Author Topic: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit  (Read 4693 times)

Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« on: March 11, 2018, 07:43:56 AM »
This kit started as a DM10 MKll Studio a few weeks ago before I upgraded the tom sizes, added toms, added a 16" ride, another 14", painted all the cymbals and added logos to make them look more authentic. The biggest improvement was swapping the module from the DM10 MKll to the Strike module. The Strike module is one of the top modules on the market behind the Pearl Mimic and the TD50. I also merged 2 racks together for the additional space and support. I added the Pro X hi-hats which turned out great. First off I changed the top hat to a 12" crash and after experimenting with various washers and spacers they are tuned in and work fantastic. I’m using the top hat right now as another single zone although I have another 12" crash coming tomorrow so I’ll replace it because it is just too loud acoustically. After reading all the bad reviews on the Pro X hats I am really surprised how well they work. 90% of the issues are due to the top hat. Let’s face it, it sucks. Once you change it to a 12" crash you have something to work with. Not sure if you could get it dialed in as well using the DM10 module, but with the Strike module it only took about 20 minutes to get it working to about 96% of where my ideal performance would be. Right not I have it dialed in to about 99.5% of where I would want it. Once I really start setting up my user kits I’m sure I can get it 100%, which is pretty good because the stock hat with controller pedal was at about 75% at best. All the pads also have marked improvement with the Strike module compared to the original DM10. Overall I’m very pleased with the kits performance as well as looks, and we all know it not only has to play well it has to look cool as well.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2018, 06:38:15 PM by Mrfootin »

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2018, 09:47:50 PM »
Changed out the original kick drum to the Alesis Strike Kick drum and wrapped it in black to match the rest of the kit. I was going to wrap the rest of the drums in a red sparkle to match it but the wrap I bought was too far off. It looked really close in the photos but when it arrived it was way off, so I just went black and won’t go back.

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2018, 09:59:13 AM »
Great looking kit Mrfootin. I've been kicking around buying the Strike Pro or just a module as you did. Any regrets or are you happy with this set up?

Also great job on the cymbals. How did you get the logos on them? Decals?


Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2018, 11:56:12 AM »
It depends on your situation and what you want. The Strike kit looks great, those large pads....but let’s face it it’s all about the module. When you open up those pads they are exactly the same inside as the ones I have. The shells are deeper, that’s it, they trigger the same and play the same. You can add pads for under a $100 instead of $300-$400 each.  I also wanted the look of the cymbals and wouldn’t be able to get that look with the Strike kit. I also hear bad reviews about the cymbals but I really think that’s just people not understanding the design. Saying they are louder when you hit the logo doesn’t mean there is a problem, that’s just where the piezo is located. I love the Strike module and would say in order of modules it’s the Pearl Mimic, TD50 and the Strike.  Some may say the TD30 but there are things the Strike does that the TD30 does not such as layering. I still want many more inputs for pads and don’t see why companies don’t give you a few aux inputs. I use splitters to split the rim/head on my 4 toms to get the extra cymbals/pads and one of the crashes is just mirrored on the left and right side of the kit. The cymbals are just decals I have my own cutter. I can hook anyone up for a very cheap price if they let me know the sizes and what the want. The painting is very easy, I can have a cymbal back on the kit ready to be played in under 2 hours from start to finish, preparing, masking, 3 coats of paint and decals applied. The great thing is the painted part never gets touched so they’ll always look great. Overall I’m at about a 9 out of 10 liking the kit. Wouldn’t be surprised if that 14" Strike snare ends up at my door very soon. It will look great in black!
« Last Edit: March 28, 2018, 12:00:38 PM by Mrfootin »

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2018, 12:29:39 PM »
I did a hybrid bass drum myself. Picked up a 20" sound percussion bass at Music Go Round and put a mesh head on it with and Aquarian kick zone trigger. Works great and i have a full size bass that feels awesome. I totally agree with you on the pads all being the same. That's why I'm waffling between picking up a Strike module or jumping on the whole kit.



Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2018, 12:55:33 PM »
I’m still considering buying the Strike and using the pads and parting out the rest and selling my pads. Even conservative estimates I could probably break even. If I bought a Strike Pro and another Strike kit to get all the pads I want and sell the 2 modules, 2 bass drums, left over pads, cymbals, racks.... I would probably make some money. There just aren’t many Strike parts on the market. Only issue would be laying out the 4K and waiting for the return on the sales. If I had a buyer for a module ($725) lined up I’d probably pull the trigger. I just love the look of those large pads on the Strike even though I know they are exactly the same inside.

Offline Iggford

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2018, 02:04:03 PM »
The cymbals are just decals I have my own cutter. I can hook anyone up for a very cheap price if they let me know the sizes and what the want.


I have a question, and you might be the perfect one to ask!  I want to have a decal made for the back of my Strike bass drum that features my band's logo.  With your equipment, is this something you could do?  I am looking for a black decal with a red image and white text over that.  I don't know how to size it to order it, and I'm wanting it to fit perfectly inside the rim on the back of the pad.  Is this something that you could help with, or do you know some place that would be reliable enough to try?


--
Shawn

Offline Chaser

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2018, 02:26:31 PM »
The cymbals are just decals I have my own cutter. I can hook anyone up for a very cheap price if they let me know the sizes and what the want.


I have a question, and you might be the perfect one to ask!  I want to have a decal made for the back of my Strike bass drum that features my band's logo.  With your equipment, is this something you could do?  I am looking for a black decal with a red image and white text over that.  I don't know how to size it to order it, and I'm wanting it to fit perfectly inside the rim on the back of the pad.  Is this something that you could help with, or do you know some place that would be reliable enough to try?


--
Shawn

I don't know where you are located (Country)...check out Swagpimp..they use High Grade commercial Vinyl..they offer pre-made and you can also do your own design
https://swagpimp.com/
also on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DOUBLE-BASS-Drum-Head-Decals-Sticker-Vinyl-Kick-Skins-16-18-20-22-24-26-x2/182025464262?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=482670753061&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #8 on: March 28, 2018, 05:13:42 PM »
Send me your logo and I’m sure I can do it.

Offline Iggford

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2018, 10:43:22 AM »
I checked out the links you sent, and I think that's a different site than any that I've looked at before.

I will send you the logo, what would be the best way to get it to you?

Also, you have a Strike bass drum according to your earlier post.  Is the back of yours completely flat, or does it bow out a bit?  I noticed mine bowed out, and for some reason, I don't remember noticing that when I first got it.  I'm trying to make sure nothing's happened to it.  It plays just fine, so I'm thinking it's a design aspect I didn't notice when I first opened the kit. 


--
Shawn

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2018, 01:02:09 PM »
You can email it to me mrfootin@atlanticbb.net and yes mine has a slight bow as well so it is normal.

Offline Iggford

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2018, 01:54:18 PM »
Sounds great, I will get a copy to you sometime this weekend.  I think I have the hi-res version, if not, I'll get ahold of it and forward it to you.

That's a relief about the bow.  Shows how observant I was when I unpacked the kit, LOL.  I'm just glad it's normal and mine hasn't incurred some damage that I didn't know about.


--
Shawn

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #12 on: April 11, 2018, 12:15:55 PM »
I have own my hybrid drum and i really like  this.

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2018, 05:05:16 PM »
Good looking drum kit. 
Jacob Liford
Your Average Drummer

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2018, 10:20:18 PM »
This is turning into the evolution of my kit as the changes continue. In this update I changed the snare to the Alesis Strike snare wrapped in black and converted the Pearl S930 stand to a single leg stand using an extra rack leg I had. I cut the bottom section off with the rubber end cap using it as the base and used a Gibraltar SC-RMAA (all Gibraltar hardware used) to mount the upper section of the S930 to the bottom single leg. To mount the snare stand to the rack starting at the snare going to the rack leg I used a SC-GRSCTL Road Series T-leg clamp, a section of the rest of the old rack leg, a SC-HRE Adjustable Rack Extension which allows the distance to be adjustable, and finally a SC-GCRQT Chrome Series Quick T-leg clamp to attach to the rack leg. The new snare stand is rock solid and cleans up the floor. I could have used the Gibraltar 9706NL but since I already had a snare stand and an extra rack leg it was cheaper since all I needed to buy to convert the Pearl S930 was the SC-RMAA ($22) either way I’d still need to make the arm to mount the stand to the rack. My design is adjustable and I think better than just the bent tube and clamps. I’m also changing out all the tom and cymbal rack clamps to Gibraltar SC-GCSMC clamps since I like the look of the chrome and the new cymbal arms I’m using have 7/8" downtubes and the Alesis clamps are for 3/4" downtubes. I changed out the Alesis cymbal clamps mounted on top of the legs to Pearl PCL100s just because I liked the look of the chrome, the Alesis clamps were fine and did the job fine, they were just black. I’m "considering" changing the black Alesis T-leg clamps to Gibraltar SC-GRSCTL clamps but I would need 14 of them @ $28 each, ouch! I have another idea in the works I’ll post if it works out. My current setup in my toms is from left to right: 8” - 10" - 10" - 10" - 12" - 12", 14" Alesis Strike snare and 14" Alesis Strike kick. My Cymbals are usually set up as follows, again going around left to right: 14” crash - 12" crash  - 16" crash - 12" splash- 16" ride - 12" china - 14" crash. I’m using a Pro X bottom hat and a 12" DM Pad as the top Hat which I get excellent results from after dialing it in. To solve the problem of low volume on the strike module and to give me more headroom for slider adjustments I’m using a CAD Audio HA4 4-channel headphone amplifier. I keep the headphone volume maxed on the Strike module and the volume on the headphone HA4 one notch below halfway. This gives me the perfect volume on my headphones with all the sliders right in the middle. As others have stated the volume on the Strike module isn’t very loud unless you max out the sliders and then what’s the point of the sliders?  I’m adding a mixer this week so I may be able to get the same results without the HA4 depending on the mixer I decide on.

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2018, 10:36:12 PM »
Current

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2018, 10:43:00 PM »
Original kit 1 month ago.

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #17 on: April 21, 2018, 01:00:15 PM »
Still at it, this week I bought a new old stock 14" x 14" floor tom and converted using a mesh pad. My original plan was to remove the old trigger system and design a way to mount it in the new drum. I started by mounting some angle brackets on the back of each lug. Then I sat the old 10" drum (just the bottom plate with the head and shell removed) on the brackets to get an idea of how to mount the trigger and to my surprise all the holes in the drum matched up perfectly with the brackets and when I laid the shell back on and placed a straight edge across the top of the drum the old shell and new shell were absolutely perfectly level. So I thought why tear this all apart then try and design a way to mount the trigger so I just bolted down the old drum inside the new one and put the new Prism mesh head on. Tested it out and it triggers perfectly, and why wouldn’t it. Then it was on to the bottom head, I cut a piece of rubber gym matt to quiet the resonant head if needed, I cut a hole and mounted a cable through it. I even had an extra Alesis plate (it had 2) from a Strike snare I wrapped and I replaced the Mapex plate and presto a 14" Alesis floor tom. I didn’t even have to make a trip to the hardware, I had everything I needed lying around the house. I cut a piece of a air conditioner filter to place across the top of the drum to cover it so it wasn’t visible through the mesh head. This was such an easy conversion and that floor tom with the Strike snare and Strike kick really set the kit off. I think it does anyway.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2018, 11:33:55 PM by Mrfootin »

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #18 on: April 21, 2018, 01:01:03 PM »
More pics of the conversion, can’t upload more than 2.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2018, 01:07:01 PM by Mrfootin »

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #19 on: April 21, 2018, 01:07:55 PM »
Checking the height using the old drum shell.

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2018, 01:09:00 PM »
Bottom head and logo

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #21 on: April 21, 2018, 01:09:58 PM »
Finished look with rest of kit.

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #22 on: April 26, 2018, 11:38:48 AM »
Love it Man! Seriously! How does it play? Simple idea and really gives the kit a great look. I may be stealing this idea.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2018, 11:44:57 AM by FnRage »

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #23 on: April 26, 2018, 12:38:20 PM »
What black wrap are you using Mrfootin?

Offline Purpledc

Re: Updated DM10 MKll Studio Kit
« Reply #24 on: May 02, 2018, 08:57:25 AM »
congrats.  Looks awesome and unique.  I love my strike module.  It can do so much more than people realize.