The drummer looking for a professional electronic drum kit will certainly have the brands Efnote and GEWA have seen pass by before. Both are well-known players in the world of electronic drums, with the Japanese company Efnote already gaining great popularity.
In this comparison we highlight two high-end kits from both brands, namely the GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE and the Efnote 7X. Both kits are close in price and features, so let’s see how the kits differ from each other.
GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE
The German GEWA is compared to Efnote a less popular brand within the electronic drums. Besides electronic drums they also develop hardware, bags and cases.
The GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE is an advanced electronic drum kit, aimed at the (semi-)professional drummer. This kit, designed in Germany, is available in 3 designs (Natural, Walnut Burst and Silver) that are visually almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
Thanks to mesh head pads This GEWA kit offers a natural playing experience. Because the kick and snare are both full-sized (14″ and 20″), the kit feels much more realistic than an electronic drum kit where the pads are smaller. The crashes are also full-sized with dimensions of 14″ and 18″.
A big plus of the GEWA G9 is the touchscreen module. This allows you to easily navigate through settings and customize your sounds. There are 901 sounds available, and you can create up to 128 kits, which is more than enough for any drummer.
Unique for an electronic drum kit is the WiFi integrationIn this area, GEWA has been an example for other major kits such as Roland's flagship, the Roland VAD716This function gives you access to the GEWA cloud, among other things, which allows you to download new kits.
The hardware of the GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE is provided by Gibraltar, a brand known for its sturdy and reliable drum hardware.
The price tag of this kit is around €4.600.
Efnote 7X
The Efnote 7X is the top model of the basic series of Efnote. Below the Efnote 7X there are also the Efnote 3(X) and Efnote 5(X), which are smaller in size and contain fewer toms and cymbals. All Efnote kits have a sleek acoustic design.
What Efnote unique is that they try to stay as close as possible to the look and feel of a real acoustic drum kit. You can read more about Efnote's vision and the different models in this blog.
The snare and bass drum have, just like the GEWA kit, a realistic size of 14″ and 20″. With dimensions of 11″, 13″ and 15″, the toms are slightly larger than the GEWA kit.
What makes the Efnote 7X extra special is the availability of a splash cymbal, something we hardly saw before with electronic drums. The same goes for the 17″ FX Crash cymbal which, like real FX cymbals, has holes for an extra “trashy” sound. Sound-wise this makes no difference, but it does give this kit an extra realistic touch.
The touch screen drum module The Efnote 7X is a minimalist and streamlined module with an aluminum casing that looks a bit like an e-reader. 99% of the sounds (128 in total) on the module are acoustic. Efnote does this deliberately to keep the whole thing as realistic as possible. The module also has Bluetooth.
The Efnote 7X is in a similar price range to the GEWA, coming in at around €4.800.
Comparison
Let's compare the specs of the GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE and the Efnote 7X side by side:
| GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE | Efnote 7X | |
| Mesh heads | Yes | Yes |
| Snare drum | 14” | 14” |
| Kick drum | 20” | 20” |
| Cymbals | 4 | 5 |
| Cymbal size | 14”, 14”, 14”, 18” | 8″, 14″, 16″, 17″, 20″ |
| Bluetooth | Yes | Yes |
| Wi-Fi/App | Wi-Fi | Efnote Tools App |
| Sounds | 901 | 128 |
| Module | Color display and Touch Screen | Touch Screen (1 color) |
| Number of designs | 3 | 1 |
| Where to buy? | View price | View price |
Conclusion
The choice between the GEWA G9 Pro 5 SE and the Efnote 7X comes down to your personal preferences as a drummer. GEWA G9 has a module with a larger display and color screen, the Efnote 7X has a simpler module design and is a bit more basic (but no less powerful).
Both kits look sleek and look exactly like an acoustic drum kit. In my opinion, the GEWA has the look of a drum kit that you would see on a stage or rehearsal space. The Efnote kit also has an acoustic look, but is a bit more modern and sleeker finished with matte colors.
In addition, the GEWA is available in 3 different designs, which leaves a little more choice.
Another important difference is the arrangement of the toms: the GEWA has 2 top toms and 1 floor tom, the Efnote has 1 top tom and 2 floor toms. The Efnote also has a splash cymbal and a specially designed FX cymbalWhether you like this is of course a matter of personal preference.
Both kits are aimed at professional drummers who do not want to lose the essence of an acoustic drum kit, but also want quality. Kits from both Roland and GEWA cannot be compared to budget drums with acoustic appearance, such as the Millenium MPS-1000, or the Fame DD-1000 MS where you will definitely notice a difference in quality.
Because you get an extra cymbal for the same price with the Efnote 7X and they are also larger, you get a little more bang for your buck with this kit in my opinion.
