Anyone regret buying a compact mini kit?

I hope it works out for you at the store. It sounds like you'd be happier with a smaller kit.
If it doesn't work out, maybe you could find a less expensive, used small drum set,
and keep (or sell) your current set.
 
I suppose whatever happens I'll be okay. I can afford a whole second shell set and still eat food. I'd rather do that than modify a very popular configuration.

If I still lived in L.A. I could resell this in a day, but on O'ahu, there are not many men and women running around buying new drums every day, and shipping to a mainland buyer is costly! Geography changes everything.

Ironically, while in L.A. I was into electronic drums, and despite having attended NAMM, and living minutes away from the major drum shops, I never took the opportunity to try out a bunch of acoustic kits and various shell sizes. My last acoustic kit before this one was in around 1991.
 
Well, I have to keep it but I am fine with that.

Last night I played a borrowed kit at a jam in a rehearsal studio, really enormous shell sizes with five giant toms and two 26" kicks, really terrible, unpleasant old drums. But I made them work and that helped me realize it is not all about the drums.
 
I regret purchasing this kit.



This was a club gig in a fairly large room. A lot of glass and tile floors. I ended up playing the first set with rods just to control the volume until the place filled in a bit more. No benefit over my standard kit for the same amount of work to bring and set up.

It was super cool and fun to play and sounded really great but it just wasn't what the band needed. We play about 10 'acoustic' gigs a year where low volume or a small set up is ideal. I just found cajon and percussion more enjoyable and easier to deal with. The massive change from full-on mic'd drums to hand percussion is the mojo I needed. This compact kit had limited use and function.

We played a corporate gig in an all concrete and glass repurposed factory. Think gentrification of the downtown. Huge room. Small kit. Perfect. Nope. I played rods all night due to the volume. Cajon and shakers would have been the solution. There's just not enough "unique" gigs to warrant a small version of something I already have. Fit great on the riser, tho...

 
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I had the Yamaha Al Foster Hipgig kit, the 18x23" bass drum was a beast and took up too much depth on stage. I couldn't get a great sound out of the kick either

I now have a kit called Littlebird with a 20x14, 10x8 and 14x12 made with Keller VSS shells, much lighter kit and sounds great too.

The Littlebird kit does nest, but to me it takes longer setting up and tearing down so I just put them in their own bags and off I go.
 

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I had a Yamaha Manu Katche set (with 10/13/16" drums) for a couple of years. It was fun, I just never had a good reason to take it out instead of my (at the time) Slingerland bop set. It wasn't that much easier to shlep.

Actually I just played a Yamaha Steve Jordan cocktail set, and it was insanely fun to play. It's kind of a special sound that wouldn't work with any of the groups I'm currently playing with, though. Probably great for Latin music.
 
You are all correct. It is quite easy to transport and set up a larger kit, and smaller kits are also loud.

It must be my hearing, but I just like the sound of smaller shells. When I sit behind a mega-kit that's not mine, I tend to play around more at the smaller end of the rack, and I respond well to 13" and 12" snares, that stand out clearly amongst basses, and electric guitars. And I like a little melody from the bass drum at human hearing range also, and 12" to 14" is the right bass drum shell depth for me. I guess I may be the perfect candidate for a mini-kit.

I am about to take the Stage Custom to a studio this morning, to see what I can bring out with various tunings.
 
You are all correct. It is quite easy to transport and set up a larger kit, and smaller kits are also loud.

It must be my hearing, but I just like the sound of smaller shells. When I sit behind a mega-kit that's not mine, I tend to play around more at the smaller end of the rack, and I respond well to 13" and 12" snares, that stand out clearly amongst basses, and electric guitars. And I like a little melody from the bass drum at human hearing range also, and 12" to 14" is the right bass drum shell depth for me. I guess I may be the perfect candidate for a mini-kit.

I am about to take the Stage Custom to a studio this morning, to see what I can bring out with various tunings.


Yes - mess around with higher tunings.
And if you don't like the head that's on that 10", that'd be the first to replace.

I've heard a couple small kits that the sound has stuck in my head.
I thought it was because of the wood involved, but after reflecting on it a bit,
I think it was just because of higher tunings along with a short sustain.
They sounded a bit like a bongo/conga set, if that makes any sense.
I think tuning high and the use of thicker heads or some muffling is a start.

I've had a couple SC kits in your sizes, and I'm sure you can get fairly
close to the sound you're looking for with a little experimentation.

The main glitch might be the snare, but you can always pick up a
smaller 12 or 13 later. In the meantime - just crank it.
 
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