Worst expensive kit you ever played?

Guitar Centers are the Bermuda Triangle of drum tuning.

I don't think I have ever hit anything in a GC that I was like, "Oh! Hey now! That's nice!" Everything I tap on there sounds like Tupperware. I feel like I am a street percussionist hitting 5 gallon paint buckets. I think they have a store manager or someone from the guitar section come tune the floor models up for the kids to tap on. Sometimes that's fun just because I like playing drums and I am not interested in buying a kit at GC, so I am not "invested".

Otherwise, I try to stay away from overly expensive kits because I don't want to find something that I want that is cost prohibitive and torture myself envy. LOL.

The closest think I could contribute would be the difference between my two 1990s era Tama kits. I have a Granstar (birch) and Artstar Custom Maple (maple duh). And this only qualifies in some regards. Technically speaking, the Artstar with its maple shells and die cast hoops is on paper more expensive, and some might argue the nicer of the kits. I prefer the sound of the Granstar overall. But this is just my taste. The Artstar does not sound bad AT ALL. But if I was on a showroom floor, looking at these two kits, played both and then saw the price tag for the same configuration, it would make my choice easier. I am lucky because I have both. I bought the Granstars new in 1990 and I bought the Artstars used from CL for like, $500. Take THAT 1990s price tag. Patience wins again! Can't beat that.
 
If Ludwig Classic Maple 4 piece kit now sells for about $2,000, then the Yamaha was a $500 kit?

I like Ludwig, I play a Legacy kit, but.....

At my local music store there was a Live Custom kit set up next to a Classic Maple, both tuned about the same, both with clear heads. The Classic Maple kit was $1500 more than the Live Custom. I was shocked at how much better the Yamaha sounded. The Ludwig kit sounded awful compared to it.
 
Well, a few months back I played a Ludwig Vistalite John Bonham reissue set. Although they were okay, I wouldn't pay that kind of bucks for them. Seems like a money grab to me.

Far too much ring and the bass drum really needed some heavy duty muting which looks like crap in a clear drum. The bass drum sounded like BOING! As others have said, the problem is usually a head - tuning issue. I'm sure they would have sounded better with hydraulics or EC2's and an Emad on the bass with maybe a kickport on the reso.
 
Tuning, setup and taste. Will always end there.

Personally, I offcourse have a very clear idea of what I like, so a DW with the clear/coated combo on them is pretty much the last thing I ever want to hear in a drum.

Cheap and good sonuding is wherre it's at, though.
 
If Ludwig Classic Maple 4 piece kit now sells for about $2,000, then the Yamaha was a $500 kit?

This was in Canada. Much different pricing up here. Both kits were 6- piece, 2-up, 2-down kits, 10,12,14,16,22 on the Yamaha, 24 on the Ludwig.
 
In the same week I played a DW Collectors kit and a Mapex Black Panther Black Widow kit. I bought the Black Widow kit due to the better bass drum sound, lug design ( classic tube vs tank turret ), better hoops ( sonic savers vs triple flange), price ( new BP $800 less than used 2011 DW) and better finish ( lacquer vs wrap ). Toms sound was even. Resale edge goes to DW. I use a DW solid maple 1 ply snare with it. :)

They are both terrific thin shell maple kits and the most expensive that I've ever tried. I just liked the Mapex BW kit better.
 
Funny, I always like DW drums, when tuned reasonably well. I've never played an expensive kit that I didn't like, unless it was at a GC or something like that. I refuse to tune anyones drums but my own.
 
Tuning, setup and taste. Will always end there.

I agree. I think short of some quality control issues most drums today are designed and engineered well enough to be capable of producing a good, pleasing sound. What you should be getting from an "expensive" drum set is more care, finer handwork, closer tolerances, and higher quality materials, which should lead to a generally easier time setting up and tuning.

I think too often drummers are trapped by habits that can interfere with getting a good sound out of any drum.

Many of the replies in this thread mirror my own experiences, with many potentially great drum sets buried under terrible head/tuning/muffling choices.

It's an unfortunate fact that most drummers get their start without a lot of exposure to the basic fundamentals of tuning, head choice, set up and posture, and maybe most important, a realistic expectations of what a drum should sound like. So I'm sure a lot of these poorly tuned, oddly set up, and overly muffled kits were probably bought in hopes the higher price tag was somehow going to overcome the bad practices being used on them.
 
Well, a few months back I played a Ludwig Vistalite John Bonham reissue set. Although they were okay, I wouldn't pay that kind of bucks for them. Seems like a money grab to me.

Far too much ring and the bass drum really needed some heavy duty muting which looks like crap in a clear drum. The bass drum sounded like BOING! As others have said, the problem is usually a head - tuning issue. I'm sure they would have sounded better with hydraulics or EC2's and an Emad on the bass with maybe a kickport on the reso.

I have a Ludwig Vistalite Bonham reissue that I found for a good deal on CL. I don't think I would have bought them new given how much they cost. For that matter, it ALWAYS seems better to find something that retails for big money used, and for a much better price. That BOING that you are describing is exactly the reason that I bought them. Open and loud. LOL. I have been playing some big sized drums 14, 16, 26" for a couple of years now and have been enjoying myself. But by no means is this sound and size everyone's cup of tea. I don't see myself every buying an EMAD head again because I don't care for the sound. I find those types of heads too controlled for my taste. I like little to no muffling and no port in the reso. I also run Remo Emperor on top and Ambassador on reso.

Back to tuning. So many of these big tubs are tuned for near field listening (drummer perspective). We are chasing a big stadium sound in our head. And while it sounds great when you are the only thing playing, it sounds really thuddy in a live situation with other instruments unless you are mic'd up. Otherwise, that person 25 feet back, is not really hearing what you are hearing in your head. I really like how they sound when they ring for days. But again, not for everyone or for all types of music.
 
I have a Ludwig Vistalite Bonham reissue that I found for a good deal on CL. I don't think I would have bought them new given how much they cost. For that matter, it ALWAYS seems better to find something that retails for big money used, and for a much better price. That BOING that you are describing is exactly the reason that I bought them. Open and loud. LOL. I have been playing some big sized drums 14, 16, 26" for a couple of years now and have been enjoying myself. But by no means is this sound and size everyone's cup of tea. I don't see myself every buying an EMAD head again because I don't care for the sound. I find those types of heads too controlled for my taste. I like little to no muffling and no port in the reso. I also run Remo Emperor on top and Ambassador on reso.

Back to tuning. So many of these big tubs are tuned for near field listening (drummer perspective). We are chasing a big stadium sound in our head. And while it sounds great when you are the only thing playing, it sounds really thuddy in a live situation with other instruments unless you are mic'd up. Otherwise, that person 25 feet back, is not really hearing what you are hearing in your head. I really like how they sound when they ring for days. But again, not for everyone or for all types of music.

Congrats on finding these used at a good price. The new cost is just crazy expensive for them. And yes, you're correct as the sound just isn't for my tastes. I tend to prefer a tighter thump with very little resonance.
 
I think this price goes on a DW kit I played few years ago... I don't remember the series, but it was high end stuff. Four piece and the price was several thousand euro. A friend of mine had bought it and he had to ship it over the border as "used" so we unpacked the stuff and played all night. It was clearly a quality set of drums, but something was just off.

Maybe it was the stock heads, we just quickly tuned them and played. But the sound was kind of "muddy" and just didn't talk to me. Specially the bassdrum was horrible. The strokes just kept disappearing and produced a wet muddy thump. The bassdrum was one of those goddamned 22"x20" things which I really don't like that much.

Nothing on that kit sounded specially good. Perhaps the toms were the least bad, snare and the bassdrum just sucked. I'm quite sure it would have sounded totally different with decent heads and good tuning.
 
Since this bad boy was resurrected, I guess I can chime in:

In 2015, I sated my Vintage Natural urge with the purchase of a fantastic looking Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute. These were from the last production year of Yamaha at Sakae, and they looked the part. Fantastic. Previous owner had G2 clears and stock resos. Sounded fine, so I thought how much better with a new set of heads, in this case Remo White Suede Emperors, would sound on them. Slapped them on...high toms, ok...but the floor toms...the 14 rang like crazy, like a bad ring. The 16 was completely dead, no tone whatsoever. It couldn't have been the tuning, I've been tuning my gear for 28 years at that point. Next, I thought it was the heads, so replaced them with the G2 clears. Sounded ok, not great, definitely not as great as they looked. Bearing edges were solid all around, and they tuned to a note and sounded....ok...but I didn't buy "ok", you know?

Heads and heads later, and still I couldn't find THE head for any of those drums on that kit. Bass drum was the only drum that worked for me. Tried recording them, they sounded "ok"...I kept trying to tell myself that these are Yamaha drums, they look great, they're supposed to sound great. Yet, they DON'T

Those Remo White Suede Emperor heads went to the Live Custom kit I had at the time. BAM. tone for days, toms sounding like thunder. It was what I wanted the birch drums to sound like, yet it was my Live customs. for 1/2 the price.

Tuning range was not great as well. Some toms sounded great high and terrible in lower tunings. One set of heads, the 16 sounded good and the 10 tom might as well have been a cardboard box. I couldn't deal with these drums anymore, I couldn't get them to sound good at all.

The worst was I took a $900 bath on them. I should've stuck to my guns for the right buyer, but I was more interested in the quick sale.

They sure did look great, though....
 
Hmm... I have a couple of different possible choices here.

In 2006 I bought a Gretsch USA Custom that had a kick drum so out of round, my wife and I literally had to pull for FIVE MINUTES to get the front head off. The drum had to be replaced by Gretsch. The 16" tom had some shoddy edge work which made the drum sound just ok. I sold that kit as quickly as I could.

In 2008 I bought a Pork Pie kit after playing one of their sets as a backline at a festival, that I absolutely loved. The kit I bought sounded "okay". Actually it sounded very generic, which is not what I was expecting. The 14" floor tom did not have the depth or thunder that the backline kit had - same exact heads, almost identical tuning. I was so perplexed by the lack of depth and body that I paid to send the drum back. Pork Pie said it was a great sounding drum. "One of the best 14" floor toms we have made," was their exact quote. That let me know their drums were not for me.

Last year I was looking for a new kit and I went to Fork's in Nashville. I played a bunch of great sounding high end kits, but the Pearl Masters kit I played just left me flat. It sounded "fine" but it did not have any distinctive tone or vibe. It basically sounded like any mid-priced kit, yet it was priced like a high-end kit. It was disappointing to my ears at least.
 
For me, it was a beautiful 5-piece Slingerland Buddy Rich set at a local boutique drum shop that was otherwise in mint condition, but it had Evans Hydraulic heads on the toms, and an Aquarian Deep Vintage II on the snare, and the whole kit sounded so dead. The store proprietor later switched the tom heads to coated G1s, and the snare head to a Power Center Reverse Dot, and the kit sounded amazing. I was going to buy it when my paycheck came in the following week, but I showed up right as another customer was loading the set into his car after he had just bought it.
 
I couldn't pass up a good deal, and I wanted something in black oyster, and I've already got that vintage brand covered. And I just have this feeling that maybe I didn't take those two DW kits far enough. It's been irking me that I couldn't make them sound good when every time I heard somebody else play them they sounded great. So I thought I'd re-visit them and see if I had learned anything in the ensuing time I haven't had them, or if I'm still an idiot.

So far the results haven't been bad. When I have the kit complete I'll post a review. I may still get a couple of floor toms for it - since it's DW, I could get a 15x15 and a 16x16. With all the trouble I'm going through with 14 floor toms, I'm becoming convinced there isn't a 14" tom out there I'd like. I've had a couple of 14s now, and they never really do anything for me.

I had this same experience with 14" floor toms.
I only liked them on small sized jazz kits...and only sometimes.

My Gretsch kit came with a 11"X14" drum on RIMS floor tom legs.
It always had a dead fish quality to it.

Then one day I said "screw it!"
I bought a tom mount for it, changed both heads, and now I love the thing!

For your situation, I don't think my idea will work, unless your 14 floor tom is less than 12" in depth.
But I figured I'd at least share you pain.
 
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I had this same experience with 14" floor toms.
I only liked them on small sized jazz kits...and only sometimes.

Similarly,

My 14" stands to the left of my snare. I tend to prefer it as left-side auxiliary instead of on the right with my 16" in the typical 2D config.
 
Not to derail the thread but, you aren't alone with 14" floor tom troubles. I cannot get my 14" floor tom to a place where I like it. It's not large enough to hit the lows that I'd like and it doesn't have the feel/sound of a rack tom when tuned higher. I've reached the point of frustration with it as it does not sonically fit my kit.

I'm convinced that 12/15/16 would be a much better setup over 12/14/16.

+1 for 15" toms.

My Craviotto set is 12/15/20 and the 15 is perfect. You can tune it up high if needed, but sounds great low.
 
I had a C&C kit. African mahogany special edition . It consisted of a 22x14, 13x8, a 14x14 and a 16x15. I could never get it tuned right to get enough separation between the toms. When the rack Tom sounded good the 16 floor would be completely dead. If I tuned up the 16, the 13 would need to be tuned too high and sounded thin. And the 14 floor, sounded like it came from a completely different set. Tried all kinds of batter and resonant head combos, had other people try to tune it. Finally gave up and sold it at a big loss.
I have A Tama b/b kit now. Easy to tune and sounds great.
 
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