Yamaha PHX Phoenix Drum Kits
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Yamaha Drum Kits
Yamaha PHX: The Flagship, And The Most Shell Yamaha Build
The Yamaha PHX, short for Phoenix, is the top of the Yamaha range and has been since 2008. Where most professional kits use one wood, or two, the PHX shell uses three across eleven plies: a jatoba core, kapur either side of it and North American maple on the inner and outer surfaces. Yamaha describe it as the widest dynamic range of any drums they make, and it is the kit every other hybrid shell they build, the Absolute Maple Hybrid included, takes its thinking from. If you are looking at a flagship drum kit, a hybrid shell kit or simply the best professional Yamaha kit made, this is it.
You will also see it written as the Yamaha Phoenix, which is what the three letters stand for. Every PHX we have is set up and playable in our 5,000 square foot Fareham showroom, next to the Yamaha Absolute Maple Hybrid, Recording Custom, Live Custom Hybrid Oak and 9000 kits, which is the only sensible way to decide whether the step up is one you want to make.
Shell
11 ply
Three different woods in one shell
Thickness
10.3 mm
Nearly double a Recording Custom
Bearing edges
30°
With a different radius for every drum type
Flagship since
2008
Still the top of the Yamaha range
Shell and build: three woods, eleven plies, one idea
The PHX shell is built in layers of decreasing hardness from the centre out. At the core sits jatoba, which Yamaha describe as the hardest and heaviest wood in the shell. Kapur sits either side of it. North American maple, the softest wood used, forms the inner and outer plies. The logic is the same one a loudspeaker designer would recognise: a dense, stiff centre controls the energy and stops the shell losing its composure when you hit it, while softer surfaces either side keep the tone warm and musical rather than brittle. Eleven plies at 10.3 mm makes it a seriously substantial drum, close to double the thickness of a Recording Custom shell.
The bearing edges are where the detail work shows. Every edge is cut at 30 degrees, but the radius changes by drum: a 4 mm radius on toms, 2 mm on floor toms and 1.5 mm on bass drums. That is three different treatments on one kit, each chosen for how that drum needs to behave, and Yamaha say the edges are shaped by craftsmen who know how each wood responds. The same care goes into the outside: the shell is painted, sanded and painted again, repeatedly, before a final polish.
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Maple, kapur, jatoba, kapur, maple hybrid shells, eleven plies at 10.3 mm on toms, floor toms and bass drums alike.
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30 degree bearing edges with three different radii: 4 mm on toms for a fatter, rounder note, 2 mm on floor toms, and 1.5 mm on bass drums for a clearer, sharper attack.
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3.0 mm die-cast aluminium hoops, chosen for high rigidity at very light weight, which is a harder combination to achieve than it sounds.
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Y.E.S.S. II mounting with maple mounting plates cut to match the shell’s outer plies, which Yamaha credit with adding resonance and low end rather than simply getting out of the way.
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Small-footprint hook lugs with an internal lug lock mechanism, designed to touch as little shell as possible so the fundamental note comes through.
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Chrome or gold hardware, and a choice of ash or maple for the outer veneer, which is where the finish list below splits in two.
The sound, and who it suits
Range is the point. Yamaha claim the widest dynamic range of any kit they build, with a richer mid-low response than the rest of the line, and that is what you notice playing one: it stays composed and musical at a volume where a thinner shell would start to choke, and it still speaks properly when you play quietly. The thick hybrid shell gives you more volume and more tone at the same time, which is unusual, since most of the time you trade one for the other.
Who should be looking at it: players who have already owned good kits and know precisely what they are missing, session and touring professionals who need one instrument to cope with anything, and anyone whose next kit is likely to be their last. It is emphatically not the obvious first professional kit. If you have not yet settled on the voice you want, a Recording Custom or an Absolute Maple Hybrid will tell you more about your own taste for less money.
Nobody needs a PHX. People who play one tend to buy it anyway, and they usually stop looking afterwards.
PHX shell sizes
The broadest size range of any Yamaha series, including depths the other kits do not offer, which matters when you are speccing a flagship kit to do a specific job rather than buying a shell pack off the shelf.
Bass Drums
24″ x 18″
24″ x 16″
22″ x 18″
22″ x 16″
20″ x 18″
20″ x 16″
18″ x 14″
Tom Toms
16″ x 14″
16″ x 13″
14″ x 12″
14″ x 11″
13″ x 10″
13″ x 9″
12″ x 9″
12″ x 8″
10″ x 8″
10″ x 7″
8″ x 8″
8″ x 7″
Floor Toms
18″ x 16″
16″ x 15″
14″ x 13″
Worth Knowing
Two depths are offered in almost every tom diameter, and the 8″ x 8″ and 16″ x 13″ are sizes you will not find elsewhere in the Yamaha professional range. Speak to us before you settle on a configuration.
Speccing a PHX
A kit at this level is worth specifying properly rather than buying as a standard pack. Tell us the music, the rooms and whether it is going in a studio or into flight cases, and we will go through diameters, depths, veneer and hardware colour with you. Call 01329 834012 or email [email protected].
PHX finishes
PHX finishes work differently from the rest of the range. You first choose the outer veneer, ash or maple, and the finish list follows from that choice. Ash is the textured, heavily figured option and takes the fades and sunbursts. Maple is the traditional one and takes the solids and the cherry sunburst. Every finish is then available with chrome or gold hardware, which is why Yamaha’s own list runs to eighteen entries.
Ash Outer Veneer
Textured and figured, and the reason most PHX kits look the way they do.
Turquoise Fade (gloss)
Garnet Fade (gloss)
Sapphire Fade (gloss)
Textured Black Sunburst
Textured Amber Sunburst
Maple Outer Veneer
The traditional look, and the quieter choice of the two.
Black Cherry Sunburst
Polar White
Matte Black
Matte Natural
Finish and hardware availability moves with Yamaha’s production, so if a particular combination matters to you it is worth asking us to check before you commit.
Who plays a PHX
The name most associated with the series is Dave Weckl, who has had a PHX as his studio kit for years. His own published setup is a 22″ x 17″ bass drum, 10″ and 12″ rack toms, 14″ and 16″ floor toms, with 13″ and 14″ snares. The series was launched to the UK on a Dave Weckl clinic tour back in 2008, so the association goes right back to the start.
There is a detail in his setup worth drawing out, because it says something useful about the whole Yamaha range: the PHX is his studio kit, and his road kits are a Live Custom and an Absolute Hybrid Maple. Even at the very top of the range, these are four different tools rather than a ranking, and a professional with access to all of them still picks by the job.
Where the PHX sits in the Yamaha professional range
Yamaha’s professional kits are not a ladder where each one is simply better than the last. They are different voices at a similar level of craft, and the right one depends on the sound you are after rather than the budget you have. The PHX is the most of everything, which is not automatically the same as the right one.
Browse wider
See every series side by side in Yamaha Drum Kits, the full Professional Drum Kits range from every brand we stock, or everything Yamaha on our Yamaha brand page.
Want to know more before choosing?
Yamaha PHX FAQs
What does PHX stand for, and is it the same as the Phoenix?
Yes, the same kit. PHX is simply how Yamaha write Phoenix, and both names are used interchangeably by players, shops and reviewers. If you are searching for one, search for the other too.
Is a PHX worth it over an Absolute Maple Hybrid?
That depends entirely on what you want from the extra money, and it is a fair question rather than a cheeky one. Both are hybrid shells with a hard core between softer woods, and the Absolute Maple Hybrid actually uses a newer mounting system. What the PHX gives you is a much thicker and more complex shell, eleven plies at 10.3 mm against 6.2 mm, three woods rather than two, three bearing-edge radii rather than one per drum type, and a level of hand finishing the Absolute does not get. That buys dynamic range and a richer low-mid character. If you mostly play at one volume in one kind of room, the Absolute may genuinely serve you better. If you need a kit that does everything, the PHX earns it.
Ash or maple outer veneer?
Mostly a question of how you want the kit to look, since the structural plies underneath are identical either way. Ash is heavily figured and textured, and it is what gives the fades and the textured sunbursts their depth. Maple is smoother and plainer and suits the solid colours and the Black Cherry Sunburst. Come and look at both in daylight if you can: photographs do not do the ash finishes justice, and plenty of people change their mind in the showroom.
Why do the bearing edges have different radii?
Because each drum has a different job. All PHX edges are cut at 30 degrees, but the radius, meaning how rounded the very top of the edge is, changes: 4 mm on toms, 2 mm on floor toms, 1.5 mm on bass drums. A larger radius puts more of the head in contact with the shell, which fattens and rounds the note, and a smaller one sharpens the attack. So the toms get the warmest treatment and the bass drum the clearest. Most manufacturers pick one edge and apply it to everything.
Is a PHX too good for a working gig?
Plenty of people gig them, and they are drums rather than ornaments. That said, it is worth being honest with yourself about where the kit will actually live. If it is going in and out of a van four nights a week, the Live Custom Hybrid Oak was designed for exactly that and will take the knocks with less to lose. Dave Weckl keeps his PHX in the studio and tours other Yamaha kits, which tells you something.
Hear It Before You Buy It
Come and play the flagship
A kit at this level should never be bought from a photograph. Our 5,000 square foot Fareham showroom has professional kits from every leading brand set up and ready to play, so you can hear a PHX against the rest of the Yamaha range and against everyone else at the same level, on the same day with the same ears. If the finish or configuration you want is not on the floor, talk to us and we will go through the options with you. No appointment needed.
