Pacific LX 5 Piece Fusion Set Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI did a lot of research before deciding on the Pacific set. I considered Pearl, Gretsch and Yamaha, and in all honesty didn't even consider Pacific an option when I started looking. I had been a Ludwig player for about 23 years, and somehow the Pacific name didn't seem in the same league, or so I thought. After comparing features, price, and of course overall sound, I found that Pacific is definately a top quality set of drums, and I decided to go with the Pacific for too many reasons to list.
I searched, and I mean SEARCHED, for the best price, and found it on eBay. My local dealer couldn't even come close to the price. I got the new 2004 Kit with the STM mounts (DW style) in April 2004 and paid $1089.00 from Grand Central Music in Duluth, MN (that included shipping!!!). The set included 2 cymbal stands (one a boom), snare stand, hi hat stand and pedal. Over all not bad hardware, but I'll be using my DW hardware anyway.
The bass drum is like a canon. Like I said, I had been a Ludwig player for 23 years before buying this set. My Ludwig set was from the early 70's and had a 14" deep bass drum (22 inch diamater. The Pacific is 18" deep (also 22" diamater) and what a difference that makes!!! Also, Pacific provided a bass drum pillow that provided just enough dampening, without choking the tone.
The drums sound just great. A lot of projection for their size. They are the FAST size toms, so a little shallower than standard, which had me a bit concerned. My concern was unfounded, they sound great and really cut through. Great combination of attack and warmth. Truly great sounding drums.
The finish is also great. I got the natural maple lacquer and they are even more beautiful than I had expected. Words can't describe it, and pictured just don't do it justice.
Now that I've said all that, there are some things I didn't like.
The heads leave a lot to be desired. Of course, that could be said of any new set of drums - they never put good heads on them. For example, the snare side head is just too heavy to get any kind of realy snare response out of it. It makes the Snare Drum (also maple) is a bit too ringy for a wooden drum, without enough snap or crack. Almost sounded like playing a timbale with a Snare on it. However, once the heads were changed, all of the drums tuned up nicely, and sounded great. The Snare still had a bit of ring for a wooden snare drum, but a touch of dampening takes care of it for the most part (I actually still use one of my Ludwig snares most of the time - just to be honest about it...)
Overall the construction and quality are dead on fantastic. Beautiful finish, drums are perfect round, bearing edges are level and seat the head perfectly. The chrome on the rims seems thinner than on their DW counterparts, but the DW influence in these drums is readily apparent. A truly fine piece of equipment.
One thing that did bother me was that they pack 14 tension rods for the 14" tom-tom (no kidding - the packing list clearly indicates that there are 14 included, and 14 is what came with it.) It is an 8 lug drum, so requires 16 tension rods, leaving you short by two. My local dealer said he has always been short by two tension rods on every Pacific kit he has gotten in. DW Customer Service was great to deal with, though, and they sent the tension rods to me pretty quickly. They also said that they would look into the packing list and correct the problem - they actually seemed kind of embarrassed when I told them about it.
For the money, you will not find a better set of drums. This kit is equal to the Pearl Masters Customs, or the Tama StarClassics - truly on of the top end kits, but at a price equal to the competitors mid range kits. Why buy mid range when you can go top end for the same price?
The Pacific name may not have the prestige of the the bigger names (yet), but if they keep building drums like this it shouldn't be long before they are center stage in the lime light.
E. Castle rated this unit
on
2004-04-17.
