CB Drums Overview
Posted in Drums | Last Updated on May 1, 2020
CB drums or CB Percussion as its known, is under the parent company Kaman Music Corp (KMC). KMC owns many famous music brands such as Takamine, Ovation, Hamer, Sabian and Gibraltar. They currently only offer snare drums, marching snares, and bells (small compact versions of xylophones). While their drum sets are now largely unavailable, you may stumble across a store or two that has a few unsold kits to offer. The CB stands for Carl Bruno.
Because Pearl started off making these drums, the shells are all made with 9 plies of cross laminated Philippine Mahogany (lauan).
HISTORY
CB was a division of Pearl drums along with about 30 other brands introduced in 1961 in an effort to export drums to west coast music stores and cash in on the Rock and Roll craze that was sweeping through America at the time.
Keep in mind that the prices listed here are just a general ball park. Each retailer's price may vary to some degree due to promotions, or sales, or whatever. Today it's a common practice to sell "Shell packs", meaning that no hardware is included. These, obviously, can be found for less than an entire kit with hardware and goodies included.
Please Note that drums-guru.com is not affiliated with CB drums or any other drum manufacturer. The images on this page are courtesy of various retailer sites. I do not own them.
PRODUCTS
The CB series is a standard kit for a drummer on a budget. The toms and bass drum heads come with 6 tuners each. All the hardware is double braced. The toms measure 12", 13" with a 16" floor tom. The bass drum is 22" in diameter.
The CB comes in four finishes:Black, Silver, Wine, Red and Gray
CB Drums Review
The CB set is big and boomy all around. The snare rings out big. The tone is not very refined on any of the drums. With some good heads, proper tuning and muffling, this set makes a decent entry level kit for the money, but don't expect the best tone.
The CB5 series
is also an entry level kit offered. The toms and bass drum heads also come with 6 tuners each. This series also comes with double braced hardware. The toms measure 12", 13" with a 16" floor tom. The bass drum is 22" in diameter.
The CB5 comes in four finishes: Black, Blue, Wine Red and Gray
The CB5 snare has a lot of high end and a bit of over buzz on the back end. The bass drum can give you a nice punch but not much resonance. The tone on the toms is not the greatest in the world but for the money, they will get the job done. With some good drum heads, proper tuning and muffling, this can be a decent sounding kit, but it will take some effort.
The CB JRX55
series is just a standard 5 piece kit with smaller drum dimensions to suit younger beginning drummers.
The CB JRX55 comes in four finishes: Black, Silver, Wine Red, Blue
The CB SP series
Is a standard 5 piece kit with power toms and a wooden snare. The toms and snare have 6 lugs for each head while the bass drum has 8.
The toms measure 12", 13" with a 16" floor tom. The bass drum is 22" in diameter.
The SP comes in 4 finishes: Black, Silver, Red Wine and Gray
CB SP Review
The toms don't have the best tone in the world but they will be heard. Like the toms, the bass drum is big and boomy. The snare sounds decent if it's tuned and muffled properly. Not a bad kit if you just need something to bang around on and annoy the parents, neighbors, etc..
As CB drums are mainly entry level kits, there are no ultra famous drummers using CB drums on tour (that I'm aware of). However, for school bands or practice and light gigging, they seem to hold up pretty well.
COMPANY REVIEW
CB drums are great entry level kits for any drummer on a tight budget. The kits also tend to come complete with hardware and cymbals included. Of course they may not be the best sounding in the world. The bass drum pedals are also nothing fancy but they get the job done. The cymbal stands are said to be decent. If you're willing to put a little money into brand name heads, hi-hat stand, etc... the shells themselves will actually take you pretty far.
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