What is your drum setup pet peeve?

I'm not a fan of being backed up against a wall or other gear too close.

Sometimes I'll test it out, swing my arms around, not hit anything, but I still feel slightly anxious because there's an amp or wall right behind me. I guess I need a small imaginary bubble.

Also hate having the ride way out to the right and too low over the floor tom. It's not at all comfortable to me like the standard setup with the ride over the bass drum and to the right.
 
Throne set hiiiigh. Pedals set wiiiide.
I mean on the same kit, btw. And the gentleman who owns this particular kit (played it at jams) is not a tall, long limbed guy, so his set up baffles me.
 
Playing after a guy who uses ultra-cheap white painted 2B drumsticks on clear heads.

White paint everywhere on the heads (except in the center of any drum) and on cymbals.

Respect the instrument.
 
I'm constantly trying to tweak my 14,18,26,15 setup to make it more ergonomic. I love the depth and breadth of the huge sizes, but sometimes I find them less than optimal positioning-wise. Not so much with the 15" snare, but the combination of the 14 and 18 toms around a 26 bass drum doesn't always make for a tight setup.

I own a Vector pedal though, so that makes things WAY better than trying to setup around a pedal that can't be offset or tilted in relation to the bass drum. I'm left handed and purposely bought a righty pedal so I could offset my position over to the right in relation to the bass drum, which makes the position of the 14" tom way lower, and also so I could cant the pedal to the left so I can set up the bass drum straight instead of canted to the left. That allows me to keep an already large 18" floor tom more in front of me instead of over to the side/almost a bit behind me. Lately however, I've actually started setting up the bass drum so it's actually chanted over to the right a bit. The pedal facilitates this, and it looks a bit weird, but it allows me to get my floor tom in front and over to the right even more, which tightens up my tom setup considerably.
 
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Pet Peeve? If it isn't my kit I don't give a shit......do whatever blows your hair back.....

If I have a pet peeve on my kit it is my own fault.....if someone wants to hang their cymbals from chains on a 20' rack and duck when they swing back and forth......knock your socks off....wear a helmet......
 
I don't get it why some folks have a fairly flat snare drum (I like a bit of angle toward me), then have their floor toms angled directly at his or her face. When you reach over with your left hand, your stick is going to come in fairly flat, so why not just put the drum lower and flatter and not worry about denting your heads?
 
I've only been at this for 4 months so I try to stay pretty open, but I do have a few.

1) The worst is every time I go play the kit at the studio space i use, someone put the hi hats down like 3" above the snare. I seem to already be quite picky about having them ~8" up to give room to get a good hit on the snare without raising my right stick too high. It's not really a pet peeve though cuz I just adjust it to my liking.

2) Snare position relative to throne. Sometimes I find it so high I struggle to avoid the rim. And then other times it's super low and I feel like I'm stabbing down at it. Usually I just leave it and adjust the throne so a comfortable roll is fairly flat without having to avoid the rim, then I check to make sure I can do a rim shot comfortably as well just for future reference.

3) That ginormous pillow stuffed into the kick drum that makes it sound like I am actually hitting a pillow with the beater.
 
I know it's classic, iconic, and it's how our instrument evolved...

And I know some of the greatest players of all time use and have used the set-up...

And it was also the set-up I first learned on.

But I personally just don't like the 'look' of one tom up and one or two down - although I still use it occasionally when my band is playing a small bar.

Don't know why, I just find aesthetically unpleasing.
 
supermac said:
I know it's classic, iconic, and it's how our instrument evolved...

And I know some of the greatest players of all time use and have used the set-up...

And it was also the set-up I first learned on.

But I personally just don't like the 'look' of one tom up and one or two down - although I still use it occasionally when my band is playing a small bar.

Don't know why, I just find aesthetically unpleasing.
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That's weird, I wasn't going to say so, but I feel the same way about the two up 5 piece thing. It looks weird and unsightly to me. There's no valid reason for either one of our feelings, so I think it's weird. Beauty and beholder eyes I guess.
 
Dr_Watso said:
That's weird, I wasn't going to say so, but I feel the same way about the two up 5 piece thing. It looks weird and unsightly to me. There's no valid reason for either one of our feelings, so I think it's weird. Beauty and beholder eyes I guess.
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Yes, don't know where it comes from, especially as I love the playing of Buddy Rich, John Bonham and, from today, Benny Greb - among others - who play/ed one up and one or two down! Odd.
 
Most hardware is meant for short people. Make is so taller guys can use your hardware please.
 
I don't like when I hear a drummer playing an their snare is too loose. Like the wires against the reso head are just barely touching and it gives a weird rattling sound.

Tighten that strainer up, you're causing me pain.
 
When my guitarist sits behind the kit and messes with things!

Other than that, almost everything is fair game. Except watching people play with their ride nearly tilted at a 90 degree angle and down low. Almost like watching those skateboarding accident videos that involves rails and their sensitive bits. It gives me that same cringe and shudder down my spine.

Just thinking about it hurts :(
 
When the previous drummer loads the throne with farts and you sit in it releasing the smell.
 
MrPockets said:
When the previous drummer loads the throne with farts and you sit in it releasing the smell.
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Luckily the venues around me don't request kit sharing! Haven't had to deal woth that.
 
MrPockets said:
When the previous drummer loads the throne with farts and you sit in it releasing the smell.
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This is why I always bring the "essentials". Throne, sticks, cymbals, pedal.
 
I cringe when I see a drum kit with a thick layer of dust on it. I mean, come on. Show a little pride.
 
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