Peace Manhattan Cocktail Kit

[Bruce (the K)]

I posted to this board earlier about these cocktail drum kits. I saw them on the Web and was impressed by what seemed a very clever design. They have an upright 18x14 kick drum with reverse-action footpedal. They use 3 long metal rods and 6 extra floor tom leg clamps to mount a 5.5x14 snare drum directly above the kick drum. High hats and crash/ride cymbals mount on two of the metal rods while a 5x10 tom mounts on the third one.

I just had to find one and play it to see whether this configuration worked. I called the American distributor and got the names of a couple of music stores that had ordered them. One store still had theirs (Gelb Music, Redwood City, Calif.) so I drove down and checked it out. Here's my report:

Love the snare sound! It's just a nice, crisp, classic wood snare pop. Wasn't as impressed with the kick drum sound. Didn't have much volume. The reverse-action pedal seemed pretty solid though. Resting on the top head of the kick drum was what looked like one of those rubber pads with the raised part in the middle that you put on your snare drum and use as a practice head. Whatever it was, it did prevent any interference between the kick and the snare. There was no buzz or rattle whatsoever when you whomped the pedal. It seemed to deaden the kick drum though so it was kind of a mixed bag. Didn't get the chance to try the drum without it. The metal rods that hold the cymbals seemed to offer reasonable adjustment possibilities for cymbal position, although they didn't have any cymbals on the kit.

There were only two things I considered negatives. The first was the lack of positioning ability with the little tom. Its rod was angled ever so slightly toward the snare but I felt like I had to reach way up and hold my sticks funny to hit the tom head without interference from the rim. I would have liked to angle the tom much more toward me and position it lower but I couldn't figure out how to do that. The other negative was that the many clamps that hold the legs up and hold the rods supporting the snare and tom didn't seem to clamp very securely. Maybe I was being overly cautious in tightening them but everything seemed too loosey-goosey for my taste.

The overall quality of the drums and everything except the clamps seemed very good. I'd be very curious to hear from anyone else who's had the opportunity to see one of these things in the flesh.

Bruce the K

[Keith Cronin]

Thanks for the review - I've wondered about those. I assumed the bass drum would make the snares buzz like crazy - I didn't realize the top head was muted.

I still like the more simple look of just one drum serving as both kick and snare, but I bet the Peace snare sounds WAY better than the snare on my cocktail drum (which has a baffle separating the shell).

Good info - thanks!