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Pearl Drums, Pearl Hardware & Pearl Musical Instruments

Pearl Drums

Pearl drums are one of the pioneering manufacturers of drum kits and drum hardware. In fact, to this day they are still one of the most used drum kits around. Pearl was originated in 1946 by a man named Katsumi Yanagisawa, who started his company by making music stands and other non drum related items. Eventually, he started making drum and percussion hardware that really took off. Soon enough, Yanagisawa opened more and more factories that would produce drums for the world.

It was only in 1966, when Pearl drums manufactured the first professionals drum set with its won name. All the drum kits designed before this were names under their distributers. Pearl Musical Instruments Co. were the first Japanese drum manufacturer to enter the US and UK market. Pearl was starting to become more and more popular. In the mid 70’s, there was an oil crisis that really took a big chunk out of the US and UK economies. Because of this, many entrepanuers from Japan were able to start branching out in these countries. Pearl was not the only one of course, other Japanese drum companies like Yamaha and Tama followed.

This competition provoked Pearl to invest millions into reaserch and development, thus creting more professional sounding kits. Eventually, Pearl had a wide array of kits ranging from cheap to expensive. Pearl now has factories in Tawian, Usa, and Japan while its’ headquaters is still located in Chiba Japan. Pearl drums are one of the most used brands in the drummer community.

Pearl has a very large selection of drum kits. Some product lines have been disconninuted, like the Maxwin series, which was around in the 80’s. Here is a list of Pearls latest Drum kit lines.

The Masterworks

A complete costom drum set designed by you. You can choose the size, the thickness, and the wood of each shell. A great sounding kit with a higher price tag.

Pearl Reference

A solid model of Pearl drums. Made from a mixture of Maple, Mohogany, and birch, these drums come in Many different colors, and sound excellent.

Pearl Masters Series

This series includes many smaller series.

  • MMX – (Custom MMX) 4-ply Maple shells that are very resonant.
  • MRX  - (Custom MRX) 6-ply Shells offers increased power and projection.
  • MSX  - (Retrospec MSX) 6-ply Maple Shell. Great tour kit.
  • MHX – (Mahogany Classic MHX) 4-ply African Mohagany with maple reinforcement rings. Classic vintage sound.
  • BRX  - (Studio BRX) 6-ply Birch Shell, Great for recording and natural EQ
  • BSX  - (Studio BSX) 6-ply Birch Shll, Also great for recording. Bigger Toms.

Pearl Session Drums

A cheaper line of drums. The Session Series has two Lines in it.

  • SMX  - (Custom SMX) 6-ply Maple Shell, Similar to the Masters, just cheaper.
  • SBX  - (Studio SBX) 6-ply Birch. Great punch for recording

Pearl Forum FX

Great Quality entry level Drum set. 5 piece kit includes sticks, cymbals, throne, and a video on starting on the drums!

Pearl Vision VLX

High quality 6/8 shell design. Similar to Reference, with a Life time Warrenty. Very nice sounding drum kit.

By:Dave Atkinson

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