The Swedish company Clavia was in at the forefront of the digital music revolution in 1983 and its ddrum electronic drum gear became a byword for quality. So it was a surprise when the ddrum logo first appeared on acoustic kits in 2005, marketed by Florida's Armadillo Enterprises.
Right from the off the company was on the money style-wise, with strikingly hip kits and cool names - Diablo, Dominator, Dios - which soon established the ddrum brand in drummers' minds. ddrum identified the one-up/two-down configuration as the coolest in younger drummers' eyes and offered outrageous finishes to complete the trick.
The ddrum range has expanded so quickly it's easy to get confused. To clarify, the top line American Custom drums are made in the USA utilising Keller shells. The Dios is also a professional line, but is more modestly priced and made in Taiwan. As well as the M (for maple) kit reviewed here, the Dios is also available in ash, bubinga, walnut, birch/aspen and the Elite Tiger Eye bubinga.
Build
The Dios M shells are hand made and finished from North American maple in the company's Taiwan factory. Toms are 6 ply, bass drums and snares 8 ply.
ddrum claims the diagonal seams and cross-laminated plies make its shells some of the strongest around, although surely this type of construction is normal practice? Whatever, the shells are well finished and circular to within (by my measurements) a 1 to 3mm tolerance, which is, we find, common at this price level. Funnily enough, the bass drum - the largest shell - was closest to round, almost spot on. The shells have 45° bearing edges and a slight round-over to the outside wall.
Running a finger round there were the usual minor glitches, but more interestingly the small tom had edges which were rounded off more than the other drums, which were all quite sharp. This tom also had a slight nap left on the inside whereas the others were sanded smooth.
We take this as evidence of the hand finishing which ddrum talks about and it suggests that, although quality control is good, it's not quite 100 percent as yet.
The review kit is finished outside in lacquered Red Cherry Sparkle. This is as beautiful a glass-like finish as we've seen. It's a traditional sparkle compared with some of the more garish ddrum finishes, but it's faultlessly executed. And there are five others to choose from (Olive Sparkle, Natural, Pearl White, Trans Black and Yellow/Gold Sparkle Fade).
The M is available in two five-piece shell packs. The review kit is the so-called 'Pocket' configuration, with 20"x20" bass drum, 13"x7" wood snare, 12"x8" rack tom, 14"x13" and 16"x14" floor toms. The alternative 'Player' configuration has 22"x20" kick, 14"x6" snare, 10"x8" and 12"x9" rack toms, plus a single 16"x14" floor tom.
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