SAKAE ALMIGHTY BIRCH 3 PIECE DRUM KIT, SILVER SPARKLE LACQUER

Sakae is the Japanesse drum builder who up until 2013 exclusively produced Yamaha's high end drums. In 2013 Yamaha and Sakae parted company and Sakae decided to go it alone making drums under their own name. This first kit to hit the market was the Trilogy which has quickly become a very popular set and it was shortly followed by something a little bit more recognisable - 'The Almighty'

The Almighty Birch features the exact same shell specs and materials as offered previously on the Yamaha Recording Custom.

Sakae chose the title Almighty for the range as it felt that the finished drums had a powerful tone and it wanted the name to reflect this. This kit is out an out professional and the range is obviously very much on par with Recording Custom style sound and build respectively.

The Almighty is a serious machine, every component seems to have been engineered for maximum strength and then built without compromise, the kit is the absolute polar opposite to the Trilogy's vintage vibe, this is stealth drum building that is on the level with all the big hitters flagship drums.

The shells are 6-ply and made from premium Birch. While the number of plies is consistent across the kit, the bass drum's individual plies are thicker than those on the rest of the drums (1.3mm plies making a shell thickness of 7.8mm compared with 0.9mm plies and 5.4mm shells on the toms and floor tom). Familiar diagonal seams are visible inside the straight-sided shells and the bearing edges are cut sharply at 45°.

Sakae's air vents are oversized at 15mm and on the bigger drums are found in increasing numbers - three on the 16" floor tom and four on bass drums.

The chrome-plated shell hardware is of an equally high standard and the triple-flanged 2.3mm Righty Halo hoops and cast bass drum claws are expertly machined and engineered to withstand the heaviest of playing conditions. The bass drum spurs aresome of the best I've ever seen, my industry standard favourite is the Pearl SP-30 which are un-movable, these are equally unmovable and much nicer to look at, another expert piece of engineering with style and substance.

While many manufacturers are shrinking lugs for minimal contact, Sakae takes the opposite view. The Almighty has heavier lugs which Sakae say make for better vibration transmission to the shell edge, leading to deeper lows and increased sustain, having listened to both the Maple and Birch kits, this seems to be working incredibly well and the kit reminds me very much of the 80's / 90's kits in terms of focus, power and durability.

Sakae's unique Cradle Mounting System is locked on to two of the bottom lugs on each tom and six out of 8 lugs on the bottom of each floor tom. This is a really strong and functional suspension system that keeps the mounting system out of the way of the tom head helping with head changes which often require toms to be unmounted before head changes can take place. It also delivers 100% isolation from both the tom mounts and floor legs (which are also spring loaded) allowing increased resonance, sustain and low end.

Sakae Branded USA-manufactured Remo heads are fitted as standardon the Almighty. Power stroke 3's for the bass drum front and back and clear Emperor batters and Ambassador resonants on the toms.

In summary, Sakae had been building Yamaha's flagship drums for four decades, and for good reason, they are precision engineers and craftsman with incredible expertise in drum building. When Sakae choose to go out on their own rather than re-invent the wheel that they made, they just added some extra special touches, the result is an even more durable, incredibly beautiful looking timeless drum set, very much a kit that offers the player the very best of everything.