The PROFESSIONAL SERIES represents HART’s current flagship electronic drum set offering. These kits are unquestionably long on looks, but with HART’s growing reputation for challenging the status quo, I just had to conduct a closer inspection. To my delight, I found that sometimes beauty is more than skin deep.

The PRO 6.4 that I checked out arrived in just two boxes; one oblong box contained the rack tubes and another rather large box contained everything else. The boxes were well packed, the packaging resilient, and everything arrived undamaged despite a worrisome transit dent in the larger box.

The six hand-hammered chrome steel drums were protected further, each cozy in its own respective box within the larger box, and the various other components were all contained in some form of internal box, shipping paper, plastic wrap, or heavy grade sealed plastic bags.

HART included everything I’d expect and a few things that I didn’t. Nevertheless, as with any set, there are a few other bits and pieces you will need on hand to get up and drumming. Specifically, you will need a sound source (typically a module), a throne (drummerspeak for a seat), a kick drum pedal (or maybe a double pedal if you wish), some drumsticks and some sort of amplification/speakers (or simply headphones to plug into your module).

Now I’ve never really understood the occasional grumbling I hear about one or more of the above not being included with a drum set. Most of these are so subject to personal tastes and individual circumstances that expecting a manufacturer, (in addition to the tall order of putting together a great set of drums) to build or choose models of all of these too, is just not realistic. It would be impossible to please all tastes and provide a “one size fits all” solution for the diverse multitude of potential applications. And I have yet to hear a good argument for requiring all end users to pay for included components that many, perhaps most, will replace. So suffice it to say, you don’t get these with almost any drum set, and it is that way for very sensible reasons.

HART does however provide a few things that many other manufacturers often do not (a double-braced snare stand, for one, comes to mind). Other things like components that are partially pre-assembled for you, quality roadworthy components chosen over cheaper alternatives and subtle extras like memory locks or cable labels may be less immediately obvious. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

One of the eleven or so plastic bags contained some paperwork. Included I found: a packing/inspection list, a reference photo page showing the assembled rack with mounts and stands and a completely assembled kit, input wiring guides for popular Roland™ and Alesis™ drum modules, charts with recommended settings for these modules, a 21 page owner’s manual, a sheet of adhesive cable labels, two Allen keys and a drum key. Since so many drummers playing electronics have found it handy to label their cables, the labels struck me as a particularly thoughtful detail.

Setup was pretty straightforward. The owner’s manual while doubling for several HART products, was simple and concise. I armed myself with the pictures of the rack and the promo shot of the kit as a guide and set off. Fear not, the combination of the wonderfully sturdy components, uncomplicated integration and (mercifully) no loose nuts and bolts made it intuitive. For the most part, I followed HART’s recommended setup order with the exception of placing the toms before moving on to cymbals. In an attempt to provide a somewhat logical context for discussing the details of the set, I’ll first walk through my setup encounter and share some component observations before moving on to broader evaluation and conclusions. So first up (logically) was the foundation upon which to build; the rack.

I’ve heard it said that first impressions are important. Well the rack made a worthy first impression indeed. (O.K., I admit it. Of course I had already stolen a peak at one of those gorgeous hand-hammered drums and the shiny cymbals, but I’ll get to that shortly.) The seven steel rack tubes were of an impressive solid gauge with a pleasing lightly brushed stainless finish. The four vertical legs sport durable “feet” on one end and all the other tube ends come pre-capped with neat black end caps. All in all the rack is solid, sufficiently adjustable across the three horizontal attachment runs and very easy on the eyes. There are no further cross braces, but none are really necessary. The clamps can be left only partially tight to facilitate setup and drum placement as suggested in the notes. Just remember the other recommendation to tighten them down when you get everything positioned and there they will stay.

That dovetails nicely into some particulars on clamps. Surprised at first by the weight (over 10 lbs.) of the heavy plastic bag containing the individually wrapped clamps, it occurred to me that they were all the (much more desirable) metal kind. “Well done, HART,” I thought to myself. Then I noticed that they were “hatched” as well (this means they can be opened and placed/moved/removed without having to disassemble and slide them over and off the ends of the rack). “Bravo!” But I almost needed somebody to pinch me when I saw the memory locks (locking collars that allow you to disassemble the kit and later restore things reliably to the same heights and positions). Suitably impressed, I nearly took for granted the fact that they actually hold things where you put them like a vice. That is more than I can say for many other clamps I’m all too familiar with.

Having put the rack together in minutes, I positioned my favorite drum throne behind it and moved on to arranging and mounting the drums. Now without belaboring the point too much, let me just say these drums look even better in person than in photographs. I’m certainly not one to place form over function, but they look and feel like drums, and attractive drums at that. I’ll have a lot more to say about them, but my first impressions were that they looked, well striking (no pun intended), and felt like a musical instrument (as opposed to a toy).

I first placed the 13-inch snare on the aforementioned thoughtfully supplied double-braced stand and adjusted the height. I was trying to resist mooning over each piece but couldn’t help but notice how much more surface area 13 inches provides compared with the popular 12 inch mesh drums and how solid it felt.

Next, I assembled the kick drum pad, which was a simple matter of attaching and adjusting its two legs. The legs feature retractable spurs to allow for setup on various surfaces. On my carpet, the extended spurs held the unit in place admirably. The vertical suspension of the kick drum is well implemented. The robust hardware is incorporated seamlessly and appropriate height and angle are achieved in a handsome and sturdy presentation. The single pedals I had on hand all attached and performed without a glitch. I found my Axis™ double pedal a little less cooperative due to its wide spaced contact points. The right hand one extended too far right. Nevertheless I was able to attach it perfectly by adding an improvised middle contact point. The HART mounting plate flange is of superior quality and distinguishes itself further from some others in providing the ability to level your pedal to the floor once attached.

I next mounted the toms at a congruent height based on my established snare and throne reference(s) and then tweaked their angles and positioning to my liking. I deviated a little from the recommended order in doing so, but HART had already pointed out that there are as many ways to configure the drum set as there are drummers. As per my personal routine with first time set ups involving a rack, I placed the toms to be mounted on the middle section first. I got them where they flowed nicely off the snare and positioned the kick and its pedal(s) as well as the hi-hat pedal while picturing the remaining drums and cymbals. I made a minor adjustment to accommodate optimum pedal placement and then attached the two remaining lower toms, finalizing the rack position for that side and tightening it in place. Mounting the toms was quick and painless. It is a simple matter of coordinating a drum, a mount and a clamp, then tightening.

I was appreciative of the fact that the tom mounting hardware and cymbal booms were pre-assembled but took the liberty in some cases of rotating and reversing some things on both. I did this to allow me to place the tom and cymbal mounts either inside or outside the rack tubes as desired and to allow optimum accessibility for adjustments. For instance, I placed the hi-hat inside the rack tube snug to the snare while positioning the module left of the hi-hat but on the outside (thus further out of the way). I also placed all the locking lugs and wing-nuts where they could easily be reached with my right hand from behind the kit allowing room for a drum key where required. Because the cymbal booms are configurable through a full range of motion and the memory locks are reversible, this is a snap to accomplish and seemed worth the minimal one time additional effort.

Mounting the cymbals was possibly even easier than the toms. They positioned obligingly where I wanted them without difficulty, and as noted, I was able to flip and twirl apparatus to where quick adjustment access would be most convenient for me. Two of the cymbal booms were pre-assembled with Aquarian™ cymbal springs, (pre-installing the springs was yet another nice touch). These were undoubtedly for the two crash cymbals to enhance their swing. A third boom, without cymbal springs, was obviously earmarked for the ride cymbal. The hi-hat assembly looked a little perplexing at first glance and this was the one time I felt I might have benefited from a simple diagram in the manual or tucked in the bag with it to double-check if my instincts were right. (The reference in the manual seemed to be to an earlier model.) But once I familiarized myself with it, it really wasn’t that complicated. After placing the hi-hat, its side of the rack was angled into optimal position and tightened down. At this point, all the drums and clamps re-checked and finish tightened.

I had been at it less than an hour even with my making notes, taking some digital photos, reading all the included printed material and general scrutiny. I paused for a quick admiring stroll around is probably the most aesthetically pleasing electronic drum kit I had ever seen. HART considerately “tunes” the drums prior to shipping to what seemed like very sensible tensions, so all that remained was to get these beauties wired up to make some noise.

For a sound source, I went with a Roland™ TD-10 drum module with TDW-1 expansion card. I mounted it with the supplied module mount and noted that brackets for rack mount modules were also considerately included. All the necessary cables were provided with the kit as well. The supplied cables are 10 foot male to male with standard _” plugs on both ends. There are both stereo (TRS) cables (denoted by two rings on the plugs) and mono cables (designated by one ring on the plugs) as well as an assortment of potentially useful “Y”-cables and adapters. The manual explains the finer points and some key applications of the adapters.

The cables seem to be of a rather light gauge (even slightly slimmer than the diminutive Roland ones). HART states that they are purposefully lighter to facilitate a cleaner setup, especially with these larger kits. How they would hold up to heavy gigging is beyond the scope of this review, but they performed just fine for my use. HART suggests securing the cymbal cables to the stands leaving enough slack to accommodate the realistic swing afforded by the cymbal springs. I think this is essential for the cymbals and good advice in general, particularly with straight plugs. Plugs that angle on the ends that plug into the pads would help deal with the cable strain issue associated with straight plugs. Because the cords are light, strain is accordingly less, but cable management securing the cables to the rack at various points will both keep things tidy and give a little added protection. I later swapped out the snare cable in turn with cables from Roland™, Yamaha™, Hosa™ and Monster™ with little practical difference to note other than (perceived) durability. *(Subsequent to my review, I have been informed that all HART kits currently ship with right angle plugs on one end.)

With the cables all in order, I retrieved the pad setting recommendations from the paperwork. I set up one of the unused trigger banks of the TD-10 accordingly, plugged in my favorite set of headphones, dialed up my number one kit patch and savored the moment of truth.

The snare tracked superbly and with no “hotspot” as advertised. Many mesh head electronic drums suffer from a small point of hyper-sensitivity where (usually a foam cone) contacts the underside of the batter head as part of the triggering assemblage. HART has successfully remedied that shortcoming. Positional sensing functioned as it should across the ample 13 inch diameter real estate and the transition from dead center out toward the rim was smooth and natural. The rubber trimmed rim was very sensitive at first, but probably at least partly due to my previous configuring for (other manufacturers’) pads.

A word on mesh heads: I have tried just about every mesh drum head I have ever heard of and tested a few that never even made it to market. While there are probably countless subtle differences, in general, the number of plys, the thickness of the strands of the woven material and the characteristics of the material itself account for most of the resulting feel and playability. And, in general, most mesh heads fall short of achieving a really good feel to varying degrees. The vast majority (while achieving the desired quiet play) offer an unnaturally springy response similar to bouncing drumsticks off the strings on an acoustic guitar. The HART Kontrol Screen® heads are in my humble opinion the hands down best of the best. They quite simply produce the most realistic approximation of an acoustic drum-like feel I’ve found.

Smitten with the snare, I configured two identical snare channels and A/B compared the triggering of the HART with a Roland PD-120. With the Roland stock head, there was no contest. Even after years of familiarity with the Roland, the HART felt like an improvement instantly. The triggering seemed tighter too. To test how much of that might truly be better response and/or psychological, I A/B compared the HART with a PD-120 fitted with a Kontrol Screen head that I “tuned” to the same relative tension (notwithstanding size) with a tension watch. I know, “no fair” right? Not necessarily. The HART still won the day. The triggering, (although the difference was more subtle now), was in fact still crisper with the HART snare. Quick rudiments and buzz rolls, in particular, were more nimbly articulated. Combine that with the looks, the size (which incidentally puts your sticks in more traditional positions for cross-sticks, rim shots and everything else), and the price, and the HART snare is a compelling alternative (or upgrade candidate) for any electronic kit.

The toms all played similarly well offering a single zone (sound) each. But before moving on to cymbals, I’d like to mention something I’ve only alluded to; and that is weight. Compared with other electronic drums that you might be familiar with, these are (relatively) heavy. But don’t read a connotation into that. I found that it inspired immediate confidence. As I’ve said, they feel like instruments, professional instruments like their name says. The able rack and clamps are more than up to the task of locking them in place remarkably well. That combined with the solidity translates to less chance of cross talk in addition to the obvious durability. And before you conclude too negatively about moving them around, keep in mind that everything including the boxes weighed in at under 150 lbs. That’s lighter than a similar configuration of acoustic drums and cymbals, and (depending on your module) you may be carrying the equivalent of virtually hundreds of sets wherever you take them.

The accompanying cymbals are HART’S Ecymbal II® line. The two crashes are of polymer composition and plated with HART’s DUROPLATE® Gold Mirror finish. They are lightweight, and swing quite naturally thanks to the cymbal springs. They were actually quite a pleasure to play and it was refreshing to hit an electronic cymbal that reacted so convincingly like an acoustic one. The provided 12 inch and 14 inch crashes both could be choked by compressing a strip that runs along the underside of the forward edge of each cymbal and upward toward the bell. I did notice that the portion running parallel to the edge was a good bit closer to the edge on the smaller cymbal. I quickly adjusted to it being in two slightly different places under the two cymbals but would have preferred to find it the same distance from the edge on both.

When asked about the durability of the polymer cymbals, which incidentally are guaranteed by HART never to break, Peter Hart simply challenged my to break one. Crash cymbals are meant to be struck with a glancing blow and with the shank of the stick. Thrashing acoustic crashes with bad technique a la smashing them with the tips of your sticks can stress, and in excess, can break them. I asked if bad technique was off limits and was told to go for it. Now picture Robert DeNiro as Al Capone with a baseball bat. That was me with the most menacing 2B drumsticks I could lay my hands on. Let me tell you, hitting something that hard for that long without it breaking is frustration on a stick. I managed to expose I tiny amount of black from beneath the finish on the very leading edge of what I dubbed the “piñata” cymbal but that was it, and scarcely noticeable.

The 12” hi-hat and 16” ride are of bronze metal with gum rubber pads covering a wedge-shaped section of the surface of each. The cymbals can be rotated to play on either the pad covered or metal surfaces. The feel is just as you would expect in either case. You can have the very feel of the acoustic metal versions or the same feel with a very playable thin rubber buffer introduced. Although the cymbals have been designed not to resonate and most of the acoustic sound is eliminated, playing on the metal portion(s) still produces a disproportionately loud click sound (when compared with the mesh drums and polymer cymbals). Playing on the rubber was on the other hand, exceptionally hushed.

That said, a frame of reference is useful when discussing the noise that electronic drum pads make. Quiet play is one of the capabilities of electronic drums that countless users place great importance on. The sounds triggered can be monitored in headphones or amplified to any volume, but for home use and rehearsal and even some recording applications, the fact that the sticks striking the pads makes very little noise is highly valued. Drums/pads with mesh heads are the current champ in the quiet triggering arena, but pads that represent cymbals are diverse, and while some are reasonably quiet, others are less so.

Because of the emphasis often placed on this noise issue, I compared the HARTs to the Roland™ flagship pads, which are generally accepted to be exceptionally quiet. Frankly, I group all mesh drums in roughly the same range. But I compared just the same and there was no significant difference in the volume generated by the respective mesh drums. In comparing the cymbals, playing on the metal surface of the hi-hat and ride was louder and carried to adjacent rooms, more so than the other surfaces. Playing on the gum rubber on those same cymbals proved one of the quietest surfaces, as quiet or quieter than even the Roland V-cymbals®. The polymer cymbals add an additional element that needs clarification. As noted above, while hi-hats and rides are regularly struck with the tips of the sticks, crashes, generally speaking, should not be. When struck with the tip of a stick, the focused impact on the polymer surface yields a “thwap” sound that is a notch louder and carries slightly more. Hitting the cymbal edges with the shank of the stick produces a sound very comparable to the rubber V-cymbals with little appreciable difference in volume.

Conclusion: The HART PRO delivers. While beauty is in the eye of the holder, I found it to be as exquisite looking an electronic drumset as I have ever found. And this just in: Referring to the HART website in finishing out this review, I see that they have just posted the availability of this very drum set in “Piano Black Lacquer (not a wrap) Maple/Mahogany shells”…oh my. Transcending the superficial, the components (with the possible exception of average cables) are all of superlative quality. I don’t say this frivolously, but I am hard pressed to think of a competing product with better clamps, rack, shells, mesh heads, rims, triggering, (or looks), never mind one superior in several or all of the above.

And there is icing on this cake too; the price. Manufacturers are always sensitive about quoting prices and prices are of course always subject to change, but believe it or not, you’ll save a healthy double-digit percentage off of other manufacturers’ comparably sized top of the line kits.

And there’s a cherry on top. HART is renowned for its outstanding customer service. They practically beg you to call them with any questions, even about modules (which they don’t even manufacturer, although I rather wish they would).

So what’s not to like? Not much. If you place a lot of value on two or more assignable zones on all of your electronic cymbals, you could always achieve multiple sounds with velocity cross fades, or could split the input and add another cymbal/pad (or two) with the money you’ll save. If you prefer the economy and look of the rubber type pads, you might choose them; but then again, HART makes some of those too. But if you ask me, the biggest disappointment might well be if you can’t find a dealer stocking them near you. HART is a smaller company based in Florida, and finding their kits on display can be problematic in some areas. But if you are contemplating an electronic drum set and want not just great value for your money, but the very best there is, I highly recommend you do what it takes to check out the HART PROFESSIONAL SERIES.

This kit is the standard against which to compare all others.