Sakae drums

Jeremy Bender

Platinum Member
The Japanese craftsmen who built Yamaha drums for the past 40 years are striking out on their own. The new offerings look and sound promising.
http://www.sakaedrums.com/
 
The sound files are a nice offering, tho the drums sound a lot like YAMAHA.

Chamber Specific Technology Process (CST)? Something borrowed, something blue.

Lug gaskets? Nuh-uh!

They do offer a 3 ply maple/poplar with 60 degree (double 30) edges and 14" deep kicks, but again not original. Score 1 for the 14" kicks.

The hardware isn't groundbreaking at all.

Cool Eric Harland demo.


Its going to come down to the cake, how much these drums cost. Sonically their DNA is too close to YAMAHA IMO, same mother (molds) same father (builders).
 
Yes for those wanting the Yamaha drum sound that so many of have grown up with, this may be a solution for future purchases. The Maple/Bubinga drum samples sounded great to my ears.
 
Awesome finishes.

What about those upside down looking mounts though?

I wonder if that makes it harder to position rack toms.
 
I have two Celestial kits to review at the moment. Some of the nicest drums I think I've played so far.
 
Post-processing aside, they sound great. It's also nice for a company to approach their promotional videos maturely too, with great players capable of showing the dynamic range of the instruments.

I'm sure they'll be expensive but I'm quite impressed.
 
Post-processing aside, they sound great. I
Yes, I picked up the (fairly mild) processing too (especially bass drums), but at least they're not going over the top on it.

I'd like more companies to put out honest audio, but then really thinking about that, we'd lose one of our USP's ;)

Edit: I was referring to the audio only samples. They're not so coloured, but the video's are smothered in processing :(

Overall, these do look like very nice drums though.
 
Their stuff looks nice.

But I'm surprised given all the hoopla there are no obvious Sake versions of Yamaha products. Sake has taken to advertising in Modern Drummer "You may not know our name, but you know our sound.."

And yet, I don't see anything that is obviously the shell of other brands lines.

Sake's offerings seem closer to trying to be more like Ludwig than Yamaha.
 
The Celestial Maple/Bubinga kit sounds intriguing. I'd love to hear those in person. Maple Bubinga sounds like an awesome combo for stave/segmented configs too.......

The Trilogy Maple/Poplar shells sound awesome as well. I see price being a huge issue though.
 
Sake has taken to advertising in Modern Drummer "You may not know our name, but you know our sound.."

They're (for being Japanese pretty) brazenly taking credit for YAMAHA'S sound.
 
MikeDolbear.com
Interesting :) You'll know chris then? Are you coming to LDS?

Maple Bubinga sounds like an awesome combo for stave/segmented configs too.......
It can be, especially if you want to put back some of the mid that bubinga misses out on. That's fine for a snare, but with toms, you remove some of the clear/dominant fundamental advantages of those constructions when you mix species.
 
I just watched that video and there is no way those drums sound good. The bass drum sounded like a trash can I have on the back patio. Anyone shelling out 3600 bucks for those needs to seek professional help in my humblest of opinions. Plus I have noticed as of late thaty MDS is way over priced on lots of their stuff. Okay rant over.
 
I just watched that video and there is no way those drums sound good. The bass drum sounded like a trash can I have on the back patio. Anyone shelling out 3600 bucks for those needs to seek professional help in my humblest of opinions. Plus I have noticed as of late thaty MDS is way over priced on lots of their stuff. Okay rant over.
Just listened to the MDS video. I must agree. The bass drum sounded most unsatisfying. A very confused fundamental, choked almost, but I can't help thinking that's more a head / tuning issue than anything else. I'd have to try really hard to get a bass drum sound like that, & I'm sure these drums are able to deliver much better than on this recording.
 
If I was looking to buy something with poplar I would certainly look at Sakea along with Ludwig, Gretsch and Canopus. I think poplar is coming back strong for a very good reason:)
 
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