Pearl Sessions

I have a 7 peice session and i love it. The mounting system is really great, and the sound is fantastic. The only problem with it really is that its a little bit expensive. Plus, i dont think they make them any more so you might have a little trouble finding them.
 
No, they dont make them anymore. but i played a real nice on, sounded great with the toms tuned low - killer bass drum too!
 
I have a set of Pearl Sessions, they are fine drums. I wouldn't pick them above all others though.
 
I have a session custom bop kit which i love, i cant really comment on the price though since i got a lot of money off. They are great drums, very glad i bought them.
 
I've played them for years now, and they are absolutely stellar drums. They are as close to top of the line without being top of the line as you can get. Best features, gorgeous finishes. Sadly they don't make them anymore, and Pearl dumbed down other sets as a result, cheapening the Masters series to the new Masters Premiums, trying to bridge the two series, which in theory sounds good. I think they look cheaper as a result (all my opinion). If you can find a kit, it would be a smart purchase. These are mine.
 

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I've got to chime in as a fan of Session Customs as well. As I understand the story, they are essentially Masters series drums (same lugs, shells, mounts). The main difference is the "super hoops" on Sessions and the die cast hoops on Masters. I also understand the the outer layer of wood chosen for Sessions was just a little less pretty than some of the Masters outer plies.

All that said, you can still find them used and I would recommend buying them if you can find them in good shape.
 
Got the chance to play on a 7pc Session Custom green burst kit at a show last night. A band had cancelled so we were called at really short notice, not the ideal situation but having this kit there was a big plus arriving at the gig.

Beautiful finish, a really great looking kit for the stage

However, the owner still had the stock heads on the kit and they just didn't sound good. This was a metal show and my band plays a funky/blue/rock type thing, so it was a bit challenging adapting to the style of his configuration

He had a wall of 4 rack toms with some seriously flat angles going on, I prefer a lower single rack tom setup as opposed to these toms which all seemed to be staring me down on stage and concealing me behind the kit (I'm 6'2" and was pretty much hidden behind this setup, I'm used to sitting high and having crash cymbals nice and low.

These angles also forced me to mount my cymbals much higher than normal but that wasn't a huge issue, aside from it being difficult to see my bassist at times.

I liked the 10" tom a lot, but between that drum and the floor toms the owner had the remaining rack toms tuned so closely to each other that IMO they were pointless. He also had an extraordinary mix of hardware: some top notch pearl boom stands and an iron cobra hi hat stand, then a network double kick. I really did not like that pedal, I don't play double pedal anymore, but this pedal had a terrible feel. Its clamp was broken so it didnt even fasten to the bass drum hoop, somehow it remained stationary during the set but the bass drum did creep quite a bit.

All in all, I'd take one of these kits any day, but as with any kit you need some decent heads and tuning. I didnt have the heart to talk to the owner about that since he was quite a bit older than me and was kind enough to allow me to use his fairly new kit. I figured that experience would have dictated the need for quality heads but hey, to each his own
 
Session series drums are great semi pro level insrtuments. I had a set of the first generation Session DLX maple/mahogany/maple


Recorded with these and they were awesome. Wish I woulda hung onto them!

I can only imagine that the later session offerings were even better..although I can't

imagine them sounding much better than these..


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