingy but that could be cured with a better sort of batter.

All in all here's a nice looking, clean sounding set whose sound can eventually be thickened by adding double ply heads; and it's under the £500 barrier. With these finishes it's possibly just what some budding Heavy-Metal drummer is looking for, though if you're not into Heavy music this particular 'Deep Force' series of drums is also available in Black, Purple, Red, White and several wood finishes.