Posted on 26-Dec-2014
By Lance Corporal Ajith Nair of 12th Kuala Lumpur Company 
October 26th, 2014
In every band, the percussion section plays an important part in keeping the tempo. Although my company does not have a full marching band at the moment, we do indeed have a drumline band. Choosing the best drum equipment is needed to prevent any additional costs later on. If you have not already known, there are many band equipment giants out there such as Pearl, Mapex, Yamaha or Dynasty. For us, we decided to go with Dynasty as our preferred brand for our team. With that being said, I am sure that there would be percussion teams and Drum Corps out there that might ask us questions such as, ”Why Dynasty?” , and “Are there any other brands that we use?” That's what I'll be sharing about today.
Our drumline is divided into 4 sections, namely the Snares, the Tenor Drums, the B
ass Drums and Cymbals. We employ Sabian brand Cymbals to go with our full arsenal of Dynasty brand Snares, Basses and Tenors. The model of snares we use is the Dynasty MS-XZ14 Custom Elite Marching Snare. This snare model is pretty much plain with a black shell and silver finishes. Even though this model is plain and uninteresting compared to the XZS14 model, its 100% Maple shell makes it able to withstand accidental knocks without leaving dents.
For our Bass Drums, we use the Dynasty Custom Marching Bass Drum. Being the only bass drum model in its brand, there are no serial numbers attached to it. They are made of 8 ply maple shells with the strongest hardware in the market. Moreover, these bass drums have special claws, which make them durable and less likely to snap away from the finishes. The claws also enable higher tuning. The size ranges of the bass drums include 18”, 20”, 22”, 24” and 26”.
Dynasty Custom Elite Tenors on the other hand, are the only model that Dynasty manufactures. Generally, there are two types of Tenor Drums: Quints and Hexes. Since most of the scores available nowadays only facilitate Quints, we use Quints. Dynasty Tenor Drums are awesome as they produce a rich sound and can also project its notes and sounds articulately throughout any stadium or arena. Each shell comes with an aluminum reinforcement ring to ensure the protection of the tom as it makes sure that the tenors do last. Furthermore, Dynasty Tenors have a state-of-the-art mounting system. Its mounting system insures that the drums would be leveled and while maintaining exact spacing. These tenors are almost completely maintenance free and are regarded to be the most durable on the market.
As everyone knows, Dynasty does not produce any cymbals. Therefore, we chose the next best option, Sabian cymbals. The model we use is the Sabian 18” B8 Pro Marching Band Cymbals. These cymbals are moderately priced and are meant for high school marching bands as they have medium weight and thickness. Furthermore, it has a brilliant finish and will shine like stars when polished properly.
Last but not least, it would be useless to have good quality drums but have bad quality sticks. Our sticks are all Promark-branded. Promark Sticks are the best to us due to its well-balanced weight. Its reversed taper makes it feel comfortable when held by the drummer, and its thick neck causes rim-shots to sound more vibrant! We use Promark DC72 American Hickory drumsticks and Promark System Blue drumsticks for our Snare Section. The Bass Drum mallets we use are the Promark Performer Series Bass Mallets. These mallets feature balanced hickory handles with a taper underneath the puffy 1 1/2" felt head. As for Tenor sticks, we only use Promark TS8 System Blue Tenor Sticks. These sticks are made in such a way that they feel like snare sticks but sound like mallets. And you know what makes these sticks a whole lot better? They were designed by Sean Vega! Sean Vega is a former DCI Individual Tenor Champion and also an RCC and Blue Devils staff member.
As the famous saying goes, it is all about quality, not quantity. It’s useless to have a big but lousy drumline but definitely counts to have a small line but one that sounds awesome. However, having a great drumline does not only depend on having great players but also depends on having great equipment. That being said, I can safely say that the Drumline of 12th Kuala Lumpur has chosen the best equipment to bring the best of us to you!