Orange County

hi, does anyone own any orange county drums or ever played them? If so how good are they? What are they like to play, sound, feel etc. Also what is their quality and attention to detail like? Thanks

There's a kit down at the local Banjo Hut. Looks decently made and the price is reasonable. 20 x 22 kick is the deepest, most bone jarring drum I've ever played. Simply massive sounding. And that compares to various DW, Tama, Gretsch and Pearl, both old and new I've played recently enough to compare. Only thing that came close was the Tama at several times the price.

Toms on the other hand are middle of the road. Nowhere near Pork Pies, DW's, better Gretch, etc. Pearl Session level. Which is still good for the price. I'd take top line PDPs, or Renowns (which I bought) on overall balance. But if you wanted that kick...

They are "boutique" builders who expanded their drum offerings to include more than just Keller shelled drums with "wiz-bang" finishes. I think they cater to the "mostly younger, Orange County punk drummer scene, but they've obviously grown big enough to get into Guitar Center, so ...... like most things, you get what you pay for. They have $600 kits .... and they have $3000 kits. And the have Travis Barker and Guitar Hero.

The Orange County stuff is indeed pretty nice. They were (and still are) a "botique" custom company, but most of their consumer recognition nowadays is from the Venice, Avalon, and Newport kits, all available more or less exclusively through Guitar Center and manufactured in Taiwan and China. The Venices are decent basswood shells in a 4-piece with nice hardware and features, and sound about as good as a basswood kit could. Also has all-black hardware with offset lugs. The Avalon kits are nicer, 6-ply maple shells with 9-ply kick and snare (i think) and a slick sparkle finish, sound punchy, very similar to a Catalina Maple with a step up in the hardware dept. The Newports are the nicest, with NA rock maple shells and custom tom mounts, on par with Renowns. Not miles of difference in sound between the Avalons and the Newports, though. We had all 3 of these kits set up in my store, so I jammed on them all the time. Nice drums overall, not miles better than the competition sound-wise, but offer some custom looks for cheaper than custom. As far as the true, custom, handmade OCDP stuff, I'd imagine it's just as nice as any other builder out there. I'm not sure, I've never seen one in person.

My opinion of OCDP drums is that they are very ordinary. I wouldn't buy one.

i played a orange county kit in a recent show i played. prefered my sonor s classix any day