Pearl Roadshow Jazz Kit

AFAIK neither the Export, nor the Vision are available in a bop configuration.
And certainly not with an 18x12 bass drum.

Small, light, easy to transport, easy to play, and inexpensive,
are the selling point of these types of kits.

The Vision bop shell pack does exist.
$600. 8x12, 14x14, 16x18....
Still you are talking 16" depth on kick and$600 which takes you a bit
out of the budget budget.
 
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Frank:
How has the Pearl RS held up so far and how are you liking it, including the snare with the new head you were putting on it back in May?
I might consider this now since I need another kit to be stored at our practice place and thought this might work out OK for the swing blues we play.
I'd just bring my own cymbals and pedal.
 
I can't vouch for longevity yet. But, I have no reason to believe this kit is going to be anything less than an awesome success.

I love the kit. I love the way it sounds and the way it looks. I love the shell sizes. And I love the price. :)

I'm not gigging at the moment, but if I find a situation, and we park at someone's house for rehearsals, I am definitely buying a second of the same kit to park there.
 
And, I think my snare sounds great.

My only minus was that my tom mount came slightly stripped where it didn't tighten down completely. The tom wouldn't slip away when I played, but the nut/key never stopped when I tightened it down. It wasn't much of a minus - when I contacted Pearl, they tripped over themselves sending me out the part. They really did a great job hearing and responding.

Did I say how much I love the shell sizes? Seriously, the large tom, bass drum, and snare sizes are my Perfect picks. My only non perfect pick is the small tom. I'd prefer a 12 to the 10. But the 10 sounds great.

Did any of that help?
 
And, I think my snare sounds great.

My only minus was that my tom mount came slightly stripped where it didn't tighten down completely. The tom wouldn't slip away when I played, but the nut/key never stopped when I tightened it down. It wasn't much of a minus - when I contacted Pearl, they tripped over themselves sending me out the part. They really did a great job hearing and responding.

Did I say how much I love the shell sizes? Seriously, the large tom, bass drum, and snare sizes are my Perfect picks. My only non perfect pick is the small tom. I'd prefer a 12 to the 10. But the 10 sounds great.

Did any of that help?

Thanks, Frank.
Sounds like a confirmation of what you thought before. I ordered a Jet Black kit earlier today from Guitar Center, who matched the eBay retailer price out the door- if I don't end up liking it the return is no problem, but based on your comments and my experience with the smaller configurations, this should be perfect to leave in place for group practice. I'm changing the bass drum and snare batters first thing and will adjust from there. I have some spare cymbals as well.
 
Thanks, Frank.
Sounds like a confirmation of what you thought before. I ordered a Jet Black kit earlier today from Guitar Center, who matched the eBay retailer price out the door- if I don't end up liking it the return is no problem, but based on your comments and my experience with the smaller configurations, this should be perfect to leave in place for group practice. I'm changing the bass drum and snare batters first thing and will adjust from there. I have some spare cymbals as well.

Enjoy.

Were you able to find the minus-cymbal configuration? There is a config with cymbals for 379 and, in limited places, a minus cymbal config for 329.
 
I was able to purchase the configuration with everything, including those crummy cymbals, for the $329 total.
Hellofa deal.
 
People are saying, don't judge until you try. I don't have to try this kit. Everything I have mentioned above is true.

I purchased an equally inexpensive Tama kit years ago for practice purposes. I had no expectation as far as quality let alone sound/tone, but boy, was I surprised. Once I put good heads on the kit, it sounded INCREDIBLE. Yes, I said INCREDIBLE. Would it hold up to repeated setup and teardown? Was the wood soft and fragile? Perhaps. But what the hell do you want for less than $400 including shipping? The set included crappy cymbals (which were more than playable), a throne, pedals, and stands. Go figure.
 
Ya - I know about the larger sets. I like the bop size sets for the same reasons you mentioned.
I like a 5 piece, 18" bass drum configuration though.
I just wondered if you could buy individual drums.

The dealer I bought my kit from says he Can order individual drums.
He is checking with Pearl on pricing and availability.
If I get more info, I will post here.

If this comes through, and it is available and affordable, I will order a 12x8 small tom.
 
Thanks, Frank.
Sounds like a confirmation of what you thought before. I ordered a Jet Black kit earlier today from Guitar Center, who matched the eBay retailer price out the door- if I don't end up liking it the return is no problem, but based on your comments and my experience with the smaller configurations, this should be perfect to leave in place for group practice. I'm changing the bass drum and snare batters first thing and will adjust from there. I have some spare cymbals as well.

Did you get it yet? If so - what do you think?
 
Not to sound snarky here, but think about everything you are getting in this kit, and then think about how much just the material alone costs to make it. Then think about what it takes to actually manufacture the kit. The machinery, the facility, labor, utilities, taxes, etc. Then think about what it costs to package the kit and ship it to a regional distributer. Then think about what price the retailer can afford to pay for this kit in order to offer it on their website and afford to ship the kit for free to the customer, all while still turning a profit. Meanwhile, everyone along the way needs to make their money on their part to bring this kit to market. You might say, "well they make their money on volume, right?"

Okay, so volume is key to making money on this kit. When your only way to make money is volume, how many kits do you think the laborers have to churn out every day in order to make it profitable to Pearl? If the laborers are required to produce kits at an enormously fast pace (because volume is what makes money), how much time can they afford to pay towards shell construction, wood quality, bearing edge cuts, hole drilling, shell finish, hardware quality, etc? The answer is none. So with basically no time and attention being afforded in the construction quality of this kit, do you think its still going to be a good kit? Would you want to spend $389 on a kit that was built with basically no attention to detail because they couldnt afford it at the price they are selling it at? I wouldnt.

That's a whole bunch of presumptuous assumptions. Rather than calculating through a whole bunch of unknown variables, I think it makes a lot more sense to look at the kit and look at what you get...

A great example of the assumptions you make being useless. I used to perform a lot of work on guitars, upgrades, repairs, mods... I worked on $100 chinese strat knockoffs that displayed better workmanship than the $700 american-made Fender. I also do a lot of work on drums. I've seen $400 kits with better tolerances then some $800 kits.

Sometimes churning out huge volumes through an assembly lines provides better consistency than hand making one at a time...
 
The kit was such a success that - I bought a 2nd one. :)

That's right. It's so affordable, and I loved it so much, that I now have one at home and one at a practice space with a band. The band Loves capital L the kit.

Best value I ever found.
 
Sometimes churning out huge volumes through an assembly lines provides better consistency than hand making one at a time...

Pearl has their own state of the art factory in China that produces these kits.
which should translate to better QC in my thinking.
I do believe that Pearl is making their profits from these roadshow kits on the sheer volume of kits produced. To me, Pearl is a lot of things, some not so good, but they are one of the most consistent in term of production of a good quality product.
My 2c

Happy you are digging your kit Frank. So nice you bought it twice!
 
It does amaze me that companies can churn out kits at this price range. It's all about the automation that produces consistent results - you're not going to get the attention-to-detail of individual manufacture but the labour costs are low enough to have workers in supplement to the automated processes.

In the low-end guitar market, Squier are churning out some amazing instruments at the £250-range and Yamaha Pacifica guitars have always been excellent for the money (and I've recommended them to more than one beginner).

I worry about the condition of the workers and the environmental practises of the factories more than the quality of the product they make. That's why I would personally look to pay more but if you're only interested in the product then there's often little wrong with most low-end offerings from major manufacturers.
 
Taking a closer look at the Roadshow kit - it looks to me like Pearl have gone a long way towards keeping the cost low by using the hardware from earlier Forum/Export models and having limited plain colour wrap options..

I bought a 15 year old? Pearl Forum shell pack with steel snare (the old style tom arm through shell mount model) to use as a practice/sacrificial kit about 3 years ago - it looks VERY similar to the Roadshow model and has pretty much the same poplar shells. It had been neglected and looked pretty bad, but, as it was dirt cheap I bought it. When I got it home I completely stripped it down to inspect, clean up and reassemble. Other than light corrosion on the top hoops and the threads of a few tension rods (which cleaned off easily) it was perfect, no nasty surprises. After replacing all the heads I ended up with a good set for about £150 all in - it sounds exactly like an Export of the same era.

The price may seem suspiciously low for the Roadshow, but it certainly doesn't mean its junk. In reality it is only priced a little lower than the old Pearl Forum sets, but it has smaller shells, only has the top section of the cymbal stand, has one less rack tom + tom arm and no ISS mount. If I didn't already own an 18/14/12 bop set I would seriously consider buying one.
 
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Considered one of the Roadshow versions for my first kit, but eventually went with something off CL because it was cheaper. After all new batters and reso's plus cleanup, I kinda wished I'd went with the Pearl.
 
The Vision bop shell pack does exist.
$600. 8x12, 14x14, 16x18....
Still you are talking 16" depth on kick and$600 which takes you a bit
out of the budget budget.

I think those must have been discontinued at some point.
I don't see them listed anywhere I've checked.
 
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