Virgin bass drum?

[XeroX]

I recently went to the Birmingham Drum Centre to try some kits as I've been undecided for a long long time now. I found the best kits there to be the Tama superstar custom, PDP CX (didn't have any other PDPs), surprisingly the Yamaha stage custom and the Peace DNA. Bearing in mind that none of the kits were even reasonably tuned, I'm sure that this isn't all that reliable, but they all certainly sounded better than the Pearl exports and somehow better than the Brady kits (more than double the price of the other kits!)

I'm thinking I will get the Peace, since it's only £399 rather than £650 (tama), £550 (pdp) and £450ish (yamaha). On the way back from the drum centre, looking through the catalogues I got, I noticed lots of the Peace kits had virgin bass drums. So now I'm wondering whether or not I should get one with a virgin bass drum myself. With hardware, the £399 kit with a virgin bass drum is £520. I'm pretty sure that's not gonna be worthwhile, so I probably won't go for that, but how much is the difference really worth?

-sorry for the long post-

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

I seriously doubt a Virgin bass drum can qualify *that* much of a difference in price. If it does turn into a real issue, then you can take the mount off and put a plate over where the mount would otherwise be. It won't quite be a Virgin bass drum, but it'll be close enough.

Just bear in mind that some of the absolutely top drum kits being recorded are not Virgin bass drums and that should put it in perspective. The Peace kits look fairly good.

[XeroX]

I know that the kits are fine because I have played on them. Possibly not quite as good as a Superstar custom, but only marginally worse, and for £250 less I'm not complaining.
I've always kinda wanted a virgin bass drum, and it really makes the kit more custom :) Still, I don't think I'd be willing to pay more than £50 more for it :\

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Well if anything you should be paying less because it costs less to produce them. See the logic? They're good kits for sure.

[XeroX]

lol you're damn right there. I was thinking on the way back from playing them that technically it should be cheaper, and that surely they could just not drill them in the production line since they must be making them now anyway... but then again they have to make money somewhere and it is a "custom order" so its gonna cost more. Find me a company who will give you a virgin bass drum for less than the standard kit set-up and I will eat my keyboard.

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

I certainly wouldn't go and get the mustard any time soon, that's for sure.

[XeroX]

hehe...
what kit do you play? I think I might go for a shellpack and buy some hardware seperately cos I'm not sure how good the peace stuff is :\ could you recommend anything thats good yet cheap (possibly around £40 a stand - more for hi hat)?

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

I would suggest you check out Gibraltar hardware. They make third party hardware for most brands of kit, compatible with almost all the different systems. L-rods, Hex rods etc. Their stands are very well made and relatively cheap and their hi hats and to a lesser extent pedals are pretty useful too. No complaints here, I've used a few although I've never actually owned any.

I play a Tamburo Ash 422AM. If you go rooting around on the search function for 'MFB's Return' you might find it. It's a pretty basic Ash kit from a small Italian manufacture. It's totally no frills, drilled mounts (Yamaha hex rod style), non-Virgin bass drum, but it's a great kit. I paid £450 (staff discount in a music shop) for it and I'd put it up against almost any intermediate kit, granted it doesn't have some of the more 'advanced' options, but I don't rate isolation mounts anyway. Comes in some damn nice finishes too, they expanded the finish options just after I got mine.

[XeroX]

Have you seen the DNAs?
Atomic Nightshade sparkle <3 Lacquer
Isolation mounts (look much like tama)
10 bass drum lugs (all low mass lugs too)
black hardware
ball tom mounts
9 micro ply maple shells (reasonably thin)
and I can get all that for £330! Plus a pack of pinstripes for £25 of course ;)

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Don't choke those with Pinstripes! Well, you could I suppose, but I'd suggest you go for Evans G2s or Remo Emperors. I'm just not a fan of pre-muffled heads. Those Peace kits are really opening up the bottom price band of the market quality-wise. I wish they'd had kits like that four years ago when I bought my first kit. £300 for a pile of poop. Those are some good features, and if the build quality is good then definately go for it.

[XeroX]

lol! whats wrong with pinstripes? ive been using the same set for about 3 years now and theyve held out wonderfully and sound awesome. I guess ive never played ANY evans heads but they are like £10 more :\
I have anything up to £650 for a new kit, but since the Peace holds out pretty well next to the £650 Tama i think ill get it and buy an 18" crash and stand. Also, since I will still have money left over, i can maybe get that unnecessary luxury that is a virgin bass drum :)

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

You're getting maple shells, correct? Well basically... my beef with the Pinstripes is the main sonic characteristic of Pinstripe head is just a low thud. There's no life to it. Pinstripes are great at masking shells that aren't quite up to par, like on the absolute starter kits, no gripes there, but when you have a good shell, you want that shell to reach it's full sonic potential. What I'm trying to say is that put Pinstripes on a good kit and it'll sound very similar to the bad kit. Put something like Emperors or Ambassadors onto a good kit and it'll sound stunning compared to the lower end kit. Make sense?

[XeroX]

yeah i know what you mean. So ambassadors/emperors are good eh? might look into that.
now im wondering whether to go for the nightshade sparkle (black/silver) with black hardware, or the natural amber (like mahogany fade) with lovely shiny chrome hardware...
god i hate lovely looking drum kits :P

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Well I'm a big fan of the basic two ply heads and medium single plies. So that's Evans G2s, Emperors (two ply) and Ambassadors and G1s (medium single). If you put on a record, you're most likely listening to those heads. Unless Steve Gadd's playing of course.

I can't help you with the finish, but I'm a sucker for both of those. There's a black sparkle somewhere around on this forum from a few months back and it looks very nice.

[XeroX]

the only thing that makes me want the sparkle more is that its black/silver and is more metal (i play in a metal band)
the fade is gorgeous, but its far too common really and doesnt go that well with metal.
the black hardware on the sparkle looks a bit odd too, it seems rather plasticy and of course, it doesnt shine like the chrome stuff :D

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

First rule: go with what you like. If I were in a metal band or I were in a jazz band wouldn't affect my choice of finish. Hell I wanted a pink kit for a while.

[harryconway]

Maybe this helps. 1979, I order 2 Ludwig virgin clear vistalite power kicks (22x16). Years later, score used 2 more clear vistalite kicks (both 22x14, 1 virgin and 1 with a flange). Pan to 2003, when I sell off all my vistalite drums. Which drums get me the most on eBay? The virgin kicks, and the special order power kicks lots more than the traditional size. So, not only do I like virgin kicks better just because I think they look better, but they brought me better return later. Buy the most common drum around today and however many years you wait, it will be the most common used drum later.

[Fat Elvis]

Hell I wanted a pink kit for a while.

Oh man, i would love to have a Tama Starclassic Performer in the Pink Glass Sparkle with the black nickel hardware. Nice nice kit.

i agree with mfb -- get the finish YOU like first. Don't go with what's more "metal looking" -- unless that is in fact what you really want. The Peace set up sounds like the winner to me. I also don't get why they charge more for a Virgin Kick, but i love virgin kicks (just the look of em), so I would personally pay the money. But I agree... sonically, you wont be able to tell the difference.

[el pollo diablo]

First rule: go with what you like. If I were in a metal band or I were in a jazz band wouldn't affect my choice of finish. Hell I wanted a pink kit for a while.

i still want a pink kit. HOT PINK SPARKLE!

or pink satin flame wrap.. OOOOH MAN

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Think Samantha Maloney. A beautiful Sonor, a beautiful kit and a beautiful lady. Heh. And the kit is pink!

[masonni]

I own 2 virgin bass drums by Peace. You said it was a DNA kit? I don't think Peace makes virgin bass drums in the DNA line. The one kit with the virgin bass drum might be a Paragon Custom (like mine) and that would acount for the price being higher.

Personaly I love virgin bass drums and every kit I buy from now on will have them.

[hateplow]

Virgin Bass drums are the way to go IMO. They look soooo much nicer, even if there isn't much difference in sound.

[XeroX]

I know for a fact that you can get the DNA with virgin bass drum cos Ive contacted them. It's a custom order so it costs more. Theyve confused me tho cos at first they said normal BD = £399 and VBD = £520. I emailed them again about it as a shell pack and they said virgin bass drum is at no extra cost. WTF... lol. And in that same email they said that its £350 normal BD and £450 VBD shellpacks. Weird confusing people. Think I'm gonna contact peace personally rather than Kingmidasdistribution who distribute the kits throughout the UK...

[the.tree]

Is the only difference that the virgin doesn't have a mount and the regular does?