The ULTIMATE Sonor SQ2 Drum Set Comparison - Part 1

What's the difference between Sonor SQ2 Maple, Birch and Beech? What about shell thickness? We attempt to answer these questions in part one of the COMPREHENSIVE SQ2 shell shootout!

Timestamps For Your Convenience:
00:00 - Intro
02:58 - What To Listen For
05:24 - Thin Birch Demo
09:05 - Thin Maple Demo
12:26 - Medium Beech Demo
16:03 - Medium Birch Demo
19:14 - Medium Maple Demo
23:01 - Heavy Beech Demo
26:53 - Tuning and Mics
28:48 - Head To Head Comparison
31:45 - Closing

Buy the drums here:
Sonor SQ2 5pc Drum Set Thin Birch - Birdseye Amber Semigloss

Sonor SQ2 5pc Drum Set Thin Maple - Birdseye Amber Semigloss

Sonor SQ2 5pc Drum Set Medium Beech - Birdseye Maple Semigloss

Sonor SQ2 5pc Drum Set Medium Birch - Birdseye Maple Semigloss

Sonor SQ2 5pc Drum Set Medium Maple - Birdseye Maple Semigloss

Sonor SQ2 5pc Drum Set Heavy Beech Birdseye Maple Semigloss

Snare Drum:
Sonor Artist Snare Drum 14x6 3mm Bronze shell

Cymbals:
Sabian Prototype AAX Hi Hat Cymbals 14" 907/1264 grams

Sabian Prototype HHX Crash Cymbal 18" 1342 grams

Sabian Prototype HHX Crash Cymbal 19" 1462 grams

Sabian Prototype HH Ride Cymbal 22" 2659 grams

Tune-Bot Settings
Head to Head Tuning
10” - Top A3 Bottom D4
12” - Top D3 Bottom C4
14” - Top B2 Bottom G#3
16” - Top F#2 Bottom G3
22” - By ear

Higher Tuning:
10” Top C4 Bottom D4
12” Top G3 Bottom A#3
14” Top 3 Bottom G3
16” Top B2 Bottom E3
22” By Ear
Snare T C#4 Fundamental G3

Lower Tuning:
10” Top G#3 Bottom D4
12” Top C3 Bottom C#4
14” Top A#2 Bottom F#3
16” Top E2 Bottom E3
22” By Ear
Snare Top C#4 Fundamental G3

Microphones used to capture the drums:

Bass Drum:

Snare Drum:

Toms:

Overheads:

Room Mics:

Follow us on:

#sonor #sonordrums #sonorsq2

[memopadilla]

Jeez alot of people coming in with Thin Birch for the win .. my favorite as well

[pavlojavro]

Birch toms maple kick. Great job, you've really worked hard to get this one done and you did amazing!

[cymbalism]

The thin birch captured my ears and heart at the first hit!! Such beautiful tones!! I have a Yamaha BCA and I still love it but have always struggled with the bass drum. But the Sonor didn't have any weaknesses!! Great demo!!!

[dustyjann]

The heavy beech definitely has a lot more power. But those medium birch shells sound very aggressive. The birch floor toms were awesome. Very dark with some added bite. Medium birch & heavy beech! Would love to hear a heavy birch kit. For some reason the maple didn't stand out on overall tone or the 'lows' as much as I thought it would. And all the 10" toms didn't sing/resonate like I thought they would either. Sounded dull compared to the larger sizes. All the rest of the drums I thought harmonized very well together. Nice video. Thank you!
I'm still a Pearl fanatic. Love my MMX.

[MM-pdzi]

SONOR Prolite, SQ1, SQ2 and the Vintage Series are qualitywise the best Drumsets you can buy on the market today. Manufacturing is just perfect.
I’ve owned them all: DW Collectors Maple, Yamaha Recording Custom vintage and new, Tama Starclassic Maple, Ludwig Classic Maple, Ludwig Vintage Sets, etc., etc., (all good sets, but none of them comes close)
I‘m very proud of my SQ2 Medium/Heavy Beech Set, I like it a lot. Live it sounds just killer.
The typical SONOR sound stands for itself. No matter what wood type or sizes you‘ll choose.

Thanks for this great video, Shane & team. Cheers

[jonthatcher]

I bought the Medium Beech kit shown in the video back in 2023. I own several drum kits. No matter how much I keep trying to turn to one of the others in my rotation, the Sonor pulls me back in. It's so easy to tune. It sounds so good behind the kit with no muffling, gels, etc. Ever since the Designer series came out, I wanted a Sonor. Thank you DCP for putting out this video. It helped me in my selection for sure. I would have never thought about getting a beech set. But I love it. Every sound guy that I've worked with for live shows has said that it has been the easiest kit for them to work with.

[MrNickDrummer]

After decades playing Tama starclassic maple drums I've switched to Sonor SQ2 thin beech and while both sound great in their own main characteristics, the Sonor kit is a different animal for me, especially when it comes to mixing. With music, kits sound different and sit on the mix differently as well. I'm still getting a hang on mixing the thin beech SQ2 correctly, in context with music. Floor toms are thunderous, smaller toms (8") are a bit more of a challenge. But the quality of the Sonor sound, at least for me, is what I call more 'sophisticated' and complex. Excellent video!

[jazzleebert]

Unbelievable work. Priceless. That's what is really needed in this business of music gear ...

[HankNinja]

I’m enormously satisfied with my new SQ2 kit. Heavy beech on higher Tom’s and 20” bass. Medium beech on floors. Vintage 18” aux bass that sounds particularly good and bop-y. Shane and co have been very helpful. You can’t go wrong with these folks.

[alkingborn]

Meium maple and heavy beech are those I liked the most. Also, Sabian proto aresimply stunning. Excellent tunings as usual. Fantastic job once again guys

[grayknight]

Thank you 👍🏻 very much Shane and DCP Crew! Sonor’s exorbitantly priced SQ2 drum kits deserve quality comparison videos like this. For me it’s (Heavy Birch 🌳) with a 26” bass drum, and a Artist Series Bronze Snare Drum 🥁 with Black Chrome 🖤 Hardware but in 6.5” depth!

[gregorymeredith]

Big ups on throwing that little Hella clip in there! This is an incredible video. Appreciate it, y'all! Heavy beech all the way for me. I mean, maybe I'd go medium or thin on the floor toms like Danny boy, but really, I'd just be stoked to have a Sonor SQ2 Heavy Beech!

[zildmaster]

I went with Thin Beech for my rack toms, medium beech for my floors and heavy beech for my 20" kick. Honestly you could pick and choose any of these combinations and have a wonderful kit no matter what you go with. Great vid!

[StuartJrBarrett]

Tony, did you do a tuning video yet? If not, PLEASE You are by far the absolute BEST!!!!

[davidramie]

You guys are the best. I have an SQ1 Birch. I love it but sometimes I want more from the 22x17 Bass drum. Especially after hearing the maple and beech

[Theratron]

Great job guys! These are some of the best drum sounds I've ever heard! I have a Gretsch Catalina maple so I gravitated towards the thin maple shells, but I just loved the punchy attack of the heavy beech shells as well! Great sounding drums! The German word "sonor" means "full and clear of tone", and they certainly do their name justice :)

[mikemurphy]

Thank you. The was a hell of an effort! I didn’t realize until just recently after having a conversation on the Sonor group on FB about wood selection that this matters probably the least of all factors. The videos kind of prove that out. They all sounded amazing and yet subtle differences. I’m a life long maple player but bought an SQ1 2 years ago and have been blown away by the sound of scooped mids. I thought that was the best overall sound and I’m partial to the lower tuning.

[jasonb]

Wow - they really are amazing drums. I still have the drum set I bought when I was young. If I never decide to upgrade, I would look at these for sure. Incredible!

[harrisonmackenzie]

My god. Fantastic work. Just when you think their videos couldn't get any better, they somehow raise the bar again. I'd be more than happy with any of those kits. BUT ALSO THAT SNARE. WOW. Shame it costs more than my entire classic maple kit haha.

[MikeLuke]

Oh gosh, you constantly raise the bar in terms of video quality, yet still being the humble and funny guys you‘ve always been. Thanks ever so much for all the love and work you put into your content and give it for free. All kits sound absolutely brilliantly. The heavy beech in lower tunings are probably best for big stadium rock, the medium birch shells might work best in studio recordings. Personally never been the biggest fan of maple though. That open timpani sound is so unique to Sonor - independently from the shell material. Thanks again!