BeatIt Vintage Test: Sonor Designer drum kit

The drummers' website https://en.beatit.tv/ are testing a Sonor Designer drum kit.
https://en.beatit.tv/vintage-test-bea...

1. Product

Sonor Designer is a line of drum sets considered by many Sonor brand experts and followers to be the company's best product of all time. Drums from this series are characterized by excellent workmanship and sound. The Designer laid the foundations for the SQ2 series when it comes to the selection of wood types, colors, finishes, shell depth, etc. These were high-end drums that only few could afford. This is a drum kit that can be included in the Modern Vintage category. In the case of this particular set, the 12" tom was ordered some time after the purchase hence a slightly darker finish shade and single point rather than tube lugs.

2. Basic specs:

Producer: Sonor
Model: Designer
Configuration: 8" x 8", 10” x 9”, 12" x 10", 14" x 14", 20" x 18"
Material: North American Maple
Shells: Maple Light (9 plies on the toms, 12 plies on the bass drum)
Heads: Evans EC2/Remo Emperor Clear (batter heads on the toms), WS Classic Clear (resonant heads on the toms), Remo Powerstroke 3 (batter head on the bass drum), Aquarian Studio X (resonant head on the bass drum), Remo Ambassador X (on the snare)
Finish: Stain Blue
Estimated year of production: 1995
Hardware: STARS tom holder + bass drum plate for 10" and 12" toms, DSS Rims suspension system for the 14" floor tom, Sonor T.A.R. mounting system for the 14" floor tom, tom holder Sonor 600 for the 8" tom

3. Test and sound

When testing the Sonor Designer drum kit, we also used a Tama Seamless Steel PL 106 snare drum as well as prototype 14" hats (unavailable in the market as yet, used by three drummers in Poland including Max), a 19" Smooth Crash and a 22" Leon Collection Ride.

Max kicked off by presenting the sound of the bass drum, then, played each of the toms at different levels of dynamics, only to finish of with a few rhythmic patterns using the entire kit.

The Sonor Designer set tested here is a perfect instrument for all those who love with the Sonor sound, however, do not want to incur expenses in excess of five thousand Euros for an SQ2 set, because here the cost will be much lower. The bass drum has a characteristic, punchy (even pointy) sound, but combined with a warm and rich low tone. The sound of the toms also displays a lot of warmth, rich overtones and depth, which are married with a clear stick definition. All the drums respond wonderfully at all levels of dynamics. A dream kit not only for Sonor fans, but for everyone who is into that slightly "newer" vintage sound straight from the 90s.

‪@SonorDrumTube‬