Alesis SURGE Cymbal Review

Written By Dross:

 

Admittedly, I’m a bit of a strange duck when it comes to the world of drums and drumming, being that I play electronic drums exclusively.  It’s not that I have anything against acoustic drums, they obviously look way cooler, it’s just money is an issue for me, as is volume, space and to my ears, tone.  I’ll tell you this, I straight out like the mic’d or recorded tone of drums way more than I like the raw sound of acoustic drums and cymbals, especially from the drummer’s side of the kit.  The point of all this is that, to me, it seems as though we are on a journey both sociologically and technologically speaking, that is traveling towards the ultimate electric/acoustic hybrid that has the sheer beauty and feel of an acoustic kit with all of the luxury and tonal quality that both hardware-based and soft-synth sound modules can give us.

 

Keeping all of this is mind, I was extremely happy when I came across the Alesis SURGE cymbals.  Alesis has always built some great products for extremely reasonable prices but it was the fact that I was seeing a new line of electronic cymbals that were made out of metal that inspired me.  Alesis sent me their new line of SURGE cymbals to put to the test and that I did.  I used these cymbals on their DM5 pro kit as well as on my twenty-five piece kit at several SOTHIS rehearsals through an 8500 watt PA system.  The cymbals themselves are brass with a vinyl coating on the bottom of them to deaden them.  They don’t just attach like a regular cymbal would, they come with a plastic piece you place on the cymbal stand.  This piece is intended to keep the cymbal from spinning in order to keep the rivet-mounted trigger in the right place, which is absolutely essential for these cymbals to work correctly.  The SURGE cymbals are available with and without choke capabilities so be aware of that so you don’t buy the incorrect cymbals.

 

There are two main problems with the SURGE line, in my opinion.  The first is that you are limited to only a 12” hi-hat, 13” crash and 16” ride cymbal.  I understand that the expansion of the line will be determined by the sales and general interest in this line and that cutting down on certain things will keep the overall price of the units down but at the very least I’d like to see a splash and china cymbal added to the line.  The other thing I think Alesis needs to consider is making the cymbals in realistic sizes.  Who the hell plays a 16” ride cymbal?  I’d like to see the ride cymbal offered as a 20” or 22” cymbal and the crash be moved to 16” cymbals, maybe the china at 18”.   My second issue with the cymbals is with the hi-hat and the ride cymbals.  They’ve mounted the triggers on both these cymbals just underneath the area that you’d normally be striking.  The problem is, you therefore have rivets on the top side of the cymbal that send your sticks periodically flying in any given direction.  The good news is that once I got my wits about me I discovered I could rotate them slightly to the right or left as to be able to play just to the side of those rivets and adjust the sound module to give me extra sensitivity while still avoiding any false triggers.

 

I’m happy to tell you we are one step closer to capturing the best of both worlds when it comes to the differences that exist between acoustic and electronic drums.  If you are looking for a more realistic cymbal than what you are commonly finding on today’s electronic drum kits, I seriously suggest you go check out the SURGE line at your local music store.  You can also find more detailed info than I was able to give by visiting www.Alesis.com.