Yet another vintage drum kit test on our website! As always, the instruments we play have been made available to us and are available in the offer of the MW-Vintage company, which (as the name implies) specializes in trading in vintage equipment and is run by Mateusz Wysocki. We invited Max Psuja again to tap the drums.
Max Psuja, as an utter vintage drum maniac, a former employee of a drum shop, and a great drummer, who has collaborated with a host of popular acts in Poland, such as Kumka Olik, Holak, Lilly Hates Roses or Yoachim, was perfect for the role of ’lab tester’. Needless to say, he was more than eager to do the job.
We have been publishing the results of our tests successively in the last few months, and there’s lots more to come. Today, it is time for a…
Taye Studio Maple Exotic drum kit test
1. Product
Taye is a company founded with the participation of Roy Ayotte (founder of Ayotte Drums) and has existed on the drum market for nearly 20 years. Maple Studio, which is the highest series of this brand from the very beginning, won the hearts of drummers around the world, mainly thanks to its thin shells made from the highest quality Canadian maple, as well as a very attractive price.
2. Basic specifications:
- Manufacturer: Taye
- Model: Studio Maple Exotic
- Material: Maple 6″ to 15″ – 6 ply / 4.5 mm; 16″ to 24″ – 7 ply / 5.3 mm
- Configuration: BD 22″ x 18″ virgin, TT 8″ x 8″, 10″ x 8,5″, 12″ x 9″; FT 14″ x 14″,16″ x 16″
- Hoops: 2,3 mm Power Hoops
- Toms with Suspension Rings
- Finish: Exotic veneer
3. Test and sound
When testing the Taye Studio Maple Exotic drum kit, we also used a Keller-shell snare drum customized by MW-Vintage, a 15″ Impression Leon Collection, a 20″ Hard Crash, and a 22 Leon Collection Ride. The skins include: Remo Emperor Clear, Code Blast/Code Enigma on the bass drum, and Remo Ambassador Coated on the snare drum.
Max first presented the sound of the toms and the kick drum produced by single strokes at different levels of dynamics. Then, he played the the kick drum together with the toms only to add the snare after a while. The whole thing was finished off with a rhythm figure using all the kit elements as well as performing a groove.
22″, 8″, 10″, 12″, 16″ Taye Studio Maple Exotic is a professional drum kit that we were very happy to test. Usually, we play sets with two or three toms, but this time we have as many as 5. The sound of the bass drum is focused, with a lot of click and low end. What it really lacks is…absolutely nothing. This drum is very easy to tune, there is not even the slightest problem with overtones orthat characteristic reverb resembling the sound of a ping pong ball.
The 12″, 14″ and 16″ toms are very mellow. They sound great in low tunings. We used coated drumheads on the 8 ” and 10″ toms. The 8-inch was tuned quite high and produced a very pleasant, warm sound. The sound of the 10-inch rack tom was quite a big surprise for us as it was just as sweet and melodious as its little brother. They both make an interesting contrast (or perhaps a complement) to the bigger toms in this kit. Makes us re-evaluate our approach to using multiple tom kits.
Drummers and Drummerettes! It’s time to put the 22″, 8″, 10″, 12″, 14″, 16″ Taye Studio Maple Exotic drum kit to the most important test of all, i. e. the en.beatit.tv viewers’ test! Exclusively for you, we give you Max Psuja!
