What is Lightest Drum Kit Available

Rattlin' Bones

Gold Member
What's the lightest lowest weight kit available?

I want a smallish (18"BD max size) kit I can store upstairs for quick trips out to the car for gigs, instead of lugging heavy kit up from basement. Needs to be gig-worthy (as in stand up to a lot of gigging and abuse) and also be ultra-light as a feather.
 
Thin shells, no metal BD hoops, look for hardware that's not bulky (not DW), no die cast hoops. 1.6 mm hoops on toms. No RIMS mounts. Hardware is where the weight comes in. Maybe consider vintage. Those old dried out shells are light, and they were made under depression era mentality so there's not much wasted weight.
 
Without knowing what you want besides a kick no bigger than 18", the Pearl Midtown weighs in at 46.1lb for everything. It comes in one box, so 4 drums, heads, hoops, and hardware, 46.1lb. I don't know what's heavy to y'all, but I'm pretty sure my Wood-Fiberglass 24" kick and it's case weighs that much by itself.
 
INDe drums are perhaps the lightest kits due to their thin shells and lightweight hardware. They were designed from the ground up with resonance in mind, using the lowest mass hardware possible.

There's plenty of "travel" kits that may be lighter, but for full size dimension kits, I can't think of anything lighter than INDe drums.
 
The Yamaha Hipgig Junior is good too. 16" Kick, 13" FT, 12 & 10 Toms. Can buy as a shell pack 5 Pce with 12" Snare. Can set up as a 4 pce for gigs if suitable. Fairly light drums, Mount's are attached to shell. Manu Katche Junior New Version, around a few years now. All birch, Chinese grown birch same as Stage Custom. Lovely quality, small but powerful. Yamaha durable quality for the gigging drummer. The Stage Custom Bebop with 18" Kick, 14" FT, 12" Tom = 3 pce is also available that many guy's use with there own upgraded quality snare. A Stage Custom Steel shell would work well with this set too. Peace out, keep rhythmic.
 
For traditional drums - IDK. Manufacturers don't publish weight specs.

Amazon gives shipping weight and box dimensions in their shipping info at the bottom of the page. The Yamaha Stage Custom Birch 3 piece checks in at 30lb.
 
After hauling around a Pearl Reference, ANY kit is lighter! If you can find one of the original Pearl Rhythm Travelers, those are great. I mainly use the 20x8 bass drum and the 13” snare, and I added a regular 12x8 rack tom, and use a 14x10 as the floor tom that I put legs on. All the drums stack up on my cars backseat and the hardware fits in a long tool bag I got at the Home Depot. Totally works!
 
Amazon gives shipping weight and box dimensions in their shipping info at the bottom of the page. The Yamaha Stage Custom Birch 3 piece checks in at 30lb.
I've found Amazon's shipping weights to be unreliable. Sometimes it's spot on, other times it seems like a wild guess.
 
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Pearl Midtown, whole kit goes in 2 bags. 16/10/13 double headed toms.

Stood up to me gigging all over the country for over a year. When I sold it it was still in mint condition.

Tama, Ludwig etc all do a travel kit. DW do 2 travel kits if you want to spend silly money.
 
Wrong bass drum size but if you can find a used Yamaha Rock Tour, I had one for a while and it was very light. 12”, 16”, 22”.
 
I have a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom from the mid 2000s , with the "big leaf mahoghany" shells and its very light compared to other kits. They have become scare and somewhat difficult to find used, though....at least at a reasonable price. Pair that with some Yamaha cross town aluminum stands and you're in business. Also, the PDP wood hoop kits are light in weight and worth checking out.
 
Pearl Rhythm Traveler yes that might be the ticket. A 20x8 kick. Perfect.

After hauling around a Pearl Reference, ANY kit is lighter! If you can find one of the original Pearl Rhythm Travelers, those are great. I mainly use the 20x8 bass drum and the 13” snare, and I added a regular 12x8 rack tom, and use a 14x10 as the floor tom that I put legs on. All the drums stack up on my cars backseat and the hardware fits in a long tool bag I got at the Home Depot. Totally works!
 
I now have all lightweight stands, it's the drums I need, and especially a light kick.

I have a Yamaha Rock Tour Custom from the mid 2000s , with the "big leaf mahoghany" shells and its very light compared to other kits. They have become scare and somewhat difficult to find used, though....at least at a reasonable price. Pair that with some Yamaha cross town aluminum stands and you're in business. Also, the PDP wood hoop kits are light in weight and worth checking out.
 
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