This may have been asked once or twice before, but need advice regarding first kit. As I said in my introduction thread, I’m an older guy who’s gotten a burr you know where and wants to learn to play the drums. I’m already taking lessons, but will soon need to be able to practice and play somewhere besides the music shop.
I’m totally new at this, have no aspirations to play in a band, and my venue will be the spare bedroom. I’ll mainly be playing rock/pop music and doing it for my own enjoyment. My goal is to become competent enough to play drum covers of my favorite songs.
If I buy new, I’ve kind of narrowed the field to the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch, Tama Silverstar, or maybe the new Mapex Armory series. Everything I’ve gleaned from reading is that the first two are generally regarded as being gtg, with the new Mapex’s having less input due to being fairly new.
So I guess my first question is, are there any real +’s or –‘s between these, or is it pretty much a six of one, half dozen of another sort of thing? I’ve messed with the Tama and Yamaha sets, but haven’t seen the Mapex. Admittedly the Mapex interests me due to the looks of the virgin bass.
Also, I’ve seen a few Mapex Meridian Maple sets on Ebay for the same or less than the Armory kits. How does this rank in comparison to all the others? Are there other new kits I should also be considering?
FWIW, I’d like to be all in for $1k max, but less is definitely better. $750 would be a lot better. I know I’d be pushing it with any of the above by the time I add hardware and cymbals, so used is also an option.
A couple used kits locally to me: https://dayton.craigslist.org/msg/5185560767.html and http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pearl-Expor...re-and-seat-/201418470006?hash=item2ee579f276 .
The latter has more than I need, but I figure I could sell off the extra snare and large floor tom to recoup some costs. I think the asking price is high, but it’s been sitting a local shop for awhile so some negotiation may be possible. I do know they’ll add in some ZBT crash, ride and HH cymbals for the 1k though.
I don’t need the best of the best, but I don’t want something I’ll want to upgrade in the near future either. I'm sure I can be happy with a quality used kit.
All advice appreciated!!
I’m totally new at this, have no aspirations to play in a band, and my venue will be the spare bedroom. I’ll mainly be playing rock/pop music and doing it for my own enjoyment. My goal is to become competent enough to play drum covers of my favorite songs.
If I buy new, I’ve kind of narrowed the field to the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch, Tama Silverstar, or maybe the new Mapex Armory series. Everything I’ve gleaned from reading is that the first two are generally regarded as being gtg, with the new Mapex’s having less input due to being fairly new.
So I guess my first question is, are there any real +’s or –‘s between these, or is it pretty much a six of one, half dozen of another sort of thing? I’ve messed with the Tama and Yamaha sets, but haven’t seen the Mapex. Admittedly the Mapex interests me due to the looks of the virgin bass.
Also, I’ve seen a few Mapex Meridian Maple sets on Ebay for the same or less than the Armory kits. How does this rank in comparison to all the others? Are there other new kits I should also be considering?
FWIW, I’d like to be all in for $1k max, but less is definitely better. $750 would be a lot better. I know I’d be pushing it with any of the above by the time I add hardware and cymbals, so used is also an option.
A couple used kits locally to me: https://dayton.craigslist.org/msg/5185560767.html and http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pearl-Expor...re-and-seat-/201418470006?hash=item2ee579f276 .
The latter has more than I need, but I figure I could sell off the extra snare and large floor tom to recoup some costs. I think the asking price is high, but it’s been sitting a local shop for awhile so some negotiation may be possible. I do know they’ll add in some ZBT crash, ride and HH cymbals for the 1k though.
I don’t need the best of the best, but I don’t want something I’ll want to upgrade in the near future either. I'm sure I can be happy with a quality used kit.
All advice appreciated!!