A&F drums?

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D. B. Cooper said:
I like the look of some of their stuff, especially the hardware and wooden drums, but that video with the 14x40 sounds absolutely awful. Souless, I would say.
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Well it's ridiculous on the floor. If that drum was stand mounted on an angle and you could play the drum with two mallets by hand, now we are talking about some serious depth from the drum's chambers. On the floor with a pedal? I agree with you.
 
JimmySticks said:
It's a really crowded market for drums out there these days, so how does somebody find a foothold? There's so much competition in every price range and every level of build and customization. My guess is, you do something totally different and a little out there to stand out. I don't see anything wrong with it myself. I'm glad there out there and doing there thing...
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Way to dent up a nice hoop!
 
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The folks at A&F are cool and the drums are interesting. The company started with the premise of “how can I have vintage drums that I can play out” without worrying about taking your vintage kit out for gigs.

I almost pulled the trigger on a snare, but my 1966 Jazz Festival (which cost $400) sounded the same. So why spend $1k? I still might.

I love new approaches and A&F has done just that. Too many others have taken Keller shells and have thrown their hardware on them. A&F has taken the road less travelled. Either you like them or you don’t, but give them credit for trying to offer something unique.
 
hsosdrum said:
That's one thing I've also noticed in all of the A&F videos — their snare drums all seem to have this "washy" snare sound. I don't know if that's a function of the snare tension favored by the drummers in the videos or a function of the drums themselves, but that sound seems to be common across all the A&F snares that I've heard on YouTube demos.
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i have no horse in this race...at all...
i've played a bunch of their drums and they sounded great and, more importantly (for me) were super inspiring to play!
¿build issues? haven't looked inside...that weld is a bummer, but that's a really thick piece of metal to keep solidly attached! my 80's tama 6.5" bell brass, although not that obvious, has a 'cruder than usual' seam that would probably keep some folks up at night :)
the hoops on the 3 snares and copper kit i played all seemed fairly dead on and tuned (with some finesse) well...the floor tom (16x14) FLOORED me! ALL of these drums were fairly early examples...jes sayin...
addressing the above comment, though...you should check out any of the instagram or fB posts by dan mayo or brody simpson, both using A LOT (and a wide variety) of their drums, both guys very accomplished at their craft...the drums speak everything from crisp to loose to flabby to bright...far from 'one trick' sounding. again, jes sayin...
 
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tradrad said:
i have no horse in this race...at all...
i've played a bunch of their drums and they sounded great and, more importantly (for me) were super inspiring to play!
¿build issues? haven't looked inside...that weild is a bummer, but that's a really thick piece of metal to keep solidly attached! my 80's tama 6.5" bell brass, although not that obvious, has a 'cruder than usual' seam that would probably keep some folks up at night :)
the hoops on the 3 snares and copper kit i played all seemed fairly dead on and tuned (with some finesse) well...the floor tom (16x14) FLOORED me! ALL of these drums were fairly early examples...jes sayin...
addressing the above comment, though...you should check out any of the instagram or fB posts by dan mayo or brody simpson, both using A LOT (and a wide variety) of their drums, both guys very accomplished at their craft...the drums speak everything from crisp to loose to flabby to bright...far from 'one trick' sounding. again, jes sayin...
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Could you share the inside of your bell brass drum? I am curious now.
 
DanOppmann said:
I have played several of their snares. Build quality is questionable and tuning them is like playing with a Rubik’s Cube.
For the $2750 you’d pay for the A&F’er models you could buy a Gretsch USA bell brass, Ludwig Black beauty and a N&C solid maple and you have all sounds covered!
Just my opinion
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Which drum costs $2750?
 
Question... can someone tell me what’s happening here so I don’t have to read 107 posts ? ( insert sarcastic emoji )
 
jaymandude said:
Question... can someone tell me what’s happening here so I don’t have to read 107 posts ?
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I asked about A&F drums. Some people gave opinions. I saw the join of the shell, then became a hater. Others chimed in; others defended the brand. Now we’re defending our positions.
 
I have some of their nickel-plated stands which are simple and lovely. I appreciate a company that has whimsical ideas, sources materials locally and produces timeless-looking products that look more like antique furniture than shiny toys. However you feel about A&F, you can't deny they have done a fantastic job establishing a brand in such a short time.
 
Chasforeman said:
I have some of their nickel-plated stands which are simple and lovely. I appreciate a company that has whimsical ideas, sources materials locally and produces timeless-looking products that look more like antique furniture than shiny toys. However you feel about the A&F, you can't deny they have done a fantastic job establishing a brand in such a short time.
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Their stands look great and they definitely have generated buzz around their name.
 
Slingwig26 said:
Matt Chamberlin is an endorser whore.
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well, look at it this way.. Some folks aren't masters of anything. If they're lucky, they get recognition for one thing they do well. And Matt has two, that puts him in a special category wouldn't you say ?
 
I don´t mind paying a premium for a quality high-end snare or gear in general and have often done so. But this pricing above does not make sense no matter how I look at it. I think their products look great and the hardware is nice and it´s great they are in business.

This reminds me of a small Icelandic company that started producing Vodka and exporting it to the US. The problem was it didn´t sell well even if it was one of the cheapest you could buy. They changed the design of the bottle a little bit, tripled the price so it became one of the most expensive Vodka´s and voila! Sales skyrocketed.
 
Should do a price comparison- this is a list that Vistaliteblack could come up with.

Price Out the Drumsets of various Famous Bands- at the time...

Beatles- what? $800 + cymbals?
The Who
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Santana
The Rolling Stones
Grand Funk Railroad

then do the Jazz Guys
Elvin Jones
Art Blakey
Max Roach
Connie Kay
Joe Morello
Buddy Bitch


at their peaks of their careers

Price out what the drum sets they were using cost.
Need a Rolling Stone or other magazine to do a Price tabulation
of famous artists

do it Vistalite.
 
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