Roland TD 3 kw vs Yamaha DTXpress IV standard

[Haegendoorn]

Hi,

I am about to buy a new electronic drum set, and I need some advice.
The maximum price is € 1000, and I want the best available kit for this price.

What I found on the net comes down to these options (i think):
1. Roland TD 3 kw € 888
2. Yamaha DTXpress IV Standard € 985
3. a used e kit (Roland TD 6?) unknown
4. other

What would you choose and why? I will use this kit for both practice as on stage

Thanks in advance,

Haegendoorn

[Guz2]

I have the TD-3 and I would reccomend it a lot. Frrom what I've heard it sounds a hell of a lot better than any competetors and it's very well built. Plus you get a 3 year warranty. Hope that helped! :)

[grooveweapon]

I would personally recommend the Yamaha DTXpress 4.... This module is grossly underrated in the electronic drum world. There are different advantages when comparing across different brands at the same price range... here are some of things I like about the DTXpress 4.

- NATURAL sounding samples. Less compressed sounding than many of the Roland samples I have heard. Huge upgrade from its predecessor DTXpress 3.
- Easy to use. Some times having too many features on a module takes away from the simplicity. This module has the perfect balance of enough features but not overwhelming.
- Durability. I have taken this module apart from my electronic kit to use for triggering my acoustic drums live a million times and it never gives me grief.
- Yamaha Oak, Maple and Beech Custom samples. Some really nice sounding samples.
- Price tag. Doesn't put a huge dent in your wallet.

A lot of people tend to pick the Roland over the Yamaha purely based on their experience in a music shop, testing out the stock sounds. In that sense, I prefer the Roland's preset drumkits to the Yamaha....however, for people like me who don't fool around with the preset kits and would rather go in and make their own sounds, you might want to rethink the choice. It is my opinion that the Yamaha's base sounds are more natural, and you can mess around with tuning, decay settings, layering of sounds, etc. to get the sound you're after. Both are great kits and you have to really delve into both of them to have a fair comparison.

One thing I don't like about the Yamaha is the cymbal pads....I can't stand them, but some tweaking makes them tolerable. With the DTXtreme, this problem was definitely fixed but that's A LOT more money.

[Haegendoorn]

@ Guz2: Thanks for your reply!

@ grooveweapon: The DT-Xtreme is out of my budget for sure :D, but I don't think i will be creating my own sounds, and if the Yamaha has bad cymbal pads, I think I will go for the Roland TD 3 (maybe a used Roland TD 6) Thanks for your detailed reply

I am going to test them both in a shop, but i'll keep your comment in mind.

One other question, which one (TD-3, TD-6 or DTXpress 4) is capable/best for expansion (1 or 2 more cymbals/pads?

[Haegendoorn]

I just saw an ad for a used Roland TD 6 KW for € 550 and i have a question about the durability of this e drum. I want to play several years on it, before I buy a next one.

Is this possible? What's the average lifetime before things don't function anymore (under normal conditions) ?

With kind regards,

Haegendoorn

[sciomako]

Someone corrects me if I'm wrong.

I tried TD-3 at a shop and I think it doesn't have dual triggers on the cymbals and hi-hat. If you're going to play on an acoustic kit eventually, you need an e-kit with dual triggers. Otherwise, you'll need to re-learn your wrist motion to do accent, especially on the hi-hat.

[Guz2]

Your wrong, it has dual triggering on all the cymbal pads
I just saw an ad for a used Roland TD 6 KW for € 550 and i have a question about the durability of this e drum. I want to play several years on it, before I buy a next one.

Is this possible? What's the average lifetime before things don't function anymore (under normal conditions) ?

With kind regards,

HaegendoornRolands have a 3 year garantee, not sure about Yamaha

[Zildjian232]

I bought a roland td-6 a little while ago. Its just a normal 5 peice with dual trigger pads and cymbals.

Its freakin great. The responsiveness from the pads are amazing. 1000+ sounds, 99 drum kits, and 99 songs to play a long to.

I havnt tried any yamaha kits, so i cant comment on that. The td-3 just seems like a mini version of the td-6. I picked up mine used for 800. I saw one for 500, but i missed it by a couple hours.

[Haegendoorn]

I bought a roland td-6 a little while ago. Its just a normal 5 peice with dual trigger pads and cymbals.

Its freakin great. The responsiveness from the pads are amazing. 1000+ sounds, 99 drum kits, and 99 songs to play a long to.

I havnt tried any yamaha kits, so i cant comment on that. The td-3 just seems like a mini version of the td-6. I picked up mine used for 800. I saw one for 500, but i missed it by a couple hours.

Thank you for your reply
I bought my td6 a few weeks back for 590 euro (+ an extra pad) and i am very excited about it too!