Big kit envy

But more wood in less drums is always cool. And looking at this kit the way it is now, it's not much of a struggle. It's really comfortable - it's true that 95% of my playing only involves the snare, bass, and hi-hat. But I do like having the option to turn this into a behemoth kit with 6+ toms, it's novel, and a cool way to get attention. However, when I do play it as the behemoth kit, everyone forgets that I'm only playing three drums most of the time ;)
Your kit brings back good memories for me. My first kit was a 4-piece like yours. It was a Maxwin (made by Pearl). I played that kit for years, even adding a used floor tom to the set at one point before selling it and trading-up.
 
I own a large set (five toms) and a 4-piece set. I like playing both for different reasons, but I gravitate back to my 4-piece more and more these days. It's also less to lug to the gig.
 
The thing that really impresses me is when I see a drummer playing a small kit brilliantly. Especially when they can coax a whole range of snare and cymbal sounds from one snare and one or two cymbals.
 
The thing that really impresses me is when I see a drummer playing a small kit brilliantly. Especially when they can coax a whole range of snare and cymbal sounds from one snare and one or two cymbals.

Same here. I find myself playing more purposefully with a 4pc steup, hats and a crash/ride. I feel more focused on the music with a clearer sense of direction. When I have more, I have that strange urge to integrate everything which can show up at strange moments and it is a pain to subdue. Experience, experience, experience.

Hey, GE. I have it whittled-down to a DW Collector's Series Exotic. I've wanted a high-end kit my entire drumming life, forty plus years. Having always owned cheap used kits, with cheap hardware, mismatched drums, the cheapest quality of pedals, and colours I loathed, I have decided the time has come where I spoiled myself.

Go for it, treat yourself ! Keep us informed of your process, it's always fun to follow the hunt when you are not the one footing the bill.

Great stuff, thanks !
 
I own a large set (five toms) and a 4-piece set. I like playing both for different reasons, but I gravitate back to my 4-piece more and more these days. It's also less to lug to the gig.

This is probably what I need to do. Moving things around when I get inspired to do things differently is a major pain. I'd love to have a 4 piece set up to focus on creativity, then hammer out a rush song on my bigger kit. Not likely to happen anytime soon. Would love to get a nice kit with depth and warmth to the toms at some point, but if I go small first, I'll still miss my larger setup. It's definitely cheaper to be a Johny one trick and only play one style.

I'm sure there are people on this forum that can do a six tom roll on a snare and floor tom and make a 24" ride sound like four rides, a splash, tree crashes and two chinas, but I'm still working on that one. Even though I can pull multiple sounds from each, they still don't fill the gaps for me. With this said, it definitely helps to not suck, but as Mike Johnston says....embrace the suck! :)
 
"OCTOPLUS"....by Ludwig circa 1976...*sigh*

I had the entire pamphlet memorized when I was 14....

6 8 10 12 13 14 15 16 18 (8 + 1) double bass in natural finished maple (iirc).

We used to build big kits with whatever we could lay our hands on...using snares as timbales, two same sized toms....

Closest I got was my Starclassic Performers-6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and an almost matching Yamaha 18" when I felt like it. Still have it all but lately I am just using 12-14-20 to mimic the kits I play out on, mainly a Rogers Holiday 12-16-20/24.

I do enjoy playing the "big" kit, but there is a certain "freedom" that comes from playing a stripped down kit. For me, playing mostly with acoustic guitars the four piece works best-and I have enough pieces that I can play any number of configurations from 10-14-18 to 14-18-24....
 
Hey, GE. I have it whittled-down to a DW Collector's Series Exotic. I've wanted a high-end kit my entire drumming life, forty plus years. Having always owned cheap used kits, with cheap hardware, mismatched drums, the cheapest quality of pedals, and colours I loathed, I have decided the time has come where I spoiled myself.

Go for it, treat yourself ! Keep us informed of your process, it's always fun to follow the hunt when you are not the one footing the bill.
Will do, and thanks for the laugh! So true!
 
When I was a teenager, I admired big kits. I wanted to have one. Something like Keith Moon in 1970 or Simon Philipps. Everytime I went to a concert and saw a big drumset, I was impressed.

That was before I really got to know jazz-drummers as a young adult. They changed my perspective on drumming and drum-setup completely. 1 up 1 down is my home now.

Some bigger drumsets are somehow interesting (Cobham, Weckl, Beauford, Stanley Rudolph) but most of them are IMO way too big and unattractive (Portnoy, Peart, Bozzio, Van Halen, Robert Sweep, Moon since 1973+,...).

Big kit envy? When I was a teenager - yes. Nowadays? No. But everyone should play what he likes, what he feels comfortable with. I prefer small drumsets that are easy to setup, easy to carry and "easy" to play.
 
Used to think big kits were the way to go when I was a kid but I realize the only reason most guys use a setup like that is because they have a tech to set it up and pack it down

I swear by the 1 up 1 or 2 down and I can play anything on that setup comfortably.

I have got an extra bass drum for my Ludwig which makes it look cool but I lose the comfort.

My mate has the Premier version of the Octoplus. Very 70s and fun to play. Don't know how he gigged it for 30 years.
 
^ what he said

The first time I had cock, sorry, kit envy was when i local crewed for Pink Floyd.

See the attachment, the lights went up, we all walked out to start work and I was just mesmerized by the size of the TWO drum kits. Epic.

Watching the show though, they barely use any of it and clearly have masses of drum techs to pack and carry it around.

Yep, I'm a 1 up 1 down kinda bloke, I have a spare 12" so i stick it on the left of my hihat
 

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I like big kits, just for the pleasure of varying my set.
1 up/ 1 down ; 2 up / 2 down ; 3 up / 1 down and so forth.
I a have a seven pieces kit I never use that way, generally only 6 and sometimes 5 pieces (1 up-2downs).

With 22 13 16 kit you only got one configuration choice, only got 2 tom voices, and for instance, even if its possible, some intros or fill, like black night intro for instance, will miss one tom voice.
You can play really a lot on a four pieces, and I love playing them, still, it seems to me there is some kind of fashion in disdaining large kits.

Like cymbals, you can always play crash/ride ; but when a big china is needed...
 
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I used to like big kits, but now when I look at anything bigger than a 4-piece, my back starts to ache just looking at it.


As a side note, I love look of a 4-piece kit with bigger drums, like a 24" kick, 13" rack and maybe a 16" or 18" floor, but I don't like the way that they sound. Oh, and carry a 24" kick around all of the time? Forget it.
 
I used to like big kits, but now when I look at anything bigger than a 4-piece, my back starts to ache just looking at it.


As a side note, I love look of a 4-piece kit with bigger drums, like a 24" kick, 13" rack and maybe a 16" or 18" floor, but I don't like the way that they sound. Oh, and carry a 24" kick around all of the time? Forget it.

I like that too ! except I'd rather have a 18 besides the 16" :)
But I couldn't carry that either. On the down, I'd look ridiculous behind a 24" :D (as well as behind a Lud Octaplus)
 
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I had a 9 piece once. Hated moving it. Slowly worked down to a 4 piece. The only thing I miss is the Mapex horizon birch 6 piece I had. Their mounting hardware plus the 8/10/12 rack toms made it comfortable to get behind.

Now days, all these clasically sized toms look dumb in a big kit. Yes that may make me a bit shallow (buddum tssh) but I would rather have power toms in a big kit.

For reference the horizon kit was 8x7 10x8 12x9 16x16 with a 22x18 kick and a 14x5.5 snare and had Their older lug mounted tom bracket.
The only thing I envy is that set up. I can't stand rims on more than one rack tom.
 
I would be on the other side about power toms, with the coming back to standard size (thank god), having 3/4 running toms is better aesthetically... And more pleasant to play. If you remember the big 13x12/14x13 over the 24", you remember how they were angled !
I perfectly see myself with three standard toms from 10x7 to 13x9".
 
I would be on the other side about power toms, with the coming back to standard size (thank god), having 3/4 running toms is better aesthetically... And more pleasant to play. If you remember the big 13x12/14x13 over the 24", you remember how they were angled !
I perfectly see myself with three standard toms from 10x7 to 13x9".
Aesthetically I preferred the power tom look over classic size in large kits, like a wall of cannons.
The modern classic sizes over a deep kick just looks odd to me. Like things were stretched sideways.

But more than those I prefer the f.a.s.t tom sizes for looks sounds and comfort on any size kit. I'm talking the 10x8 12x9 13x10 sizing scheme. And traditional floor toms. A nice balance between both.
 
I like f.a.s.t toms, because I've always been a "lazy" drummer. Can't seem to get my arms to want to reach up high enough for the old style power toms over a 24" kick, followed by high rise cymbals. I admire anyone who can.
 
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