alright, i'm not so good with words but here's my story.
i, like most if not all here, have always coveted the old ones too. then a friend showed up on a gig awhile ago with his and told me i should take it for awhile. how could i argue that? well, you know how that movie ends.
so . . . i sold ALOT of gear and got a replated one (it's in the gallery here) for significantly less than an original one would cost. still expensive as hell, i've bought cars for less, but i saw a video of it being played and had to have that sound. i'm no hell on the instrument but i make a living at it so i felt sort of justified in investing in it as a business expense. sort of. but no regrets!
here's what i've learned: the tone does not change from whisper soft to cranking on it. most drums the sound will change with the dynamic range. but this is more consistent. they're also louder, or should i say more open sounding. and of course they are incredibly responsive. all this being said, the 80/20 rule applies. nobody in the audience is going to notice a difference, so it's a matter of what you're willing to spend for that extra something. i never really understood it until i tried a friend's $18K mandolin next to my respectable one i had at the time thinking there can't be that much of a difference! i was wrong. aside from the sound it was how the instrument responds. that thing basically played itself.
now after all that i was just on a tour where i was mainly playing brushes and the soundman (who's a fine drummer) was crazy about it. during a break in the tour i did a record with someone else who prefers deep dish snare sounds and the bb only made it onto the album in a couple of legit snare parts. it was really funny. so goes to show it's not a necessary part of the arsenal but in the right situation it's perfect.
there's a stripped one with a soundfile on the steve maxwell site right now. mine sounds like that. i find that site to be an excellent (albeit dangerous!) resource for studying different sounds.
alright, there's my 2 cents for what it's worth. probably less with the exchange rate.
adam
