Gigging with a Ludwig Accent?

rogue_drummer

rogue_drummer

Gold Member
I hate to sound like a noodge here, but is there anything wrong with gigging out with a Ludwig Accent kit? Particularly on a Friday or Saturday night in a smokey bar with a bunch of drunks and near-drunks? And with a high probability one of your band mates will spill beer on them.

I wouldn't want to play a wedding or corporate gig with them, or waltz into a recording studio with them, but I also don't want to bring a high-end kit to something like a dive bar or a backyard BBQ.

I got a 5 piece Accent kit for $50 from a friend who was cleaning out his son's closet and needed the room. His son was away at college and he gave up drumming anyway. The original offer was a case of beer but his wife wanted the cash, I think to get a mani / pedi....

Anyway not an expensive kit but it sounds decent with quality heads. And this will be my first re-wrap job. And the deal came with Zildjian and Sabian splash cymbals at no extra cost.

Thoughts?
 
I think that you got a good deal. I don't want to take expensive instruments to bars and parties. People broke my gear before.
 
With decent heads almost any kit can gig well on the local scene, and as the previous poster said, sometimes you'd rather gig your cheap kit than your really nice kit. I know there's a few places hereabouts that I won't take my (pending) Guru snare to.

It sounds like a bargain and a great bang-around kit for those dive bar sets, so why not?
 
Dude, if you can play it doesn’t matter what you bring to the gig. Personally i’d rather see somebody ripping it up on something cheap than see a $10k rig playing crap music. It’s all down to you.
 
As long as it holds up when you transport it. That's always my #1 worry. Like if snare throw dies on song #3 of first set, or bass drum hoop breaks, or a few lugs on tom break and you can't tune it at all so you can't hit head with sticks. Stuff happens. Then you're letting the band down and they won't appreciate the fact you only paid $50 for the kit - you've ruined the gig for them.
 
As long as it's in good working order, I say go for it.

I made quite a bit of money with my Basix Birch kit when I had it.
 
The gear is irrelevant! It's how you play the gear. My $400 Breakbeats kit has pretty much become my go-to kit for everything over the last few years, and I have never gotten any negative feedback over them. If they are tuned well and you are comfortable playing them, I can guarantee that no-one in the audience will care.
 
I've gigged my Accent (full disclaimer though mine is the CS Custom version, all birch, 10 lugs on kick) succesfully. It's solid and sounds as good as the heads you put on it (Emperors over Ambassadors for me, Powerstroke 3 on the kick).
 
Rattlin' Bones said:
As long as it holds up when you transport it. That's always my #1 worry. Like if snare throw dies on song #3 of first set, or bass drum hoop breaks, or a few lugs on tom break and you can't tune it at all so you can't hit head with sticks. Stuff happens. Then you're letting the band down and they won't appreciate the fact you only paid $50 for the kit - you've ruined the gig for them.
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I would think the OP is not doing some major tour where other people are hauling his gear and his stuff is in relatively good shape. If it's all you got, well, then it's all you got - do your best and go play. As you get older, you start collecting stuff and you carry spares - at least an extra snare and bass drum pedal.
 
A Ludwig Accent kit was in a backline I played once and I was shocked at how satisfying I thought it sounded. I remember thinking...my DW's have nothing on these.

I don't care too much what kind of kit is up there. However I care a great deal about how the drummer makes his kit sound. And right there is the real skill, not what brand kit is up there.

How many times has everyone played a nice new shiny pretty kit up there as backline that sounds like throw up? I have.

It's not the drums, it's how you approach them, and how skillful you are at playing and tuning them.
 
rogue_drummer said:
Thoughts?
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The reason to play nice drums is that the hardware and components are built and designed to last a long while. I want to know that the tom mounts aren't going to strip, that tension rods won't fall out, that lug inserts won't strip out, etc. Better kits hold up better, not to the act of playing, but to the set-up and tear-down of thousands of gigs. Sonics are 90% tuning and touch, the last 10% is shells/hardware/design and is a matter of personal preference.

If a keyboard player brings a board with built-in speakers, I'm judging, as I want to play with people who bring reliable gear to gigs.

Particularly on a Friday or Saturday night in a smokey bar with a bunch of drunks and near-drunks? And with a high probability one of your band mates will spill beer on them.
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Personally, if a kit gets a scratch or two from being played, or even some beer or whiskey on them, from going out and doing what I love to do, then it's not "damage", it's "love". (Now, if someone's going to use your bass drum as a springboard for a rock-jump, that's over the line.) But a beer stain, or a scratch? It just means the instrument isn't going to be in a museum, and that's okay, because it's been in front of people, on stages, making music happen.

So I say play your best stuff. Let it get some love.
 
Drummers may notice, but I'd wager most people don't even notice the drum kit-but I do think most people will notice a really good or really bad drummer. I find it very satisfying getting a good sound from a cheap kit-makes me feel like I know what I'm doing LOL.
 
Every gig my trio does is major to us. If we had my snare drum fail we'd be in bad shape for our gig no 2 and 4 on snare would kill us and the guys would be pissed because I tried to get away with using a $50 kit.

Moving drums outta my basement into car then into venue then breaking back down into car back into house back into basement it's easy to break something. You don't have to be on a World Tour to have an equipment fail.

I myself don't use expensive kits. You can find very robust kits that will stand up to local and even "world" tours for not much money. If it were me I'd buy the $50 kit and use it for practice, and buy a more expensive used kit and gig with it.

I don't wanna get fired from our trio because I tried to use cheapie equipment.

Bo Eder said:
I would think the OP is not doing some major tour where other people are hauling his gear and his stuff is in relatively good shape. If it's all you got, well, then it's all you got - do your best and go play. As you get older, you start collecting stuff and you carry spares - at least an extra snare and bass drum pedal.
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Rattlin' Bones said:
Every gig my trio does is major to us. If we had my snare drum fail we'd be in bad shape for our gig no 2 and 4 on snare would kill us and the guys would be pissed because I tried to get away with using a $50 kit.

Moving drums outta my basement into car then into venue then breaking back down into car back into house back into basement it's easy to break something. You don't have to be on a World Tour to have an equipment fail.

I myself don't use expensive kits. You can find very robust kits that will stand up to local and even "world" tours for not much money. If it were me I'd buy the $50 kit and use it for practice, and buy a more expensive used kit and gig with it.

I don't wanna get fired from our trio because I tried to use cheapie equipment.
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I'm assuming if everything is major you have hard cases? Or major enough to schlep without cases and putting stuff on blankets inside of a car? I have expensive stuff and although it can take it's share of bumps, I still travel in hard cases, and have a rolling cart to move from vehicle into the venue. Something major needs to happen for something of mine to break. And when it does, there's a backup.

I'm just saying people are at different levels. If all you got is what you have, all I can say is to be as careful as you can and do what you can do. If the OP doesn't do that, there's not much else I can recommend. It's funny because I've discovered if you cased up a cheap set for everything and took care of it, it'll last just as long as an expensive kit. But people buy expensive gear that can take the abuse, and then they handle it with gloves. If you afford the cheap kit the same you would an expensive kit, you'd find everything would be cool.
 
Yup gotta have cases. I could easily drop a kick drum carrying it up my basement steps if not in a case. A case has handles which help, too. Cases would be more expensive than his entire $50 kit, though, unless he already has cases for a more expensive kit, too.

You guys don't have basements out there in SoCal. They're not too earthquake friendly lol.

Bo Eder said:
I'm assuming if everything is major you have hard cases? Or major enough to schlep without cases and putting stuff on blankets inside of a car? I have expensive stuff and although it can take it's share of bumps, I still travel in hard cases, and have a rolling cart to move from vehicle into the venue. Something major needs to happen for something of mine to break. And when it does, there's a backup.

I'm just saying people are at different levels. If all you got is what you have, all I can say is to be as careful as you can and do what you can do. If the OP doesn't do that, there's not much else I can recommend. It's funny because I've discovered if you cased up a cheap set for everything and took care of it, it'll last just as long as an expensive kit. But people buy expensive gear that can take the abuse, and then they handle it with gloves. If you afford the cheap kit the same you would an expensive kit, you'd find everything would be cool.
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BTW I had an Accent kit. I liked it very much. It seemed quite robust to me. It may travel quite well to local gigs and not much risk.
 
I gig 2-3 X per month with a Ludwig Element Birch set.I
No issues for 6 years now. Paid $600 or so for the kit, updated the Tom mounts to Atlas mounts. Using Atlas classic stands- no issues at all. Drummers tell me how great the set sounds and I have had a friend or 2 sit in so I could hear it out in the crowd. Sounds really good- I have Aquarian response 2 over classic clear. Tuned a little higher than I normally would to get some extra projection.

Small spaces, I bring my Club Date SE - same heads and tuning sounds great.

Mid grade kits but they are holding up very well.

My USA Luddy stays home.
 
Rattlin' Bones said:
Yup gotta have cases. I could easily drop a kick drum carrying it up my basement steps if not in a case. A case has handles which help, too. Cases would be more expensive than his entire $50 kit, though, unless he already has cases for a more expensive kit, too.

You guys don't have basements out there in SoCal. They're not too earthquake friendly lol.
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I think the thing with cases, once you get a set of hard cases, every kit you get after that is the same size. Can you imagine getting a new kit and then having to buy new cases? That would be insane for me. So my Enduros were fitted for the usual 12/13/16/22 sizes, and I've been making those work all these years. I did upgrade the bass drum case when I went to an 18x22, but that was it. Lucky me!
 
As long as the kit's in good repair ..... use it. Drums rarely fail.
Heads break, hardware breaks, sure. Keep on top of that, you should be good to go.​
 
If it's got the Pearl style L arm Tom mounts then they're fairly bulletproof, worrying about threads stripping and lugs snapping could make a person go mad. Where does it stop? Are mid range kits no good, are lower end pro kits no good? Like pretty much anything, treat it well and it probably won't let you down.
It's nice to have nice things and that can inspire a person to play better too, but at my first gig I was playing a basswood kit with Remo UT batter heads. I was non the wiser, the audience even less so. It sounded great. If I got a bargain kit like the OPs I'd take great pleasure in gigging it.
 
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