Cobbled together kits? Different brands mixed in a single kit?

AlexRaphael

Junior Member
Novice drummer question here fellas/ladies...
Is there any sense in cobbling together a drum kit out of used drums of different makes or is that asking for a disaster?

Could I buy a Pearl snare and throw it together with a used Tama kick drum and some Ludwig toms etc? Here in the Philippines, there's lots of used gear kicking around online. I'm in the market for a snare and hi-hat... but eventually, want to expand to a 5 piece kit. If I put some coin into one brand do I pretty much need to stick to that brand for the rest of the kit? Is that the general way of building a kit?

Or will that start to create problems of difference in racks and hardware on down the road?
 
You might find that one brand´s tom mounts won´t fit another brand´s bass drum bracket but other than that - go ahead.
I play a Sonor bass drum with a Pearl, Gretsch or Tama snare and Yamaha hardware. No toms so no compatibility issues. :)
 
It happens all the time in studios around the world. You play what sounds good and what you have.

Having said that, my OCD would go bonkers if I were to be gigging with drums that didn’t match. I don’t mind playing a completely different snare drum, but that’s about all I could handle. ?
 
If you are getting orphan drums at really good prices, then do it...especially if this is the only way you can get gear. If you are just beginning, you basically need good-sounding targets, and I don't know anyone who knows what he/she wants in terms of specific sounds when they start playing. However, if the price of these orphan drums combined is the same as a kit that matches of the same quality materials, then get a matching kit.

Many people mix and match stuff all of the time. I play Pork Pie USA kits and a Ludwig Maple Classic kit, but I use my Pearl Masters snare with everything I play.
 
Last year I was playing a set with a Pearl bass drum, a Mapex rack tom, and Ludwig floor tom, and a Mapex snare. It was very fun to play, and the guys I was playing with agreed with me that they sounded good. Peace and goodwill.
 
In the recording studio it's not uncommon for drummers to use a bass drum that's different than the rest of the kit. Soundwise, it will work in a live setting as well, it just won't match.

Matching rack toms (10 and 12", or 12 and 13") with a totally different 16" floor tom would probably sound just fine as well.

The most likely place for a sound discrepancy would probably be having 2 different rack toms next to each other.
 
Take whatever you find (Between us: the brands are not important - but the heads - the playing - and the tuning...)
A good drummer brings every kit to sound good - but choose the cymbals wisely....
Bernhard
 
Go for it!
We do what we must to drum....by any means necessary!!!! ANY!!!

Wow. just wow. Inspirational.

The hi hat and double pedal...you have to give the guy props.
 
Do whatever you want. I use predominately Yamaha hardware .... and hex rack. I can hang any of my rack toms with a corresponding RIMS mount that has a Yamaha tom mount on it ..... so my Ludwig, Gretsch, or RMV toms are all compatible. My current rig has RMV's, Remo Roto Toms, and Tama Octobans. A what Bernhard said ..... choose your cymbals wisely.
 

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It happens all the time in studios around the world. You play what sounds good and what you have.

Having said that, my OCD would go bonkers if I were to be gigging with drums that didn’t match. I don’t mind playing a completely different snare drum, but that’s about all I could handle. ?


Yep. I can do a different brand snare and hardware, but the kit itself needs to match or I would go nuts. LOL :p
 
I have kits that match, but sometimes I do it just for fun. We played a house party last year. I used a 1960s Slingerland bass drum, the rack tom and floor tom were 1960s Gretsch, and the snare drum was a Ludwig Black Beauty.

86954
 
Pearl, Leedy & Ludwig, Gretsch, a couple custom snares as toms, 100 year old brass Ludwig snare and a Slingerland Radio King snare are all part of my one of a kind kit that sounds phenomenal.
 

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The one run there is in drum set-land: there are no rules. You can do whatever you want gear-wise. Playing the drums with others dictates certain rules, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. I remember David Garibaldi (of Tower of Power) back in the 70s playing a kit made up of different manufacturers, but they were all the same color, but his groove and playing over-shadowed all that and it was a great show. That's all that matters.
 
The one run there is in drum set-land: there are no rules. You can do whatever you want gear-wise. Playing the drums with others dictates certain rules, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. I remember David Garibaldi (of Tower of Power) back in the 70s playing a kit made up of different manufacturers, but they were all the same color, but his groove and playing over-shadowed all that and it was a great show. That's all that matters.

You're right. It's the sound and the player, not the brand of drums/cymbals. I'd much rather hear/see those street drummers with their home depot buckets and broken cymbals playing their hearts out, than a guy with the "perfect" drum kit playing only 2/4 backbeats.
 
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