Hey! Since there's been some talking of compact drumkits here on the forum, I just wanted to hear if anyone have tried the Arbiter Flats?


Looking at their site, I saw that their "Arbiter Flats Lite" was also offered as a rack, with this description:


The original Arbiter Flats Lite kit - heavyweight sound from an incredibly lightweight, portable and affordable drum kit! Arbiter Flats Lite are now supplied with a NEW foldaway Rack System for even quicker set-up/pack-up times
I listened to the sound-clip, and it didn't sound too great. Sort of like cheapo drumset. But of course, a good player can get the groove anyhow, so it should WORK.



I then had a look at the Flats Pro. Looking almost as small, I didn't think there could be that big a difference.. But there was. The only complaint I had with the sound was really the lack of bass in the bass-drum. I guess that if miked properly, it could be solved. But I also think there's a limit to how much sound you can get out of a thin bassdrum like this.

The only REAL problem with this set was the lack of the "foldaway rack", so I mailed them and asked about it, and got the following reply this morning:

"Good Morning,

There are plans for a Flats Pro Rack kit, although at the moment, I cannot be precise on a date. Our factory are trying to find the optimal weight / strength for a rack and are testing various models now."

I think I'd like to keep an eye on these guys in the future.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Flaat,

Worth keeping an eye on !

Good to see you again Flaat...long time.

I played on a similar set years ago (Purecussion?), and they sounded a bit thin, kind of like roto toms. The kick was papery sounding, and I didn't really care for them.

But things change and with a Bose L1 and some creative micing I'm sure you could do wonders with a set of these.

I just bought a Trapkat on eBay to try to scale down my kit. It sounds fantastic thru the L1 even though I am using a dated Alesis D4 sound module for now. If you are into electronics, I would highly recommend the Kat. I like it way better than the Hart/Roland kit I reviewed a while back.

Hi Flaat
If you are interested in a compact kit that sounds as big as anything you have ever heard check this web site out http://www.whitneydrums.com/
Rick

quote:

Originally posted by starvin007:
Hi Flaat
If you are interested in a compact kit that sounds as big as anything you have ever heard check this web site out http://www.whitneydrums.com/
Rick

hehe.. HTTP Error 404

404 Not Found

The Web server cannot find the file or script you asked for. Please check the URL to ensure that the path is correct.

Please contact the server's administrator if this problem persists

I'll check'em later. :*)

found them

http://wd.turnerharris.org/index.php?pageurl=products/products.php

didn't seem too compact, though..

I'd rather look into a cocktail-kit if I wanted "ordinary" drums. (Which I am thinking about making, btw.)

Editops they had a cocktail kit aswell..

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Flaat,

Interesting drums, those Whitneys. They kind of look like the shell design Peavey was pushing a few years back.

I found a good review of the "nesting" drum kit.

Thanks for the working link flaat, That rack is really interesting, and how about that "sidekick" set?

Regarding the sidekick, it looks nice to have that rack-set, but still. When you start with a sidekick you're going to run into the same problems you do with any cocktail-drums, just that a cocktail-set would be easier to transport.

You'll get the same performance out of something like the Slingerland to the right, only the Slingerland seems easier to me to transport. Just pick the drums with one hand and hihat with one hand and off you go.

Wow, I'm learning alot today! I've never seen this Slingerland kit, very nice. I had been looking at the Yamaha Club Jordan, but it can't be turned around left-handed without drilling holes in the kick/tom, so I never did go with it.

The Slings look like a nice alternative, especially since you can "angle" the tom and snare, plus...you can sit down at this kit. The Yamahas wouldn't allow that. Big improvement.

I don't believe that particular set is sold anymore, but there's a a lot of good stuff on this kind of drums on cocktaildrums.com + a message forum where people show off their various kinds of cocktaildrums. You should definitely be able to find something like the club jordan that could be used both lefthanded and righthanded.

Myself, I just learned about cocktail drums a week ago, and it opened my eyes to lots of cool possibilities. I might go ahead and try to convert a 16"x16" floor tom to a project cocktail-kit one of these days.

Edit: if you check out the cocktaildrums forum, be sure to look for a video in the "boxtail"-post. I can't understand how he gets that sound from that small kit.

Hi Flaat
Sorry about the link. A friend of mine bought the nesting penguin 16 with wood rims. They sound much bigger than they are and they are extremely potable. The footprint of the drums is about the same as the cocktail kit, except you would have the traditional set up, kick, snare, tom, floor tom.
Rick

quote:

Originally posted by Flaat:
Regarding the sidekick, it looks nice to have that rack-set, but still. When you start with a sidekick you're going to run into the same problems you do with any cocktail-drums, just that a cocktail-set would be easier to transport.You'll get the same performance out of something like the Slingerland to the right, only the Slingerland seems easier to me to transport. Just pick the drums with one hand and hihat with one hand and off you go.

That Slingerland kit would be a great canidate for a e-drum conversion, you could get some triggers and a great module like a TD-12 and have a great sounding kit for those small jobs that are comming more and more every day, and teardown would be a snap. Greg

This message has been edited. Last edited by: drumsgreg,

hi i am just wondering if anyone has seen or heard of the compact drum kit that has the toms actually as part of the bass drum? i have seen it once in Japan but cant seem to find it on the net. this kit was one piece and instead of having toms as a seperate drum they were actually just cut into the bass drum n shared the same shell. this made things super compact n then with a small snare which was mounted off the bass drum . was very reasonably priced and had a great sound as well. i just cant find anything bout them on the net. i forget the name of it! please help!

I've seen that...but can't remember details, sorry.
Anyone else?