The Big Kits vs. Small Kits Debate

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nick1216

Guest
What is the deal with humongus kits sometimes. I'm no hater of the MONSTER kit but, sometimes comeon guys are you guys trying to make up for something or what. Take Bill Stewart compared to Terry Bozzio. Yeah different styles but, come on. Someone I just want to hear your take on it.

By the way speak up I'm losing my hearing as we speak.
 
I think doing the "Big Kit" syndrome on Bozzio is really quite unfair. Personally, i don't regard him as a drummer when he plays his solo stuff. He's a percussionist. If he was playing with a band, he wouldn't use that kit - see Black Light Syndrome, some very tasty playing. His massive kit playing is extraodinary, and i wouldn't insult him for anything. He'd probably come orund my house and cut off my head with a custom made 15 and a half inch china. Plus i'm going to see him on the 9th of August, so there. lol.
 
Whoa, sick gig Lawrence. You're going to love that.. come back with new ideas and further outclass me.. *sighs* ah well.

As for our friend Terry; well, I personally don't like his style of drumming. That's not to say he isn't a superb drummer and I completely understand his importance and skill. He is very original and creative: just not my cup of tea.

The large kit is necessary for what he plays, and (contrary to popular belief) he does actually use all of it. A great guy too apparently.
 
i personnaly am not a fan of big kits. i use a four piece"
TAMA STARCLASSICS
12 inch rack
16 inch floor
22 bass
14 by 6.5 snare (pork pie big black)
ZILDJIAN
20 inch acustom crash
18 inch a custom projection crash
21 inch A sweet ride
plus my old sabian xs hats (they sound perfect i coudl have swornb they were mislabled) no other xs sounds like mine.
and i might get a china

i feel liek if u have a small kit u will learn more. if u ahve a small kti then you wil ahve les to work with forcing you to get creative. i only have what i need and no more. like the only few things i would maby add to my kit would be a 10 inch snare to my left a cowbell and a china. i dont relly need mroe than one crash but i amn thinking of replacign my 18 inch wiht another 20.
 
I personally choose to have a big kit to compensate ;) I'll admit it
 
In terms of big kits.........

There's a fine line between awe and rediculous!

Alex Van Halens drum set in the 1984 "Jump" video is absolute AWE! Its a true creative classic.

I have yet too see any other drumset that is big, fancy, and practical like Alex's in 1984.

Dap.
 
When I get around to it, I will have a big ass kit. To be honest, I want to have fun behind the kit....I will maintain a small jazz kit as well though, and try and give that as much attention so I don't end up "reliant". When you do something great on a tiny setup it feels really good!
 
I think big kits are cool, but yeah I also feel a lot of drummers try and make themselves look better by having a bigger kit. Drummers that can have awsome solos with three toms such as Steve Gadd I seem to respect a bit more. Terry Bozzio is also one of my favorite drummers, but I always question myself whether or not he needs so many drums.
 
take mike portnoy for example. he uses his whole drum kit. He obviously could still do really well on a small kit. but having a biger kit opens doors for more possibilities.
 
Big kit = big possibilities. More options, more musicality. You can play small on a big kit, but you can't play big on a small kit.


Cheers.
 
I have had just two sets so far. The cheap 4 piece set I learned on and the 11 piece Tama Imperial Star Extras I bought in the 80's and still play today. Yes they still look and sound good after all these years. Anyway, like Dogbreath said, a big set gives you more options and possibilites. Yea I can play just as well and be as creative on a small set but I like big sets better. I still use two base drums although I see most of you just use one and go with a double pedal. Don't mean to ramble but I really don't think it matters what size set you play. You are either good or your not and how many drums you have, or don't have, isn't going to make a difference.
 
Fur drummer said:
I have had just two sets so far. The cheap 4 piece set I learned on and the 11 piece Tama Imperial Star Extras I bought in the 80's and still play today. Yes they still look and sound good after all these years.

Hell yeah. Monster sets unite! I love two bass drums, 3 of my kits have them. Gotta have some patience tuning those things
 
DogBreath said:
Big kit = big possibilities. More options, more musicality. You can play small on a big kit, but you can't play big on a small kit.

Cheers.

I call you on that one. There's plenty of guys getting huge numbers of sounds out of tiny kits, but I don't honestly hear many big kit monsters using the full breadth and depth of sounds available in even their snare drums.

I used to be a pretty big kit kind of a guy - 6pc drum kit, two rides, three crashes, two chinas, hats, three splashes, double pedal etc. But I've recently dropped back to a kind of amalgam of two small sets:

Set 1 - 4pc drum kit (12-16-22 with 13x5 snare) with a K-Custom Dark Ride, a 16" "Old K" turkish-made Zildjian, a 16" China Boy Low and hi-hats, drums all tuned to a wide open kind of sound.

Set 2 - A percussion set including bongos, 2x Yamaha electronic pads + brain (plus a sampler via MIDI), a wood block, an 8" splash and a 10" Istanbul mini-china on top of a 10" K splash.

Depending on song sections I tend to pretty much pick between which section of the larger kit I'm playing and then treat that as an individual instrument. Each of those kits has enough possibility that you could play it for years without running out of new amazing stuff to do with it in terms of new tones, combinations and approaches. I used to just consider my snare drum to be a thing that made a "snare drum sound", now it's an instrument that has a wide range of possibilities. So is everything else on the kit. If I took an expansionist approach - I need a new sound, let's add more gear - I'd end up taking up the whole stage without developing in any particular way as a musician.

For my money, the best small kit guys (Joey Baron and his ilk) win hands down on taste, musicality and creativity over the likes of Mike Portnoy. Terry Bozzio gets to be an exception in my book though, since he's actually bothering to tune that stuff into a chromatic scale and you therefore *need* that much gear to make that approach worth bothering with at all.
 
LDGuy said:
If he was playing with a band, he wouldn't use that kit .

Bozzio actually uses that kit with Fantomas. My buddy Gabe from the Locust saw him perform with them a few months ago, said it was pretty incredible to see live.
 
I'm a little lady ... I play a relatively simple, small-size kit. I'd consider a larger kit, but only if I felt I could actually use the additional bits. It has nothing to do with compensation. (Altho some might say "simple kit - difficult woman"!) :cool:
 
nick1216 said:
What is the deal with humongus kits sometimes. I'm no hater of the MONSTER kit but, sometimes comeon guys are you guys trying to make up for something or what.

My kit is just one single snare drum. Unless I've just been swimming in the North Sea; then I play the ol' Ludwig Octa Plus.
 
DogBreath said:
Big kit = big possibilities. More options, more musicality. You can play small on a big kit, but you can't play big on a small kit.


Cheers.


I couldn't have said it better. ;)
 
finnhiggins said:
I call you on that one. There's plenty of guys getting huge numbers of sounds out of tiny kits, but I don't honestly hear many big kit monsters using the full breadth and depth of sounds available in even their snare drums.

There's nothing to call me on, it's a simple fact. But let me reword it to clarify your misunderstanding:

You can play a small kit with many drums, but you can't play a big kit with few drums.

Better? And as far as some "big kit" drummers not using everything that they have available to them, all that means is that those particular drummers don't need big kits. Cool. Not everyone who buys a Corvette drives at 150 mph. But if you buy a little 4-cylinder Honda, you won't be winning any drag races. I like having options. If I want to play jazz with only my snare, bass, ride, and hi-hats, I can. My options are not limited, but a "small kit" player's options are.
 
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