Yamaha Stage Custom Birch with Zildjian S Series Cymbals Review [2019]
Having played a few shows at the Hard Rock Hotel London, here’s my review on their in-house equipment. Their drums are the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch (with Yamaha stage custom birch snare included) and a set of Zildjian S Series cymbals. Both are beginner-to-intermediate level products and are certainly impressive with their quality. So scroll down to read more on my Yamaha Stage Custom Birch & Zildjian S Series Cymbals review.
100% Birch
Yamaha are renowned for their 9000 series drum kits a.k.a the Recording Custom – made from 100% birch. Through their own research relating to pianos and wind instruments, Yamaha realised that birch would be an ideal material for drum shells. The use of one-piece lugs to enhance the natural hardness of the birch shells resulted in a tight, well-defined sound, ideal for the studio. Players such as; Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, John JR Robinson and Steve Jordan have all used the Recording Custom and helped to cement it’s place in history as one of the great drum kits of our time.
So then, Yamaha know a thing or two about all Birch shells. This Yamaha Stage Custom Birch kit, finished in a piano white wrap is no exception. With it’s; clear Remo UT heads on both sides of the toms, Remo UT P3’s on both sides of the bass drum and a coated UT head for the Snare, it sounds pretty serious.
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Review -The Bass Drum
The Yamaha Stage Custom Bass Drum impressed me. It was a 20″ x 17″ drum, which, is smaller in diameter than I’m used to and also longer with it’s depth. With a medium-to-low tension tuning (on both heads), it certainly packed a punch. It sounded more like a canon firing when struck. This, in part, was due to the stock Remo UT P3 heads which help control the overtones.
However, as there was no dampening in the bass drum I had to adhere a towel with gaffa tape on the batter side. This was to control the resonance and give it more definition.
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Review -The Toms
The toms consisted of a 12″ x 8″ rack tom and a 14″ x 13″ floor tom. Initially I was dubious about the sound of the toms because of the stock head choice: The Remo UT heads are similar to the standard Remo Diplomat range. A thinner choice of drum head to help keep the manufacturing costs down. Furthermore, the kit had been used beforehand and as a result had dented/pitted batter heads. However, after a bit of tuning, the result was a pleasing controlled sound which was easy on the ear. N.B. To help control the overtones, a few Moon Gels were added.
As tom toms go, they were hardly any effort to play. They opened up with sound instantly and had great stick definition to boot. They had very little sustain with a focused, controlled sound – typical of a birch shell. Also a sign of the quality in the construction.
The Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Snare Drum
This Yamaha stage custom birch snare drum is a 14″ x 5.5″ birch shell, covered in a piano white wrap. On the batter side, a Remo UT head – this one being the coated version. The drum head was ‘used’ and cranked up high. Initially worried, I thought I wouldn’t be able to salvage a good sound. Luckily, after a few tuning tweaks of my own, the sound was salvaged.
When struck with a rim shot the Yamaha stage custom birch snare drum had quite a ‘crack’ to it. It cut through the music with enough volume – even when played without rim shots. Even with the high tuning, the overall tone of the drum was pleasant to the ear. There’s minimal sustain with a nice, controlled, dry sound. When using brushes, sticks or hot rods the stick definition was right there.
Personally, I’m not overly familiar with wood snare drums as I favour aluminium shells. That said, the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Snare drum sounded great and wouldn’t go amiss amongst any drummer’s collection.
Yamaha Stage Custom Birch Review -The Hardware
The 600W hardware is very strong and sturdy; something you’d expect from Yamaha. The kit included 2 x Boom Arm Cymbal stands, 1 x Hi Hat stand, 1 x Snare stand, a FP7210 Bass Drum Pedal and a TH945B tom holder in the Bass Drum.
The bass drum pedal was particularly smooth and easy to play also.
Zildjian S Series Review
The cymbals included at the venue are the Zildjian S Series (B12 Alloy, brilliant finish):
- 14″ Mastersound Hi Hats
- 16″ Mediun Thin Crash
- 20″ Medium Ride
They may well have been part of the Performer Set but I didn’t see the 18″ Medium Thin crash. Possibly due to having only the 2x cymbal stands…(?)
Designed for the beginner / intermediate player, they certainly are well made and look dazzling with their brilliant finish. Personally, I prefer cymbals made with the B20 alloy (80% copper and 20% tin) but kept an open mind with these B12 alloy cymbals (88% copper and 12% tin).
It’s been argued that B20 alloy cymbals sound better in close proximity but the B8 / B12 alloy cymbals sound better over distance. This is due to the nature of the alloy and the piercing / cutting sound of a lower number alloy. For this reason you’ll notice the B8 / B12 alloy cymbals tend to be favoured by drummers playing heavier genres of music. The cymbals tend to cut through loud distorted guitars well.
The Hi Hats
The hi hats pleasantly surprised me, they are very crisp sounding. The stick definition is great and so was the response. Because they are Mastersound hi hats, the bottom cymbal has a serrated edge. This enables the air to escape quicker, creating a faster response.
When you close the hi hats with your foot, the ‘chick’ sound was nice and loud.
Finally the wash from opening up the hi hats was loud and cutting. Not obnoxious or too harsh sounding either.
The Crash Cymbal
The crash cymbal on the drums was the 16″ Medium Thin – another cymbal pleasantly surprising. Now, I tend to use 18″ crash cymbals as standard, so anything smaller seems a little strange to me. That said, this cymbal had a lot of sustain to it (think Bonham’s crash in the ‘Immigrant song’) and was high pitched enough to cut through the music.
Even when played forcefully, it held it’s own and didn’t appear to choke up.
Some say that something’s strength is also its weakness. Similar with this cymbal – the sustain is perhaps it’s downside. I felt the sound didn’t decay quick enough and I found myself stopping the cymbal far more than I usually do with my own set of B20 cymbals. Of course this is subjective but worth a mention.
The Ride Cymbal
Alas, I thought the 20″ Medium Ride cymbal was the weakest link out of this set of Zildjian S Series cymbals.
It did have some good qualities to it. Mainly, that it crashed real well and had a really cutting bell to it; which seemed to jump out at you – perfect for certain styles of music. However for me, the bell of the cymbal was loud and cut through the music, I found the tone annoying.
The stick definition was good and even when played with finesse didn’t lack clarity. However, it could easily get washed-out when played forcefully or when played in certain positions on the bow of the cymbal.
Similar to the crash cymbal, the sustain of this cymbal seemed to last an age and had to be controlled more often than I’d like.
Conclusion
In conclusion Yamaha have done it again with their birch line drum kits. The Yamaha Stage Custom Birch is an impressive set of drums that can easily be used in a professional situation.
At this moment in time the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch drum kit costs between £600-£650 online. Years ago, I paid something similar for my semi-pro drum set. The difference being that the quality of these instruments is better.
The Zildjian S Series Cymbals on the whole were pleasantly surprising. 2/3rds of the cymbals I liked and at a cost of around £350+ mark, I think that’s a bargain for any intermediate player. Furthermore, the odd S series cymbal wouldn’t go amiss in any pro set up!
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