Less is more!

I don't know which section to put this in as it's Drum Gear, Technique, Chops etc all in one.

A recent change in my cover bands circumstances means I need to take three people in my small hatchback - Me, the singer, and my partner along with my drums.

I was using a Ludwig Breakbeats kit anyway so I didn't have a huge kit, but I still needed to slim things down to fit everything in. I ditched the rack tom and ride cymbal, and now just have the following setup:

14 x 16 Bass Drum
13 x 13 Floor Tom
14 x 5 DW Snare
1 Crash Cymbal
Hi Hats

I've used this setup for 3 gigs and these 3 gigs are probably the best I've personally played out of about 700 so far. I don't know if having less gear has got me thinking more or it's just a change which has refreshed me but it's been a good change for me. I can almost get the gear from my car into the venue in 1 trip too and my setup and breakdown time is down to 6mins now.

Obviously, this suits what I'm doing at the moment - 50s, 60s, 70s covers, but it wouldn't suit me in say a Metallica tribute for example or a heavy rock band.

Has anyone else gone down a similar route and found their playing and creativity has improved?

Did a similar downsize last year to a Pearl Midtown. I can do everything on it I can on any other kit but my load in and setup time has come down big time! They're fun to play and people are surprised how big they sound.

Playing hasn't improved but the practicality of a little kit is something I won't get tired of. Bigger drums are easier to play.

Very easy to keep at home, the wife didn't know I had it in the house.

I have a big marquee gig coming up so I'm in two minds about taking a standard size kit.

I've played a lot of gigs without a floor tom, and sometimes I leave the rack tom at home and just work with snare, kick, hats, and a crashable ride.

I really like playing without any toms: I work on my snare roll fills and accent/rimshot fills. If I was playing 100% blues all the time Chicago style I don't think I'd ever bring any toms.

Less is more!!!

I really want one of either of these, I leave my full size kit at my bands practice space and I'd love a small kit for when I'm subbing for other bands or gigs when a small kit would do or fit better.

mikyok said:

Did a similar downsize last year to a Pearl Midtown. I can do everything on it I can on any other kit but my load in and setup time has come down big time! They're fun to play and people are surprised how big they sound.

Playing hasn't improved but the practicality of a little kit is something I won't get tired of. Bigger drums are easier to play.

Very easy to keep at home, the wife didn't know I had it in the house.

I have a big marquee gig coming up so I'm in two minds about taking a standard size kit.

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I need to get my Ludwig Breakbeats bass drum up that high so the beater hits somewhere near the middle of the head. Do you have a particularly high riser?

She certainly is and very knowledgeable to boot

I have a smaller kit that i use for certain venues. Its still a 20" kick, but the toms are 10-12-14, which keeps me in a pretty small footprint. One cymbal arm attached to the tom bracket, I bring other stands to use as space allows. Works pretty well. Packs fairly small, wouldn't work in the OP's instance, but for my smaller-space gigs its just right.

I used to schlep a large multi-tom set all over, but I've gone down to a one-up, one-down (plus timbale) set-up for the majority of my gigs.

About twelve years ago I joined a band and we booked our first gig as an unplugged set in a coffeehouse. I downsized from that huge kit to a kick, snare and ride played with rods. About seven years ago I joined another band and we did a series of small, intimate gigs in cafes and wine bars where I played the same kit except with hi-hat, jam block and cowbell. For one gig I got brave and added a floor tom, except I scarcely played it all evening.

And then of course I've done the ultimate downsize and gone to gigs with shakers and a cowbell, nothing else.

I have been toying with the idea of gigging with a more modern take on a 30's Trap kit setup. Big bass drum, snare, modern hats, ride, splash and a woodblock and cowbell. I think it'd be very interesting to see what kinds of fills I could come up with in the absence of toms.

Add a lowboy and some Chinese tacked toms and you're money!

Rattlin' Bones said:

I've played a lot of gigs without a floor tom, and sometimes I leave the rack tom at home and just work with snare, kick, hats, and a crashable ride.

I really like playing without any toms: I work on my snare roll fills and accent/rimshot fills. If I was playing 100% blues all the time Chicago style I don't think I'd ever bring any toms.

Less is more!!!

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I'm always the opposite... I need my floor tom buy couldn't care less about any other toms. I need the rumble, not the boing!

hawksmoor said:

I need to get my Ludwig Breakbeats bass drum up that high so the beater hits somewhere near the middle of the head. Do you have a particularly high riser?

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No the midtown comes with a riser that you attach the pedal to. It's handy as it has a memory lock. It's literally a post with a plate to attach your pedal that goes through the bottom of the bass drum. Cheap and cheerful but doesn't move at all

The cool thing with that bass drum is when the legs are fully extended the middle of the drum is the same as a 22" so my beater hits the middle without having to adjust the pedal.

I thought the breakbeats came with the Ludwig equivalent?

Both the acoustic kit and practice kit is a minimalist 4-piece right now. Keeps me focused.

I think it's great place to start and then add on what's needed. Add ons can be anything, not just toms.

As much as putting up the 6-piece and doing fusion and creative pop/rock thing is part of me that's not usually how a gig looks for me and limitations and simple extras are good for the creative juices.

I sub for country band that only allows me to use snare and hats. I convinced them to let me use a cajon as my bass drum and throne. It has forced me to be creative as I have to use my hats as a ride, crash and hihats and fills between the snare and "bass drum". Oh, and no sticks. Brushes and rods. A far cry from rock and R&B I normally play.

Lots of great replies, thanks. Nice to know I'm in good company here!

I think another positive for me going down to a smaller setup is a lot of the places we play are small - pubs where you have to carry your gear in through the front door, then setup in a corner. I can comfortably bring everything in from my car in 2 walks, and I don't need much room at all.

I did give some thought to going without the floor tom but like a previous reply said, I need the rumble!

Also I stopped taking a spare bass drum pedal and spare snare. I've broken a snare head once (I now carry bits of cut up drum skins in my stick bag to stick over any holes if it comes to it). The bass drum pedal has only come loose once and just needed tightening with an allen key. Obviously sods law says tonight's gig I'll need that spare snare but I'll take the risk, again it all fits in with my policy of going light to gigs.

This is an interesting Topic. Right now I play in a hard rock band and I'm using a 1 Up 2 Down setup with 2 crashes and a ride. I've add a cymbal arm to the other tom holder hole and of course hats.
24" kick, 12" rack, 14" and 16" floor toms. If I play a gig that may have limited space. I ditch the 14" floor and just bring the 16" (gotta have rumble haha)

But I've been thinking lately of getting something smaller and a big part of that is that I live in Virginia and play in DC. well if you've been to DC parking sucks, getting into the clubs is tough cause their small, some have stairs with no elevator.

I was thinking of maybe getting an 18" kick with 10" rack and 12" Floor or maybe just using the 14" I already have, but wasn't sure if I have enough size for cutting through. Two of the places we've played only my kick was mic'd. One place did everything except cymbals and overheads.

From what I've read in the below posts, most of you play smaller, quieter venues and not as aggressive rock music as I do.


While the smaller kit would make getting in and out of the clubs easier, quicker setup time, and less trips from the car considering I might be parked a bit away, is the loss in volume worth it?

Thank You

Maverick10 said:

While the smaller kit would make getting in and out of the clubs easier, quicker setup time, and less trips from the car considering I might be parked a bit away, is the loss in volume worth it?

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The toms aren't any quieter. The bass drum is the only drum where you notice the loss in volume but if you mic the bass drum, there's no real loss.

The little kits sound a lot bigger out front than they do sat behind them. Obviously the low end isn't going to be the same.

I usually use the same setup as you. I take a travel kit purely because I don't know the venue I'm playing til I get there and 99% of the time it's an awkward set up for a standard kit, parking is just as bad everywhere I think. If I know I'm doing a marquee I will use the preferred sizes as parking is easy and load in/out is easy.

Thank you for the reply.

I think maybe what I should have said was loss of body instead of volume. I've heard smaller toms would cut better through guitar amps. Not sure if that's true or not.


The smaller kick should be ok with a mic.


I try to scout out the clubs before the gig to see what load in/out might be like, size of stage, and parking issues.

I just thought if I had a smaller kit riding with other band members would save on parking, or maybe even Uber.

But this would only be for those smaller clubs/bars. If playing at a full size stage I would go with the bigger kit.

Definitely.
If you look in the "Show us your mini-kits" thread, you'll see a foot tom, popcorn snare & crash/ride set up I use for our acoustic rockabilly gigs. I'll use either brushes or bamboo Tala Wands to keep the noise in check.

I've learned over the years that we drummers don't need to lug around the Neil Peart kits to get the job done.

I tried looking for that thread. All I found was "Show us your small Kits". That may have been the one you were talking about. interesting thread none the less.

CommanderRoss said:

Definitely.
If you look in the "Show us your mini-kits" thread, you'll see a foot tom, popcorn snare & crash/ride set up I use for our acoustic rockabilly gigs. I'll use either brushes or bamboo Tala Wands to keep the noise in check.

I've learned over the years that we drummers don't need to lug around the Neil Peart kits to get the job done.

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