Natal Ash Kit - from £992 - www.nataldrums.com

The pioneers of British percussion instruments release a new line of drums!

Back in 2010 Marshall announced that they had bought the Natal brand. Natal, the brainchild of British percussionist Alan Sharp, were born in 1965 in swinging-Sixties London and quickly gained respect for their fibreglass congas and percussion instruments. Apt, then, that British giants Marshall Amplification should step in 45 years later to take the brand forward. A press release from Marshall at the time read: “One thing is certain – this latest chapter in both companies’ history promises to be hugely creative and productive.” Marshall’s significance in buying out Natal came to light at the winter NAMM show when Natal unveiled their new range of drum kits. Creative and productive indeed. In a UK first, we have one of their Ash kits here.

In detail

First of all, you should know that Natal drums have been designed from the ground up, by drummers, with a no-compromise approach to quality, componentary or features. As with nearly all drums today, the shells are produced in Taiwan, but with Natal everything is British designed and led (actually, their stave shell and hand-hammered snare drums are UK made and assembled). Natal have released ash, birch, maple and bubinga shell kits. Something to note, and we like this, is that the price you pay is affected by the shell material you choose, and you get exactly the same shell hardware and components regardless of which type of shell you buy. Natal have chosen to use ash as their most affordable kit in the range, having used the wood for years in their hand percussion instruments. We have here a five-piece ‘fusion’-size kit, with 22x18, 10x8, 12x9 toms, 14x14 floor tom and 14x5.5 snare drum. The shells are six-ply ash with 45-degree bearing edges. The internal shell finish is smooth and unlacquered. Four wrap finishes are available in the Ash series (lacquer finishes are only available in birch, maple and bubinga), with this kit being finished in grey sparkle, which has a classic vibe about it. 2.3mm triple-flanged hoops are used throughout the kit, with wooden hoops on the bass drum. Each Natal kit shares the same Natal ‘sun’ lug design, tom suspension system (which is mounted to two of the lug boxes), snare strainer and butt. The shell hardware finish is, quite honestly, outstanding. I’m told that everything is double-chromed, and you can tell by the super-sleek, super-shiny finish. The snare strainer (also featuring Natal’s ‘sun’ design) is three-way, with an off, on and a ‘loose’ lever position, which backs the snare off a little and is a great feature for getting another sound texture from your snare. Aquarian heads are fitted as standard across the kit, with singly-ply coated ‘Galaxy’ batter heads, ‘Zenith’ single-ply clear resonant heads, ‘Polaris’ single-ply (with 10mm tone ring), clear bass drum batter, and an unported black resonant head with Natal logo. The Pro Series hardware supplied with the kit is also of exceptional quality and again of Natal’s own design. No part is universally shared with any other hardware on the market. The same double chrome applies to these sturdy stands. The tom arm clamps have an aluminium ball joint (as opposed to the usual plastic), which makes for superb grip and tom arms that won’t break on you. The snare stand is infinitely adjustable and has very solid components. The cymbal stands have memory locks and infinitely adjustable tilt angles, and the two-legged hi-hat stand has a well-thought-out sliding bar underneath the footplate, making for easy, secure stowage when packing down. Even the multi-clamp and X-hat sent with this kit are impressive. It’s very clear that Natal have aimed at setting themselves apart from the competition, and so far it’s looking good.

In use

This kit was used in a band rehearsal and played alone as a kit to truly put it through its paces. These drums have plenty of attack and initial bite. The tone is bright, but there is a dark, warm overtone as well. The resonance is nicely balanced between open and focused - the use of triple-flanged hoops is the right choice here: die-cast hoops may kill the resonance too much. The single-ply coated heads really work with this kit too, offering further warmth to the tone. The snare drum packs plenty of punch, with a sweet, controllable overtone that allows the drum to be heard nicely over the other instruments. The bass drum is reasonably focused, has great attack and delivers good low end, although some further damping was required to control the overtone from the front head. Two of the snare side tension lugs did work themselves loose, but this problem has been combated by Natal already. All tension rods on all of Natal’s kits now come with a Tru-Tune coating, which prevents them from loosening. The Pro Series hardware didn’t give an inch – this truly is sturdy stuff. The kick pedal is responsive and easily adjustable, the ball clamps held fast, the clamps didn’t move, and the tubing on the hardware is strong (no dents when tightening anything). This whole kit has a quality ‘engineered’ feel about it. We’ve yet to see a Maple or Bubinga kit, but there is already a feeling that even though the Ash kit is more affordable, the build quality and components won’t be any better on a more expensive kit in Natal’s range.

Conclusion

We need to review the facts here: this is a kit designed newly from the ground up, Natal have the heritage and it’s a truly British brand, it’s been developed by drummers with the backing of one of the biggest companies in the music world (Marshall), the components and hardware are all bespoke and newly made and the standard of the chrome work is very high, it’s well thought out, it comes with good heads out of the box, and it sounds great. And all this is available for just under £1,000 (if you get the Ash kit. But ash is a great material in my opinion – right in between maple and birch in the tonal spectrum). What you get here is a kit with pro-level qualities, but for intermediate-kit money. If you’re in the market for a kit, it would be ludicrous not to take a closer look at one of these for yourself. If you bought one at the moment, you’d have a kit that not a lot of other people have, as yet. But from the looks of this kit, it won’t be long before others cotton on to Natal’s drums.