Building Our Dream Pearl Kits

In this episode, Eddy and I realized that without physical drum magazines sitting around our studios, we’ve totally lost touch with what the major brands, besides our endorsements, are doing. So, we decided to fix that by taking a deep dive into companies that we are not sponsored by, starting with Pearl Drums! We answer the internet's most googled questions about the brand (Is Pearl actually good? Pearl vs. Tama?), and then—with an unlimited imaginary budget—we build our absolute dream Pearl kits from scratch. In this episode, we cover: The Dream Builds: I go with a Reference One and the Matt Halpern Signature Snare, while Eddy leans into nostalgia with a Maple/Gum kit and the Joey Jordison Signature Snare. The "Magazine Problem": Why it’s so much harder to understand gear specs and innovation in the age of Instagram reels. Studio Update: I share the unfortunate news that my studio flooded on Christmas Day and that renovations are currently underway. Mentioned in this Episode: Pearl Reference One Series Pearl Masters Maple/Gum Matt Halpern Signature Snare Joey Jordison Signature Snare Support the show

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Building Our Dream Pearl Kits is an episode from DRUM with Mike & Eddy by Mike Johnston & Eddy Thrower.

This episode is 37:43 long.

This episode was published on Jan 23, 2026.

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