Pearl Rhythm Traveler Review

History:

Purchase: I bought this used via eBay for $380, which included an A. Zildjian crash/ride cym.; Zildjian Edge crash, and 14" Pearl hi-hat cymbals plus an old Ludwig boom stand. I played drums semi-professionally many years ago and missed playing. I picked this set because I probably won't be playing it outside my living room and wanted something compact but complete.

What I Like About This Unit: The hardware is quite decent and the drum shells are fundamentally sound and are capable of very good sound. But you need to swap the original heads to bring them to their potential. I like the tonal ranges of the toms. It's easy to get consistent volume and tone across the set. I like the looks, and the hardware made to hold full-size double-headed toms holds these 5" deep single-headed ones with ease and minimal wobble. I like the hi-hat. This is Pearl's bottom-of-the-line stands, pedal, and hi-hat, and most of it's 'way better than the hardware that came on my vintage 1965 Ludwig SuperClassic outfit (but the SpeedKing pedal was better).

What I Do NOT Like About The Pearl Rhythm Traveler: I with the bass and snare had 8 lugs instead of 6. It would be nice to have on the 14" tom but hasn't gotten in the way of tuning it well. The stock pedal is OK but not great, and doesn't clamp to the bass rim well. I recommend putting a little sliver of wood or plastic in the recess of the bass hoop where the pedal clamps it to eliminate wobble. I put a platform-style pedal on it and it doesn't wobble at all now. As I said, the heads don't bring out the best in the drums. I now have a Remo Powerstroke 3 on the snare, Remo Power Dots on the 10" and 12" toms, and a Remo Ebony Pinstripe on the 14" tom. Evans hydraulic on the batter side of the bass, Ebony Powerstroke with 7" sound hole on the front head. Now the thing sounds great and this gives far better thump out of the bass than you'd think you could get from an 8" deep model.

Rhythm Traveler Quality: I really have no complaints except the pedal that doesn't clamp well to the hoop. The rest of the hardware is very solid and positive, and stays put. The shells have a fundamentally good sound that produce more sound than you'd ever suspect from a shallow-shell single-head design. Properly tuned to its operating range, the snare drum can sound very good, but my Ludwig Supraphonic spoiled me, so I'm getting a Pearl Chad Smith Signature for the snare. This will lend far more tuning range and resonance to the snare. This snare plus the platform pedal, and I'd have no hesitation to play it out. It'd be a great coffeehouse drumset. It's not heavily built and it doesn't have maple shells like the expensive stuff, but I think the mahogany shells work well for these sizes because it adds some resonance where the shell sizes might lack it. This set might not wound as good in maple as it does with the stock shells.

Summary: This is a very well-thought-out compact set. I've messed around on the Remo Legero and the Pacific compact sets, and I like the fundamental sound, concept, and layout of the Pearl the best. The overall quality is good enough that I mostly yearned for a better pedal (or at least a better pedal-bass hoop connection). The right heads make this set very musical. I am very pleased with this set. My Ludwig SuperClassic had a wonderful sound, but this little set sounds very similar when you put on the right heads. I highly recommend it for beginners, for a practice set, and for frequent gigging in small venues. Also for old farts like me who yearn for a drumset again and want something that won't crowd and beat everyone out of the house.

Rating of this product: 4

This Pearl Drums Percussion Review Submitted By: John Butler

Date: 2001-07-10