How to buy a drumkit

TomRaaff

Member
Hi guys,
I recently replaced my heads and it got me thinking about the actual sound of drums. I mean, how do you chose your kit when you know that the heads and their tuning make so much difference to how your kit sounds? How can you check out the characteristics of the drum you're playing? How can you pick the kit you like best and what makes some professional kit so much more expensive than a intermediate one? It is really all about how it feels?
 
A lot of the time wood quality has a lot to do with it. I always go by the rule of spend more on your cymbals than your shells, because you can buy really nice heads that will make a drum sound nice (on the contrary you can buy professional kits that sound like crap if you can't tune them) whereas you can't tune a cymbal. You get what you buy and that's that.

I'm not saying buy a Pearl Export and Z Customs because there has to be a compromise. Unless you're made of money, that is. I could have spent twice what I did on my kit (I ended up spending 60GBP short of 2K) but I just couldn't justify it. I would have happily picked up a Gretsch renown kit for nearly 4K just for the shells, but that's just overkill.

Basically, a crap kit will sound reasonable with nice heads (Emperors or G2s etc). A very nice kit made from solid bubinga will sound awful if you put walmart "$10 for a set" heads on it. Obviously how you tune is in that mix too.
 
A lot has to do with the bearing edge, the head + the tuning. You can make a really entry level kit sound well with good tuning. Pro level kits are usually hand crafted, precise (making them easy to tune) and have solid sturdy hardware making them last. Beginner + intermediates tend to deteriorate over time + you usually have to put in a good bit of time to get them to sound phenomenal (check out the Custom Classic thread - think one poster said he spent a solid 2 hours on getting one of those toms to sound good).

I'm a fan of investing in great cymbals as well. I play all ride cymbals (Meinl Darks + Jazz) + they sound phenomenal with almost any well tuned kit, beginner or pro. Just put in the time on that tuning + you can have a great gigging kit.

Also, I find that I don't have to change heads as often on my pro kit. The wood is doing a lot more of the singing.

-b
 
So basically you're saying that the only difference between pro and non-pro kits are the tunability and the fact that they last longer due to good hardware. That seems too little difference in sound compared to the difference in price.
I know that tuning and good head make for such a great difference in sound, but that makes the choice to buy a pro kit all the more dubious. It doesn't make sense to buy a 3,000 dollar kit just so it lasts longer and it's easier to tune. You can also buy two intermediate kits for the same price and take just a little longer with the tuning. It will probably last even longer.

There must be more to it right? I guess you could say that the wood is doing more of the singing, but how can you tell? How can you tell that it isn't just a great combination of heads and tuning?
 
I mean this is a lot of opinion, but it's the main reason I've never bought a 3K kit because of the reasons you just explained. I'd by a nice mid-range kit, take care of it + tune it well before buying a pro-level kit.

Now if I'm gigging with pro-level bands almost 200 times a year then I'm gonna put some cash into a nice kit (and you'll probably have the cash to put into it - that's a main reason + a good one). You're paying for sound, usability + durability as well as the work of art that most pro level kits give you. It's like putting up a Van Gough next to a Peanuts comic strip. I might enjoy the comic all day several times, but I'm gonna take that Van Gough (if I can afford it) for the rest of my life.

So yes, your logic makes complete sense. Making the jump to a pro-level kit doesn't make much sense unless you're reeeeeally ready. Trust me. When you try to tune a pro kit after tuning an intermediate kit, there's no comparison + the ease of use (when you are a professional) + the sound is just phenomenal.

That being said, I'm no pro + when I record I usually borrow nice kits instead of using my RMV brazilian maple shells. It's nice to have good friends with good kits :)

Good luck + hope this doesn't throw out more confusion.
 
Sort of.

If you can afford to spend 10K on a kit, then by all means do it. If you aren't gigging in a signed band, there isn't really a lot of point. Usually professionals have a drum tech to tune their kits for them anyway so it doesn't matter how easy it is to tune, because the drummer never tunes it.
 
I have a "pro kit" but it's not like I walked into the drum shop and got it all at once. That is, I didn't get drums, cymbals, pedals, rack, mics, cases and all the other little goodies all at once. Anyone I know with pro drums didn't do it that way either. I think that most kits are constantly evolving.
I started with an intermediate kit with crap cymbals at first but little by little upgraded here and there. I got all of my cymbals one by one, upgraged to a nicer snare drum, got better pedals and eventually got better shells. There's no way I could afford to buy the whole thing at once.
 
I forgot to talk about the differences between intermediate and pro kits.
You can certainly tune up an intermediate kit and it will sound good. Cymbals are the thing you shouldn't skimp on.
As far as pro drums go, they do sound better and are made with higher quality wood, parts, and craftsmanship. I think they look better on stage, though a non-drummer probably can't see the difference between a Yamaha Stage Custom and a Maple Custom. As far as how well they wear, I've seen ten year old intermediate kits that are in better shape than pro kits the same age. It all has to do with how well you take care of them. Buy cases!
 
So basically you're saying that the only difference between pro and non-pro kits are the tunability and the fact that they last longer due to good hardware.

That's basically it.

The wood type and construction doesn't change so much as people want to make you believe, but don't underestimate the importance of hardware. A good drumset stands or falls - literally - by the hardware quality, especially as hardware deteriorates over time and cannot be replaced like skins can. Another factor are the shells dimensions - which are rather limited for entry level - which contribute more to the overall sound than the wood type.

You're not only paying for the sound but also for durability, options and looks.
 
Quoted for the truth.

Most drummers don't start out with a handmade kit and HHX cymbals.. Most.

I started out on a Rockwood set (please don't even google that) and ZBT. I've since got handed an intermediate set and have upgraded my cymbals one by one.

I mean, honestly the low end kit I started with sounded alright with remos. The hardware (as previously mentioned) is what started to fail on me.
 
That's basically it.

The wood type and construction doesn't change so much as people want to make you believe, but don't underestimate the importance of hardware. A good drumset stands or falls - literally - by the hardware quality, especially as hardware deteriorates over time and cannot be replaced like skins can. Another factor are the shells dimensions - which are rather limited for entry level - which contribute more to the overall sound than the wood type.

You're not only paying for the sound but also for durability, options and looks.

This is true. I've been on a big Keller kick here lately as anyone who's read my recent posts can attest. Here's the thing: most people recognize that going with a ply shell and using 100% maple is completely pro. Sure you could quibble with where did the maple come from and was it DW, Yamaha, Sonor, or was it Pacific, OCDP, or Ddrum? Maybe valid questions, or maybe not so much. Depends. If you got a crappy Ddrum (for example), any problems with the shell are most likely related to how well they wrapped it and cut the bearing edges. You can kill the sound by botching either of those.

Buy yourself a set of Keller shells in whatever diameters and depths (no limits here at all) that suit your tastes, pick out your drum hardware (lugs, spurs, etc) get 2.3 mm hoops, and then do two more things: 1) finish them in an attractive stain and oil: plastic lacquers (polyurethane) and drum wraps will dampen the shell to some degree, and 2) make sure the bearing edges are cut evenly and sharp by someone who knows what they're doing.

I expect to be taken to task regarding finishes here, but I think that if your going to all the trouble to use low-mass hardware, non-grounding suspension systems and everything else, why would you then essentially laminate your shell with plastic that could only serve to dampen the shell? To me it just seems you've defeated all that effort to promote maximum shell resonance. It's like a virtual piece of duct tape permanently affixed to any head you put on your drum.

After that, buy good hardware. It doesn't need to be DW 9000 because again, you don't need to break the bank or your back. But as Thunderstix pointed out, it needs to do the job without question or trouble.

And that's it. You'll have spent far less than you would have if you'd gone Sonor, Gretsch USA, DW or Truth, and soundwise, you'll be able to put your kit up against any of theirs because you've got a shell and a bearing edge of comparable quality. The rest is in your head selection and tuning abilities, which are easily learned.

I've been playing Keller-based kits that were relatively inexpensive for the last 15 years and have yet to find a kit that I thought fundamentally sounded better. I know how to tune pretty well and don't totally suck at playing and my kit sounds great.

Don't get too wrapped up in brand names and price points. Try and pay more attention to the workmanship and above all else, remember to always keep the most important thing the most important thing: the sound.

BTW: my kit looks like hell. It's a "working kit" for sure, kinda like one of Clapton's old guitars. Much of what you pay for at the very high end are the latest hardware features, and a pristine finish that you'd be too freaked out about taking on a gig anywhere. Think about that...
 
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Much of what you pay for at the very high end are the latest hardware features, and a pristine finish that you'd be too freaked out about taking on a gig anywhere. Think about that...

True statement. My high end kit is a beautiful Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute that has sat in my practice space since day one. My gigging kit is an Oak Custom in Mushashi black finish that sounds good live I don't worry too much about spills and smoke, etc...
 
I agree also, I happened upon my pro level kit, that was fully accessorized with all top of the line hardware. I wouldn't have went out and bought DW 9000 series pedals and hi hat stand when my Eliminators worked just fine. I had a good set of A Customs and K Customs, but this kit came with 8 more A Customs cymbals. The kit itself is an 8 pc Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute, I wouldn't have bought an 8pc kit, and it would have been more of an medium level than high end kit. I paid almost 3K for all this, and it was 6 months old. The cymbals individually would have cost me almost 2K. To me, it was a no brainer, I had the opportunity to get a high end kit, with high end gear, for under 3K!
 
I think I might have stumbled upon an important factor between pro kits and intermediate kits.
I was experimenting a little with my snare drum tuning recently and I found something like a sweetspot on my snare (I don't have the highest quality snare). I figured out that it sounds amazing on that sweet spot, but when you tune it just a little bit higher or lower, the sound just doesn't get that good. I compared it so my other (better quality) snare and I figured out that the other snare had a broader range of the sweetspot (and with sweetspot, I mean the perfect tuning balance between top and bottom head).
I haven't tried it out with my toms yet, but my guess is that my toms will have a sweet spot too and I think that the sweetspot of a pro kit is of a far wider range. Which means that a pro kit could sound great being used as both a jazz kit or a rock kit whereas my kit wouldn't sound so good when I would tune it as a Jazz kit.
 
Well, I think you've found the crux of it. But let me just say that I had a DW Collectors maple snare that actually didn't have a sweet spot. I didn't consider it a keeper and quickly got rid of it. But you're right, if it's a good drum, it will tune over a wider range.
 
i recommend getting a set as early in your percussion playing as possible. It opens up a lot of doors, and later in your playing when you get better, you won't want to have to go back to being a beginner. Plus, playing drum set actually helps with playing other types of percussion.
 
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