My Club Jordan is on the way!

Post Reply
milwaukee
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:04 pm

My Club Jordan is on the way!

Post by milwaukee »

I took the plunge and had a local merchant order me the Club Jordan kit (with the add-on drums) in Pink Sparkle. The price quote they gave me was by far the best I've heard for a new kit - lower than what I've seen some used specimens go for on ebay - and convinced me to make the order on the spot. I'm very psyched about it.

I've got a few different uses in mind for the kit. One of my regular bands, a folk-rock group, does a lot of coffeehouse/low volume gigs and it will be perfect for that setting (right now, I sit those gigs out). I'm looking to get out and do some low volume jazz and/or blues gigging on the kit as well.

Couple of questions for the group:

Anyone order from Yamaha lately? Rumor has it they are terribly slow; I'm concerned that the store's estimate of two weeks is overly optimistic.

Does anyone play their Jordans sitting down? How high off the ground is the batter head in the normal config?

Also, any other cocktail drummers in the Milwaukee or Chicago area on this board? If so, what kind of gigs are you playing on the kit around the area? I'd love to get out and see what others are doing.
mangorockfish
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:23 pm
Location: arkansas

Post by mangorockfish »

Welcome to the Greatest Forum there is.
From what I understand about Yamaha, is that they only take a long time on special order stuff, i.e. custom sizes, colors, etc. The common movers are supposed to be shipped pretty quickly.

Speaking of pink drums, check out my kit on the kits side of the forum. It is under, "Mangos's Champagne Kit" or something like that.

Again welcome and you will find much experience and answers to your many questions.
Mangorockfish
almapercus
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:42 pm

Post by almapercus »

In Canada, wating time for a Club Jordan is between 3 and 4 months...
Plenty of time to build one by yourself.
I was lucky enough to find a decent used one in store. Beside that, no matter how long you'll wait, the club Jordan is a great set!
jottesen
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:20 am
Location: Denmark

congratulations !!!!!

Post by jottesen »

hey milwaukee
I had mine for about an half year now and I?m totally in love with this kit, there is a single
picture on " My pink sparkel club jordan kit" have a look.


have a nice day
Jesper
milwaukee
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:04 pm

Post by milwaukee »

Mango, that is one sweet kit you've got there. I hope mine looks half that good!

Jesper, it's tough to see in your pictures but it looks like you're putting it to good use...

Glad to hear you players have no regrets over your investment. Looking forward to the day my new toy arrives... I think my bandmates want me to shut up about it already...
mangorockfish
Posts: 182
Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:23 pm
Location: arkansas

Post by mangorockfish »

milwaukee wrote:Mango, that is one sweet kit you've got there. I hope mine looks half that good!

Jesper, it's tough to see in your pictures but it looks like you're putting it to good use...

Glad to hear you players have no regrets over your investment. Looking forward to the day my new toy arrives... I think my bandmates want me to shut up about it already...
They may get tired of listening to you talk about it, but when it gets there and they see & hear how cool it is, they'll be talking about it. :lol:

Get those pics up when you get it.
Mango'
milwaukee
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:04 pm

It's here!

Post by milwaukee »

Wow, it came one week after I ordered it. That's not bad at all.

I only put it together and played with it for about a half hour before my 20-month-old son went to bed. No pics yet but I'll try to take some over the weekend.

The good: It's purdy - looks as sharp as the pictures. The snare and tom sounded pretty good right out of the box (though like all new drums they needed some tweaking - see below.) The big drum sounds good with brushes. Hardware is pretty sturdy and drum construction is up to the high Yamaha standard.

The bad: I can't get the main drum to sound decent as a snare yet (with sticks, at least) or to not have 'snare buzz' when I hit the kick pedal. (I'm sure it will take time to perfect the sound). The 8" snare and 10" tom are both really ringy. Hopefully when I can get down and dirty with the tuning this weekend, these problems will be remedied.

The irritating: while tuning up the snare side head that came with the 8" snare, I cranked the key just a little bit (after having loosened that particular lug a few minutes before) and the head ripped right off the rim. Boo! Yamaha's getting an angry email for that one. Hope I don't waste too much of my weekend looking for 8" snare side heads around town...

So, those of you with Jordans, what did you do the first days you had it to make it sound good?
almapercus
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:42 pm

Post by almapercus »

I keep the tuning pretty low, so the small drums don't get too thinny.
Don't expect to have a great punchy snare sound on the 15" drum... It's more like an effect than anything else! It will buzz also when playing with the foot, which can be interesting in some cases.
milwaukee
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:04 pm

Post by milwaukee »

Yeah, I tuned the 10" tom down a bit and it sounds really sweet. I have to work on the snare but obviously the snareside head was a lemon so that one will have to wait until I find an 8" head I can use. (Any suggestions?)

In the meantime I will concentrate on making the big drum sound good.

I tried tuning the batter on the 15" pretty tight, but that seems to thin out the kick sound. Seems like if I tune the top head on that drum lower, the kick sounds great, but then the batter's only useful as a floor tom or for brushwork (having a brush on the head mutes it enough to prevent snare buzz with the kick.) If I tune it higher I can get a more reasonable snare-y sound but the buzz is still there and as I mentioned the kick sounds kind of bad.

For cymbals I'm using my 13" K/Z hats and a 16" K thin crash. I've got a 16" old K and a 1970s-vintage 15" Paiste I want to try out with the cocktail kit, too.
Post Reply