David Levine, president of TRX Cymbal Company, also runs a marketing consultancy agency for the drum industry called Full Circle Management. This agency markets Pure Drums fiberglass drums, Cympad cymbal washers and the Bass Plate, a dock for mounting a pedal to a bass drum, among other products.
Pure Drums At the Winter NAMM 2014 Show, David first demos the Pure Drums and explains why fiberglass drums were the most sought-after drums for decades.
Fiberglass drums are very light but with a low pitch. The hard surface results in a loud volume, and the drums have great consistency in sound and tonal character due to the seamless shells.
A quick history lesson: fiberglass drums were were originally created in the 1960s and used for a lot of the studio work back then. Hal Blaine first brought fiberglass concert toms to countless recordings, but many famous drummers followed in his footsteps and used fiberglass drums in their career: Keith Moon, Chester Thompson, Peter Criss, Phil Collins, Steve Gadd, the Appice brothers, Danny Seraphine, Roger Taylor, Harvey Mason, Taylor Hawkins, and Neil Peart just to name a few.
Fiberglass drums were available from most manufacturers in the '70s and '80s including Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers, Camco, Sonor, Premier, Pearl, Tama, Yamaha, Gretsch and DW.
Taiwan-based corporation Ming Drum has kinda resurrected these fiberglass drums. Anno 2014 the fiberglass drums are available throughout the world under the Pure Drums brand, but also offered as OEM manufacturing for boutique brands such as Truth Drums, SJC and Pork Pie. Pure Drums are offered as complete drum sets and snare drums in diffferent sizes including a 14x6", 10x6" and 13x7".
Cympad In the second video David explains the benefits of Cympad's cymbal washers. This Swiss product support the cymbals in a different way that regular felts because Cympads are cellular foam cushions filled with air, and enhance the resonance and tonal quality of your cymbals.
The Cympad Chromatics series, sized 40x15mm, is available in a variety of colors including red, purple, green, orange and blue.
Cympads Optimizers are available in black. Standard sizes are 40/15mm, 40/12mm, 40/8mm. Ride: 40/18mm, hi-Hat: seat 50x9mm and clutch 24x10mm
The Cympad Moderators help to limit unwanted overtones and reduce the volume, which can be of great help in the studio. Cympad Moderator pad dimensions are 50x15mm, 60x15mm, 70x15mm, 80x15mm, 90x15mm, and 100x15mm.
Bass Plate The Bass Plate, invented by Nicholas Burns, is a dock for mounting a pedal to a bass drum without having to clamp it to the hoop, which eliminates stress on the drum, distributes its weight more evenly and lifts it slightly off the ground. The end result is said to be a fuller sound.
Close to the center you get more attack and fewer overtones. With the striking point slightly off-center, the overtones increase and you get a rounder sound with more sustain. The choice is a matter of personal preference of course, but the Bass Plate is the only add-on that allows for greater lateral pedal positioning, from directly in the center of the drumhead to 5" off-center.
Available in models for 18", 20", 22", and 24" bass drums, the dock attaches to the bottom two lugs.
According to David, the way we drummers attach our pedals has not changed at all since the early days but the Bass Plate is a major advance and will do for the bass drum what suspention tom mounts did for tom toms in terms of opening up the sound.
