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Slingerland Tré Cool Signature Spitfire Drumkit
by Rick Van Horn
Reposted with permission from the April 1999 issue of Modern Drummer
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Would you like to be green for a day?
Slingerland’s Spitfire series is its lowest-priced, budget/student line of drums.
Most major companies sell such drums; they’re made in Taiwan by factories who
supply several different brands in a pretty generic fashion. These are drums
designed specifically for the beginning player for whom sound quality is not
yet a major consideration, but affordability is.
Slingerland offers a traditional
five-piece Spitfire configuration
that’s virtually identical to every other kit in the budget-drum marketplace.
But Slingerland also has an endorser by the name of Tré Cool, whose band
appeals largely to the very age group at whom the Spitfire drums are targeted. It’s a match made in marketing heaven,
exept for the fact that Tré doesn’t play a standard five-piece kit. And since
those young Tré wanna-bes are only likely to be interested in a kit “just like”
the one he does play, it’s
understandable—in fact it was well-nigh inevitable—that Slingerland would offer
one to them.
Of course, it isn’t
really the same kit. (Tré plays a
Studio King set.) But it features drums
of the same sizes, and with the same finish, and with logos bearing Tré’s
signature. And while it certainly won’t sound the same as Tré’s kit, it’s
priced so that our eager young drummers can actually buy it. (Which was everybody’s goal in the first place, right?)
Now, to be fair, there are a few
features on the Tré Cool Signature
kit that aren’t on the regular Spitfire
model. The toms and bass drum feature the same 6-ply mahogany shells fitted
with classic Slingerland lugs. But the snare is a 51⁄2x14
chrome-plated metal model (as opposed to the standard 61⁄2x14),
and all the drums are fitted with 2.3 mm Slingerland Stick Saver Rimshot hoops. The toms and bass drum are covered in
Tré’s own Indica green wrap finish,
as opposed to the red, black, or white coverings on the regular model.
The biggest difference, however,
between the standard kit and the Tré Cool
Signature model is the rack tom size(s). The standard kit is fitted with
10x12 and 11x13 toms. The Tré Cool
kit boasts a single 11x14 rack tom. Rock ’n’ roll!
The kit comes with what I found to
be very practical and durable double-braced stands (including one straight and
one boom cymbal stand, a hi-hat, and a snare stand) that were strong enough to
withstand as much bashing as I could do, and yet were quite a bit lighter in
weight than most double-braced hardware. This is an excellent choice for beginning
rockers who may be smaller in size than in aspiration. The bass drum pedal is
functional and simple to operate, while also being fairly light in weight.
I did have a problem with the
design of the snare stand. The casting of the tilter ratchet is shaped in such
a way as to prevent the basket from folding up compactly for transport. This
could be improved by redesigning the casting to trim down the amount of metal
around the circular tilter itself.
My only real criticism of the Tré Cool Signature kit concerns an area
over which Slingerland really had no choice. If they were going to emulate Tré
Cool’s kit, they had to go with the 11x14 rack tom that he uses. It’s just too
identifiable to “cheat” on. (I guess they figured they could get away with substituting
a 16x16 floor tom for Tré’s 16x18.) Okay, I understand that. But there are two
problems with this decision.
The first problem is functional: A
rack tom of that size has limited positioning flexibility, and simply has to be
set up fairly high. This could pose a difficulty for smaller players, or for
people who just prefer to have a lower setup. It may also give impressionable
young drummers the idea that this is how big and how high rack toms normally
are, which is certainly not the case.
The second problem is musical: A
rack tom that size isn’t very versatile. It’s good for big, deep, rock ’n’ roll
sounds—period. That’s fine if you’re playing that kind of music. But what
happens when your teacher wants you to learn a jazz fill or a samba pattern?
I should point out that the bass drum is fitted with a double tom mount,
and that two tom arms came in the hardware package. Perhaps a second, smaller
rack tom could be made available by Slingerland as an add-on item. This would
go a long way towards making this kit configuration a more versatile
instrument.
I also question the large hole in
the front bass drum head. While it’s true that inexperienced drummers might
have trouble controlling the “boominess” of a drum with two solid heads, it
wouldn’t take much imagination or expertise to figure out how to muffle that
boominess down. However, it’s entirely possible that those same young players
might not be aware that the lack of low end and resonance produced by the bass
drum is largely due to the hole in the head, rather than exclusively to the
drum itself. And even if they did, they’d be required to buy a new head to
correct the problem. My philosophy is: Give the buyer a whole drumhead. He or
she can always cut a hole in it if one is desired.
The acoustic performance of the Tré Cool Signature kit is as good as any
of its ilk. I’ll admit that the oversized rack tom does give the kit a bigger,
more powerful sound than that of most “budget” kits. With a little judicious
tuning and muffling, this kit could certainly serve as a learning tool, or as
the rhythmic foundation of a neighborhood garage band. The finish is more
attractive than those usually found on kits in this price range; the Stick Saver hoops are a nice feature as
well. And the sales appeal (and, hopefully, practice motivation factor) of the
Tré Cool name is undeniable. Given all that, I can recommend the Tré Cool Signature kit as a good value
for its list price of $949 (which is likely to be marked down quite a bit by
most major retailers).
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