HiLite/HiLite Exclusive - Over the Top or Overly Hyped?

[Jules]

I may do a video on this topic. What are your opinions on the HiLites? There seems to be differing takes and I would love to hear all of them.

I never played one. I owned a few snare drums and a gong drum, but they were all bought to flip. My perspective is that in their day they were a big step forward for Sonor and a departure from the attitude that shells didn't resonate.

[James Fullier III]

Over rated IMO. I had a set right next to the lower level German Force Maple and the FM was easily the better and more dynamic drum. Same thicknesses only the FM had the harder North American Maple vs HiLite soft Maple. Since the maple was labeled "Italian" ( European is the better label ) many people freak out and think they are getting something incredible but there is a reason Sonor dumped that Maple source and they have no interest in offering it today. They don't suck or anything but are easily beat by other Sonor drums IMO.

I think they are using the same "Italian" Maple in the current PDP Concept series shells.

[DaveInNZ]

I think they f**king rock!

[SonorBart]

IMHO, the rubber isolators were a step in the right direction leading to Designers, but as James said, the Italian Maple shells were their weakness. The copper hardware on the Hilite Exclusives reminds me of late 80's and early '90s cars that had gold trim rather than chrome. It looked cool at the time, but wasn't very durable, and then became very dated looking.

[DaveInNZ]

I should flesh out my response I guess...

My father, an engineer, took one look at the Exclusives and the copper plating and knew they would be a maintenance nightmare, so chose Hilites rather the Hilite Exclusives specifically because he knew the chrome would wear well. He wasn't wrong.

I grew up playing that kit as I was learning, and then a few years ago, it took the journey from my father in the UK to join me in New Zealand. As I've been getting reacquainted with it I've been growing very fond of it. There's something about the thicker shells and larger tom depths which gives it a bit of authority my other kits don't have. As an example, the last four months or so I've only played the Hilite or Vintage Series in the same 14RT/16&18FT and 24BD set up, and I've found the Hilites much easier to gel with. I prefer them to my 80's Recording Customs and while I'm calling on memory, from different spaces etc. I far prefer them to a set of Tama Starclassic maples and a set of DWs from the Keller shell era I've played.

I don't know why that is, so my brain has been formulating educated guesses. The wood is silly soft, like you can sink your finger nail into the shells and dent them easily, and I had guessed that contributes to their warmth. The sizes and shell thickness definitely make a difference I think.

Tellingly, my father who was originally a Premier fanboy, always wondered whether he should have bought Signias instead, although I don't think the buying window really overlapped when he purchased them. A couple of years ago, a set of Signias came to live with me for a while (purchased by a friend who couldn't collect them for a while). They were very obviously a response to Hilites, taking the shell isolation idea a step further. Made very well. Thinner shells with re-rings of, I assume, more conventional maple? I genuinely didn't like them at all, even though Premier fans rave about them. I just didn't think they were on the same page, nowhere near as much body and presence.

[Scott_M]

The only extensive experience I have with a Hilite is my HD500 snare. Definitely one that continues to impress me the more I use it - great sound, stupid easy to tune (one of the fastest I've ever tuned). The hardware/shell isolation and the choice of the maple (vs the Birch or Beech) is what I think set them apart sonically from the other lines at the time.

How they stacked up against pro-series maple-shelled drums from other manufacturers from the time (Ludwig, Premier, Yamaha, Pearl, etc), I couldn't say without doing a side-by-side...

That said, parts of me kinda does want to get a set. If nothing else, to set them up side by side with one of my existing (beech shelled) kits to truly hear the differences.

[SonorBart]

I've never played a Hilite snare, only a 22, 10, 12, & 16ft kit. The BD was ok and the toms were pretty good at high tunings, but I didn't like the toms for rock, blues, etc. at lower tunings.

[krusher74]

I own a hilite in violet ( a colour added for the last 3 years of production).
The hilite exclusive was the set I wanted as a kid and never finding one in recent years that I can afford or get shipped from the seller to me i picked up a violet 10/12/14 20 for 1300 euro and added a 8" for 250 euro.
I have not owned many drums so don't have much comparison.

I bought a 13" signature lite impala tom and have that as part of my current set and can't tell a sonic difference between that and the hilites. The mounting system definitely chokes my 8" tom to some extent, and if gauger were still making alu RIMS I would buy some.

Many people, when selling them seem to think they are "special", but them not selling at the high prices asked soon bursts that balloon. Bought at a reasonable price, they a tipical sonor quality drums.

I have a highlite exclusive 14/4 snare with hellas. it's my lease fav of my snares and i find the hellas the most difficult to strike a consistent rimshot on.

I wonder how the many endorcers of the time liked/disliked them over the previous beech drums.

Lets also remember this was the 90's, the world was not as globalised, beech came from germany and italian maple was also local for production. If thin maple drums had not become a trend/market seller i feel Sonor would have happily stuck to thick beech and thin birch.

[SonorBart]

It's interesting to me that you can't hear a difference between your Hilites and the Sig. Light 13" tom. I had been playing Sonorlites for 20 years when I bought my used Hilites and think that was a major factor in me perceiving their sound as just ok. My ears were so used to the thin birch shells that the thicker Italian maple sound didn't wow me. However, when I pieced together my Frankenstein Maple Light Designers, that was the maple sound I was looking for.

[James Fullier III]

My ears were so used to the thin birch shells that the thicker Italian maple sound didn't wow me. However, when I pieced together my Frankenstein Maple Light Designers, that was the maple sound I was looking for.

HiLite and Lite are just a hair off in thickness by 1 mm so they are close enough. My German Force Maple was the same 7mm as the HiLite and the Force was not only better than the HiLite by a lot but better than my Lite's by a little bit and EXTREMELY resonant.

The European Maple in the HiLite was just a little too soft IMO.