Live custom vs. Sonor ascent

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Mikedrums78

Senior Member
I'm checking out both of these sets, and unfortunately, cannot play either due to my location. I wanna see what everyone thinks about these two kits, especially those who own em. Looking at the janka scale, they are ballpark to each other..I love how punchy the oaks are and how nice the ascents sound at higher tunings! Which one would you grab and why? Aloha:)
 
Mikedrums78 said:
I'm checking out both of these sets, and unfortunately, cannot play either due to my location. I wanna see what everyone thinks about these two kits, especially those who own em. Looking at the janka scale, they are ballpark to each other..I love how punchy the oaks are and how nice the ascents sound at higher tunings! Which one would you grab and why? Aloha:)
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Own the Ascents, and absolutely LOVE them! They tune easily high and low and I get tons of compliments on them. Do yourself a favor and buy the Sonors.

F
 
If you hang out on the Sonor Museum forums you'll see people who actually prefer to play their Ascents over their SQ2's. Having played them, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but for the price they are amazing and you won't need to baby them like you would an SQ2.
 
I've heard them both up close, but I don't own either.

I'm a Sonor fanatic and I've played them since 86, so I would normally say Sonor, but I attended a Weckl clinic last week and he was using the Live Oaks and they sounded superb.

I think it's a toss up and unless you live in Alaska or Hawaii you should take a trip to a store that has them both.
 
I wish someone would do a video comparison. This is also a pair I have often thought about, along with Starclassic Bubinga and Mapex Saturn.
 
@Wally i'm living in Japan atm, but will be moving back home (hawaii) so yep, you nailed it. We don't have too many music stores, let alone a sonor dealer..I too wish someone would do a head to head! For now, i've been trying to find both in stores here, but no luck.

Vitaflo and Florian,
Are the ascent's shell undersized like the German made shells?
 
I can't speak to the ascents, but can to the live customs...the live customs are very easy to tune, fit and finish is top notch, the hardware is typical yamaha (also top notch), the toms have a deep full tone to them and tune up and down well, the kick drum is one of the better kicks I've played .... Both kits I'm sure are very good, but I don't think you'll regret it if you choose the live customs...
 
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Mikedrums78 said:
@Wally i'm living in Japan atm, but will be moving back home (hawaii) so yep, you nailed it. We don't have too many music stores, let alone a sonor dealer..I too wish someone would do a head to head! For now, i've been trying to find both in stores here, but no luck.

Vitaflo and Florian,
Are the ascent's shell undersized like the German made shells?
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Not as drastically. My SQ2s are a bit more undersized. And yes, I prefer to play my Ascents out over my SQ2s

F
 
toddbishop said:
If the Ascents are anything like the old Phonics-- they're both 9 ply beech, right?-- they should pretty much rock with any tuning. I have a Phonic bop set that sounds huge with a rock tuning.
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Toms are 9 ply, but the bass is actually 7 ply. They do sound somewhat like the old Phonics to my ears, and the bass drum weighs about half as much as a Phonic just from the thinner shell and lighter hardware. Though that's not saying much as having a Phonic was like lugging around boat anchors. Those were some heavy drums.
 
Florian said:
Medium maples
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strange.. that Sonor Dealer guy Stitchy on sonormuseum has Ascents all around him in his shop on a daily basis.

He chooses a German S-Classix thin birch kit.

The Sonor Dealer Drum Center NH has Ascents all over .. Tony and Shane both choose the German models all day long.

The Sonor Dealer SamIAm Studios has Ascents in his shop. He chooses the German models.

Maybe you got a monday or friday production SQ2. I dunno.
 
I got play a Sonor Ascent kit that was used for a JoJo Mayer clinic the previous day. The stock heads were swapped out for Evans 360 G12 white coated on toms and snare and the Bass drum was an EQ3 Clear I believe. The bass drum head was barely above wrinkling, so I adjusted the tension to my liking. The toms were fine so ai left the, alone. I also cranked the snare head to about 90 on the drum dial.

My observances of these kits :
Beautiful lacquer finishes, very nice bearing edges, Chrome is very nice. The Tom mounts were very easy to manipulate and held their positioning very well.
The toms sounded very resonant and full sounding. Great balance between attack and resonance. I tuned them up and down and was really impressed with the tuning range of the toms.
The bass drum was fantastic ! Tons of bottom end especially for a 20" bass drum. The bass drum was wide open and other than the muffling provided by the EQ3 head. I did not feel it needed any additional muffling.
The snare was a gem, really easy to get a good crack out of, very sensitive and sounded good tuned down as well.

My vote goes for the Sonor Ascent.
 
Mike— a couple ideas: call the guys who have both in stock, like maybe Drum center of Portsmouth. Talk to them about the sound and what you're looking for. They'll set you at ease.

Another idea is to buy one of each in an add-on size to the set you would buy. Sell the one you don't want. The cost difference would offset any post purchase depression you might get by not trying them in person.
 
The Yamaha have die cast bass drum clamps.
The Yamaha floor tom has low end overtones that sound like a big cat.
 
Artstar said:
strange.. that Sonor Dealer guy Stitchy on sonormuseum has Ascents all around him in his shop on a daily basis.

He chooses a German S-Classix thin birch kit.

The Sonor Dealer Drum Center NH has Ascents all over .. Tony and Shane both choose the German models all day long.

The Sonor Dealer SamIAm Studios has Ascents in his shop. He chooses the German models.

Maybe you got a monday or friday production SQ2. I dunno.
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I didnt say I dont like my Sq2 kit, I absolutely LOVE them...I just prefer to play the Ascents out. The Sq2s stay in my studio.

F
 
I've never selected or preferred a wood of a drum set because of its Janka scale number...

I LOVE Sonor drums. Great drums. Unfortunately, the nearest shop that deals with Sonor is Dale's in PA. About a 6 hr drive one-way for me. I have a local shop here that can get me Sonor if I ask for it, but back in the day when I did ask for it, they weren't a Sonor dealer. So, in so many words I went Live Custom not only for its phenomenal sound (Really, it's hard to believe, just sitting here typing it but it's true when you sit behind a set of them) but for the THREE Yamaha dealers all available in max a 20 minute drive to any of them.

Edit: Do you live in Honolulu? I've met the one drum shop owner (Drummer's Warehouse on Keawe Street) that I know for CERTAIN is a Yamaha dealer. Don't think he has Sonor, however.
 
just threw in that janka scale factoid cause they are kind of close to each other in hardness, and if i:m not wrong, the tom shells are close in thickness. Drummaman, yep I:m in the Honolulu area, and like you said, that is definitely a consideration I have to make. I don`t think there are any sonor dealers on island, unfortunately..I`d have to order from a cali dealer and pray shipping is affordable..The Yamaha`s have the upper hand in that respect..
 
Wally Young said:
The Yamaha have die cast bass drum clamps.
The Yamaha floor tom has low end overtones that sound like a big cat.
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LOL, is that a good thing, as in it has growl to it??

I appreciate your other comment! I would like to buy both toms and sell one, but shipping to Hawaii, depreciation of drums, selling on ebay, time to sell etc are all things I worry about in regards to this suggestion.

I`m still searching my area of Japan for these two kits..
 
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