Impulsive Gear Purchase Regrets

You know, I've been pretty pleased with my purchases over the years. I usually wait for great deals before I buy, and do a ton of research as well. That said...

I do regret spending $60 on a cracked 16" A Custom crash. I had just gotten back into drumming and needed a second crash, and I figured it was half off for just a crack! Yeah. That was about 8 years ago, and the crash is still working perfectly (I think the crack may have spread about half an inch in that time), but I should have tried to talk the guy down a bit more.

Other than that... As far as I can tell, I have less than $600 invested in a Tama Starclassic brass snare, two Ludwig snares, GMS maple drumset, couple of A Customs, set of vintage As, an AAX china, HH, DW hardware, and cases for almost everything... all thanks to some savvy trades and patience for the right deal to come along. It's hard to regret an end result like that.

My 9.5 Zildjian Zil-Bell, Everytime I hit that thing it feels like I'm at a boxing match LOL

been thinking about putting it on E-Bay.

Bonzolead

I've had several "stupid gear purchases," as it were. A few years ago I bought an 18" Wuhan China that I thought sounded real good until I brought it home whereupon it proceeded to sound just plain awful. I never used it and went without a china until I bought a 2002 Thin China,and all has been well since. In the late 1970s I bought a 21" Zildjian Rock Ride,(well,it seemed swell in the store...,) that sounded so awful that I ended up using my A Zildjian Flattop Ride as my main ride cymbal; a cymbal's gotta sound pretty bad to make you bring a Flat ride to a Hard Rock/Metal gig. There are other bad purchasing decisions that I've made but I can't recall them at the moment.

ellenvannin105 said:

I've had several "stupid gear purchases," as it were. A few years ago I bought an 18" Wuhan China that I thought sounded real good until I brought it home whereupon it proceeded to sound just plain awful. I never used it and went without a china until I bought a 2002 Thin China,and all has been well since. In the late 1970s I bought a 21" Zildjian Rock Ride,(well,it seemed swell in the store...,) that sounded so awful that I ended up using my A Zildjian Flattop Ride as my main ride cymbal; a cymbal's gotta sound pretty bad to make you bring a Flat ride to a Hard Rock/Metal gig. There are other bad purchasing decisions that I've made but I can't recall them at the moment.

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Bah you should bury it! Might sound ok after six months of little decomposers and nutrients eating away at it

37" Wuhan China - I'd never seen one that big and it looked so amazing. Even though it didn't sound good to me, I bought it anyway. I sold it a year later for $100 less than I paid.

Another vote for the Tama Drum Dial (or Tension Watch?)...never use it.

8 & 10" Zildjian EFX 1 thick bell type "splashes" I bought in the late 80's...thought they would be cool...not so much...sold the 8", never did sell the 10" but did use it later* (read on... )

Back around 1987, I bought a 20" Mid-line Zildjian china (I can't remember the line, it was discontinued, wasn't an Impulse, or Simitar....).
It sounded OK, but a few weeks after I bought it, I sold it (at a loss of course) because it wasn't very loud and sounded kinda dull.

At the Sabian Vault tour in 2005 I bought a 20" XS20 cymbal that had Hand Hammering on it.
It was only $100, basically a one of a kind, and does sound pretty darn nice.
I just never ended up using it......for 3 1/2 years.....I just recently (2 weeks ago) put it on my rehearsal kit, but before that it sat in a case unused....
Nice cymbal, but, $100 I wish I still had....

*Last year I had the genius idea of having a set of mini hats on the kit.
I brought that old 10" Zildjian EFX 1 cymbal to the shop and matched it up to a splash...the one that sounded great was of course the $94 Paragon splash...plus the little L-arm device I needed to make it all work brought the total to a bit over $100.
I already had the hat attachment piece from an earlier purchase....

It did sound really good, but I only really used it in 1 song in one short section, and it was a PITA to set the thing up.
Looked good too, but the PITA factor made me say forget it.



The L-arm attachment is the same as in the top pic...the easy way it was set up \/


Another $100 I wish I still had...but, not too bad for 30+ years I guess if I can't remember anything else...unless I've blocked it from my memory to save myself from deep mental scarring......

An A Zildjian Custom 12" splash.

I thought I couldn't live without a splash. Then I got it home, used it a couple of times, and thought that my two regular crashes were quite enough.

The splash still sits all nice and shiny along with another splash, a 10" Armand...I guess the Armand splash is regretful purchase #2.

barry, i thouht you were giong to hold on to the black oyster's for me so in 10 years i can actually afford them

Today I bought a 20" Bosphorus Master Vintage Cymbal.

They were 385 $ for it, sounds awesome but... I didn't really needed it D: and it didn't sound as I thought it would sound, the sound changed in my house... >_<

a Zildjian Custom would have done the job, and I would have saved 185$.

I felt I wasted a lot of money I could have used on something else. I'm not a proffesional drummer, it's only a hobby, but the seller somehow convinced me to buy the awesome cymbal for the sake of the quality of my drumming... that bastard.

I haven't bought much, but... I regret picking up all Paiste Alphas I have. The deal was excellent on 'em, and I really like the sound, but I'm already aiming to replace them all so the fact that I bought them feels definitely like a waste.

oh ho ho... now that this thread is dug up, I will tell you all about things I regret purchasing for one reason or another!

#1: Sound Percussion Neoprene Cymbal Mutes. Why? Well, look at this photo:



#2: The Zildjian Crash-o-Doom I once owned. It's not bad... in fact, I'd say it's good. But I bought it for $220 and had no real clear purpose for it other than "large, trashy crash". Suffice to say, I never used it.

#3: Remo Pinstripe heads. Again, not necessarily bad, but definitely not what I wanted. In fact, I've spent a lot of money on new heads, just to try them out or what not, and didn't even dent them, really. I'd guess 3 to 400 dollars worth.

#4: Paiste Signature 20" Full Crash. Anything bigger than a (true) medium 19" is too large for my tastes.

#5: Pearl Eliminator Remote Hihat Stand. Ugh, the cable action felt horrible :|

#6: 18" Floor tom. Great buy! I love it! Except I now have three floor toms, which is one too many. And in the grand scheme of things, 14/16 is far more useful and pleasing to me than 16/18.

#7: Any Z Custom cymbal. May I vomit, please?

#8: My own set of Keller shells. Noble of me to try and save money by making my own set. Not so smart when I'm 6 months new to drumming, don't really have a place to build them and am several years removed from painting/hobbying experience.

#9: A djembe and stand. Altogether around $100 invested, and I would probably have started to use it... were I not in an apartment... and there was no real way to mute it. And with how I have my kit setup now (a floor tom on either side of me), there'd be no place for it now anyway.

#10: Tambourine. Great effect. Too bad everything I mounted it to made it jingle... and again, the apartment thing. One day, perhaps, I may buy a cowbell+tambourine pack and go to home despot for some rubber tubing to isolate the mounting.

#11: A Spaun 14x5.5 Acrylic Snare. Loud as hell, which was awesome... I mean, louder than my 14x6.5 Steel snare by miles. But very plastic-y, little character and well... it was loud as hell. I might get one again one day... if I perform in an arena! Or feel like doing a snare drum marching type solo... it was perfect for those.

#12: Evans EC2 heads. Specifically these. I hated them so much. They deadened things even more than the Pinstripes did. Ugh.


I also regret selling my first drumset. True, it was a budget kit (Tama Rockstars), but my old roomy and I had stripped off the wrap and stained them... they looked fantastic. Plus, nostalgia. For all the money I spent, I could've saved several grand if I had been patient and upgraded maybe one thing a month instead of rushed in half-knowledgeable

Moldy said:

#2: The Zildjian Crash-o-Doom I once owned. It's not bad... in fact, I'd say it's good. But I bought it for $220 and had no real clear purpose for it other than "large, trashy crash". Suffice to say, I never used it.

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By chance do you still have it? I'd love to play around with one.

As for purchasing regrets, I've bought lots of things impulsively but I haven't regretted any of them.

Some of the impulsive things I've bought include my K Custom Dark Crashes, Avedis Sweet Ride, 16" Wuhan China (cracked) and my stagg black metal chime.

-Jonathan

Sabian 16" AAXPLOSION CRASH. It's a great cymbal, but it's way too small for my taste.

I think I'll regret my 14" XS20 Medium Hi-Hat very soon. I feel it. It was the only one in my price range...

CharlieCulbert said:

Sabian 16" AAXPLOSION CRASH. It's a great cymbal, but it's way too small for my taste.

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So get some more, use the 16" for accents. That's what my 15 is doing right now.

MisterMixelpix said:

So get some more, use the 16" for accents. That's what my 15 is doing right now.

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1. a 16" medium thin(correct me if im wrong) crash doesnt cut through screaming vocals, 2 guitars, bass, and 18" and 21" crashes.

2. i hit realllllly hard, which makes a reasonable effect on my bigger crashes, i dont wanna break the aaxplosion. i'm selling it to a friend for $100. Sad too, cause i payed $160 new.

The list of gear that I DON'T regret buying is probably shorter than the stuff I do.

Poor decisions:

My entire kit, for starters. Premier Cabria Lacquer. Whilst the kit works fine, I was younger and stupider when I chose it and did almost zero research. There's nothing major wrong with it, just a whole host of little things that all add up, plus the fact that I could have got myself something much better/more suited to myself for the money.

Also came with "free" XS20's, which of course weren't free but came in a package deal. I would have been better off skipping them and buying some used pro cymbals instead.

Cowbells/mounts: Two cowbells, two mounts. Never use either of them. Why'd I buy the second one? NFI

Congas: Gigged with them once. Other than that they've recieved almost 0 use.

Bongos + stand: Even less use than the congas.

Tambourine/Shakers: Never use them or take them to gigs for fear that the singer will get her hands on 'em.

Zildjian A 15" Thin Crash: Too small to be a crash, too big to be a splash. Shelved for good.

DW9909 Bass drum Cradle: Paid a ridiculous amount of cash for it. I gigged with it sometimes, but haven't used the bleedin' thing in about two years. Turned out to be a nightmare to adjust as well.

Pearl RH2000 Cable Hihat stand: ARGH! The most recent one. I was convinced somehow it was an amazing idea. Bought it (again for a stupid amount of cash, go Australia!), took it home to my kit and suddenly realised.. "I play a four piece with hats and a ride; why the hell did I buy this stupid piece of gear?). Made my kit 100 times more difficult to setup. Took it to one rehearsal, one gig and it's been on the shelf ever since.
Oh yeah, the clamp that I bought with it is rarely used too.

*EDIT* Double Pedal: Haven't used the slave side of it in about four years. . . .

Good decisions:

Meinl Extra Dry 20" ride + 13" hats. Got 'em from Tony and Cymbalsonly.com. Probably the only major pieces of gear I've bought in the past five years that were a really fantastic idea.
other than sticks and heads, they're about my only drum purchase ever that I've been 100% satisfied with. Actually, probably even including sticks and heads. They were cheap too!

*EDIT* My Gibraltar Seat fits here too. Solid!

In conclusion: Buy all my gear I don't need. Please? haha.

Pass.of.E.r.a. said:

By chance do you still have it? I'd love to play around with one.

As for purchasing regrets, I've bought lots of things impulsively but I haven't regretted any of them.

Some of the impulsive things I've bought include my K Custom Dark Crashes, Avedis Sweet Ride, 16" Wuhan China (cracked) and my stagg black metal chime.

-Jonathan

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The Tacoma GC I sold it to still has it for $180. Not bad considering they usually sell for $100 more...

Oh, and I impulsively bought that last set of Mapex Falcon Double Pedals a store had. $400 for a pedal... I'm really hoping I don't regret it.

I remember a guy who I used to buy instruments from who would almost always include the phrase in his sales pitch: "That's all you will ever need." It became a bit of a joke amongst my musician friends because less than a year after a purchase, we were all looking to upgrade to something else.

I used to regret some frame drums (a riq) I bought, but one day, I was inspired by a uTube video, and started to play these drums. Now I quite enjoy playing frame drums. It was said earlier that the re-sale value for drums is quite low, so it sometimes makes more sense to keep the gear. If it is relatively high quality, it may come back in favor sometimes in the future.

GJS

1) Double bass pedal. Since I bought it I have not played in a band that plays any music that really requires it. Thankfully I don't have a lot of money in it.

2) A Sabian Pro Sonix ride. Even though I only have $35 in it I don't even like it enough to practice at home with it.

Thankfully I am too broke to have any high dollar regrets...