Just sharing a pic of one of the most beautiful kits ever made

steverok

steverok

Silver Member
My 1992 Premier Projectors, which I bought new. I believe they are the precursor to Genista, with all birch, but with reinforcement rings on the inside. The sapphire blue finish changes with the light. I have taken good care of them. Tuned 'em up real solid tonight. The snare, with die cast hoop, is amazing - beefy and cracking like mad. The toms go from warm vibrant punch on top to thunderous kettle clangers on the bottom. More attack than sustain on the lowers, but with lots of character. The kick is punchy and dynamic, especially with these Aquarian heads. Shown are just the 10", 12", and 14" toms. I also have an 8" and 16". Check 'em out.

Premiers-BeautifulBlueshrunk.jpg
 
Wow, beautiful kit!! It's nice to see something different, because i hardly ever see anyone playing a Premier kit anymore. This line of drums sometimes gets thrown under the bus or forgot about when people start talking drums, but to me i always thought Premier made decent drums. Thanks for posting and again....nice kit!
 
That is a beautiful kit! I agree - Premiere does seem to get pushed to the wayside all the time. They've made great drums for a long time. Makes me wonder what it was that gave them a hard time....

Nice kit you got there, though. You need to shoot a video so we can hear them!
 
When I worked at GC in the early 90's we had that kit on the floor. Nice sound, really nice look.

I ended up buying the Signia for myself, which I still have.
 
A lovely kit, & the condition is a credit to you.

Premier always seemed just a touch behind the Japanese kits in the 80's. To me, that was the decade when they lost their way. Their entry level kits didn't quite cut it compared to others, & I think that was more to do with small styling cues & outdated harware than anything else. I always liked, & still support the benefits of the slightly undersized shell though.

I looked over the latest crop of Premier kits recently. Although nice, yet again, they're just not quite individual enough to stand out. The quality seemed competetive enough, but I fear a lack of innovation & resitance to tackle anything other than the middle ground will confine then to the shadows. Designed by committee?
 
keep it simple said:
A lovely kit, & the condition is a credit to you.

Premier always seemed just a touch behind the Japanese kits in the 80's. To me, that was the decade when they lost their way. Their entry level kits didn't quite cut it compared to others, & I think that was more to do with small styling cues & outdated harware than anything else. I always liked, & still support the benefits of the slightly undersized shell though.

I looked over the latest crop of Premier kits recently. Although nice, yet again, they're just not quite individual enough to stand out. The quality seemed competetive enough, but I fear a lack of innovation & resitance to tackle anything other than the middle ground will confine then to the shadows. Designed by committee?
Click to expand...

Perhaps that's it. It does seem more like a committee was making decisions and they're all compromises just to get the product out. And then it takes too long to fix what's bad and they fall behind. Maybe that's the vibe I was feeling with them during the 80s and early 90s. Some of their offerings are outstanding, but maybe it's that hardware issue you're talking about, Andy. Just a little bit behind on the curve?
 
keep it simple said:
A lovely kit, & the condition is a credit to you.

Premier always seemed just a touch behind the Japanese kits in the 80's. To me, that was the decade when they lost their way. Their entry level kits didn't quite cut it compared to others, & I think that was more to do with small styling cues & outdated harware than anything else. I always liked, & still support the benefits of the slightly undersized shell though.

I looked over the latest crop of Premier kits recently. Although nice, yet again, they're just not quite individual enough to stand out. The quality seemed competetive enough, but I fear a lack of innovation & resitance to tackle anything other than the middle ground will confine then to the shadows. Designed by committee?
Click to expand...

Yeah, in the 80's, they were always a step behind.

But in the early to mid 90's, they were killing their Asian competition by making high quality sets that were priced right for their quality. It was Premier's cutting heavily into the market that made the others completely re-do many of their lines.

And then suddenly, Premier discontinued all their best selling lines, and just shot themselves in the foot. Really kind of sad.
 
keep it simple said:
Premier always seemed just a touch behind the Japanese kits in the 80's. To me, that was the decade when they lost their way. Their entry level kits didn't quite cut it compared to others, & I think that was more to do with small styling cues & outdated harware than anything else. I always liked, & still support the benefits of the slightly undersized shell though.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that they made a stronge push into the entry level market in the 80s. My first kit was a 1986 Premier Royale APK set. They were quite popular. That kit recently came back into my hands, and I've been cleaning them up. They sound terrific. I believe they are better than, e.g., the Pearl Exports of that era.
 
Wow, beautiful kit!
I always liked Premier drums. Never really had any real dealers in my area (Detroit metro) which is kind of surprising.
 
DrumEatDrum said:
Yeah, in the 80's, they were always a step behind.

But in the early to mid 90's, they were killing their Asian competition by making high quality sets that were priced right for their quality. It was Premier's cutting heavily into the market that made the others completely re-do many of their lines.

And then suddenly, Premier discontinued all their best selling lines, and just shot themselves in the foot. Really kind of sad.
Click to expand...

I think the reason for Premier's (reasonably recent) decline is the difficulty of competing with Asian manufacturers when your high-end kits are made in Britain - where it's even more expensive to export that in the US. I remember about eight years ago hearing an 'Artist Series' birch kit and being utterly blown away by it. I would still buy one if I could justify it, but I can't.

The other problem is manufacturing yield. They just couldn't compete in volume of manufacture with others like Sonor, (much bigger factory) Mapex and Tama. More recently their kits just haven't been different enough from the competition to make them stand out and they've had no unique selling point.

It's a crying shame - they've made great drums but they're just not competitive.
 
Yes, the kick is 22x16, which was the standard back then. When I recently went shopping for a kick-around road kit, I learned the deepest drum that will fit in my car is the Yamaha 22x17. That certainly narrowed down the market for me, as almost every kick is 18" deep nowadays.

Anyway, tonight, I made a video of me banging on them. I'm not much of a soloist, so I just knocked out some rock grooves from my band, mostly. It's just the mic on my Sony camera, which is surprisingly good. I'd be interested to hear what y'all think of these tubs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhl6xHTrDTY
 
Steverok, you rock man! So does your drumkit - I just commented on your YouTube vid. There's nothing my eyes and ears don't like about this drumkit. (Well, my mind doesn't like me not having such a nice kit...) Each element sounds as it's supposed to - fat (bass), clear (the cymbals, each one is appealing) etc - it's all there. And on your YT vid, the kit even wasn't complete (additional toms) - wow.
 
Thanks Arky ! It's nice to get some appreciation from fellow drummers. I have learned quite a bit about tuning recently, so my drums are sounding better than ever. My cymbals were all chosen individually, but with their union in mind. I like them all so much, it's hard to imagine ever buying another cymbal. I use Zildjian 14" New Beat Hi Hats, Paiste Signature 16" Full Crash, Zildjian K 17" Dark Thin Crash, Sabian HH 20" Heavy Ride, and UFIP Classic 8" and 10" splashes. Also have a Zildjian K 17" China Boy and a Paiste Signature 10" bell cymbal that I integrate from time to time. Y'all's feedback is appreciated !
 
I am thinking of adding a 14x14 Signia floor tom to this set, as an option. There is one on eBay right now in the same color. It seems a little overpriced for its condition through. It's basically the same shell type (thin shell with re-ring) as my 14x12 hanging tom, except 2" deeper with maple instead of birch. Any thoughts on what I might get with this drum, that I don't already have ? I am thinking I might get a bigger sound with more sustain. I have always wanted a maple drum set, but don't really have the room for another kit. I was wondering if this addition might satisfy my taste for maple. Any input would be appreciated.
 
I like it a lot other than the full length lugs. The color is supreme.
 
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