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Force 3003 Review
 
Pre-Decision  - Why did I chose this kit?
    I have always dumped huge amounts of money into drums to have the latest and greatest or oldest and coolest whichever fit my desire for that image at the time.  Things change..
   I recently got married (May), bought a house, have a 2 year old son, and I have stopped trying to be a drum hero on the local scene.  In addition to this, I picked up riding Motocross and Hare Scrambles again (Yes, even @ 35).  If you think drumming is an expensive hobby, try off road motorcycling.  In any case, you can see that my financial obligations have risen and the importance of drumming in that chain has decreased.  
   So, I need to keep drumming in my life and keep it as a way to make some bucks when I can and enjoy some time jamming with the guys.  When everything changed, I sold all I had to buy the ring, down payment on the house, etc.  Drums had to go but I knew I could get something else later.  So I find myself starting from scratch and a limited budget.  This means I need to get all I can for the money.  
    In the first round of decision, I bought a Sonor Signature kit.  I then realized that I could not afford to have that much money in a kit that I was worried about gigging and that I could not afford to outfit with hardware, cymbals etc.  Way overkill, wrong instrument for my needs , and not practical.  They went.  So I was back to square one.
    With this new practicality in mind, I shopped every place I could to see what was best for the money within the scope of what I actually need.  The questions arose about what level of instrument meets my criteria.  It is obvious that anything upper mid level and up is overkill for me.  I am going to be clubbing and jamming with friends.  Anything in that range is overkill and the advantages will be subtle or lost completely in the mix of the shitty PA systems and engineers.  Nobody in the crowd knows or cares anyway that I have a double veneered custom Botswana wood kit.
      I started off looking at the cheapest stuff I could find of the major brands to see if they would cut it.  The truth is that they would probably have worked, if the hardware did not suck so bad.  The price point for these kits are $400 without hardware.  These are Pearl Forum, Tama Swingstar, Pacific FS, etc.  I checked them all out and the truth is the Pacific FS is easily the best sounding kit of any of them.  It is also the kit that has the worst hardware I have ever seen if you try and get the value packs.  The pedal and Hi Hat stand are like toys.  So, these kits really cost $450 plus at least $300 in hardware for pedal, hi hat, snare, cymbal stands, and a seat.  Now I am at $750 or so.   I am used to the best pedals and hardware available.  Recently I have been practicing with an old Pearl Export pedal from 1987 and have been fine with it.  However, even I could not see playing with the hardware from the FS pacific line in any club gig and expecting it to hold up.
    So I moved up to the mid entry – lower mid kits.  These definitely meet the requirements sonically for clubbing and are used extensively in the area in clubs with popular bands.  These are Rockstar, Exports, Pacific CX, etc.  Ironically, these kits go for $750 or so and have much better hardware.   So it was obvious that it makes no sense to buy a cheaper kit and add decent hardware when you can buy a pre-pack of better drums and get hardware that will be functional for the purpose and conditions for the same money.  Anwyay.  You can start to see some pro style features in this series so it becomes a matter of mixing and matching what is strongest from each series to make a decision.  IE..  The Tama Rockstar..   Has very solid hardware, comes with no seat, has a metal snare, and has plastic bass drum hoops (accutune).  How important these factors are becomes when compared to the other kits and their respective features.  Ie..  A cheap seat is no big deal, but it makes a difference all things being equal when budget is a concern.  
    The sum of all this jerking around is that there is NOTHING period that gives you what you get for $700 delivered like the Force 3003.  Here is the review.
 
Finish
   The finish I chose is Black Sparkle.  It caught my eye on the Sonor website.  The finish is perfect.  I have seen MANY other finishes in top line drums including what was on my DW’s that were not nearly as nice as this.  It is a rich black lacquer that has several depths of sparkle in it.  Some of the sparkle is flat in appearance and it is laced with some that really twinkle when you move or the light changes.  Really cool.  The badges are simple glue on things that go well with the paint.  The bass drum hoops are flawless in their matching black sparkle lacquer as well.  You may find a finish on another brand of kit that you like better, but you will not find any done technically better than this.
 
Shells and Edging
    The shells are thicker than most of the choices in this level of set.  They are one layer of three ply maple and two layers of three ply basswood.  The shells are on the heavy side and the edges were all perfect.  I looked closely at some of the pacific stuff and they had chips missing around the edges where the router just blew through the wood from the incidental pressure.  These have none of that.  My only complaint about these shells in their craftsmanship is that the wood seems very dry.  I am going to do my usual waxing of the edges so there is no tendency for the head to bind on the edge.  I may even look into rubbing the inside of the shells with some oil.  Not sure yet.  
 
Shell Hardware
    The snare came with 2.3 super hoops and the toms with the 1.8 hoops.  The lugs are die cast and are heavy.  The receiving nuts were prepared very well with a small amount of grease.  Every single tension rod works great.  There is a mechanism somewhere in the bottom of the receiving nut that acts similar to the tune safe systems of Designer and Signature.  I am not sure what it is but it is pretty cool and should help keep the rods from detuning.  The chrome on all parts looks very heavy and solid.  
   My only complaint so far about the kit is with the Bass drum claws and possibly the tom hoops.  The bass drum claws are very cheap and do not provide any felt or rubber backing.  This is relevant if you care about keeping this nice finish on the hoops in tact.  The tom hoops make tuning a very slow process.  These hoops are much less rigid than 2.3’s or die cast so you have to really take your time to make sure the new heads are seating properly and that even tension is being applied in the first part of tensioning.  If this kit were just a simple covered kit  with no hints of extra quality, this would not even stand out as any type of a mismatch.  The toms tune up very easily though keeping this in mind.  The bass drum claws however, are something they skimped on where they should not have skimped.
      The snare mechanism is very cool.  It is what they use on the S Class and some other drums and is a Sonor version of the Nickel Piston thing.  Very nice throw off and again a feature way above the other lines in this class of drum set.  The snares that came on the drum are standard steel 24 strand wires.  
 
Heads
  Ok..  These are not good.  They are Remo UT things that have to go.  My main problem with them is not that they are a thin Mylar similar to Diplomat weight, but that they are just cheaply put together.  They require the head to be cranked up to get an even tone out of them because of this poor quality.  I put one of them on an orphan Masters Custom 10” tom and had the same effect.  
    I bought G2 tops and an Emad for the kick along with a G1 coated for the snare.  I will be changing out the bottom heads as soon as I can afford it.  The front logo head is very nice.  It is basically an EQ3 with no hole.  I will discuss more on that later.
 
Cymbal/Snare/Seat Stands
  These are rugged, thick tube, double braced stands.  The package includes one boom and one straight stand.   They are perfect stuff for the purpose of this kit.  The snare stand is solid as a rock and has a bit of an offset to the tilter so the basket sits in to you a bit.  Very cool.  The seat base is really solid.  It is a wing nut tightened base and is very sturdy in appearance and function.  The seat top is kind of funny though.  It is very thin but built well.  Unless you weigh 125 pounds, this will not work for you though.  Ironically, all the hardware included is Sonor 400 series stuff while the seat os a 200 series top for some reason.  It is still nice to have and I consider it a throw in.  It is always good to have an extra seat.  
 
Pedal and Hi Hat Stand
    I put a lot of time into looking into pedals and trying to see what I need and what I can afford.  What I found is that the simple strap drive 1986 Pearl Export thing I have been practicing with is fast enough and easy enough to use.  The simplicity of it just kind of loses my attention to it and I just play it instead of “honoring” it.  During my DW5000 Iron Cobra Axis days, maybe I got a little mentally caught up in “Look at me playing this expensive stuff”.   I am not sure exactly but my bass drum technique is much better these days.
     The pedal that comes with this kit is the 400 series pedal.  It is a single chain cam assembly with a foot plate.  It is very similar in feel to the DW5000 of the same specs.  However, the foot plate is heavier and it appears to just be built a bit sturdier.  I was really amazed that this pedal came with a kit for this price.  It is my second favorite part of the deal.
     The spring received on the pedal roller bar is fully adjustable allowing you to adjust the beater angle.  The beater is a cool two way thing about the contact size of the iron Cobra beater and has one hard felt side and one hard rubber side.  
    The hi hat stand is a mirror image of the pedal without the bass plate but with a bigger chain.  Double braced, solid clutch, very cool.  This hardware is VERY good club stuff and works perfect out of the package.
 
Tom Mount and TAR system
   The bass drum tom mount is very functional.  It is similar to the Yamaha system with a center post with two individual tom arms with ball mounts except they have an L instead of a straight arm.  You can easily adjust this and set it any way you want quickly and set the memory locks.  The memory locks on the kit are really cool.  All the clamps are hinged DW style things but are round.  The memory locks are designed to fit into the round shape and add some style to it.  Pretty cool.  
   The TAR system is cool.  The main value to this is that is does not do anything bad.  It looks cool, allows the drums to mount closely together, allows head changed without taking the drum off the stand, and will not add space in the cases.  The only thing that confuses me is why they had to drill a hole in the shell for the lower part of the tom mount?  The rubber spacer appears to have an element that goes through the shell as there is a nut and another spacer on the inside of the shell.  Seems it would have been fine with just a rubber spacer resting against the outside of the shell.
    I am still leary about the value to a drum that resonates all day in a club situation.  Soundmen are just going to gate everything off anyway far shorter than any drummer would probably want.  This is a club kit for me so if the TAR’s  improve sustain, great.  So long as I like the sound and it pleases me.  More on sound later.
 
Sound
Snare Drum
   This is a very good snare drum.  Period.  It does everything I want a 5.5x14 wood snare to do.  It has plenty of pop and has a good shift in dynamics between the center and the edge while maintaining sensitivity.  The color of the sound was surprising.  The overtones are nice and blend well with the fundamental in medium and higher tunings with the G1 on it.  You will need to replace the bottom side head as well as the top to get the true potential out of the drum though.  The light metal snares with the very thin and cheaply made head hold back the woody part of the sound a bit.  This changed completely when I replaced them.  My combination was G1 coated top and Hazy snare bottom.
 
Toms
    The thing I noticed immediately is that the toms have that typical Sonor sound, even on these Chinese made kits.  Very interesting.  Sonor drums all share the characteristic of being very articulate and have a nice low end definition that is subtle but not really rumbly feeling like a DW.  This is why they can still sound deep and full at higher tunings while other drums cannot.  They also really do not hide anything you play.  What you play is articulated very closely.  Somehow on this kit, it just has that same characteristic.  The toms are plenty sensitive and the low end open up on the drums very consistently as dynamics increase.  This makes playing them very comfortable as you can lay into them a little and really change the effect of what you are playing.  So many kits out there are so one dimensional in this regard.  I was very happy with this characteristic of the toms.
     The toms really sing.  My setup is the 10,12,14.  With a G2 clear top and the stock UT bottom, they respond best in the middle to upper tunings.  I will give some more feedback on this as I try different heads and have more time to spend with each drum.  To be fair, I really have not allowed enough time or effort to settle the heads on the edges completely to accommodate the low tunings.  With my experience with Sonor drums, I can tell though that they are very typical Sonor and will just feel better in the medium tunings regardless of what heads you use.  The sound is very sophisticated and is much more rich than I expected.  Each just seems to have all the right frequencies.  The point as I keep coming back to here is that in a club environment, I would defy anyone to tell the difference in these toms and a Designer or other.  
 
Bass
    This is my favorite part of the kit.  You can blast me all you want, but you have to hear it to believe what I am saying.  With the EMAD batter, this thing produced a low end Jurassic Park tyrannasaur rumble that just hits you squarly in the chest on the sounds arrival to you.  I am just amazed at the sound of the bass drum for something in this price range….or any price range really.   I have a DW pillow in the kick with no hole just yet in the front.  My Designers, Signatures, and Lites NEVER sounded like this kick.
 
Overall
    Nothing is available with these features, sound, and quality for this price.  $700 delivered.  I got this deal easily from a local store and you should be able to also.  If you own something you are not comfortable gigging, this is the perfect kit to add.   It sounds great, looks fantastic, and you get excellent hardware.  My bet is that for next year’s model, Sonor will replace the bass drum claws and go with an upgraded hoop on the toms.  Since I hear they are discontinuing the SCLASS, I bet they release and all maple version of this too.  The changes they made to the kit from the 3001 are well worth the extra $100 or so.  Extra depth in bass drum, Great Snare tensioner, TAR mounting, and great finish are some of the changes.
 
By The way.  The 22”  bass drum has 10 lugs.  To me, this was always the mark of a “Professional kit”.  Why companies do not do that I have no idea.  I have always said Tama misses out on some sales as people perceive the Starclassic Performer as a “lesser” kit than the Maples because of the 8 lugs (a total of maybe $20 cost to the company).  Anyway.  I will drop some pictures soon once I get this kit out of my living room.

 
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Hi Everyone.  Just wanted to let you know that I just got home about an hour ago after picking up my new Force 3003's.  The salesman had ordered in both the black and white sparkle versions, and it took me about an hour in the store to decide which one!  I must say though, that the black was not as impressive as i had expected.  Nice, but the white just blew it away to be honest. The salesman and I had a great time looking at them, and he even turned down some of the store's lights, and shone some coloured strobes on both to see what they'd look like in a club setting.  Well, the white was the one...much more expensive looking than the black.  I picked up a new set of G2's, and transferresd my Emad onto the new base drum.  I'm not gigging for another week or so, so I'll be messing around with them for a few days.   I'll let you know what i think when I've tuned and played!  Beautiful drums!