Whats your opinion on Electric Drums?

[brownmnms4ozzy]

Me personally i've always liked playing them at music stores or wherever. i'm considering getting one because i'm only 15 and don't have the cash for heads,sticks,cymbals, and such. and noise controll because i have a D!ckhead neighbor who calls the cops on me at 4:30 in the afternoon for playing drums.


so any opinions would be great

[rmandelbaum]

If you can afford the mesh head kits they are great. Stay away form the old hard rubber pads, they will damage your hands, arms and wrists if you play with any power for any real length of time.

[Rick_Strong]

I think they are great, for practice and recording. The important thing to remember, the end sound is only as good as the amp and speakers used.

[harryconway]

I have both an acoustic and an electric kit. I treat them as 2 seperate instruments. Like a guitarist does not demand his acoustic to act/play/feel/sound like his electric, neither do I expect or demand that my drums make that crossover. Both can do things the other can't. If you have "noise issues" with your neighbor, and electric kit would perhaps be a good solution.

[Big Chris]

Originally Posted by Rick_Strong

The important thing to remember, the end sound is only as good as the amp and speakers used.....

.....Which is why I'd recommend a good pair of Headphones. I use Grado SR125s. They leak as they're open backed, but the sound is wonderful.

[brownmnms4ozzy]

well i already have a good pair of headphones but thats a good tip.


as for speakers i was thinking i'd play on headphones until i could afford some.


any tips on brands and models would be cool too


thanks

[harryconway]

Keep an eye on Craig's list/eBay for Yamaha and Roland e-kits. That'll give you a "real world" value scale. Without going overboard, you can land a good kit for $600-800.

The very idea of electric drums fills me with dread and disgust.

[Deathmetalconga]

I think electric kits are great. I've played a few and the high-end ones sound as good as ply drums, maybe even better because they're always in tune, and you have dozens of kits on tap.

Electronic drums are a radical departure from the norm of plywood drums. Let's face it, acoustic drums have changed very little in 150 years. Drummers are a pretty conservative lot so don't take personally anyone who disses electronic drums.

[Big Chris]

Originally Posted by jay norem

The very idea of electric drums fills me with dread and disgust.

Why? For practice in the home environment (Unless you live in the wilderness miles from anyone) they're a great practice tool.

I don't think I'd ever take them out gigging mind. Not in isolation anyway (Intrigued about adding some pads to my acoustic kit for those sounds you simply can't reproduce any other way)

they are a space saver, if you don't have enough room, i don't think tat they are a bad idea.

i have only tried 2 electric kits and they have both been fine, but they are more expensive that acoutsic kits, but you probably will save in the long run with buying heads and various acessiories.

roland make good electric kits and so do yamaha.

i have acoustic drums and can't play them after a certian time so could practice for longer if you have an electric kit.

personally i prefer acoustic kits, you just don't get the same feel with electric drums. with acoustic drums you can take time to fine tune and customise acoustic drums, this may sound stupid but it it envolves more love with acoustic kit, with a E-kit it's just a peice of machinery.

[ULTIMATEDRUMMER]

I like electric drums, They are fun to mess around on, there quiet, don't take much room, they have metronomes and play along tracks. The only thing is the feel is different, but it's kinda like a practice pad.

[norgo]

the above poster mentioning about treating acoustic and electrics differently when using guitars is absolutely right when talking about drums.

I used to own an acoustic kit that costed me 500$. Personally, in my opinion, to get some decent sounding acoustic kits I feel that I would need to spend 2000$+. With an electric kit, everything sounds perfect. You can control its volume and not worry about pissing people off in the house.

When I used to play acoustic, i played like...what, 1 hour a day if I was lucky? With electric I play more than 3 hours a day, anytime I want. I scored a TD-3 for 700$ on craigslist. The pads aren't that bad. They're no different than practicing on a practice pad.

Also, recording is SO much easier.My friends have used the TD-3 to record and most people can't even tell that it's an electronic drumkit.

OBVIOUSLY you wouldn't want to play live with it, but you're better off playing than not playing because of noise issues.