Current Rogers kits?

[poodlesdrum]

I just noticed a local ad for a "modern" Rogers set for sale, that was bought recently.

What is the general opinion on these Rogers, beside the fact that they will never be like the ones of yesteryear?

Any correlation with Yamaha existing lines?

[Northern Redneck]

Keep your Imperialstars.

[Zeta]

They are not the same, not even close. I think something happened with Rogers in the 80's that explains why they went downhill so badly.

Just wait for a response from ploughman I'm sure he can elaborate, or say if im even correct lol

[Drumbledore]

Don't touch them with a 40 foot barge-pole.





Make that 60 foot, actually. If I want to buy a Yamaha looking and sounding set, I'd buy a Yamaha. If I want to buy something that has the hallmark of a great part of American drum manufacturing history, I'd buy the genuine article, in this case a real Rogers kit. These on the other hand, are poor imposters. And they have the cheek to use the same Rogers logo script badge on them? The old company staff....Henry Grossman, Ben Strauss, Joe Thompson et al would be all foaming at the mouth if they ever saw what Yamaha did to their beloved name. Any Rogers owner would tell you this: avoid.

[poodlesdrum]

Keep your Imperialstars.

Uh, NR, you must be talking to the wrong guy, no Imperialstars here!
(I did consider a local sale earlier, gave it up...)

A cursory web look up says Yamaha acquired the Rogers brand, and came up with a few models. Does not say much.

[Drumbledore]

From Wiki:

"In 1983, CBS sold Rogers and Fender to a group of individuals who were running the Fender division; the new owners soon after decided to discontinue the Rogers Drums line. In the late 1990s, the Rogers name was acquired by the Brook Mays Music Company ("BBMC") of Dallas, TX. BBMC positioned the brand as a low-cost, but high quality import line of beginner-to-advanced drums that were sold exclusively in the company's own chain of music stores. Many purists and collectors believed this to be disrespectful to the company's great reputation. However, the drums sold successfully because many drummers (especially younger ones) wanted Rogers kits. But for various reasons the Brook Mays company ultimately was unable to continue operating its retail stores, most of which were small- to mid-scale local merchants first bought and then managed by BBMC. Adding to BBMC's business difficulties, First Act Inc., a competitor that sold its instruments through mass market retailers, sued BMMC in 2005 and was later awarded $20.7 million on the grounds that BMMC had falsely advertised and defamed it by sending letters to customers criticizing the quality of its instruments. In the summer of 2006, BMMC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection."

"On August 26, 2006, the Yamaha Corporation of America announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to the Rogers Drum Company at the BMMC bankruptcy court-ordered auction."

"Opportunities to acquire a well-respected brand that is so treasured by players do not come along everyday," said Tom Sumner, Vice President and General Manager of Pro Audio & Combo Division, Yamaha Corporation of America. "We will use our expertise to improve on the Rogers legacy."

"Yamaha displayed its new Rogers drums at winter NAMM 2007. The drums appear to be an amalgam of different Rogers eras, with some Yamaha touches. The reaction from classic Rogers fans has been overwhelmingly negative."




That's the reason why. And I don't think those shells are Rogers sounding shells at all. But Ploughman would probably be able to elaborate more.

[IAmNotATable]

As I Rogers owner, this is what I have to say:

[ThePloughman]

A gallon of lighter fluid and matches make these sets really hot.

[poodlesdrum]

uh, er... asking Rogers die-hards may not have been the best plan...

I should have formulated my question simpler: How these new Rogers compare to, say, Pearl entry-level line, (IF they fit there, as we don't know!)?

[Cliff5550]

It's really sad to see the rep that the new Rogers have these days. Back when I started playing you had 2 choices if you wanted only the best, Ludwig or Rogers. Every drummer I knew played one or the other.

[Northern Redneck]

Uh, NR, you must be talking to the wrong guy, no Imperialstars here!
(I did consider a local sale earlier, gave it up...)

A cursory web look up says Yamaha acquired the Rogers brand, and came up with a few models. Does not say much.

Sorry about that, youre right I do have you confused with another member.
Still the yamaha era rogers are junk.

[IAmNotATable]

Even asking us die hard Rogers fans doesn't make much of a difference, there's a reason nobody has these kits. Any entry level kit would do you better than this one. Pearl Exports, Gretsch Catalinas, ANYTHING but these.

[Bish]

it's really sad to see the rep that the new rogers have these days. Back when i started playing you had 2 choices if you wanted only the best, ludwig or rogers. Every drummer i knew played one or the other.

+1

[ThePloughman]

It was bad corporate management that put Rogers in the toilet. The company was stripped of every possible dime in profit margin while being cut to the lowest possible outlay of capital necessary to produce a product that was not even given consideration as a musical instrument by the parent company. Then the brand was offshored and produced for a few short years by Island Music Import Co, and returned to us as imported Rogers, depending on the prestige of the name for the little sales that were accomplished.

For a couple years, Rogers was owned by someone who only produced a few T shirts with the name emblazoned on them. They sold to Brook Mays Music in Texas.

Yes, the initial offerings from Mays werent much better than any of the foreign imports seen previously, but they really werent no worse.

However, Brook Mays had no intention of the brand remaining in stagnation. They sunk money into R&D, resurrected the classic Beavertail Lug, which was an expensive effort in itself, all maple shells, quality lacquer finishes, modern mounting systems that had a foundation of quality. In short, Brook Mays had begun to build some very nice intermediate quality drums. They were planning the return of the Dynasonic, the Powertone, and Superten snare drums, made in a classic Rogers design.

Then the bankruptsy. And Yamaha aquired the brand, and immediately killed it. They took it all the way back to the darkest ages of no quality, no hope of quality, no intention of quality, and no impact on the Yamaha brand market share. The press release said aquired the brand, in reality time has proved there is no intention on Rogers ever becoming a brand again.

Since then, I sold every single piece of yamaha gear I owned, Dumped it. I will not play on yamaha gear, own yamaha gear, rent yamaha gear or use it. Nothing made by yamaha will ever be owned by me.. ever.

You want my opinion on the current offerings of Rogers...... burn it. Buy anything else.

[Jerzey Street Band (JSB)]

It was bad corporate management that put Rogers in the toilet. The company was stripped of every possible dime in profit margin while being cut to the lowest possible outlay of capital necessary to produce a product that was not even given consideration as a musical instrument by the parent company. Then the brand was offshored and produced for a few short years by Island Music Import Co, and returned to us as imported Rogers, depending on the prestige of the name for the little sales that were accomplished.

For a couple years, Rogers was owned by someone who only produced a few T shirts with the name emblazoned on them. They sold to Brook Mays Music in Texas.

Yes, the initial offerings from Mays werent much better than any of the foreign imports seen previously, but they really werent no worse.

However, Brook Mays had no intention of the brand remaining in stagnation. They sunk money into R&D, resurrected the classic Beavertail Lug, which was an expensive effort in itself, all maple shells, quality lacquer finishes, modern mounting systems that had a foundation of quality. In short, Brook Mays had begun to build some very nice intermediate quality drums. They were planning the return of the Dynasonic, the Powertone, and Superten snare drums, made in a classic Rogers design.

Then the bankruptsy. And Yamaha aquired the brand, and immediately killed it. They took it all the way back to the darkest ages of no quality, no hope of quality, no intention of quality, and no impact on the Yamaha brand market share. The press release said aquired the brand, in reality time has proved there is no intention on Rogers ever becoming a brand again.

Since then, I sold every single piece of yamaha gear I owned, Dumped it. I will not play on yamaha gear, own yamaha gear, rent yamaha gear or use it. Nothing made by yamaha will ever be owned by me.. ever.

You want my opinion on the current offerings of Rogers...... burn it. Buy anything else.

I love people with passion, well said Ploughman.

[MartyM]

I love people with passion, well said Ploughman.

Ditto!...that was easy

[Bish]

Well done, Ploughman!

[Lefty]

you guys need to grow up. You're stuck on some old legacy. The old school drums of the day arn't all that great by todays standards. I started playing in the late 60s. I've played on lots of Ludwig, Rogers, Slingerland Etc. They don't compare to my Birch customs. Yamaha is a very highly respected drum Co. They arn't going to put out any junk. If those old drums were really better, people would not spend several grand on new kits. They would buy old ones. I think you could buy about any old kit for under a grand.

[Drumbledore]

I beg to differ. Not all drums made yesteryear you couldn't say don't stack up to the drums of today. And I'm not denigrating Yamaha, Pearl, Tama, etc, who do manufacture quality gear and have been doing for quite a while now. Apart from being a Rogers owner, I also have a Ludwig Epic set, some Ludwig Classic Maple toms that were produced in the early 90's, and various snare drums from 1960's to modern manufacture (in fact I'm looking at also getting a Yamaha snare drum as I speak). Plus I also have various Alesis and Roland electronic drum gear, so there is no way I fancy myself as only a vintage gear head. But what I admire about Rogers is that a number of drum innovations, such as the strong tubular Memriloc tom holders (which came later in the company's history), bass drum pedals with spurs that dig into the carpet at an angle, a seat with a threaded rod with a locking nut, a snare shell design with very gradually cut snare beds (the Dynasonic) and of course the ubiquitous memory locks, all these designs which you find on any well made modern drum set nowadays were all at one stage innovated by the design team at Rogers. Which is why it is a pity that the company in it's twilight years was mismanaged.

I can vouch for one thing about older manufactured drums. They may not necessarily sound better or worse than newer drums when played live or recorded. They sound different, that is for sure. I have several recording engineer friends who, whenever they want me to lay down some tracks now and then, that specifically ask for me to bring one of my old Rogers kicks, even if the rest of the stuff I might use will be different and more up to date. They feel that I seem to get a more full and warm sound out of a smaller Rogers bass drum than what they think they may get from any of the bass drums they have in their studios or home sets.

[Northern Redneck]

you guys need to grow up. You're stuck on some old legacy. The old school drums of the day arn't all that great by todays standards. I started playing in the late 60s. I've played on lots of Ludwig, Rogers, Slingerland Etc. They don't compare to my Birch customs. Yamaha is a very highly respected drum Co. They arn't going to put out any junk. If those old drums were really better, people would not spend several grand on new kits. They would buy old ones. I think you could buy about any old kit for under a grand.

You are completely missing everybodys point. The new Rogers are just low level cheap kits on parr with TKO or Pulse kits. They are not the Rogers of yesteryear. So yeah in this case Yamaha did put out junk.

[ThePloughman]

you guys need to grow up. You're stuck on some old legacy. The old school drums of the day arn't all that great by todays standards. I started playing in the late 60s. I've played on lots of Ludwig, Rogers, Slingerland Etc. They don't compare to my Birch customs. Yamaha is a very highly respected drum Co. They arn't going to put out any junk. If those old drums were really better, people would not spend several grand on new kits. They would buy old ones. I think you could buy about any old kit for under a grand.

Just keep telling yourself that.

[Cliff5550]

I think the real point here is that, had they stayed on track and the company been handled correctly, today Rogers would have been one of the premiere manufacturers and you'd be singing their praises. It has nothing to do with growing up.

[ThePloughman]

I passed on a brand new DW kit and bought these.








They would still net almost 4000.00 even in todays market.

[dropdtune]

Sure its sad but its life in business. I love old drums too, but I agree with Lefty lets not simply pick on newer companies, especially 'offshore' ones who simply made business decisions....and not just to ruin a name. Are we going to pick on DW or Tama, who both got hold of the bankrupt Camco company, and used their innovations at the time? There's lots of DW fans out there no? We can admire old companies, and their drums, but not at the expense of respecting newer companies who make great drums.....or motorcycles.

[ThePloughman]

How is this thread picking on a newer company? How can one not respect DW? They took what was left of Camco and in 20 years made it the top of the market. That deserves respect. They did not turn it into a firewood brand. There is no respecting what Yamaha has done with Rogers. And it was a business decision. Kill the brand. Which is what they have done.