Vic Firth Steve Gadd brushes
These long awaited brushes have finally arrived, and they are certainly a little out of the ordinary. With an angled lower section giving real wire contact and rounded wire tips, the brush immediately has a softer and smoother sound with considerably less edge than a normal straight wire brush. The pull handle is also smaller than other Vic Firth brushes, which probably reflects Gadd’s playing technique. Good for a mellow groove.

Sound Post Symphonica string bass
Basses are very individual beasts, and it’s rare to find new quality basses that won’t (with only a little exaggeration) require you to take out a second mortgage. The Symphonica comes in both violin and gamba forms, with the violin understandably the slightly more expensive. Handmade, with a figured maple two piece back and matching ribs with a table of spruce, it sports an ebony fingerboard, individual machine heads and a boxwood tailpiece with a metal gut. The sonics are suitably sonorous, with a depth and resonance that ought to impress even a seasoned pro. Stick on a set of Thomastik’s and you could be forgiven for thinking that you are playing a German thoroughbred, it’s actually Chinese.

Saxrax stands
Saxrax stands are a new range of modular saxophone stands, with component parts that are fully interchangeable and transportable. Made up in aluminium and steel, the Saxrax securely holds up to three instruments and features Tucker “captive head” rivets for silent studio work, soft feel hand knobs, detachable legs, nylon coated brackets and nyloc nuts for secure pivot screw holding. Each stand packs down in seconds into either the stage bag, which sits between the legs off the stand and can usefully double up as a place to store mouthpieces and reeds or, the Duffle bag, in a hardwearing, waterproof nylon that incorporates a reflective strip, so making it ideal for transporting stands between gigs.

Evans EC2 Drum Heads
Looking for extra control on your drum heads? These new EC2 Tom skins feature an ‘Edge Control’ ring mounted underneath two plies of 7mil film, which controls rather than eliminates edge vibration by isolating and damping the higher overtones, while at the same time enhancing the low end and the overall attack. The ring also enables the player to set up a much broader tuning range, so adding extra versatility and dynamics to the kit. Coming in sizes 8-16, there’s plenty of scope for some creative tunings!

FCN Music Tycoon Timbales
These six lug, hand hammered 14 and 15 inch timbales are from the Tycoon factory in Thailand. As with most Thai percussion, they’re well finished and in this particular case, perfectly placed to hit the mid-market. Coming with a solid and secure double brace two section adjustable hinged stand with a rubberised "spacer" to angle the heads, there is also a small cowbell that can be set on an adjustable angled post. Batons, spanner and an allen key