Of course this is always an upgrade from normal hoops.
Especially for cheaper drums like a Tama Club Jam Vintage kit.
The snare sounds excellent in stock trim, but the toms are a different matter.
Many reviews say the same thing and they're right:
Don't waste time trying to make them sound better, just ditch the factory batter skins as quickly as possible and replace them with something better.
Which I did, With Evans Hydraulic reds. For starters.
That worked for a better sound eliminating undesirable overtones, but I still noticed a quick detune.
The Evans hydraulics are fantastic problem solvers, very forgiving, but those too couldn't hold a tuning for long.
Normal skins take more time to tune, and they detune quicker than hydraulics.
I was constantly tuning the toms with this set, even on room temperature.
That's why I placed the forged hoops, -only batter side- and now the skins stay in tune long enough to have a good long session (like a gig) without detuning problems.
So with these forged hoops your volume goes a little up, but much more useful is the fact that your tuning stays much more consistent.
Also the toms don't choke as quickly when tuned higher.
It's made the whole sound better on the 2 toms, given the fact I deliberately didn't change anything on the resonance side (still factory skins and hoops).
Those resonance skins will be replaced as soon as they're worn out, and I'll save that for another review.
I will decide if to replace the resonance side hoops when I put normal skins on the batter side and the resonance hoops can't keep up with the overall tuning.
But for now, the combination of forged hoops on batter side and factory hoops on resonance side works well for me.
So buy it or not?
If your drums are very hard to tune and detune quick; yes. Start with the batter side. Especially for the toms of cheaper shell sets.
