Trixon convert here!

[Tom E. Gunn]

Figured there really wasn't much going on here on the forum, so I thought I'd post that I took the plunge and bought a Trixon Elite cocktail kit in the Tangerine Sparkle finish a couple of weeks ago. Jim Laab's Music was excellent in their service, and shipping was five days to So. Cal.

I won't bore you all with the details of the kit, since it's been duly noted here the pros and cons of this model. I can however add a few observations of my own... so here goes!

The finish is really a very sparkly orange, with a lot of color and bling to it.

I was dissapointed when unpacking that the snare drums' badge was broken off on one side and there was a chip in the finish. But some Super Glue seemed to do the repair trick. So far, it's holding well.

Yeah, the snare drum's throw off is garbage. However, I installed a spring in there to kind of shore everything up and this helps with the tuning staying put.

I opted to use the following heads:

Snare: stock reso, coated Ambassador on the top. Works for all the other snares I've owned over the last twenty-five years and with some tuning, really warms up this drum. Also, cut a Moon Gel square in half, and affix each piece just outside the throw-off and butt-plate. This really tames the ring and you get a nice crack.

Small tom: stock reso, coated Emperor on top. Tune relatively high (80 PSI bottom 78 top if you are using the DrumDial). Nice tone with good warmth.

Main drum: Top: Coated Emperor, bottom (kick) clear Pinstripe. I wanted a PSIII clear but finding one in the 15 inches size at the local Guitar Center was asking waaaay too much. The Pinstripe actually sounds good. I was using a felt strip on there for a while but took it off because I felt there wasn't enough volume. So I just put on a Remo Falam Slam pad on there (cut a double pad in half that I had laying around) to tone it down a bit. The top is 78 on the DrumDial, the kick is around 75-76. Very good sound with a lot of boom.

The final observation I can make IN GENERAL about cocktail kits is that a lot folks seem to want to make them sound as much as possible like a conventional, trap kit. But that to me, really defeats the purpose. If you listen to the John Mayer stuff on this site with Steve Jordan, his kick is all OVER the place, with a lot of boooom, and his snare is very high and pingy. But that's what makes a cocktail, well, a cocktail kit. Muffling it too much and drilling holes and such is to me, just too drastic an approach. Let it be what it is: A lively and FUN instrument to play.

Cheers,

Tom E. Gunn