I pitted a PDP Concept Maple kit against my DW design series. If you wanna see the results watch till the end. My lesson site: www.drumdna.com contact pete@drumdna.com
I feel like we're hearing mostly a difference in coated vs clear heads, that explains the obvious attack with the PDP, as far as that clear toned sustain, even DWs Design series you can hear is more mature. This from a guy who sold my Collectors after falling in love with a Taiwan CX Pacific....
I thought the same thing about coated Vs. Clear heads. I think a set of coated Emperor or G2 would make the PDP amazing. My first ever maple kit was a PDP LX series. Miss it often
I’m sold! I used to play professionally from 16-23 years old, walked away from it for decades. Now I’m looking to get back in, but I’m on a budget. This checks all the boxes!
Great video, Pete! While I'm not a fan of the 1950's "hospital green" color, the PDP kit sounds awesome especially for the price. I'm always entertained by how many people get wrapped around the axle in the this brand vs that brand duels and are often about ready to come to blows over it. I don't have the best ears in the world, but when you consider all of the different possible head combinations, shell materials, tunings, etc. and then get the whole band playing together along with the variables in the mix going to the crowd, I don't think many folks can tell the difference in the audience. I know every musician has their favorites, so get what you like and "run what you brung". For the difference in price and almost identical sound, it's PDP in this battle all day long for me.
I bought a pdp concept maple kit back in 2013. Brought it up to my buddy’s studio to replace his old Tama. The pdp sounds incredible. It sounds just as good if not better than our drummer’s Gretsch kit even. Even after a decade my pdp kit has held up wonderfully. The pdp concept kit might very well be the best value for your money in all of drums.
I have both. It's drum heads you put on them and the tuning there is no difference. I agree about the snare.. But using the Evans hybrid drum heads you can upgrade your sound on the pdp snare. But over all you are right.
I totally agree with you about the comparison, there are only few details in the kick tone and (major) in the snare sound that separate the two kits. Really a fantastic piece of gear.
Great comparison video,both kits sound great. PDP has come a long way and make great kits now and very good hardware. For some folks though it’s about the brand that want the DW name on their kit and the Design series makes it affordable to do so. I personally love PDP I have the CM Exotic 10,12,14,16,22 and 14 snare and it works great for what I do.
I just bought the 5 piece concept maple. Changed the heads to hydraulic evans heads and the sound is remarkable. Always have been a ddrum guy but not no more. PDP all the way
Well since I've been historically disappointed by almost every d.w. unless it's 5,000 or more I can honestly say I'm going for PDP for the win! The second I heard the concept Maple for under 1500 years ago I was blown away... And I think they've only gotten cheaper. Btw, you are kind of good dude! 😂 and Virgil and Billy would agree! Dude, PDP are awesome! They sound even better with ebony Emperor suede tom heads.
This is a great comparison video, I did have an Idea in my head that I wanted a dw brass over nickel snare, and a pdp maple concept kit, and this has confirmed it. I feel as a drummer playing bar / club venues and having to lend shells out to other drummers.... this is a great work horse option that you don't have to be to sentimental with.
The PDP kit sounds great. The coated heads will make it slightly different and the DW snare is much better, especially with the Sound Control head, which you cant go wrong with
In my IEMs I can definitely hear a subtle difference in the kick sounds (Design seems to have a lower fundamental which makes it sound beefier). The snares sound pretty drastically different to me (design has more resonance and crack). Surprisingly the toms sound virtually identical. Overall, I have to say I preferred the sound of the Design series, but it seems like a Concept kit with a Design snare would be killer bang for the buck. Great job with this comparison.
Hi Pete I bought a black sparkle pdp concept maple kit it's the same lacquer finish as the DW Collector series and I have to say it's a killer kit the warmth and attack is beautiful and I saved my self $4000 thousand dollars. The only thing I changed was the tom and snare heads and also a pearl redline iliminator kick pedal . Grat demo mate you certainly have inspired me to get better.
Yeah the key to the great sounds on these PDP Concept kits is to change out the heads. That’s one way PDP saves in coat on these kits. They come with cheap Chinese made heads
Design and Concept series are made in the same factory in China. Same shells. Actually the PDP sounded better in this demonstration. Design doesn’t offer HVLT shell construction. I think just the performance and collector series do but I could be wrong. Anyway the price difference is the main thing. PDP Concept series are DW drums now anyway. PDP is not the same Pacific drum company it was 10 years ago. Not even close. Awesome video. Sick playing! Very impressive 👍
Honestly i listened to many kits for this price range, and i went with the concept maple natural, what should have cost $1600 min not including shipping. I got this 7 piece kit for with tax $1267.87 total from amazon and free shipping .
You are going to love it. Pdp is amazing and so good. Good choice! I have a really cool Pdp kit check out my setup on my channel! Hopefully you post some videos of yours!
Epic comparison. Sound quality wise the two sound awefully close. The biggest difference is that the PDP’s toms tend to resonate a bit more, but other than that.. scary. I’m going to get the PDP Mapa Burl, can’t wait to hit that monster
Nice. Well done. I totally agree with your thoughts. PDP is right there with the DW. Very similar but for the price…., PDP. I did like the DW snare a little better also. 👍🏼🥁👍🏼🥁🥁
i tell you... I really want a DW... But I own THREE PDP's and they just impress the shit out of me and I don't see the need to drop all the money on the DW. But I still want one just because.
I have this kit in flat gray. If you get this kit ones thing you need to do is replace the heads. It makes a dramatic difference! Evans G2 are awesome but really any heads are better then what they come with. One way PDP keeps its cost down on these kits is the cheap head.
In listening, the major difference is the snare. It's much tighter and less pitch modulated on the DW design. The rest, the PDP sounds pretty much as good. Maybe the kick is a bit quieter. But could adjust playing dynamics there, if a drummer wanted a louder kick, or adjust it in the mix. I'd probably happily buy the PDP, then later sell the snare and buy a DW one, even could go higher end second hand DW snare; though might cost as much as the PDP kit :) In other round ups I heard, I also thought the PDP Concept Maple punched above it's weight. If you play funk, breaks, soul, country, I put it behind the Gretsch Reknown, though kinda similar, but definitely sounds better than the Gretsch Catalina. The Tamas like the Superstar sound bigger, but I prefer a tighter, smoother, tone like the PDP Concept, DW Design and Reknown. Love the matt seafoam green, available on the Concept too, matches some of my Fender guitars.
I would say the DW sound a tiny little more massive in the end of the punch sound, but on playing this with mics, IDK if this is really bigger benefit. I would buy both 😀
Hey Pete, man your playing is amazing and a pleasure to watch....This is the third time listening to this and yes subtle differences. For the concept think you had hydraulics on the concept vs the evans g2s perhaps on the DW? I bought the concepts about 1 year ago and since the prices are up 150 bucks but doesnt matter still amazing value. I think i may throw some hydraulics on the concept kit too but also like the sounds of the evans g2 heads i have on there.....either way best purchase i made on drums without a doubt....
Great video man ! I had the same thought its insane how they made a 700 usd kit sound like a 2000-3000 usd one. And I totally agree with the overtones in the toms and i find the dw snare notoriously superior but you used the single ply head that comes with the kit thats crap, and in the dw you had a remo reverse controlled dot so kinda unfair there. I own a pdp concept maple and i love it with good heads sounds bomb ! The rest i been investing on good cymbals as i have no need to replace the drum it really sounds professional. PS. I had no trouble understanding your accent as I usually do with British people as English isn't my main language. Cheers!
Love my new classic maple 7 piece kit. Using rack tho. Mics up well. Put Aquarian Super Kick Ii on BD. Evans EC2 on toms. Using 6.5 x14 pdp bell brass. KILLIN! Toss up between this kit and Sonor AQ2 kit. PDP is better value tho.
Truly surprising how well PDP sounds. Ive been a TAMA guy for 16 years. Bought a PDP 8 piece maple shell for a nice bargin about 2 years ago.. I'm gonna tell you now. They sound better than any TAMA I've ever had. I just dont like the PDP snare drums. Also, drum heads make a huge difference and can make any drumkit sound good.
I have been a Drummer since I was six, played in two metal bands. I’m also the cofounder of Byzantine who people may have heard of or not, and honestly it was exactly like you said just slight overtones in the PDP I would definitely get it, I’ve been a huge DW fan for 30 years at least. but yes they cost a lot. Right now I’m l with Tama.,
Essentially, get a decent drumkit ( easy nowadays) and put your money into a better snare. That's the one you will hear the most along with the bass drum anyway.
A lot of people don't understand the fact he was comparing them against the dw design series. That is the cheapest of the 3 dw series. The middle series is the performance series and the top flagship series of dw drums is the collectors series. Those are the ultimate dw's. I have a set of pdp's and love them but I also own a set of dw collectors series and between those I can tell a pretty big difference. Eventho the best bang for the buck on the planet are the pdp drums but he was comparing them against the design series from dw. My dw's are for playing gigs and my pdp'd are my practice set. I like the pdp's better than the Pearl Masters I used to have, seriously they are really nice for the money but against the collectors series you can definitely tell a difference but that's not a knock on pdp because the dw collectors series are the best drums money can buy in my opinion.
I noticed the difference in sound the most with the different snare drums, although the PDP snare did sound good by its own right. I would love to love the PDP kit if that makes any sense, but the only thing that worries me is the tom mount/holder. I've seen several guys online say that you have to really crank the screws into the L Arms on the PDP kits to get the toms to remain stable, presumably due to cheap materials? One guy even said he had to take a pair of pliers to get them to stay still! I know PDP is using the 10.5mm L Arms instead of the heavy duty 12.7mm ones. I've played on a Tama Superstar Classic kit, arguably a direct competitor to the PDP Concept Maples, and I can tell you the tom mount on the Tama kit is the weakest part of the kit. Then again Mike Terrana uses PDP kits the last time I checked, and he's a heavy hitter, so it's difficult to determine in my view. I think the PDP kits with upgraded drumheads and properly tuned will sound very good. It's the hardware choices, and especially that tom mount, that scare the bejesus out of me. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences with the durability of the tom mount/L arms and hardware on the PDP Concept kits I would love to hear them.
I own a pdp concept maple virgin bass drum. Toms are not mounted on bass drum and that works best for me. I have not tried the pdp tom mounts but I do love their gear. I think pdp stands up to most anything for the average drummer
Fuck the drums! You're a damn fine drummer Pete. Even cheaper and just as good (in my opinion) are the PDP Concept Maple Classic with the wood hoops and that's saying something from someone who is a drum snob.
There's an epidemic of this on RU-vid. This was supposed to be a comparison of two different kits. Instead it was this dude putting on a clinic of how many notes he could fit in a 9min video. Here's the problem, dude. No matter how fast you get, there will always be at least a million other guys faster. And, if you're going to blow the social-media world away with your blazing chops, then at at least do it in a properly titled video. 👌 🤦♂️
