The market for professional drum kits that cost under $2000 has gotten quite competitive over the last decades. Most brands have great options in this area, but one of our favorite picks comes from Pearl.
Introducing the Pearl Session Studio Select drum kit. This is a relatively affordable high-end kit that offers amazing features for intermediate and professional drummers.
This review will dive a bit deeper into the specs. We’ll also break down how this kit compares to other options.
The main feature of the kit is that the shells are a mixture of hard birch and mahogany. Each shell has four plies of birch and two plies of maple.
The shells are Masters-grade, meaning their design is inspired by the higher-end Pearl Masters Series drum kits.
On the toms, you get 2.3mm Pearl SuperHoop IIs. The shells also have 60-degree bearing edges.
The rack toms also mount using Pearl’s OptiMount tom suspension system.
Finally, here are the sizes of each shell in the pack:
10” x 7” rack tom
12” x 8” rack tom
14” x 14” floor tom
16” x 16” floor tom
22” x 16” bass drum
While birch and mahogany is always a great mixture for hybrid drum shells, we really like how focused these toms sound.
You get a sharp tone from each shell when you strike it, but it quickly becomes warm and musical.
These kinds of tones work really well in recording settings, which is why they’ve named this kit the Session Studio Select. It’s essentially designed to be a studio kit.
However, the punchy tones from the birch plies still translate very well to live gigging settings!
Another thing we like about the kit is that it comes with Remo Pinstripe heads for all of the toms. These heads are thick and do a great job of controlling the tones nicely. You usually get single-ply stock heads with new kits, so these are a great touch.
The two big construction features to mention are the SuperHoop IIs and the Optimount Tom Suspension System.
Both of these features are borrowed from higher-end Pearl drum sets, so they help to make this kit feel professional.
The 2.3mm SuperHoops do a great job of allowing the drums to resonate freely. They bring out musical tones from each shell.
The suspension system has become a classic design from Pearl. It’s a big reason why a lot of drummers prefer Pearl kits, as the toms mount extremely securely to cymbal stands, giving you less wobble than other toms from similar drum sets.
The only downside we can mention is that the bass drum spurs tend to come loose over time. It’s not a big issue, but it can become a bit annoying for certain drummers.
The performance quality of this kit is fantastic. The shells are easy to tune, and the fact that you get two floor toms makes the set very fun to play.
Again, it works best as a studio drum set, but it’s more than versatile enough to be used in any playing setting.
The finishes are also top-quality, it looks just as good as it sounds.
The kit costs between $1400 and $1700, depending on where you buy it. At that price, it’s one of the more affordable “pro-tier” drum sets.
It’s more than capable of handling any professional gig. It just doesn’t have shell hardware that is as high-quality as what you get on more expensive Pearl drum sets.
So, we’d argue that the price is very good for the value this set offers.
There are a few other good sets like this in the same price range. Some examples would be the Tama Starlassic Performer and DW Design Series.
While each kit is amazing, we’d argue that the Pearl Session Studio Select has some of the best hardware quality. That’s just something Pearl kits always thrive in.
So, it’s a great option for drummers looking for great tones, stability, and plenty of durability.
Founder of TheDrumNinja
I’m crazy about drums, it’s been my passion since I was 12 years old. I played in numerous bands going through different styles like Rock, Progressive, Pop & Jazz-Rock. After being featured in major music publications (Drumeo, Guitar Guitar, AudioIssues, MusicThinkTank) I started this website to share my knowledge and create a resource for drummers of all levels.
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