Ion Kit Review (With Hi Res Pics!)

**SpikeX** · Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 104 Location: Chicago-ish area

Ion Kit Review

Setup

Setup was fairly easy. Took me a second to find the instruction booklet, which was with the Xbox360 module. Other than that everything was fairly straightforward, everything fit, nothing was broken. Let me tell you, there are a LOT of empty boxes and plastic once you're all done though.

Also, you get a box with everything else, and it's literally labeled "Empty Box A" or something like that. I checked, it really is empty.

Initial Impressions

The pads are huge, way bigger than the RB1 or 2 standard kits. And they are really bouncy. And sensitive. Nothing really wrong with them at all.

The cymbals, once screwed in, are really stiff. They don't give way when you hit them like a normal cymbal would. I tried loosening the screw on the top to make them more "bouncy", aka they move when you hit them, but you lose accuracy for some reason, so leaving them tight is your best bet.

Sound

The best way to describe the pads is if you take a stick or something similar and hit a leather couch. That's essentially what sound you get when you hit a pad, maybe a little quieter. The cymbals are a bit louder, they have a bit more of a thud, like hitting tough rubber encased in plastic (because that's what they are). I don't really mind the noise it makes, because 99% of the time I have my 5.1 system up so I can't really hear the sound of the kit. I would say it's quieter than the RB1 kit, but about the same as the RB2 kit, if not maybe a little louder, actually.

A side note: The cymbals (and their velocity sensitive-ness) are very quiet in-game. You really have to hit them hard to hear anything, especially when playing a song. The ride (blue) is worse than the crash (green), and the hi-hat (yellow) is average. I hear if you get a third party cymbal, they send a better signal, so they're louder in-game.

The Kick Pedal

First, let's get something straight. This is actually a Hi-hat pedal that works the same (closes a circuit), so they decided to use it as a kick pedal because it was cheaper, and smaller. I recommend you actually go out and buy a real electronic kick drum, as you will be much more satisfied, especially if you're going for realism. The pedal that comes with the ion kit is loud. Really loud. Mine specifically actually makes a metal clicking sound when you press on it, and when you release it makes a different noise. It also has absolutely ZERO kickback, so if you like having the "bounce", it's not there at all. Like I said before, it's meant as a Hi-hat pedal, not a kick drum pedal. Therefore it fails.

As far as the sensitivity of it though, it works pretty well. I can hit double kick notes I couldn't with the old RB1 pedal. The metal spikes that are designed to dig into the carpet work pretty well too. It didn't move on me after I did the intro to Painkiller, so it's fine. They also give you velcro if you really wanna secure it to the floor. And as far as sturdiness goes, you aren't going to break it. Ever. In fact, you could most likely kill someone with it.

Other stuff

Very rarely (especially after you've just messed around with the positioning of your kit), the cords will come out of the bottom of the pads/cymbals and cause them to stop working. So before you freak out that one of your drums has stopped working, check the cables first

As has been said before, there are a LOT of wires EVERYWHERE. The cable that connects the "bass pedal" to the Xbox360 gets in the way occasionally, and the rest of the wires I recommend you just wrap around the supports so they're as out of the way as possible. Also, I don't recommend you wrap all your cables up until you're 100% sure that's where you want your drums. I changed positions a couple of times and moved clamps across different support beams, and I had to rearrange the cables too. Just a suggestion.

Random Statistics!

Setup time: 45-50mins
"Settling In", Getting Positioning Right: 2hrs
Number of boxes you get in the box: 8
Number of individual pieces you have to assemble: 18
Total number of bolts / screws you have to tighten: 33 (35 if you use the spikes on the pedal)

Product Plugs (I didn't get paid to say this!)

I recommend getting the Omega pedal or some other kick pedal for your kit. The one that comes with it is crap.

I also recommend getting a third cymbal for the full effect. I hear the Roland CY-5 is a great hi-hat and produces a very amplified signal (the cymbal in-game is then louder). I will probably be getting both of these at some point.

Pictures! (Click them for super-high resolution versions)

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**Sarg338** · Joined: 07 Feb 2008 Posts: 5143

picture didn't show up :/

also, i just set mine up. Do you have any problems with the sensitivity of the cymbals, or the kit in general? I have to hit my kit HARDER then what i had to do with my RB1 kit. Any way i can fix this?
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**SpikeX** · Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 104 Location: Chicago-ish area

Pictures are fixed. I typed the links wrong.

And yeah, the cymbals are a bit weak. I can use them in-game just fine, but the signals they send are pretty weak.
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See my SHWiki User Page for more info, links, etc.

Read my Ion Drum Rocker Review

Get your own drum note signature

**Supertone** · Joined: 17 Sep 2008 Posts: 51 Location: Denton, Texas

I love my Ion kit. I hadn't owned a drumset in years, and I couldn't be happier with anything else as a way back into drumming. The only downside is you can't blame the controller anymore when you blow a part. =P
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Expert Drummer for Mahatma Gandhi's Revenge

XBL: Supertone

**cheech** · Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 13

i havent seen one in person but the pads look like the leather couch you mentioned so it looks like they would have no bounce when you hit them. i know this isnt true b/c its an electronic set but to me it just looks that way.
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rockband:
beat the endless setlist D/G/B all on expert 253/290* i was drums for the first 28 and bass the rest. will be doing another run to get all stars.
goals:
get rockband 2
get the ion
convince harmonix to include a second bass pedal OOB and include songs that actually use and require the second bass drum.
Xbox GT: cheech9 4off
acomplishments
97% tom sawyer
100% enter sandman
100% reptillia
100% in bloom
beat the endless setlist on expert(took 5hrs 14mins)
a lot of other stuff that i cant remember in both games

**PyrosLilBro** · Joined: 11 May 2008 Posts: 5 Location: KS

I'm thinking about getting the ion set but before i do i wanted to know, are they going to be compatable with GH4 aswell?

**Pyroman** · Joined: 25 Jun 2007 Posts: 100

Yes they are. The RB2 drumset works so the ION will work 100% as well.

**SpikeX** · Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 104 Location: Chicago-ish area

I find it interesting how GHWT uses 6 drum notes with mandatory cymbals whereas RB2 uses five total. I wonder how that's going to be compatible.
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See my SHWiki User Page for more info, links, etc.

Read my Ion Drum Rocker Review

Get your own drum note signature

**lanceuppercut** · Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 342

**Peabnuts123** · Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 52

Why will World Tour have 6?

Doesn't it have 3 drums and 2 cymbals? That way it has the same 5 colours as all the other instruments...

Unless the pedal has it's own lane lol

**SpikeX** · Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 104 Location: Chicago-ish area

**Peabnuts123** · Joined: 29 Sep 2008 Posts: 52

Oh right, you said 6 notes, not lanes. Okay

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Supertone wrote:

How did that work? Were you just all "Holler" and he was like "word" and now you get one super early?

Worrrd up

**duka08** · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 641

**flammablelion** · Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject:

why no yellow cymbol.

**SpikeX** · Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 104 Location: Chicago-ish area