Cadeson Blast series
Affordable top line drum kit with eye-catching features!
Cadeson is a Taiwanese brand which is not very well known in Europe
until now. Cadeson exists for 20 years, but in Europe it’s
since three year that interest is growing.
Cadesons debut in Slagwerkkrant ( The! Dutch drummers paper) is
it’s affordable top line: the Blast series.
We’ve received an impressing test kit, which consisted of
five hanging toms in the sizes: 8x7, 10x8, 12x9, 14x11, 16x13,
a 22x18 bass drum and a 14x5.5 snare drum.
To set the whole kit there was a heavy hardware pack consisting:
four cymbal/ tom stands, all including boom arm, five tom arms,
three clamps, a snare stand a hi-hat stand and a double pedal. The price of the complete drum kit is a very acceptable 2398,-
Euro.
Shells
The Blast series shells are made of six ply maple, with a thickness
of 7,5 mm, rather thick considering nowadays standard.
The outer and inner plies are spotless, the plies in between look
some different, but that doesn’t have any influence on the
sound.
Colours
The Blast series is available in 22 colours, which includes a few
single- and double fades. Our test kit was a double faded orange
one.
The lacquer used is nicely transparent and well painted, only on the bass drum
hoops there were a few small bubbles.
Lugs
Bass drum and toms are equipped with small square brass (gold)
lugs, assembled on the shell with a single screw. The ten lugs
on the snare drum are the same, only in tube lug design.
The toms and snare drum are equipped with 2,3 mm compressed hoops
in a sandy satin finish. In combination with the brass lugs, chrome
stand and the double faded colour on the shells it makes a rather
multi-coloured whole.
Tom mount
All toms are provided with isolated tom suspension. In case of
the Blast it’s a T- shaped metal disk, mounted on two lugs.
It looks a little fragile but even the 16” tom holds on
perfect. For the mount it seems Cadeson has looked around at
the competition. The tom brackets look alike the ones Pearl uses,
the tom arms look a lot like the Yamaha tom arms.
Skins
The toms are provided with Remo USA ambassador clear skins on top,
at the bottom they are provided with cheaper Taiwan resonance
skins.
Toms
Compared to it’s concurrents, the 8” tom has got a
lot of sustain. The sound is short and edgy, but not as tight as
often is the case. The tuning range for small toms is often not
very wide, this also hold for the 8” Blast tom , one stroke
with the tuning key and all sustain is gone.
The 10” tom starts to bring out the character of the Blast
even more. It has a dark, somewhat warm and round sustain. The
difference between the 8”and 10” is quite large, but
from 10” to 12” makes more sense.
The 12”, 14” and 16” toms show what the Blast
is capable of. They provide a nice warm and round sustain with
a long hold, but not getting annoying. Even quickly played patterns
are well defined.
When mounting a set of single ply coated skins the toms are even
more diverse. With a minimum of tension you’ll get a low
deep, thundering accent on the larger toms. At higher tension all
overtones are defined well and sound nicely clear.
Bass drum
The bass drum brings out a thundering, dark blow. There’s
no tom bracket mounted on the bass, so it can resonate optimally.
The single ply Taiwan powerstroke skins sound their best at a low
tension. While getting a higher tension the resonance skin moves
to much and overtones dominate the attack. Also there is a change
of so called ‘base balling effect’. Just throw in a
little towel and the problems are solved and the bass drum get’s
a wide range of tuning.
Even at a high tension the dark and voluminous character maintains.
Snare drum
The Blast snare drum has a warm, woody sound with a little high
edge and overtones. It’s character is lively and rather
dry but not getting narrow. Rim clicks sound deep but a little
hollow, more ‘clock’ then ‘click’.
The snare is provided with ten tension bolts on each site, so with
just a little power you can tune it real high. It sound best at
a medium or high tension. The snare sounds tight and clear. Even
though, you must search a little to control the overtones, but
that is not a big problem.
The snare mechanism works fine, it only needed a drop of oil to
slide really easy.
Hardware
All hardware looks very heavy and solid. All is double legged.
All boom arms are convertible, so you can make them disappear
in the stand and make a straight cymbal stand.
The toms are mounted on two double tom stand and with the fifth
is mounted with a multi clamp on a cymbal stand. All double tom
stands are provided with boom arms. So in total you’ll get
three cymbal/ tom combinations and one extra cymbal boom stand.
The rods on the boom stands look alike DW with a large plastic
wing bolt to adjust.
The hi-hat stand is provided with turnable legs and adjustable
tension. The tilter is a combination of two plastic disks, by turning
you can adjust the angle. It looks a little like Sonor.
The snare stand legs are the same as used on most drum thrones.
On that way you can arrange an ultra low snare drum position. The
angle is adjustable via a ball bearing system. The basket closes
by turning a plastic ring, which doesn’t look very solid,
but holds on easily.
Twin pedal
The delivered pedal is simply a fine piece of work. The foot blade
looks a little rude but the feeling is excellent. It responds
quick and swiftly. The beater is provided with two sides of felt,
one vertical and one horizontal. They really provide a different
sound, one has got more attack, the other a more round bodied
sound.
The pedal frame contains a large metal ground plate and pins and
is supported by an extra metal bar, vertically under the axes.
The connector is solid and free of friction.
Summary
Cadeson has looked around while designing the drums and they did
not try to hide it. The most important aspect though is their
own: THE SOUND.
The price compared to the quality is out of proportion, but than
in the most positive way!! The Blast simply is a top line drum
kit, fully equipped with hardware and professional skins.
The few minor critics are, considering the price, of no concern
at all.
Note: The Blast series is also available in a maple/ walnut version,
four inner ply maple, two outer ply walnut.
The costs for this kit are 2490, - Euro. Only available in the
walnut finish.
Cadeson is distributed by: PW Europe B.V.
Galvanistraat 29
3861 NJ, Nijkerk
The Netherlands
+31(0)332458622
Info@pweurope.net
www.pweurope.net
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