Recently I was searching for a small 4 pc kit that sounds great and is easily transportable. I found exactly what I was looking for in the DW Design Series Frequent Flyer kit. This is a great sounding kit. I'm very happy with it.
I got the Satin Blue one two years later, somehow ended up finding one brand new, sitting in a store up in Washington, immediately placed an order and shipped it down to Cali where I’m at. They don’t even sell that one anymore so I’m beyond happy with DW, definitely not an entry kit and I’d say it’s more than an intermediate level kit as well, far surpasses the Performance series IMHO and even some Collectors kits I’ve heard when tuned properly. Toms pack a punch and the kick sounds disgusting thiccccc 🤤
I’ve been looking at this kit for awhile now! I think this made up my mind. It sounds great and is really affordable. Going with a one up two down setup 12,16,18,22 kick
I have a DW Design Series kit in Midnight Blue Satin!!!! I put Remo Pinstripes on the toms. I also have a DW Design series 14x6.5 Black Nickel Over Brass snare drum that I bought for my birthday in June.
Just ordered the four piece and a nickel over brass DW design snare. I'll hopefully upload a unboxing and set up video here in about a week. Can't wait.
Played my first live gig at a Halloween party a few weeks ago. Sounded great and got lots of compliments on how massive the bass drum sounded with eq4 batter head and Aquarian reso head I installed. I have g2 coated on the Tom's and man what a difference over the stock cheap heads. Love my Design kit. Hope to get years of enjoyment from them. Drum on. Beat em like you hate em.
Dw makes it great I tune them up no moon gels or muting they sounded great. ( no moon gels just my preference nothing wrong if ppl like them) great video !
I have the white satin drums. I’ve recorded with them and played many shows and they sound amazing. For the price you pay for them they are one hell of a bargain!
Nailed it! I loved e604s on toms, especially for live. Would love to get some 421s now. I do like how they clip on and keep things clean with less stands.
I've had this kit for over a year now, and the are well broken in and sound incredible!! I play for a church and will stay after service and shed for like 2 hours! It's just hard to get off them!!
The 3 piece is 669 orange tag at guitar center now. That’s phukt you paid 1000 more for a snare and 10” tom 2 months earlier 🥺😢great review all the same🙂👍
It's crazy how prices have skyrocketed. In the summer of 2020, I bought a 24" DW Performance kick and a 13" tom from Sweetwater and a 6.5" DW Design black nickel over brass snare from my local Guitar Center, all for $1300. Now all of them go for over $2100!
I picked up the four piece for 999 and man it sounds great. I've got a tama slp bubinga snare I play with most of the time. I have the Design black nickel over brass snare too for when I want that super loud pop.
I just bought a Design Series kit 4 days ago (Thursday, 2-11-21). The heads they ship with... yuck. I put clear Aquarian Force 10's on top, clear Focus X on the bottoms, and a Super Kick 1 with a Regulator with hole and MAN! I sure didn't need to spend anymore money on a Performance Series or Collectors Series! I could have just as easily went with Remo Powerstroke 4's on top and Powerstroke 3's on bottom but the Aquarians sound so good on my PDP Concept Maple kit, I put those on instead. I make a living mixing live bands, mostly top 40 dance/cover/wedding/corporate bands. I've mic'd up and mixed drummers with poorly tuned (and poorly played) Collectors kits and I've mic'd up and mixed PDP and Design Series that had great drum heads, that were properly tuned and played. It didn't take me long to realize that I could save one to two thousand dollars by getting a Design Series kit. Believe me... not one person in the crowd or dancefloor knew the difference.
It’s the cheapest DW MADE IN TaiwanITS the entry level DW BASICALLY ITS LIKE MY PDP CONCEPT MAPLE MADE in China When I do buy a DW IT WILL BE A PERFORMANCE OTHERWISE ILL KEEP MY PDP CHINA Taiwan Don’t really seem different to me I’m sure there are some Now performance , collector those shells are made Different than Design and concept maple I consider my PDP concept the entry level to DW BUT IF IM GONNA SPEND $1600 on a tiawan I’ll save another $600 and get American DW CHINA ,tiawan come on man basically samething
The Concept Maple kits are great value. I can't say for sure since I haven't A/B'd them next to each other, but I'd guess you wouldn't hear THAT much of a difference. I think it's going to come down to head selection and tuning. The Design shells do feature HVLT grain orientation and slightly thicker 1/32" plies so they might be warmer sounding. I don't even have to dampen my toms. They aren't too bright or ringy even with no muffling.
Thanks! I forgot to add that to the video description. Here's the list: Kick: Shure Beta 91a Snare: Shure SM57 Toms: Sennheiser e604 Overheads: Shure KSM 137s
I used to have a Keller DW kit with re-rings...thin shelled. I currently have the FF and it's my favorite drumset. The thicker shells raise the pitch slightly but with the right heads, I haven't heard better sounding toms ANYWHERE. Again not the stock heads
Years ago I bought 4 pc, set and it comes with no attachment to stands , I bought separately by 40 dollars a piece this was in first year when this model started in market
@@NickCesarzDrums when I got mine I immediately changed the heads for frosted G2, because those heads work very well on my Catalina Birch kit. But, I think I need to go back to a single ply, they sound choked.
Pdp concept and DW design China , tiawan basically same Like saying made in USA OR CANADA LOL😄 Now PERFORMANCE AND COLLECTOR SERIES THOSE SHELLS ARE MADE totally different than PDP concept And DW DESIGN SERIES IM PLAYING PDP CONCEPT MAPLE THE KITS AEWSOME $900 Sounds like a design series I don’t hear $900 difference Don’t get me wrong I just myself plan on going straight from concept to performance will be my next kit onc day
No you wouldn’t! Trust me those stock heads are absolute junk and need those to sound even halfway decent! Throw some Emperors on that kit and it’s money! I have the 3 pc. Special Edition Holiday kit and it sounds fantastic with new heads all around!
