Buying First Drum Kit

Mitchdrums said:
Please do not buy Ddrum, great shells, horrible hardware!
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Have you seen the recent review thread? Doesn't sound that bad to me. Maybe Ddrum has improved their quality. The reviewer seemed impressed with the hardware and the packaging too.
 
Well I believe I may already be set on the Meridians.

I just have one last question. Assuming I buy the Meridians, would it be a problem in the future to be unable to buy additional toms for the kit? What if I wanted that one extra tom or something and I am unable to get it? The kit seems to be pretty rare.

I apologize if my question is unclear.
 
Okashira said:
Well I believe I may already be set on the Meridians.

I just have one last question. Assuming I buy the Meridians, would it be a problem in the future to be unable to buy additional toms for the kit? What if I wanted that one extra tom or something and I am unable to get it? The kit seems to be pretty rare.

I apologize if my question is unclear.
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Well I believe it has been discontinued so possibly, they now have the Armory series but since the drums are cheap enough why not buy a 6 pce kit, I couldn't imagine you would need an 8" tom, maybe another bass drum but you can always just keep an eye out on ebay maybe
 
I don't know how Mitch can say Zildjian cymbals won't work for metal but I agree you should get a bigger shell pack as it's easier than hunting for extra drums later on. Heaps of guys on here love their meridians. You can't go too wrong really. Everyone on this site buys a kit and then they go on about how great that kit is and how proud of their purchase they are, rarely do they complain.

You can afford a pro level cymbal pack with the rest of your budget.
 
Dre25 said:
I don't know how Mitch can say Zildjian cymbals won't work for metal but I agree you should get a bigger shell pack as it's easier than hunting for extra drums later on. Heaps of guys on here love their meridians. You can't go too wrong really. Everyone on this site buys a kit and then they go on about how great that kit is and how proud of their purchase they are, rarely do they complain.

You can afford a pro level cymbal pack with the rest of your budget.
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They only really bought out the Z Customs/Z3 for metal and they are fairly horrible, the A Customs work but nowhere near as good as say Paiste Signatures or Meinl Mb20 or Meinl SC Fusion or Custom or even Byzance (Since Zildjian don't make anything REALLY musical like the other companies do)
 
Mitchdrums said:
They only really bought out the Z Customs/Z3 for metal and they are fairly horrible, the A Customs work but nowhere near as good as say Paiste Signatures or Meinl Mb20 or Meinl SC Fusion or Custom or even Byzance (Since Zildjian don't make anything REALLY musical like the other companies do)
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Thick brilliant cymbals with 'metal' in their name aren't the be all and end all of metal cymbals and there are loads of metal drummers using whatever they like. I love zildjian and I think musicality comes mostly from the player but I find them just as musical as meinl or paiste in general or else I wouldn't own a couple of them.

The whole "this brand is the best, that band sucks" thing is childish.
 
Dre25 said:
Thick brilliant cymbals with 'metal' in their name aren't the be all and end all of metal cymbals and there are loads of metal drummers using whatever they like. I love zildjian and I think musicality comes mostly from the player but I find them just as musical as meinl or paiste in general or else I wouldn't own a couple of them.

The whole "this brand is the best, that band sucks" thing is childish.
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Haha I agree mate, this just goes back to the "play what sounds best to you". To me Paiste and Meinl sound much more musical than Zildjian (especially in there cutting cymbals), where as to you they sound just as musical, all depends on personal preference. I also disagree about musicality coming from the player since, lets say you were playing a gig of 5000 people and playing "Lamb of God style music" no matter how good the player, I'd have to hear a crash or it would sound incorrect and as a result would probably be a little less reluctanct to see them again
 
Okashira said:
Well I believe I may already be set on the Meridians.

I just have one last question. Assuming I buy the Meridians, would it be a problem in the future to be unable to buy additional toms for the kit? What if I wanted that one extra tom or something and I am unable to get it? The kit seems to be pretty rare.

I apologize if my question is unclear.
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I don't see anything online for add ons, I'm assuming Mapex won't allow people to make custom orders on kits like these either. Buying toms and such for a drum set is fairly hard. Drums are typically sold in shell packs(just drums) or full set(drums, hardware and cymbals) or sometimes somewhere in between. Since your new to drumming I mind as well say it's very rare when a company sells an add on for a shell pack. Companies mostly sell configurations that are popular such as fusion, rock and standard. This way they aren't manufacturing all over the place and everyone is somewhat happy. Though, series like the Yamaha stage customs are made available in a variety of sizes allowing you to order them better to your liking. The Mapex "MyDentity" is even more convenient and specific. Today's drum fuss seems to revolved around set configuration so companies are slowly adjusting to become more flexible. Hope this helps.
 
Well guys, I think I may be leaning towards one of the 5 piece meridians to put the extra $100 towards hardware and cymbals. I'm considering buying new just to feel like my entire kit, hardware and cymbals included are as new to this as I am and I could get to playing right away instead of spending more time searching. I'm really itching to start playing! I hope you can excuse my way of thinking on that one. I'm most likely going to make my decision tomorrow or early this week.

What are your opinions on this idea?
 
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Okashira said:
Well guys, I think I may be leaning towards one of the 5 piece meridians to put the extra $100 towards hardware and cymbals. I'm considering buying new just to feel like my entire kit, hardware and cymbals included are as new to this as I am and I could get to playing right away instead of spending more time searching. I'm really itching to start playing! I hope you can excuse my way of thinking on that one. I'm most likely going to make my decision tomorrow or early this week.

What are your opinions on this idea?
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We'll luckily you live in the states so your new prices are decent (unlike Australia) so that sounds like a fair idea but if you find something you want on eBay or CL you should go for it mate
 
Okashira said:
Well guys, I think I may be leaning towards one of the 5 piece meridians to put the extra $100 towards hardware and cymbals. I'm considering buying new just to feel like my entire kit, hardware and cymbals included are as new to this as I am and I could get to playing right away instead of spending more time searching. I'm really itching to start playing! I hope you can excuse my way of thinking on that one. I'm most likely going to make my decision tomorrow or early this week.

What are your opinions on this idea?
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If you feel it's right go ahead, even though you've nevetried it, it won't matter since your starting. Make another thread when you get it! I was going to get the meridian a while ago but couldn't make up my mind.
 
Nour Ayasso said:
If you feel it's right go ahead, even though you've nevetried it, it won't matter since your starting. Make another thread when you get it! I was going to get the meridian a while ago but couldn't make up my mind.
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I know I'm just starting, but I think the fact that I'm unable to try it first is the main reason why im still hesitating. I've been trying to check out as many sets as I can in person but it's harder than I thought!
 
Okashira said:
Well I believe I may already be set on the Meridians.

I just have one last question. Assuming I buy the Meridians, would it be a problem in the future to be unable to buy additional toms for the kit? What if I wanted that one extra tom or something and I am unable to get it? The kit seems to be pretty rare.

I apologize if my question is unclear.
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Okashira said:
I know I'm just starting, but I think the fact that I'm unable to try it first is the main reason why im still hesitating. I've been trying to check out as many sets as I can in person but it's harder than I thought!
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Make sure to check out the Yamaha Stage Customs before you buy.
They're good drums, fairly inexpensive, readily available, and you can order just about any size add-on you might want.
They've got a new model out, and the already very reasonable prices of add-on drums have dropped a bit.
The Meridians are nice drums. So are the Stage Customs, and they've got a few additional benefits.
 
Nour Ayasso said:
If you feel it's right go ahead, even though you've nevetried it, it won't matter since your starting. Make another thread when you get it! I was going to get the meridian a while ago but couldn't make up my mind.
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What was it that kept you from deciding if you don't mind me asking? My only problem at the moment is that I'm unable to hear or see it in person first.

Other maple kits I believe to be within the same rage are the PDP Concept and Yamaha Stage Customs. Any opinions on these two?

I was able to play the Concept and Stage customs but their birch variants. I kind of liked the concept with the exception of the snare and the Yamaha wasn't bad either. I'd like the point of view of someone with more experience than I.
 
Midnite Zephyr said:
I'm a Yamahater. haha. jk.

It's all good. Get a Starclassic maple. You can thank me later.
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Can't say much for the drums yet. But I'm generally not a fan of Yamaha products across the board hah.

If the Starclassic Maples were within my range I think I would've bought them in a heartbeat. It's weird but Tama drums always seemed to grab my attention even before I was considering learning.
 
Okashira said:
Can't say much for the drums yet. But I'm generally not a fan of Yamaha products across the board hah.

If the Starclassic Maples were within my range I think I would've bought them in a heartbeat. It's weird but Tama drums always seemed to grab my attention even before I was considering learning.
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I'm a little biased being a Tama fanboy.

The only Yamaha I've ever owned is a TT500 motorcycle. I was just joking because there are so many Yamaha lovers on this site. I personally would get a SilverStar over a Stage Custom, but the StageCustom is a great kit. I have nothing bad to say about them.
 
Midnite Zephyr said:
I'm a little biased being a Tama fanboy.

The only Yamaha I've ever owned is a TT500 motorcycle. I was just joking because there are so many Yamaha lovers on this site. I personally would get a SilverStar over a Stage Custom, but the StageCustom is a great kit. I have nothing bad to say about them.
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Noted the Silverstars. What do you think about the new Pearl Exports? It was mentioned earlier in this thread and since then they have come up a few times.

A guy at my local GC sets up kits for me on fridays to try if they're in stock so having a list of recommended kits would be of help.
 
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