I played on the Pearl Firecracker snare drum for a while before I sold it; probably about 2 years. Like all products there are great aspects, and downsides. I’m going to share all of these down to the detail.
I’ll start out with the good things about this drum. When I bought this, the first thing I noticed was its looks. Not to sound like a 5 year old, but I was attracted to its “shinyness”. Now it may seem immature, but you have to take into consideration that drumming is an art, and your gear has to look good! Another thing I liked about this snare is its versatility. As a side snare, it can contrast against the sounds of your main snare very well. Whether you want a loud crack or more of a soft “tick”, this snare can provide. The next thing I really liked about this drum was the dimensions of it all. Yeah, 10 inches is pretty small when it comes to a snare drum, but at least it didn’t fall under the ratio of a 14 inch drum; being that it’s still 5 inches deep. This gives you the projection and the volume that you would want out of a side snare.
Now on to the downsides of this drum. Like I said earlier, this is a very versatile drum, but only to an extent. Something I noticed about this snare drum was that no matter what tuning that you had it set on, it always had sort of a metallic “tingy” sound to it, being that it’s made out of metal. Another little downside is the fact that when I got it, right out of the box the tension rods were very stiff and gritty. It was almost like someone poured some salt or sand down into there. But after taking out each on of the rods and lubing it up, things went smoothly. The last thing is the stock heads. Like all drums you buy, you should replace the stock heads that they come with. This drum is no acceptation. The ProTone drum heads just don’t provide. I highly suggest a different head combination of your choice.

I have been using these drums for about a year now, and I don’t have one bad thing to say about them! The price is an incredible deal for the quality of these drums. I didn’t like the stock heads that these drums came with, but I have experimented with a few different head combinations on the toms, but the Remo Pinstripes have done nothing but impressed me on these drums. For the snare, I thought the Remo Controlled Sound worked wonders. For the bass drum, the “Remo Powerstroke 3” also worked very well; Very “boomy” and powerful. Being that the wood is made out of Poplar, they’re great for gigging because of their light weight, and small fusion sizes. The one concern that I’ve had with this drum set is the hardware that it came with. The tom mounts and the suspended floor tom mount worked well, but the snare stand and cymbal stands that these drums came with we’re not the best. I upgraded those as well as the pedals. Another great feature that everyone should use when they buy these drums is the memory locks. The I.S.S mounting system works well enough, but the memory locks seal the deal. You just set your toms how you like them, throw the memory locks on, and have a consistent, clean, fast setup, every time. Compared to other drum sets that I have played, these drums are very versatile. The poplar wood that Pearl uses on these drums can pick up the high ends, low ends, and everything in between. Not to mention that the wood is not only lightweight, but very consistent and sturdy. Overall, if I were to go back in time, I would have made the same decision. For the price, you just can’t beat the quality of these drums.