Sonor AQ1 Review
Ultimate Buying Guide
Introduction:
Sonor is an amazing drum company. The brand has always been known for offering high-end drum kits with incredible construction and sound quality. They also have an extensive range of compact drum sets to check out.
They’ve never been particularly popular in the realm of intermediate kits, though. Excitingly, the brand recently released the AQ1 line, which is a line of intermediate drum sets that sound incredible and have affordable price points.
In this review, we’re going to look at the Sonor AQ1 drum set. We’ll show you what makes it good and help you decide if it’s a kit worth considering.
Key Features:
The main feature of the AQ1 set is its strong birch shells. There aren’t as many birch drum kits as there is maple, so it’s great that Sonor has used birch for this kit.
The rack toms mount using Sonor’s Smart Mount tom system, which is very intuitive and it ups the quality of the kit.
The kit comes with a full set of drum hardware, including two boom stands, a snare stand, a hi-hat stand, and a bass drum pedal. All the stands are very high in quality.
You get four finish options, including Piano Black, Piano White, Woodgrain Black, and Dark Blue Sparkle. Each finish option looks fantastic.
FEATURED ON
- Strong birch shells with lots of punch
- Exquisite build quality
- Full set of hardware included
- Excellent finish choices
- Slightly more expensive than other intermediate drum kits
- No throne included with the hardware
Sonor AQ1 Review:
What To Expect from This Drum Set
Quality
The quality of all Sonor kits is fantastic, so it’s no surprise that you get that same feeling with this AQ1 drum set. The birch shells give the drums sharp attacking tones, but they’re backed with a lot of oomph.
The bass drum sounds very powerful and booming, while the toms sing nicely as you play around them.
The snare drum is fairly responsive, but it’s arguably the weakest part of the kit. It’s not bad, but it just doesn’t offer the same richness as the toms and bass drum. So, putting a high-end snare with this kit would give you a professional-sounding setup.
It’s a perfect kit for intermediate players, though, as they’ll love the sound quality of both the snare and the other drums.
Construction
The quality of the hardware on the drums is exquisite. You get all the goods that Sonor kits are known for, with the famous lugs that make Sonor kits recognizable.
The rack toms are mounted with Sonor’s Smart Mounts. These mounts have a ball and socket joint that makes positioning the toms a breeze. You can easily place them at any angle, and those angles lock into place securely.
The Smart Mounts also help the toms resonate, as they don’t choke the drums like mounts on cheaper kits do.
The included 2000 Series hardware pack is great as well. Our favorite thing about it is that you get a bass drum pedal that has a base plate. Base plates make pedals feel sturdier, and it’s a telltale sign that a pedal is of high quality.
Performance
The drums react very well to dynamic playing. With birch shells, you get sharper impact from your sticks, meaning you can hear distinct articulation as you play notes around the drums. It makes the drums sound very lively, which is a great contrast to the warmth that you get from maple drums.
All the hardware is high-quality, so you also get the feeling that you’re playing a high-end kit that is strong and secure. It’s not a high-end drum set, but it does well to give you that feeling of playing one.
The tones from the drums are quite versatile. You could easily use this kit to play any style of music. You get that effect from most drum sets, but it seems to be a bit clearer with this one. We love that.
Price Value Ratio
The price of the Sonor AQ1 is a bit steep compared to most of the other intermediate kits available on the market. However, you should take into account the fact that this kit comes with a set of hardware, while the other kits don’t.
If you took the hardware away, the AQ1 would still be more expensive, but the added hardware helps add to the value.
As we said earlier, there aren’t many birch kits available in the entry-level and intermediate segments, so we’d say that this kit is highly valuable. It’s worth spending the money on, and you’ll get plenty of use out of it.
Things to Consider:
Sonor AQ1 for Studio Recording
The Sonor AQ1 is a decent kit to use for studio recordings. The toms will sing through microphones, and the punchy bass drum will be very effective within a mix.
If you’re doing professional recordings, you may want to swap the snare drum out for a high-end snare, though.
Sonor AQ1 for a Live Gig
If you’re looking for a kit to play lots of live gigs with, the AQ1 is an amazing option. Birch drums are epic for live gigs, and this kit will sound fantastic on a stage. The finishes will also look quite cool under large lighting rigs.
Sonor AQ1 Review
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Build Quality
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Performance
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Price to Value
Conclusion
The Sonor AQ1 is a good addition to the intermediate drum kit segment, and it’s a good option for drummers looking for a decent birch set.
You’ll spend a few hundred dollars more on this set than you will on the competitor ones, but the high-quality hardware makes the purchase a lot easier to make.
Sonor offers this kit in two configurations, and they’re called the Stage and Studio kits. The Stage kit has a 22-inch bass drum, while the Studio kit has a 20-inch bass drum. Pick one of those according to your bass drum preference size.
Brett Clur
Drum Teacher
Brett Clur has a Drum Performance Diploma from Trinity College London has been playing drums for over 20 years. He is passionate about advanced concepts and uses his years of experience to teach his students about them. While he is a full-time drum teacher, he is also working on growing a YouTube channel where shares his insights. You can see him playing there, or on Instagram where he posts daily videos.