I stumbled upon this latest Remo set by accident. I'd heard that it was available in America but never actually come head to head with it. We were playing at a gig outside San Francisco and they had one as a house set, so I seized my opportunity.

Of course Remo Belli has been making his PTS sets for the past few years. (They were revolutionary in that they had shells made from compressed board impregnated with resin, and used Remo's pre-tuned heads which were clipped into place with case-type latches). The new generation, though, have traditional nut-boxes and improved shells. Obviously these new sets are more expensive with these refinements so Remo must have decided to move up-market. (I know that Rogers had plans for drums with Remo's pre-tuned heads but don't think they ever made any.)

These new shells are called Acousticon SE and the suffix stands for Special Equipment. They're formed from a lamination of wood fibres which are initially bonded together with a very hard Silica resin, then painted with other resins to embrace their sound. Depending on what sort of sound they want the drum to produce will determine which of several different resins will be used. Of course these resins and their application are a closely guarded secret, but they can (say) simulate the sound of a metal shell, or a wooden one and especially a fibreglass one. So the projection of the drum may be tailored by the people at Remo; its tone may be varied from very mellow to very sharp. These drums themselves aren't quite so heavy as the majority of wooden-shelled drums but are, I would guess, about as weighty as a phenolic or fibreglass model. However the smallest drums feel a bit flimsy so I would recommend you keep the bass drum's front head on (with a hole in it) to keep the shell from buckling. (With any bass drum it's better to replace the hooped hardware if you remove the head).

The Discovery set I saw and tested would appear to be your basic five drum set with 12x8, 13x9, 16x16, 22x14 and 5x14 snare. Stands and pedals are also available from Remo, but these are an extra.

Bass Drum

The set I saw had a 22"x14" bass drum, but an extra deep one is available for a little more. It has metal hoops and 16 of Remo's regular nut boxes. I've never seen these before as they are a totally unique shape: the bottom of them is rectangular while the casing itself is sort of coffin-shaped. (Remo also has other lugs which we'll get in to in a moment). As usual the hoops are kept in place by pressed steel claws and there are 'T' handled tension screws to tune the head. The drum had forward-facing disappearing spurs with optional spike or rubber tipped ends which work on a screw-thread. The actual block which holds and retains these spurs has screws tapped directly into it to lock them in position and there's a substantial plate behind. The double tom holder is very like Pearl's but with slightly thinner tubes. A pair of independent arms fit into a retaining block fixed to the very front of the bass drum shell. The drum is fitted with an air hole but it's set diametrically opposite the holder — underneath the instrument next to the floor. The tom holder block is cast and rectangular with a pair of bosses protruding from it both of which have keyways cut into them. A memory clamp fixes into this to ensure the toms are at the same height and horizontal position each time. The tubes of the holders have a knuckle joint in their centres and work on a ratchet to set vertical position. The set I played didn't have a felt strip damper on it and the catalogue doesn't show one either. Presumably they don't supply one.

Toms

The three toms are your common or garden sizes: 12x8, 13x9 and 16x16. The two mounted toms are fitted with 12 nut boxes and square headed tensioners and the floor tom has 16. All the toms and the snare drum have triple flange, pressed-steel hoops made from medium gauge material. Like the bass drum, none of the toms are fitted with dampers.

Snare Drum

I was deeply impressed by the snare drum; its sound was exceptionally good. It's just slightly deeper than usual with a 5½" deep shell covered in chrome to make it look more like a metal shell, but the shell construction is just the same as the others. It has light double ended nut boxes and a very simple, yet effective side cam action throw-off for the snares. Plastic strips join the 20 strand wire snares to the mechanism and a shallow bed is cut into the bottom bearing edge to allow the snares to touch the head in the centre too. It's an unsophisticated yet very effective drum which is the equal of many up-market drums.

Heads

To give the Discovery series drums a little more depth Remo fit Pin Stripes to the batter side with transparent Diplomats below to give a clear sound. My bass drum didn't have a front head but according to the catalogue should have a PinStripe at the front too. The snare drum had a coated Ambassador batter with an Ambassador snare head.

Sounds

These Remo people really seem to know how to get great sounds from their drums. Even though the shells weren't exactly over-heavy, they still manage to get a thick, round and meaty sound from the bass and toms. (I don't believe I've come across see-through Diplomats on toms before, so I presume a deal of experimentation must have gone on in North Hollywood to produce these great sounds). As I said the snare drum is excellent. It has a very snappy tone but with roundness too. It's not exactly your Heavy Metal drum (although Remo do make one which would suffice as such) but it's a very good all-round piece of equipment.

Accessories

Remo have three accessory 'packs' for their sets but don't include them in the price. They're 'extras'and have three different weights of stands: lightweight, heavy duty and extra heavy duty. I played the top of the range stuff which was called Dynasty. However, they've changed the name now which seems the best thing they could do.

Anyway, Dynasty has double-braced tripod legs, wide bored tubes and a quick lock feature rather like you find on bikes to adjust tube heights.

There are two different cymbal stands on offer, one with a boom and one without. They both have massive bases and the regular one has three stages with a ratchet filter and an extra long filter rod. There's the usual collection of (smallish) felt washers and things. The boom stand has just two vertical stages with those 'quick release' clamps and a ratchet filter for the counter-weighted boom. It has exactly the same filter as its 'straighter' brother.

The Dynasty snare drum stand is very much like several others. It has double-braced tripod legs with large wedge-shaped rubber feet and quick release locking levers. The legs move up from the bottom and a large 'T' screw secures them firmly. The playing angle is held by a ball and cage mechanism (like Yamaha's) and a basket-type holder protrudes from the ball. It's all very secure and stable with large rubber bumpers holding the drum firm inside.

The hi hat stand has a plate to match the bass pedals with a cast toe-stop and a bike-type chain to link the centre pull mechanism. The legs are double braced and the black framework has a couple of spurs tapped into it. The mechanism uses two expansions like Premier, fitted to the outside of the down tube and they're adjustable in the normal way. A quick release arm adjusts the playing height and what would appear to be a Pearl bottom cymbal seat and top cymbal clutch: it's a smooth pedal unit.

Throughout the ranges several different shell sizes are available. They supply regular depth toms from 10" to 13" in diameter, power toms from 8" to 15", floor toms from 14" to 18", basses from 18" to 24" (including a 22" 'power bass') and 14" snare drums with 5½", 6½", 7" and 8" deep shells.

Colourwise you can have white, black, blue or red drums, but Remo offers you these wide stripes to fit in between the nut-boxes which are held successfully by double-sided sticky tape. They are called Decor and are supplied cut to size in the same colours as the drums but also in chrome or gold.

In conclusion I must say that Remo Belli has done it again. These sets are exceedingly good and very tuneful. They are also a great deal more stable than the original PTS ones yet retain that same 'breaking' sound with more power and projection. Cosmetically they are up there with the competition, but priced very realistically.

REMO DISCOVERY SE — RRP: no definite price