Reviews on Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Drum Kits
Our Verdict
Any relatively inexperienced drummer coming to this kit cannot get incorrect.
Pros
- Uncluttered and swish design. Pure, punchy, night and warm audio.
Cons
- No plastic or rubber mounting gaskets below any of the lugs.
MusicRadar Verdict
Any relatively inexperienced drummer coming to this kit cannot go incorrect.
Pros
- +
Uncluttered and classy design. Pure, punchy, dark and warm sound.
Cons
- -
No plastic or safe mounting gaskets beneath any of the lugs.
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Kit
Yamaha Phase Custom Birch Kit
Yamaha Phase Custom Birch Kit
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Kit
Yamaha's current reputation was founded on birch drums, with the famous Recording Custom Serial introduced at the close of the '70s. Although in that location was nix new about using birch to make drums (European manufacturers take always done and then), Yamaha cleverly promoted this beautifully synthetic series equally the ultimate recording kit.
It also helped that Steve Gadd came on board equally the company'south ultimate endorser. Previously, Yamaha's Stage Custom Series, first seen here in 1995, had an oak or birch veneer over plies of Philippines mahogany and falkata. Information technology'due south taken until now for Yamaha to brand a budget kit entirely in birch.
Build
Yamaha offers iii set-ups, with 'universal' size toms 24"x17", 12"x9" and sixteen"x16"; the review 22"x17", 10"x8", 12"x9" and 16"x16"; and 20"x17", 10"x8", 12"x9" and xiv"x14".
The 22" and xx" kits have a fourteen"x5 1/ii" birch snare, while the 24" has a 14"x6 one/2" steel snare. You can extend your kit with individual addition drums from a good range, which includes an xviii"x15" bass drum and 18"x16" floor tom.
The talking indicate hither is the all-birch shells and they're superb. Bearing edges are expertly cutting, with a razor-sharp 45˚ to the inside and a smoothen curve-over to the outer wall. There's a calorie-free seal on the stake honey-coloured insides, with a tiny bit of unsanded nap left for timbre.
The grain pattern of the birch is mundane as always, only the transparent lacquer over the cranberry ruddy stain of the review kit was flawless. Yamaha badges always expect corporate, merely this new 1 is rather bonny - tasteful silverish and grey on a black-backed plaque (try saying that with false teeth) that stoutly proclaims the kit as 'Made in Cathay'.
A few years ago, that fact would take been kept tranquility, but today information technology increasingly denotes a well-made product.
Toll-saving
I sign of cost-saving is the presence of 16 rather than twenty lugs on the bass drum. In that location are as well no plastic or rubber mounting gaskets beneath whatever of the lugs - a refinement we've come to wait. The lugs are now proper, depression-mass, chromed-metal jobs, replacing the FRC (fibre-reinforced composite) of the previous incarnation.
Yamaha'south YESS isolation mounts are pocket-sized and relatively unobtrusive. Whereas RIMS-way mounts have extended brackets floating off the lugs, the YESS mount is simply held by two bolts, fixed at the nodal plane of the shell.
While you may wonder about its strength, we've never heard of any breakages. Incidentally, the newly designed mini-flooring tom leg brackets are also mounted at the nodal trounce points for increased sustain. The total 700 Series hardware package that is included looks handsome and has all the refinements you lot'd hope for.
Is birch best?
Yamaha's astute marketing of birch drums back in the '80s fostered - or, more accurately, foisted - the idea that birch was the best choice of wood for recording, claiming that the RC-9000 sounded 'EQ'ed'.
This is now likewise true of the Stage Custom. The snare comes with a 3/4" (19mm) broad perimeter 'O' damper that effectively chops out the ring from beat and metallic hoops, leaving yous with a taut, dry out and well-baked beat.
You just know a close-up microphone volition deliver a sharp and punchy audio. Actually, for today'south tastes, the complete 'O' is heavy-handed. A third or half circumvolve is enough to give you a dark, fat beat out while retaining a healthy dollop of ambience.
Hands-on
Fitted with clear Yamaha 250 Administrator-type batters, the toms also sounded great straight away. The birch flavour is that little bit darker and more than ambitious than maple to our hearing. Yous get a commanding slap, the sustain is just right and you'd be hard pushed to detect a tom that gives you lot less grief to tune.
In the interests of a scientific comparison, nosotros set up a Yamaha RC-9000, with its more rounded bearing edges and pre-YESS mounts, right next to the shiny Phase Custom. The toms sounded extraordinarily similar.
The sharper bearing edges of the Phase Custom gave a fraction more seize with teeth to the tone, while the YESS mounts offered a bit more sustain, but otherwise the tone of the Stage Custom is undoubtedly that of a top-course birch kit.
The bass drum has Yamaha'southward slightly unusual 17" depth, giving enough of lesser without losing the definition. It retains an immediacy that starts to get lost every bit modern bass drums get e'er deeper.
I constitute it to be similar to the other drums - controlled, with good warmth centrolineal to an impressive crack. The sixteen lugs are merely enough to hold the tuning and aren't a not bad burden on the shell, so it feels more open and light.
Hardware
The 700 Serial hardware is sturdy without beingness over heavy. The unmarried braced tripods of the cymbal stands may prove slightly wobbly if you lot're a brutal basher, but otherwise everything's dependable.
The inclusion of two interchangeable straight/boom cymbal stands is generous and the tilter pattern has been improved, but at that place'south a slightly superfluous retentiveness-lock that slots into the top section housing to fix your smash extension.
The chain-drive bass pedal is smooth, although the hoop-clamping screw underneath the footboard is awkward to achieve. The felt beater felt perfect to us, but others might accept appreciated a double header with interchangeable plastic face.
The hi-hat has a stepped tension ring, which does exactly what it'due south supposed to practise. Nosotros especially like the continuous spiral-clench tilter on the snare stand rather than the usual geared blazon. Some may think the latter is more stable, but tin can yous e'er quite get the angle you want?
Setting up and taking down is probably faster and more efficient with the Yamaha organisation than any other, the only downer being that at that place's reduced lateral reach considering of the YESS brackets. It won't trouble many people, but information technology's a pocket-sized design weakness in an otherwise exemplary set up.
What nosotros like best about this kit is the classy, uncluttered design. The result of years of feel and refinement, the 700 hardware is simplicity itself, quick to set upwards and break downwards. The birch shells are splendid and the sound is exactly as y'all'd expect - immediately pure, punchy, nighttime and warm.
The birch shells provide that actress touch of command that makes tuning easier. Any relatively inexperienced drummer coming to this kit can't go wrong really. Here'south one upkeep kit that should never suffer the indignity of beingness plastered in tape in a impuissant effort to brand it audio decent.
Source: https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/drums/yamaha-stage-custom-birch-kit-185101
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