Yamaha Professional Series Hammered Copper Timpani

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A couple hours of tuning right out of the box and these instruments sound great. Steve Weiss was very professional throughout the entire purchase and delivery process.

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The local symphony purchased a set of four Yamaha 7300 timpani on my recommendation. I love these drums, particularly at this price-point ($13,000). They are far superior in pitch clarity and tone quality to my university's older 6200 series drums. The advice from SWM was spot on - for just a little more money the thicker, hammered bowls are superior. I have played on some of the finest drums in the world - Ringer, Hinger - and although I prefer the Dresden system, I like the sound of these Yamaha drums just fine. What I didn't expect was the newly designed features that make them so practical and ideal for a school setting (where students come in all sizes). Moving them and adjusting height and tilt are easy - the two main wheels have at least 4 inches of height adjustment, and the integrated third wheel has perhaps two inches of adjustment which can bring the pedal up for a short student using a stool. All three wheels have locks that prevent the wheels from spinning. Overall, great timpani for the money.

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If you want something fairly portable or cannot afford to step up to the top of the line Dresden style drums, these drums are the best you can buy. This is the second set of timpani I have owned. I bought the 32, 29, 27, 26, 24 and 20 inch sizes about 3 years ago. The choice of a 27 and 24 inch balance action drum is unique to the Yamaha 7200 series. The most popular brands of balance action drums in the USA are Ludwig, Yamaha and Adams. I have played many times on all 3 of these brands. I rated these drums in 4 areas that were important to me when making my purchase decision; sound, portability, pedal action, and tuning gauges. For sound, I find the Yamaha and Ludwig better than the Adams. The more recent Adams models I have played on are lighter than they used to be, and in my opinion cannot handle fortissimo playing. The Yamaha 24" drum sounds much better than the competitions 23" drum in the all important D to F range. Likewise the 27", exclusive to Yamaha, is superior to a 26" in the B-flat to D range. The Ludwig 32" drum is the best at the low end, in my opinion, but the Yamaha is a close second. For portability, the new Adams are the lightest and now incorporate a 3rd wheel (this was not an option when I bought the Yamahas). The Yamaha come with a 3rd wheel that has to be put on manually, but it goes on easily and gives the drum great ground clearance when being moved. The Yamaha also have a nice tilt, which makes for a great playing position, when the 3rd wheel is removed. The Ludwig drums do not come with a 3rd wheel, making them the most problematic to transport and subject to damage. As for pedals, the Ludwigs are the absolute worst of the group. They have the shortest range and may be prone to slipping in the lower range during high volume playing. The 32 and 23 inch sizes have the most problem in this respect. You can eliminate the slippage by tightening the pedal brake, but this can make the pedal action very stiff. The Yamaha pedals work well and have a good range. Properly adjusted, they will not slip. On a couple of my smaller size Yamaha drums, the pedal movement can be a little stiffer than I would prefer in the higher range. When properly adjusted, the Adams can have a huge range (up to an octave) and are extremely smooth to operate over the entire range. For tuning gauges, I think the Yamaha are the best by a large margin. They are accurate, the indicators are easy to move and re-calibrate. They are the only qauges that include accidentals and are the easiest to read with precision. The Adams have the shortest travel range, the indicators are very stiff to move and re-calibration is hard to control precisely. The Ludwig pro-gauge letter indicators fall off easily and most sets I play on are missing some of the notes. They are easy to re-calibrate. They are also the most easily damaged and require regular maintenance to work well (there are a number of screws that can come loose). One last thing, Ludwig provides zero direct support for their timpani. If you have a problem or question you will need to go to the store you purchase the timpani from, and most music stores simply do not have a high level of expertise when it comes to timpani mechanical issues. When I have had issues or questions on my Yamaha's I have been able to talk directly to the USA Yamaha representatives. In the past I have also made direct inquiries to Adams and Majestic and received a response. The Majestic brand balance action drums may be worth looking into as well, but I only have experience with their excellent Grand Symphonic model, which uses a block style pedal.

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