not a kit to drool over... - my nighthawk

jtkiv

Member
Not the greatest kit but i love it. 5-piece Gretsch Nighthawk standard 14/12/13/16/22 with an added 16" Excel floor tom. 13" solar hats (better than them sitting in the floor), 14" Medium B8Pro hats, 16" B8Pro Medium Crash, 14" Wuhan China, 10" Wuhan Splash, 18" B8Pro Medium Crash, 20" B8Pro Medium Ride, and some unknown 16" crash :D

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Not bad, not bad. I'm in a similar boat as you. It can kinda be a depressing thing, looking down the list of gorgeous expensive kits on this site, but hey, use what you got. I like your setup. Looks comfortable. And yes, you may have cheap cymbals, but B8 pros are great for the money, as are the Wuhans. I liked your comment about the hihats being better not sitting on the floor. Whenever I upgrade, I feel the same way. Why not throw the outdated stuff on your kit? More possibilities.
 
I'm impressed that you have a budget drum set and it's not full of duct tape and moon gel and a weeks worth of laundry. Bang on it until it dies, then mover up to a Gretsch Renown.
 
yeah i got like 440 in my kit total and i've been really impressed with it. I got it in pretty bad shape, cleaned it up, fixed a few things then starting building on it.

MykeylnChains - I KNOW! and like two days ago i went to a drum store called Forks Drum Closet in Nashville... I'm walking around these custom DW's and Superstars just dreaming away. I like my B8Pro's, a huge leap over B8's. got them all for 200, and i think that was a decent deal.
 
nothing wrong with your kit at all! i like black kits, they look like they mean buisness. if you want to try something different, move a floor tom to the left of the snare...my suggestion on a tight budget is heads first - even if its one at a time, new heads - new sound - good sound!
 
Very cool, Don't bag on your gear, you have a nice kit, you should be proud of it.

a high end kit will happen. It just takes time.
 
I am proud of it, and your right there is nothing wrong with it. Its a great kit, but before i spend too much money on it, I'll put it towards something along the lines of a Gretsch Catalina Maple. I'm not "bagging" on it, its great for what it is, but im just looking forward to the day when i get something slightly nicer.

I don't think i would change heads one at a time, I'd want to go all together so the sounds would be more even. I like floor toms to the side of the snare, but if you can't tell (lol) im running short in space. :D

oh and lol, my weeks worth of laundry is all over the parts of my room you cant see...
 
Just a thought--you could change the height of your aux hi-hat and put it closer to your other hi-hat for better accessibility. Maybe it could lead to interesting creative possibilities. Also, flip that china upside-down to avoid chipping your sticks.
 
Rome wasn't built in a day. Just work on it one piece at a time, and keep practicing!
I like your set-up btw. Looks comfy.
 
lol, i remember being told somewhere to flip your chinas, but forgot... :) its flipped. I would move the 2nd hat set, but it cant really move in anymore due to the other hi hat stand plus my double bass pedal thats squeezed in there. I don't really play the double bass, but im going to try and learn so the 2nd pair of hats has to pretty much be where it is.

setup is very tight and "compact" i suppose. I like my drums all together where i can reach them pivoting only from my elbow. Then if i ever play for a long long time i can switch between my whole arm them only part. It works out well for me. Yeah, like i said, my next step will probably be all new drums. Then after that I'll start upgrading the cymbals. Might need a job first...
 
I see you have your slave pedal on the outside side...similar to my last setup. I also like compact setups...because i never had too much space in reherearsal rooms and eventually i got used to it.

idea: move one floor tom to left side and move solar hi-hat to right side and try using it as a closed hihat.
 
Man.

It reminds me of my old kit (not a bad thing), my only opinion is that you should dust it down, your kick looks pretty dusty. Or that might be light.
 
I dusted them right after i took the pics lol, i cant tell that much in my room cause the lights aren't the brightest... but with the camera flash you sure can see the dust.

for right now the solars are only closed hi hats cause its missing the screw for the hi hat holder thingy :) i might try moving around some but I'd have to move the whole set and for right now im happy with it where it is, but sometime I'll experiment.
 
I like you kit dear sir.
PS. take the time to know that you will own your dream kit one day.
But take the knowledge from this kit to your dream kit via love for drumming
not the lust for material things.
 
At least you have a kit my friend.
I played on an old Pearl Forum set for the longest time, and honestly, with good heads, and proper tuning, I got those puppies sounding pretty good.
And another thing, when you do get a new kit, start of with a 4 piece.
You can get some nice kits that come in 4 pieces, and if you get the right brand, you can expand as you get the money.
Nice setup though, I played with B8 pros for the longest time.
 
I think mine sound good. I would like to get some nice new heads, but I'm going to wait till I blow through one. If that ever happens. With my new Wuhan's which are really thin, my B8Pro's sound worse than they did, but they still have a good sound.

So a 4pc... that would allow me to get better drums at the same price, but i want it to eventually be a 6 piece - 4 toms. If i got a 4pc would that be either really hard or really expensive to expand on? Because of course, everything has to match.
 
Well, if you got a kit made by really any of the major companies then it would be really easy to add on.
Tama, PDP, Gretsch, Pearl, ddrum.
All of these companies have add-on toms in pretty much every finish they sell.
I know that Gretsch makes some really nice maple kits that come in 4,5, or 6 piece set ups for cheap.

For example:
http://drums-percussion.musiciansfr...-Shell-Pack-with-Free-16-Floor-Tom?sku=500904

That's a 6 piece all maple kit for only $499
Ask anyone on here who has one, they're great.
 
Hey man, you have the right attitude.
You play with what you have.
I've seen guys play live with sets that were awful, but they somehow got a good sound out of them.
I think we can all take something from that and stop trying to get larger, more expensive kits.
We should be a little more content with what we already have.
 
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