Liberty Drums Fusion Series LD-BIR-522-FU03 5-Piece Drum Kit, Black sparkle

First off I would like to say how awesome these drums sound, they just have something special to how they sound. I have played many different brands of drums and when it came time to pull the trigger on a new kit, I felt like Liberty Drums would be a good fit. I have been playing drums my whole life and have owned maybe 15 different kits, I still have and love my Premier Resonators and Premier Elite series drums and my beloved Tama Grandstar Customs that have serial numbers 00000001-00000013. My friend went on tour with many famous rock bands with this kit and it is one of my pride and joys but it is a massive 13 piece drum set that takes up all of my studio. I wanted something I can still play hard with and be able to manage it. When I started looking for a boutique line of drums, I looked at Natal, SJC, Q, and many other brands and what really set Liberty Drums apart from everyone else was that they manufacture their own shells. To me this is a huge difference and I think a game changer for Liberty. While everyone is using Keller shells or other blank drum shells, Liberty has done the research and development to build their own ply's of veneers into beautiful drum shells. Not to knock the other brands for not building their own shells but I feel if I want something different then what everyone else is doing this is the best way to achieve that unique drum and sound. After the NAMM show this year, it seems that drum companies are like tee shirt lines from back when Ed Hardy hit the scene 10 years ago. You take a blank tee shirt and put crystals and extreme washes to it and crazy colors and prints but underneath is still that cheap tee shirt. I don't think the more you put on top of a drum makes as much sense to me as what actually is put into making the drum shells. Liberty Drums have that nostalgic look to them but with a modern touch to them. Just look at the badges they use. Probably my favorite badge of a manufacturer, I know that badge is not going to make them sound any better but they look so cool and vintage. The Beetle Bug lugs are nice and compact setting off the appearance of the drums. The line now comes with Remo heads, not to say anything bad about Evans heads but I have been a Remo guy for years. I actually cant hear a different in sound, just my years of playing Remo as a preference.Andrew and Kevin are such stand up guys and know and love to talk drums. They are very passionate about their business and are there to make clients happy. If you are in the market for a high end kit that will be the center piece of your studio, Liberty Drums is the brand for you, hands down!Presently Amazon is about the only place right now in the States to pick them up, unless you live in England where they are manufactured but the guys have so much buzz going on in the US that a distributer is in the works now.