Peavey Radial Pro 751

The Peavey Radial Pro 751 is a dynamic professional instrument designed primarily for studio use, though to the industrious it's an easy set-up live as well. I've been playing my set for about 5 years now and I have a 6 piece kit with the 14'' snare , toms in 10'', 12'', 14'', 16'' and 22'' bass drum. Now I know what you're thinking? Peavey makes drums? Well they did, and these kits are still to be found, but rare.

The reasoning behind going for this kit is simple: tone. While many musicians joke around about low-end Peavey gear we're not talking about amplifiers here. Peavey hired some real pros to manufacture these drumsets, and though there are some serious problems we'll talk about, it should be said that these drums are some of the sweetest sounding you will find, and for one simple reason. When these were designed, they were done so there would be no drilling in of the 5-ply Maple hoops, in other words, no place for a screw housing to fit in, no place for any metal washers, nuts bolts, etc. to come into contact with the wood, thus decreasing their tonal unity. By essentially gluing on thick plastic hoops at top and bottom of each drum, the heads are then fixed to these, not anywhere in the kit. That's why you see them and they look bulky, with long black hoops around top and bottom. Though this is a risky idea it paid off. These drums sound incredible.

However, there are disadvantages. Their gear set up is a relative nightmare, you need a drum key to do anything. By using super double braced stands, the toms essentially ride two to a stand, with cymbal atop and a rather dodgy floor tom leg system. Also, the drums must be sensitive to weather as I've had one hoop actually rip free from its glued casing and I sort of had to block of wood-hammer-hot glue it back into place and still have never been quite right but holds okay.

So as you can see there are pluses and minuses. I would not recommend using this kit for any kind of road work, but for a permanent set up in a studio, you simply won't go wrong with this unique and beautiful sounding instrument.

The rating is an overall opinion; were it based on tone and playability I'd give it a ten.