Please help! What do I have here?

[billnolan]

Can someone please tell me what I have here?
I baught this out of a guys garage for $250 bucks...Now people are telling me I stole this thing!! Just want to be sure..I do not know much about drum brands other than the big USA names...This is a premier and the badge says made in England....I can say this it sounds incredible! It seems to be all laquer finish and in awesome shape...So, What do I have? what year do you think it is? and how good are they? and did I get a good deal!
I have to say I think this kit is Gorgeous, all I did was put new heads on it etc...The bass is a 20inch and the toms are 10-12-14...The snare is amazing, I just cant beleve I got this for $250...So, Any and all info would be helpfull and your thoughts!

Thanks

[rmandelbaum]

looks like a great deal to me.

Very cool

[bassist learning drums]

Welcome Bill! Did the Sound Off pads come with the deal???

Yup, ya stole it!!! Looks very nice. I don't know much about premier, but there are a lot of seasoned drummers that will help!

[billnolan]

Thanks Guys, I am really hoping to get some detailed info from the experts here...I mean, I am not stupid..LoL..Its a beutifull kit, but just hate not knowing exactly what I have!

Its either an XPK or above...That much I know because the lower lines were not laquer finished. I cannot stress enough how amazing this kit sounds! I have owned a Tama rockstar custom and a yamaha stage custom, this kit just blows them away tone wise...When I got it it was loaded with dust so I spent last Saturday cleaning it as good as I could, tightning up all the bolts etc..Changing the heads...and it just looks amazing, The only thing its missing is a memory lock on the small tom side. Sorry, I am just very exited about this kit!I almost stayed home when my wife said she wanted to go "yard saling" I would have missed this!

The sound off pads I had, all that came with it was the five shells and tom hardware.

And I am glad I found this forum!

Here is one more pic of the inside of one of the shells!

Thanks again guys!

[parttimedrummer]

I have heard of Premeire, but i can't say i am all that familar with ther products

[pastor_bob]

Welcome to Drum Chat Bill. I sure agree that those Premiers are beautiful! I'm certainly not the expert you need, but we all like looking at each other's kits (check out the "Show Us Your Drums" thread).

And don't worry, there are plenty of guys around here that can help you.

[bassist learning drums]

Bill, did those heads come with it?? They are immaculate.

[Ethel_The_Frog]

All I can say is, how high are those rack toms and how low is that floor tom?! o_O

[jack's_art]

well it's definitely not any of the current lines... from the way that the toms are mounted(which is used now only on cheap kits but was used often in the 90's and only in the 80's) i'd date it probably to around then. i'd say roughly late 80's? because obviously it must be a good line of drums (based on the sound and the fact that it has a lacquer finish which low-end kits definitely don't have). so it's probably something mid-range to high-end. sorry, don't know more than that. nice score!
although. hang on. did you have trouble putting the heads on the drums? or were they quite lose on the drums(almost undersized)? because premier was renound for makinf undersized drums in the 80's - and i think they still do that slightly...

[Riouel]

YOU STOLE IT

it A XPK I THINK MY FRIEND HAVE THE SAME

GREAT BUY

[Dustin]

I think this is an XPK from around the Mid 90s mate. Before that XPK and APK both have one piece lugs while yours has small single lugs. They were made from Eucalyptus with and inner and outer ply of Birch

Premier were leaders in the Drum field in the past. The list of people who used them goes on and on - Keith Moon, Phil Collins, Clem Burke, Buddy Rich etc

[billnolan]

No trouble putting the heads on!
The heads did not come with it, it had real old remos on it when I baught it, I had those evans laying around that I hade never used and they fit on the drums fine.

[billnolan]

I cant wait to show you guys some pics once I surround this thing with some hardware and cymbals etc..I really hope someone can nail down the year etc on this....so far its at least..1995 on?

Why didnt premier put some type of identifying badge etc on there drums? there are no numbers or anything on this kit..But again, amazing sounding kit, The tom holder is quite substantial and heavy, plenty beefy enough! The way its set up I cant see why a rims style mount would be any better? The reso's on the toms are original as was the kick drum heads, I changed the bass drum heads as you can see and plan on putting new resos on the toms and snare..Thanks for looking and helping guys!

I plan on using this kit in the local small rooms , its compact size is perfect and other than the bass drum, I think the toms and snare will have plenty of projection without being mic'd. I think its going to turn some heads!

[billnolan]

All I can say is, how high are those rack toms and how low is that floor tom?! o_O

LoL...The floor tom is a hanging style , and I dont have a stand for it yet..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASRopPLZueQ

[jack's_art]

cos there have been some stories of people buying old premiers and they'd have weird sizes like 11" or something. so too big for one drumhead and too small for another.

[GCR99]

I think this is an XPK from around the Mid 90s mate. Before that XPK and APK both have one piece lugs while yours has small single lugs. They were made from Eucalyptus with and inner and outer ply of Birch

Premier were leaders in the Drum field in the past. The list of people who used them goes on and on - Keith Moon, Phil Collins, Clem Burke, Buddy Rich etc

You're right Dustin, those guys did play Permier. Keith Moon had a custom "Pictures of Lily" kit made as well as a see through perspex Premier kit.
I had a Premier Royale kit in the 80's with deep "power" toms similar to that one. You got a reasonable deal there mate.
The only current big name I know that still plays Premier is Steve White (Paul Weller band)

[fiacovaz]

Looks like a nice set...Premier makes some very excellent drums and yours could very well be one. Have you tried "Googling" Premier to learn more?

[Roaddebris]

You're going to have a ruined drum kit if you keep it parked next to that wood stove. Fuctuations in heat/moisture are hard on wooden instruments. Nothing will radically alter the moisture content on a room more than a wood/pellet stove. You want to keep your drums in a conditioned space that doesn't go below 65F or higher than 100F.

[billnolan]

I have googled it but there isnt a whole lot out there exept That I am sure now its an XPK and there is slot of stuff about how good they sound and how alot of studios use this kit even today. Whatever it is its very nice and I cant wait to her it in the band.

I apreciate that I should not leave the kit near the stove and I wont, that was just to set it up and clean it up etc...We are not using the stove yet anyway..My biggest concern is being able to get parts for this kit..

If I wanted to can I use a differnt tom mount? something afternarket? and should I change it to a rims style mount?
Thanks

[Norske]

Hi Bill,

That's a sweet little kit you've got there! I have a 1984 Premier kit, and the first kit I ever owned was a Premier circa around 1965.

There is a vintage Premier website, and by checking both the badge and the small lugs on your kit, I would say yours is very likely 1995-1998 vintage. They started using the small single lugs in 1995.

APKs were made of Eucalyptus and Meranti woods (Phillipine mahogany), and the inside of the shells were painted black. XPKs were made of Eucalyptus with an inner and outer ply of Birch.

In 1999 they changed to "quick sized" toms and went to rims style mounts.

Hope that helps! As to price....yeah, you got a VERY good deal!

[Bish]

Man, you are a thief. Welcome to DrumChat.

Those are very nice and the finish is wowweee.

You probably have $150 just in heads. You couldn't have done better.

Congratulations and a super find!

[mkennedy]

Hi Bill,
I'm about 90% certain it's an XPK kit from the mid to late 90's. During that time frame Modern Drummer did a cover story on the entry level kits offer by the big name brands i.e. Tama Rockstars, Pearl Exports, Sonor Force, Ludwig Rockers, Premier XPK, Yamaha Stage Custom, etc. Anyway, I have that issue SOMEWHERE but I can't place it right now. I remember though that the XPK kit in that article was virtually identical to yours. 10/12/14 toms WITHOUT iso-mounts. Some of the highlights that were mentioned...obviously the finish, the snare was supposedly the best out of all the kits tested and the stock heads were better than average. All around the kit finished 2nd only to the Tama Rockstars. Had Premier used iso mounts on the toms then perhaps they could've taken first place.

[Larrysperf]

Great deal

[ratmycue]

Great find great kit, made in leicester in the midlands england, its about 95 as previously mentioned. enjoy em.

[Church Drummer]

I've got a friend who plays Premier and his drums sound great. You did steal them for that price. Great deal!!