YAMAHA DRUMS Absolute Hybrid Maple Drum Kit Review

Hey guys, Jackson Ward here. Today we’re gonna take a close look at the Yamaha Drums Absolute Hybrid Maple Drum Kit!

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Yamaha has been manufacturing drums for over 50 years, and their artist roster includes greats like Dave Weckl, Carter Beauford, Steve Gadd, Matt Cameron, and Justin Foley from Killswitch Engage. Detailed craftsmanship alongside years of innovative design has lead to the Yamaha Absolute Hybrid – with a 6 ply Maple/Wenge/Maple shell construction. The ply of Wenge is intended to add more rigidity to the shell, and therefore more focused resonance. I noticed this the first time I did a tom roll across the kit. Even with the stock heads, the kit was extremely musical and resonant.

The kit we’re taking a look at has 8”x7”, 10”x8”, 12”x9”, 14”x13”, and 16”x15” toms, a 6”x14” snare, and a 22”x18” kick. A five-piece version of this kit can be purchased for $3600. Price-wise it’s up against other, top-of-the-line kits, many of which I’ve had experience with. I can confidently say that this Yamaha Absolute Hybrid hangs with the best and outperforms many of them in terms of tuning, design, hardware, and tone.

The hardware on this kit is rock-solid. A pet-peeve of mine is when I place a tom in position and tighten the mount, only to find the tom sag half an inch or more. With this Yamaha hardware, when I tighten the mount, it stays exactly where I put it. The incredibly stable YES III tom mount is to thank for this. The tom mount design also improves sustain and isolation of the shell. 

Tuning and changing heads on this kit was a breeze. With Yamaha’s hook lug design, we were able to very quickly change heads and tune. The hook lug sped up the removal and replacing process by several minutes per drum, when using your average drum key. Across the kit, we saved probably 20 to 30 minutes due to the efficiency of this design. Beyond that, the optimized bearing edges – 45 degrees on toms and snare, and 30 degrees on kick – made tuning faster and helped us achieve our desired tones quickly. Another thing to note was that the 3.0 millimeter hoops improve the attack and sustain of these drums. The shells are extremely resonant and punchy with lots of musical tone. 

I’m very impressed with what Yamaha has to offer here with this kit. Features like the hook lugs, YES III tom mount, and the shell construction all make for an excellent studio or live kit. It’s loud, balanced, and has tons of sustain. The finish is beautiful, the hardware is sturdy, and above all in sounds incredible. It checks all of the boxes in terms of what I look for in a drum kit.

More about the kit on the official Yamaha site here.

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