Pearl Vision Birch VBL 5-piece Drum Kit Review - Sweetwater Sound

Get the Pearl Vision Birch VBL kit here: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detai...

In this video I am playing the Pearl Vision Birch VBL 5-Piece kit with the Black Ice finish. This is a nice sounding kit made with 100% birch shells. Birch is a wood that has a long history in drum manufacturing; it is well known for its naturally EQ'd sound. This kit is a Black Friday exclusive for Sweetwater and there is a limited supply so don't miss out on this great opportunity to get yourself one of these drum kits.

The sound of Birch
Birch was the wood of choice for a lot of drummers in the 1980's and 90's. Birch is known for its strong highs, slightly reduced mids, and strong low end, making it especially desirable in recording studios. Birch has never gone away, it is just that woods like maple, bubinga, and other exotic flavors also found there place in drum making. This Pearl Birch VBL drum kit has that great Brich sound at a very nice price.

This 5-piece kit comes with 8" x 10" and 9" x 12" mounted rack toms, a 16" x 16" floor tom, and an 18" x 22" kick drum. All of the drums tuned up and sounded great right away. The bearing edges are precisely cut making the heads sit perfectly. With the combination of the birch shells and nice edges these drums were definitely cutting though with a lot of projection. I can easily see them working in just about any live or studio situation.

Sensitone Snare
A really nice addition to the Brich shells is the 5.5" x 14" Steel Sensitone snare drum. It reminded me of the first snare drum I had as a kid. I got an incredible crack but also a very nice and playable tone from the drum. It tuned up easily and felt really good under my hands. That is always key for me in any snare drum. After you tune it up and get it sounding good it has to feel good when you play it and this drum definitely did that.

The Sensitone snare also comes with Pearl's innovative SR-900 Duo-Motion strainer that can easily be converted from a side lever action to a Gladstone-type throw-off. This is a very cool feature that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Innovative Hardware
The I.S.S. Tom Mounting System used for the rack toms is great and very easy to use. With just two tension rod style screws, the tom mounts connect to the hoop of the drum and let it resonate freely. I found this to be a great feature because it was small and not cumbersome.

The 900 Series Uni-Lock Tom Holders make it very easy to get the drums in just the right position.

The Reference-Look Bridge Lugs are really nice looking lugs. Their shiny chrome look jumped off of the Black Ice shell when looking at the kit from a distance, and the Recessed kick drum claws also gave the drums a sleek look.


These Pearl drums sound good and look good. The fact that these are a Black Friday Sweetwater exclusive means that you can get into a very nice drum kit for a screaming deal. Get them while you can!

-- Nick D'Virgilio