This is all super helpful information, thanks everyone!!
I've come to the conclusion that since my needs aren't specific enough to warrant a custom kit, I'd rather save some money and buy a mid-range kit and really put in the work with heads and tuning to make it sound as good as I can. Haven't decided on a kit yet, but will do so soon!
I've come to the conclusion that since my needs aren't specific enough to warrant a custom kit, I'd rather save some money and buy a mid-range kit and really put in the work with heads and tuning to make it sound as good as I can. Haven't decided on a kit yet, but will do so soon!
I'm somehow not surprised at all to hear this! My university bought a new drum kit to the studios last year and it was a Tour Custom that I ended up using on my final recital a few months ago - it really was a great kit, and although I wasn't aware of the price tag at that point, it really puts it in perspective now.If I needed to go out today and buy a solid and good sounding kit that will last me a while, and I didn't care about brand or how it looks, I would pick up a Yamaha Tour Custom in a heartbeat. Unlike the Stage Custom, it has maple shells, 2.3mm hoops, 10-lugs a side on kick, etc. It's just better all around. The downside is very basic satin finishes in limited colors... and I don't like how their tom holders look (but will never doubt their quality or range of motion).
In fact, you can watch this video that goes through all the Yamaha range so you can hear for yourself what the differences are:You'll notice the biggest jump is from the Stage Custom to the Tour Custom, and to be fair it's probably mostly because you jump from cheap heads to proper Remo heads (the Tour Custom ships with "real heads").
I do like the added "weight" to the sound of the Live Custom (and the really cool finishes), but would never be able to justify the extra cost.
I gigged with a friend that has a brand new Recording Custom recently (3-4 times the price of a Tour Custom), it... sounded like a drum. If I'm honest though, I was impressed at how loud and powerful it sounded unmic'd even outside (many quality drums sound fairly weak outside until you mic them).
I found that the biggest difference with quality kits, soundwise, is the "envelope" of the sound. The clarity of the attack, the consistency of the decay. With a cheap drum, you need to do a bit more studio trickery (compression, transient manipulators, sample augmentation, etc) to get them to sit right in the mix. A good drum, you just put mics to it and bam you have "that" sound.