The Brooklyn Micro is a hefty investment, but reinforces the concept that ‘small’ doesn’t need to mean ‘cheap’. It comes factory-fitted with USA Gretsch-branded Remo heads: single-ply coated on the tom batters, clear on the underside, and a Powerstroke 3 on the kick. The Micro is available in Silver Grey, oozing with contemporary class, or White Marine Pearl for authentic retro charm. This is another upper-end kit, despite its scaled-down sizes and, as with the rest of the Brooklyn series, it has some premium features.įirst up is the classic Gretsch 6-ply maple and poplar construction, the 30-degree bearing edges, 302 double-flanged hoops and that all-important Gretsch silver sealer on the inside of the shells. But the Brooklyn Micro is by no means just for jazz. Gretsch’s Brooklyn line of drums is a reference to the original USA factory, and gives a clue to the types of players these kits are aimed at. Pricey if this is going to be your second kit This means that you can easily add to the kit with additional drums, or create a modular kit with an existing regular-size AQ2 by adding a smaller bass drum, for example. Sonor doesn’t stop there, though, and one thing we love about the Safari is that it is available in all five of the AQ2 finishes. All-maple shell construction, 45-degree bearing edges, Sonor’s SmartMount suspension system for the rack tom, maple bass drum hoops and a dual tom/cymbal arm holder. The AQ2 Safari pairs workhorse quality with portability and price-point to deliver a kit that will perform at any level. Fast forward to today, though, and the configuration is called ‘Safari’ and is available as part of Sonor’s AQ2 series. Taking aim squarely at the growing trend for drummers wanting to emulate the higher-pitched sampled sounds heard in drum’n’bass and hip-hop, the Jungle’s popularity became something of a catch-all eponym for kits of this size. Sonor’s Jungle kits set the quintessential blueprint for a lot of micro/compact setups in the ‘90s. While it may not have the funky charm of the Breakbeats, it does feel like it offers better build quality overall: you’ll find rubber gaskets on the bass drum claws, Pearl OptiLoc suspension mount on the rack tom, matching wood bass drum hoops, and even screw-mounted metal badges.Īt the pricier end of the compact kit spectrum It’s a simple, but nice addition that adds to the Midtown’s no-fuss design. The supplied riser slots into a hole in the bottom of the bass drum, making sure that it’s firmly supported from the batter side as well as the front, and Pearl has cut a groove in the batter-side hoop to ensure that your pedal chain doesn’t get caught. Likewise, Midtown kits come with a 13”x5.5” snare, so you lose an inch in diameter, but the added half an inch depth should recover some of the body of the snare sound. The Midtown features a 16”x14” bass drum and 10”x7” rack tom, but the depth of the 13”x12” floor tom is reduced by an inch from some of the other kits in this line up. As well as its sonic qualities, poplar is known for being lightweight, which adds to the efficiency of a small setup like this. The shells are made of poplar, which was (and still is) frequently used as the middle ply in classic/vintage drums from Ludwig and Gretsch. Pearl has long been a serious name across every budget, and the Midtown comes with a number of features that extends this into the compact drum kit market. Read the full Ludwig Breakbeats by Questlove review But as an all-round, affordable solution to downsizing your setup, the Breakbeats are hard to top. Of course, where the Breakbeats really shine is for funk, hip-hop and jazz-type sounds. Soundwise, the Breakbeats is very versatile while the drum dimensions aren’t going to perform like a larger kit acoustically, it is possible to tune them to produce rock-like sounds that will project under microphones. The tom post also incorporates a holder for a cymbal arm, further reducing the need for carrying bulky hardware. The snare drum remains a more traditional 14”x5” as-per Questlove’s preference, and the kit includes a bass drum riser to help get your beater position correct. The Ludwig Breakbeats kit is the classic compact size: 16”x14” bass drum, 10”x7” rack tom, 13”x13” floor tom. A gritty, raw, 'break-able' kit for gigging in clubs that you can fit in a cab.” Questlove said at the time, “I wanted to build a device that was apartment-friendly and compact for the street musician but was quality-sounding. Back in 2013, Ludwig teamed-up with Questlove - drummer for The Roots and the purveyor of some of the hippest grooves committed to record - to design a kit that is playable in small abodes and eases the burden of gigging around large cities like New York.
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