Here Comes the Golden Sun: Premier B303, early 70's

I've come a long with Premier drums since my first post about Beverley Blue Badge here on this blog. A couple of years ago I basically knew nothing about Premier except that my hero, Keith Moon, played Premier. As I've mentioned elsewhere in this blog, for most of my drumming career I didn't care about drums as something other than something to play. I didn't know the history of any of the brands and never really bothered with any geeky details.

Well that all changed big-time in recent years.

And regarding Premier, I now consider it one of my obsessions.

For a couple of years now I've been eager to get a kit with 14x8 toms (like Mr Moon), so when I was recently invited to join a new The Who tribute band down here in Budapest, I finally had a perfect excuse to finally make a move.

Stacked up at Will's Drum Shop

Using various Facebook groups, I found this lovely kit for a good price at the legendary Will's Drum Shop in Sunderland, UK, owned and operated by Will Wright. If you don't know about Will and his shop, and if you love drums, be sure to read this article from the Drummer's Journal. It's worth your time.

Anyway, all I knew was that the sizes were what I wanted (12x8, 14x8, 16x15, 22x14) and that the kit had plenty of signs of wear and some extra holes on the kick. The price was right, so I placed total trust in Will's reputation and bought the kit without much pissing around, so to speak. Here's what it looked like stacked up at Will's shop (right).

When she arrived, I realized the main issue was certainly the extra holes. A previous owner had removed the disappearing spurs and added the Premier folding spurs. The job wasn't very well done, but the spurs do the job, and holes can be filled.

The edges on the 14" tom were really horrible. As former Premier endorser John Maher from the Buzzcocks has said on the Premier Group on Facebook, Premier made great shells but did not always cut the best edges. Again, no worries. I've already had them recut.

And now I'll let the pictures speak a thousand words. You can see that I've polished them up nicely. You can't hear how great they sound, so just take my word for it. When we have "Who practice" I really find myself in the room with The Who... it is THAT sound from LPs like Who's Next and Quadrophenia. Perfect. I have G2 Clear on top and Coated Ambassador on the botom. My theory is that the clear head will be more like Moon's Everyplay Extra, but I have no proof except that I'm hearing very Moonie sounds with this head combo.

This was the key to getting these babies clean and shiny

Newly painted hoops

Mahogany shells lightly sanded and polished with beeswax

My weapons: CX-80 is a teflon spray that really brought out the shine in the wrap. 

P for Premier. Love it.

All polished and shiny. Teflon spray did the job.

The kick has a funny little cowbell holder... Another extra hole, but I don't care!

The oval mount has a small stress fracture, as is typical of this model.

Premier Hi-fi COB snare (1967-1970): The Odyssey

Some of you know the buzz of excitement when you find

Hi-fi: The drum that got me going...

an interesting drum for sale. You smell a potential score that will fill a hole in your collection, and you start to tingle. You check a few photos, ask a few questions, and you turn to the Holy Drum Geek Triumvirate for answers: Friends, Facebook, and Forums. And then you jump.

In this post I'll share what I've learned about late-60's Premier metal snares. Some of this stuff I knew, but most of it I learned while trying to figure out exactly what I had bought without having ever seen it in person!

Feel free to comment or send me a note if you know more about anything I claim here or anywhere on this blog!

What makes a Hi-fi a Hi-fi?

In case you're new to Premier snares, the Hi-Fi is a late 60's addition to the Premier line. It came in wood and metal (see below) with a standard strainer (called a 632, I believe), as opposed to the more common parallel strainer offered on most other Premier snares at the time (like the earlier Royal Ace or the Hi-fi's contemporary, the 2000).

Metal is metal is metal

1969 Catalog Page

In this post I'll only look at the metal version of the Hi-fi. (For info on birch v. mahogany, check my Beverley article.) Take a look at most pre-1970s Premier catalogs and you'll find that their metal snares were made of... well... metal. What kind of metal? That's another story. Metal is metal, right? At least it was in the good old days!

Here's a page from the 1969 Premier catalog. Notice that the lower Hi-fi is made of... Metal. (Insert smiley here). And look a bit lower down this blog post at the 1972 catalog. By 1972, clearly the Hi-fi has changed, but it's still made of... you guessed it: Metal.

I scoured lots of sites and the Premier experts seem to agree that the metal for most pre-1968 Premier snares was brass. But once we get past 1968 or so (during the transition from Pre-International to International size shells) you also find lots of references to aluminium Premier snares. That is, pretty soon after introducing "metal" Hi-Fi's, Premier switched from brass to aluminium as their metal of choice. Why change? I hate to be cynical, but based on what I've read about the history of Premier (and all other major drum brands from those days) it must have been a cost saving measure. 

1972 Catalog Page

What about the badge? Dating?

So like I mentioned, you can tell a Hi-fi by the strainer. That's the easy part. But what year is my Hi-fi? Is it an earlier brass drum, or maybe a later aluminium?

With Premier, badges can tell a lot, but not everything. For example, look at the 1969 catalog above. Notice that there are two different badges on the same page. The wooden drum has the newer badge, while the metal drum has the older badge. Hmm... in fact, even in the 1972 catalog we see the same "different badge" effect, but this time with the wood and metal switched.  

Either way, for my purposes it was clear that my drum must be from somewhere after 1967 or so when this "new badge" was introduced (even if nobody told the folks who made the catalogs for Premier).

Most confirmed brass Hi-fi's seem to have come with the older badge and often had the Hi-fi name on the badge, so at first I suspected my drum was a later 1970's model, and likely aluminium. I felt better when I learned that the "new badge" came without a serial number until 1970. Assuming that's the case, it seemed safe to assume that my drum is from 1967-1970. (Side note: Serial numbers at Premier don't help with dating since they were only provided to allow you to track your assets for insurance purposes.)

(Also note that I'm focusing on a very short period here from 1967 into the early 70's... I won't discuss earlier or later Premier badges.)

Lugs and Beer Barrels 

Some examples of  Premier die-cast hoops 

Obviously my drum had 10 lugs. Since later Hi-Fi's were often 8-lug, I considered this encouraging.

Next I noticed that my snare has a tighter, rounder style die-cast hoop, which I learned is called Beer Barrel. It was the standard Premier hoop in the 60's and before (feel free to add detail in the comments below). After that, perhaps by 1972 or so, the design changed slightly to what many call Streamline hoops. All veteran Premier-watchers know this like they know mahogany from birch, but it's something I had never noticed. Maybe you had never noticed either? Maybe you care? :-)

Anyway, this little piece of Beer Barrel evidence got me excited. From what I know about Premier (and Rogers and others), after a major transition they would use whatever old components they had on hand (shells, badges, labels, lugs, hoops, etc) until they were gone. So I was thinking that I must have old hoops with a new badge.

The hoops, by the way, are non-magnetic. If you can believe what you read, they are made of mazak, part of a family of alloys with a base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminium, magnesium, and copper (thanks, wikipedia). 

And the shell?

I bought the drum based on this photo and  a few more

So back to the shell. As you can see, my drum shows a few scratches, but no pitting. Seasoned snare collectors know that it's rare to find an older chromed aluminium snare that doesn't show at least some pitting. Even my very pristine Cosmic 21 shows some very minor pitting. This drum (my Hi-fi) showed no evidence of the usual aluminium pitting.  And following the logic of "old hoop, new badge" I ended up thinking I must have old hoops, new badge, old shell. That is, I must have a "leftover" brass shell, or simply from the days before they introduced aluminium.

And the sound?

So finally the drum arrived! At first I was concerned because a household magnet gave the ever-so-slightest resistance. Barely noticeable, but confirmed by my friend as something real. Nonetheless, folks in my community (Friends and Facebook) confirmed that a magnet sticks to steel like it sticks to your fridge, and that I shouldn't worry about la resistance. I also read that chrome plating can also cause minimal pull.

When I finally played the drum (with original Everyplay heads top and bottom), it became quite evident that it's indeed brass, as most of the Facebook Premier guys had told me it would be. It has "that" brass sound -- quite round with a nice "donk" to go along with just enough crispiness. I'll try to post a sample as soon as possible, but the current video on YouTube of an earlier Hi-Fi brass (not mine) gives you the idea (posted below).

One tidbit of info I am missing: I'm thinking there must have been a change in tone control that helps folks date their Premier drums? I can't find any details, so if you have some info, please comment or drop me a note. 

The Cleanup

All cleaned up

I took the drum apart, probably for the first time in its lifetime. The drum was very well cared for, and only one slotted tension rod and insert showed some rust. The lugs are nearly perfect, with one or two scratches here and there on a few lugs. It weighs in at 1952 grams with lugs, strainer, and butt attached. Each lug is 61 grams, so stripped to strainer and butt it's about 1300 grams. There is one ding on the bottom edge and the badge has what we might call a tear. But for a 45 year old piece of equipment, I'd say it's looking fine. I can also mention that there's a very smooth weld. Nicely done. Superior to the weld on my ~2010 George Way (Dunnet) Bronze snare.

Not my video, but gets the idea across very well!

Premier Series Classic, Elite: Bullet Review

In October 2013 I picked up a fine Premier kit from the UK. Here's what I got:

• Premier Series Elite, Maple, 12x9 and 16x16 toms
• Premier Series Classic, Maple, 22x18 kick drum
• Update - Summer 2014: I added a 10x8 Maple Elite 

Update: January 2015
I love these drums more and more each time I play them! They are the only drums I've played that can actually make a set of Evans Hydraulic sound explosive instead of dead.

Now read on to see my original analysis and impressions....

Finish

• Lovely black sparkle with no flaws detected 
• Compared to the finish on the Natal I recently owned, this is superior
• In short, top-flight professional finish

Shells

• Thin maple shells - not reinforced
• Everything seems very round
• The toms have perfect edges
• Internal lacquer in order
• Very minor rough spot on the inside of the kick at the tom mount (where they drilled the hole for the tom mount)

Hoops/Rims

• The ultra-classy die-cast hoops on the Elite toms are my favorite thing about this kit
• They are elegant, tasteful, not too bulky
• Really lovely with their rounded lines, matching well with the oval Classic/Elite lugs
• The kick drum hoops were fine, flawless
• They are low-profile, which means you can position somewhat lower that with standard hoops
• Also, if you are sloppy, the low-profile hoops help prevent mistaken rim shots ;-)

Rods, lugs

• Standard rods; all were straight (which is not always such an easy achievement -- for example, on my Natal a few rods were a bit off)
• The design of the oval lugs is a matter of personal taste. I like 'em!
• One unique feature of these lugs is the "nyloc inserts" that are intended to prevent de-tuning. The inserts create a tighter feel when you screw in a rod. This makes a head change slightly more effort, in particular on the kick. I can't finger-tighten the kick rods as a result. 

Update: July 17, 2015: While playing a song in which I ride the rims pretty hard, three of the six lugs de-tune completely. It's safe to say the Nyloc inserts are pretty useless. Sorry to say.

• The kick claws are another favorite of mine. Check the design. Quite lovely.

Spurs

• The kick spurs are solid, they were squeaky and stiff on arrival, but a little silicon spray solved that 
• Originally I said "Not the smoothest gear I've seen on a high-end kit" but now that I've had it longer, I need to say this is a solid kit.
• For example, I also picked up a Yamaha Club Custom. While it is a different beast altogether, it feels very light in comparison. For a tour, I'd choose the Series kit. Solid gear.

Sound

• First off, let me say I tune with the assistance of a Tune-Bot
• With Ambassador X heads and stock Ambassador Clear reso I had trouble controlling head ring. That is, regardless of the tuning I always ended up with a very long resonant sound with a musical ring. This is not a problem in itself. In fact, it could be considered a great thing, as you probably know!
• HEAD COMBO UPDATE. Ambassador X top with Coated Ambassador bottom gave musical and pleasant tone at a relatively high tuning. I lost some of the explosiveness I had with the Clear Vintage Emperor, but the drums really sing now in a nice way. I chalk it up to the coated reso as a natural pair for the Ambassador X.
• When I switched to Clear Vintage Emperor, I found that this exceptional resonance became a huge asset. The drums became explosive, with a lovely low frequency musical tone. On other drums I've found Clear Vintage Emperor too dead for my taste. But they are truly wonderful on these Elite toms. It seems to be a great combination for a deep, explosive rock sound that is still lively and resonant. 
• The Clear Vintage Emperors also work well tuned up a bit to around a 2A. They lose a little of that "feel it in your guts" feeling, but give a more musical tone for pop or jazz.
• I really look forward to experimenting with other heads! My theory is that the 3mm undersizing of the shells helps exaggerate the sound and resonance of the head. 
• Maybe we can say that these drums favor "Head resonance" over "shell resonance"?
• For example, for rehearsals I put on some Evans Hydraulic Glass that I had on hand. On these drums, even the Hydraulic heads sing! I was amazed, but it's true. On my Yamaha Club Customs the hydraulics went THUD, but on the Series kit they actually ring out with a nice mellow note.
• So far my impression is that these drums have less of that "typical modern Maple drums" sound. Again, I think it has to do with the undersizing and extra "head resonance" over "shell resonance"?
• My impression is that I'm getting more attack and highs than I had with my Natal Maple. I reserve the right to add details here!
• On my Pearl MHX I found the die-cast "MasterCast" hoops deadened the sound, but these Premier die-cast hoops don't seem to have the same impact. I think they are simply lighter? Certainly they are prettier!

Tom mount

• Luckily I have a single tom mount since the double tom mount I've seen in photos is bulky and unattractive to me and some of my friends
• It's a standard old-school ball mount: solid and reliable
• The flush suspension system is elegant, but I admit I prefer solutions that don't mount through the tuning rods. This makes head change annoying. But the aesthetics are in order.
• With the flush mount, I was getting some buzz from the suspension mount making contact somewhere. It's the only problem I've had with these drums.
• Also, the metal on the suspension system is not filed very well. It sits very close to the drum, so the slightly rough edge could scratch the finish. I put a little electric tape on the rough edge just to be sure.
• Overall it seems the flush ISO suspension mount is the Achilles' Heal of these drums
• UPDATE September 2014. The excellent folks at Premier in the UK provided "British Collection" ISO mounts for my Elite toms. These work better with the die-cast hoops. While I still dislike "through the rod" solutions, the toms are floating nicely and all buzzing is long-gone
• TIP: If you pick up one of these kits with die-cast hoops, consider getting "British Collection" mounts. 

Elite with "British Collection" ISO mount

Overall build

• To me, this feels like any other solid modern Pro-level kit 
• High-end for sure, but this does not feel like an ultra high-end kit 
• Pardon the car analogy, but I'd call this a solid Honda or Mazda or even an Audi, not a Bentley (that's a complement, I think). 
• (Premier does have a "Bentley" line (One series, or their new Modern Classic) but they are in another price category.)
• If you can get one for a solid price, you will be happy
• Great modern drums if you get them for the right price (since the list prices I see on Amazon and many sites make no sense at all)

What's the difference between Classic and Elite?

Classic and Elite = Same shells

• As far as I can tell, nothing except the badge and the die-cast rims on the toms. 
• The finish is absolutely the same. 
• Based on my reading of Premier marketing material and other sites, Classic came only in shell packs in limited finishes. My kick was an orphan who is now happy with its Elite brothers.

Blue Badge Beverley Drums, Vintage (early 1970s)

After playing my buddy's Rogers Holiday, I became determined to score a vintage kit of my own. After drooling over kits on American eBay for weeks and fretting over the risks and costs of shipping overseas, I decided it would be easier to find a kit locally, here in Europe where I'm living (Hungary, to be precise).

Pretty quickly I made the move on a rather obscure kit out of England called Beverley. Or as it is written on the blue badge: BeVeRLeY OF ENGLAND.

Before making a move I read dozens of posts about Beverley drums on various sites to convince myself that "Blue Badge Beverley" kits from the late 60's are professional kits. I read great comments about the supraphonic-like aluminum Beverley 21 (or Cosmic 21) snare, one of which was included in the local offering.

Here's the kit in a nice little track from my current band. It features the main kit without the 13, but with the Cosmic 21 snare. The 12" had a Renaissance Remo head, while the 16" a coated Ambassador.

So here's the word on my Blue Badge Beverley, after a couple of weeks in my possession. It was sold to me as a 1968 kit, though I have no way to prove that. UPDATE: This kit seems to be at least a 1974 kit. The oval-shaped "lokfast" tom mount seems to have only been introduced in the 70's:

These lasted until roughly 1974 when they were replaced by the more substantial ones (confusingly called Lokfast), which we’re probably all familiar with. These had an oval down-tube, knurled L-arms, and a massive cast receiver block on the bass. 

source: http://www.drummagazine.com/gear/print/the-rocky-history-of-premier-drums


Set-up and sizes
12 x 8, 13 x 9, 16 x 15 (yes, 16 x 15!), 22 x 14, with a 5 x 14 Cosmic 21 snare
The 13 actually has a stamp on the inside that says International Size. I consider that pretty cool!

Shells 

The drums are Premier 3-ply birch with beech re-rings. All, that is, except for the 12", which is a Premier mahogany shell with beech re-rings. Clearly they are matching drums, wrapped at the same time. Don't ask me how or why the 12 is mahogany, though it makes sense according to my research. That is, Premier started to move to mahogany around this time, so I guess somehow this kit got made with a mahogany 12". Go figure. Anyway, all of the shells are perfectly round with no signs of any problems whatsoever with the bearing edges.  The Cosmic 21 snare is aluminum (or aluminium, if you prefer).

Interestingly, the floor tom seems to have a sandwich layer of darker wood, presumably mahogany. I've yet to find info about Premier using a sandwich shell of birch-mahogany-birch, but you can clearly see a dark ply in this photo.

Update: Here's a link to a site that mentions a middle-ply of "darker wood" on Olympic (Premier) shells: http://www.vintageolympic.co.uk/faq.html#q2


Wrap 
The wrap itself might officially be known as Hairline Silver, but I'm not sure.

Update: A fellow VintageDrumForum user informs me that the name of this wrap is Silver Star.

Whatever it's called, it's certainly silver and textured and very cool (clearly a subjective view, though). I had read on one forum that Beverley kits had thin wrap. This is certainly what I would call a light wrap, or maybe soft is a better word. It's not a hard plastic wrap, but almost more of a fabric-like wrap. Instead of cracking, this wrap scratches like a thick industrial wallpaper, you might say. The wrap is a bit bubbled in a few places, mainly on the 12". But you have to look closely to notice.


Badges, Serial Numbers
My band mate noticed that at a certain angle you can see a serial number printed on the each blue badge. I'll have to write them down and post them here.


Chrome.

Probably the most surprising thing about the Beverley is the chrome. Even close-up there's hardly a spot on the chrome. On some sites I read that Beverley was first known for music stands, so I guess it makes sense that the chrome is top-notch. Even the Cosmic 21 is almost flawless, but I've seen some 21's in rough shape online.

Hoops/Rims
So far this is the weak spot. The hoops are rather light, and the 12" hoops are out-of-round where the drum seems to have been dropped. The 13" is also slightly dented. I think I read somewhere that these are 2.3mm hoops, but they are not as solid as the steel rims on my new Natal, for example.  I replaced the 12" with standard Gibraltar 2.3mm hoops and it's sounding fine. Update: I also changed the 13 and 16 just to keep everything the same. Naturally I've stored away the originals.

Lugs
Somewhere on a forum someone described Beverley lugs as "space age", and I'd have to say that's fair. We're talking Sputnik 1957 space age. The one practical problem I discovered with the otherwise stylish and well-chromed lugs is that they are positioned close to the hoop and have an upward pointing "tail" that makes it hard to finger-tighten the rods. In other words, my fingers don't fit in the space between the lug and the hoop. And it's not like I have fat fingers.

Tension rods
It seems Beverley drums always came with slotted-tension rods, and mine is no exception. The original rods are in excellent shape. I got a Sonor key, so I can manage alright.  Some guys suggest that the Sonor key is not ideal on English slotted rods, and I'd have to say I agree. The Sonor key works, but it's not a perfect fit.

Strainer on the 21
The strainer is a bit flawed. You have to pull the knob up a bit before pulling the lever, and sometimes it slips off during play. Not good. I need to spend some time debugging it, you might say. UPDATE: A little teflon lubricant fixed the strainer! Easy as that.

Tom mount
Originally I had trouble figuring out how to position two rack toms mounted on the kick, but with some suffering and experimentation I managed to figure out how to get the best out of the rather old fashioned hardware. I guess this is why Keith Moon preferred  Rogers Swiv-O-Matic to any of the mounting available out of the the UK at the time?

Sound... 
Fantastic! Watch the video and listen to "Raven Girl" and decide for yourself (see above).

Beverley in the USA
My research tells me that these kits were sold in the late 70's in the US as Premier Powerhouse 6500 and Premier Kicker 6400. Same as the Beverley kits from the same period, as far as I can tell, with some variation over time (kick spurs, for example).

• Premier Powerhouse 1975 from Vintage Drum Guide 
• Premier Kicker 1977 from Vintage Drum Guide 
• After the demise of the Beverley name, it seems the kits became marketed as Premier Projector (catalog ZIP from drumarchive.com)
• Projectors have Beverley kick-drum sized lugs on all drums, including toms (the lugs have one type of insert for kick and one for toms in order to allow proper spacing between rim/hoop and rod)
• The later Soundwave is not the same as Beverley

Playlist on YouTube
I started a playlist of videos featuring vintage Beverley drums.
Feel free to add to it!




Here's some random banging showing the toms with wide open medium tuning and the Cosmic tuned somewhat lower than I play it now (not intended as a solo).