I took my two year old son into Guitar Center the other day. He’s already obsessed with drums and guitars an it’s pretty much his favorite outing at this point! While we were in there the drum tech told me about the new Pearl e-Pro live kit that made it debut at NAMM where it subsequently won a “best in show award”.
Now, I’m not totally adverse to electronic kits as they’ve come A LONG WAY since the crappy octo-pads of the 80′s; I’ve played quite a bit on the V-Drums in both live and studio situations and had a great time. But I’ve never jonesed for an electronic kit either. That all changed for me when I laid my eyes on this kit!
You’ve got to check out the YouTube video at the end of this post. (But read my review first!) 
Gene Okamoto from Pearl is the congenial fellow who introduces us to the e-Pro Live drumset in the Pearl video. Say “Hi” to Gene!
Dennis Chambers, one of my personal favorites, is the first pro they show using the kit. I think this is especially appropriate because Dennis isn’t characterized as a straight-forward rock drummer. He really mixes it up with a lot of syncopation and polyrhythmic style playing. I like this because that’s where I’ve had some frustrations with electronic kits before – they just can’t keep up with highly involved playing and rhythms. Say “Hi” to Dennis!
Why the e-Pro Live drums are going to be my next kit purchase.
Reason number one: They look like real drums.
Let me first say, I don’t think I’m a vain musician. I mean, I’m a pretty good drummer and have no problems getting gigs when I’m looking for them but I’m not a monster player like our friend Dennis up there. But I’ve never really thought to myself, “I need a DW Bubinga veneer with gold plated hardware and the full retinue of DW’s top-of-the-line stuff or I won’t play it!” I like that stuff but I don’t require it. I personally believe you can make a CB 700 kit sound good and work in most situations.
But I’ve never, ever liked playing on drums that look like they’ve been assembled from left over Space Shuttle parts. I like to play drums that at least make an attempt to look like drums!
The e-Pro Live kit is made up of real shells that are typical depth and width. It looks EXACTLY like a freakin’ kit! Nice.
REAL SIZES
The kit has 10″, 12″, and 14″ inch rack toms; a 20″ bass drum; and a 14″ snare drum. Just how I like ‘em.
REAL SHELLS
These are not some composite crap or plastic equivalent, we’re talking real wood shells. These are the same type of shells that you’d find in any acoustic drum kit. In the promo video they don’t really focus on the construction of the shells but I’m almost positive that you’d find these shells in another production Pearl kit. Why wouldn’t they use shells from an existing product?
This is one of the features of the e-Pro Live kit that has me sold. As I’ll point out later in my review, you can simply switch out the e-Pro Live electronic trigger heads if you have a gig that requires an acoustic setup. Of course, if you also have an acoustic kit you wouldn’t need to do this but it’s a really cool option if you don’t. Keep in mind that switching out the heads on five drums isn’t done quickly but if you had the right tools you could probably make pretty quick work of it.
REAL FINISH
Artisan II in quilted maple fade or Jet Black are the color options for the kit. I’d definitely choose the quilted maple fade over the black but I might go for a less flashy wood finish if it was available.
Playing on drums that look like drums is important to me. On the one hand it’s absurd to say, “Hey, look at these real drums I’m playing! They’re REAL drums because you can tell by the way they look.”, because when you’re playing on them in full electronic mode, they’re not real drums. (Strictly speaking.) You’d only be fooling dummies. On the other hand drumming isn’t purely about the technology but also about the culture. Drums look and feel a certain way. It’s critical to me to feel like I’m playing something other than dead plastic even if they are producing pure electronic output. So I’m on board with mostly fake aspect of making them look like real drums. And, like I pointed out earlier, they can produce as an acoustic set simply by switching out the heads.
REAL CYMBALS
Here’s another super sweet feature of the e-Pro Live setup – real cymbals. Well, o.k., they’re not real cymbals unless they make very loud, shimmery noises, but they apparently feel and respond like real cymbals.
The e-Pro Live cymbals are made with real brass and should have the type of stick response indicative of any brass cymbal. However, logic says that they are going to have a pretty heavy and slightly clunky feel to them as they’ve got some electronics along for the ride underneath and must have some sort of sound deadening involved.
REAL HARDWARE
Not to make too fine of point here, but the e-Pro Live kit looks just like an every day acoustic because it has a standard hardware setup as well. The tom holders, lugs, stands, and rack are all what you’d expect to see on any kit. Plus Pearl hardware is super tight. I always buy Pearl or DW stuff.
As far as the rack goes, it’s a modified ICON rack that you can more drums and cymbals to if you wanted to expand your kit.
Final Thoughts
Me likey. Me want. How about you? Anyone gigging on one of these yet?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This Drum set is what I’ve always been waiting for. A kit that doesn’t look like plastic crap but instead looks and feels like real drums and still has the electronic function with no need to Mic them up.
Well Done to the team who put this kit together. You guys ROCK.
Yeah. It’s pretty awesome. I went in to my local Guitar Center the other day and goofed around on it for a bit. Definitely the best set of electronic drums I’ve evr played on. They whole hybrid nature of it is sweet too!
I saw, I bought! There and then. Simply the best electronic “kit” I’ve ever played! Unfortunately I only have the rubber cymbals, brass not available yet in the UK. Back up is a little sparse at the moment but should improve. I am thinking of buying a Gretsch Catalina to put the heads on as it is in keeping with my USA Custom stage kit and maybe selling the epro as an acoustic shell pack. Not that they aren’t good, just my preference in the look of the kit. I am now able to practise at home, on a real set up, without disturbing the neighbours!! Result!!
Dude, that’s great! They only had a kit setup for demo at my local Guitar Center for a short time. I was very impressed with it. I’m still planning to pick one up someday.
That’s interesting that you’re thinking of swapping out the shells. Now that I think of it, is it possible to just buy the head/trigger/module assembly? If that’s possible I wonder if you could save some coin and have something more custom?
Anyways, thanks for sharing. Really cool.