Recommendations for acoustic setup (with constraints)

ampman117

Member
I've been drumming off and on for a few years with a hybrid electronic setup (TD6V with gen16 hats, custom snare, pd8s/cy8s/KDA22) and would like to move to an acoustic set. I'm looking for some help/opinions/feedback to make sure I am not missing anything since I have never owned an acoustic setup before.

I have a $1500 budget and the used market where I live is pretty much non-existent.

Shells: I am leaning towards a Yamaha Stage Custom 5 piece with 22" kick. I already own a stage custom bass drum that the KDA22 is mounted in, which I like, and from what I've read the kit is solid and it won't break the bank.

Kick Pedal: I have one already.

Hi-hat stand: I have one already, but have been running into back pain with the electronic kit, and I think its related to having to cross my arm over to reach the hats on the left side. My gen16s are 13" and I am going to be going with 14" for the acoustic set - so the issue might fix its self since I wont need to reach as far. If I did get a remote hat, I'm looking at the DW. However, this along with the stage custom kit would blow most of my budget, so I am considering using the stand I have and maybe buying a remote hat later if I keep having back issues??? Anyone had back issues due to hihat placement before? Any other possible solutions?

Cymbals: Nothing on the used market where I live, otherwise that would be my first choice. I am heavily leaning towards the Wuhan B20 pack that has 14 inch hats, a crash and a ride for $300. They sound alright from listening on YouTube and they fit in my budget. The pst7 universal pack was another possibility. If I had the budget I would probably go for a zildjian A pack or mix K hats with A crash/ride. Any alternative ideas or feedback on how to best fit in some musical cymbals along those lines would be appreciated.

Cymbal Stands / Rack: Leaning towards at least 1 Yamaha 965 boom, since it would be heavy weight and allow me to mount a cymbal + clamp on the remote hi-hat if I end up going that route, plus it would match the kit. The other one would probably be an 865 or something cheaper to fit the budget. In general, I'd like something where the angle is infinitely adjustable and could be switched between boom/straight if needed. I've looked at a few racks, but they seem like they would be more expensive and overkill at this point. The one big benefit to a rack is that I don't have a huge amount of physical space and a rack might fit in a smaller footprint vs. using all stands. Any ideas or feedback between racks/stands would be appreciated.

Drum Heads: Thinking about just keeping the stock heads for now. Not sure.


Thanks for reading.
 
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Welcome, both to Drummerworld and (soon) to the wonderful world of acoustic drums.

I‘ll take you at your word that used isn‘t an option, though I’m sure eBay and Reverb.com would disagree. But if you’re only looking at new, I think you’re on the right track with the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch. That would make a great first kit for anyone.

As for your back issues, unless you’re doing something wrong, crossing over to play the HH should not be an issue. And this is coming from someone who has dealt with occasional lower back pain for decades. Your throne height, HH cymbal height and pedal placement should all be adjusted so that you’re sitting comfortably and well balanced while playing. If you’re feeling off balance or if you’re having to work to maintain your posture, that would almost certainly be the culprit rather than crossing your hands. So keep your hi hat stand and experiment with positioning to be comfortable. Or better yet, find a teacher and start taking lessons. That will help immensely, not only with playing but also little things like how to properly set up your kit.

Finding a good set of cymbals that aren’t harsh and are very musical for $300 will be quite challenging, as pretty much all cymbal sets in that price range sound horrible to me. I don‘t know anything about those Wuhans, but I don’t think you’ll be happy with the Paiste PST7s, as they have a relatively bright and harsh sound to me. The only thing I can think of would be to try Dream Cymbals. They’re quite a bit less expensive than comparable cymbals from the major players (Zildjian, Sabian, Paiste, Meinl, etc.), and many of the ones I’ve heard are warmer and more musical than your typical entry level cymbals.

I love Yamaha cymbal stands, but I think the 900 series is probably a bit of overkill as they are very expensive and very heavy. You won’t need anything that heavy. A boom stand from their 700 series is what I would recommend. In fact, all of my cymbal stands are 700 series. And you’re right to keep the stock heads for now. They will sound fine as long as you learn how to tune halfway decent. But that’s a topic for a whole other conversation. Once the stock neads are ready to be replaced, you’ll hopefully have a better sense of what kind of sound you’re after, and can choose your new heads based on that.
 
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And another welcome to Drummerworld. And another vote for Yamaha 700 series stands. Pictured, I'm using a 700 single-braced stand to hold 10x10 and 12x12 toms and an 18" crash. I use 600 and 700 series stands almost exclusively. And the Yamaha hide-a-booms are lovely;)

I'll go there ..... BUY USED;) ..... or at least consider it. eBay, Reverb, Guitar Center even. Buy used from Guitar Center and they'll either ship it to your house or the closest GC. A new Yamaha SC is around $700. If you can score a used kit for closer to $500 .... and GC has used Yamaha SC's for under $500. That leave's you more of your budget for hardware and cymbals. Quality hats, ride, crash will elevate ANY drum set. And we've recently had some guys posting about their used drum scores ($200, $300, $400 kits) that sounded killer, with new heads.

Cymbals .... again used. Here's a reputable seller. You were talking K hats (dark) here are some Sabian HH's and there's a sound file. https://www.ebay.com/itm/VIDEO-THE-...6292:g:ghsAAOSwh4BgNYmN&LH_ItemCondition=3000

You can get a good used cymbal set put together, for around $750, I think. $500 drum set. That leaves $250 for hardware.
 

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You have a fun adventure ahead of you. I certainly support others in going the used route. It shouldn't be hard to buy used cymbals and have them sent to you. Drums may be a different matter, but worth investigating.

Regarding your back pain, I strongly suspect the cause is more likely related to posture in your usual sitting position(s) at work or home and probably not due to crossing your arms for the hi-hat. I encourage you to focus on ergonomics in your regular situations (whatever your workplace is), sit up straight most of the time (including at the drumset; see drummer Antonio Sanchez for a role model for this), and maybe develop some useful stretches and strengthening exercises for your core muscles.

Lastly, regarding the footprint size of your new set, consider opening the stands' feet about halfway rather than having them totally splayed open. You'll save a lot of space and they'll still handle the loads.

Keep us updated!
 
I've been drumming off and on for a few years with a hybrid electronic setup (TD6V with gen16 hats, custom snare, pd8s/cy8s/KDA22) and would like to move to an acoustic set. I'm looking for some help/opinions/feedback to make sure I am not missing anything since I have never owned an acoustic setup before.

I have a $1500 budget and the used market where I live is pretty much non-existent.

Shells: I am leaning towards a Yamaha Stage Custom 5 piece with 22" kick. I already own a stage custom bass drum that the KDA22 is mounted in, which I like, and from what I've read the kit is solid and it won't break the bank.

Kick Pedal: I have one already.

Hi-hat stand: I have one already, but have been running into back pain with the electronic kit, and I think its related to having to cross my arm over to reach the hats on the left side. My gen16s are 13" and I am going to be going with 14" for the acoustic set - so the issue might fix its self since I wont need to reach as far. If I did get a remote hat, I'm looking at the DW. However, this along with the stage custom kit would blow most of my budget, so I am considering using the stand I have and maybe buying a remote hat later if I keep having back issues??? Anyone had back issues due to hihat placement before? Any other possible solutions?

Cymbals: Nothing on the used market where I live, otherwise that would be my first choice. I am heavily leaning towards the Wuhan B20 pack that has 14 inch hats, a crash and a ride for $300. They sound alright from listening on YouTube and they fit in my budget. The pst7 universal pack was another possibility. If I had the budget I would probably go for a zildjian A pack or mix K hats with A crash/ride. Any alternative ideas or feedback on how to best fit in some musical cymbals along those lines would be appreciated.

Cymbal Stands / Rack: Leaning towards at least 1 Yamaha 965 boom, since it would be heavy weight and allow me to mount a cymbal + clamp on the remote hi-hat if I end up going that route, plus it would match the kit. The other one would probably be an 865 or something cheaper to fit the budget. In general, I'd like something where the angle is infinitely adjustable and could be switched between boom/straight if needed. I've looked at a few racks, but they seem like they would be more expensive and overkill at this point. The one big benefit to a rack is that I don't have a huge amount of physical space and a rack might fit in a smaller footprint vs. using all stands. Any ideas or feedback between racks/stands would be appreciated.

Drum Heads: Thinking about just keeping the stock heads for now. Not sure.


Thanks for reading.
Nothing used where you live? have you gone to pawnshops? are there pawnshops where you live? have you asked the local music store if they sell used gear? a lot of them do.
I personally have never had issues from crossing right and left arms but it's not in an unnatural position so if you are having issues and you pinpoint it to that then adjust your gear to be more ergonomically friendly. It could be your posture do you hunch or bend down while playing? do you have to reach too far to hit a cymbal? I don't recommend using a YT review to purchase blindly what I mean by that is I for example can record a decent sounding cymbal, add some EQ, and effects and that decent sounding cymbal is going to sound awesome, then you go and spend your hard earned $$$ and when you get it home it sounds less than decent.. What gives? well lots of factors affect how a cymbal will sound from the room, the stick used to hit it, the mic it was used to record it, the effects added post recording.. even if you go to a store and test a cymbal there in their cymbal vault, it's going to sound different in your rehearsal space just because of the nature of a cymbal vault....
now Rack vs stands... I prefer the rack because for me (11+ cymbals) it is way easier than having 44 legs around my kit...and I do like the way it tidies everything up, others rather look at the 44 legs and not the bars on top of their bass drum... Drum heads is another subject for another thread but from my personal experience of playing Remo (coated non coated single and double ply) and getting this set with Aquarian... well I had no issues tunning the Aquarians and they sound and feel great.. Usually new kits even high end ones come with very cheap head and they should only be kept if you gig and break one head as an emergency replacement but never as your default heads, perhaps a lot of people will disagree with this but that is just MY opinion. (mind you I used to be really poor so I sported the original heads for a really long time and came to appreciate how much better GOOD heads sound.)
 
Hi-hat stand: I have one already, but have been running into back pain with the electronic kit, and I think its related to having to cross my arm over to reach the hats on the left side. My gen16s are 13" and I am going to be going with 14" for the acoustic set - so the issue might fix its self since I wont need to reach as far. If I did get a remote hat, I'm looking at the DW. However, this along with the stage custom kit would blow most of my budget, so I am considering using the stand I have and maybe buying a remote hat later if I keep having back issues??? Anyone had back issues due to hihat placement before? Any other possible solutions?

My suggestion would be to do this: Tear down your whole kit except for your drum throne, hats, snare, and kick. As you are adjusting your hats, push them forward a little and then a little closer to the snare drum. Your foot position should feel pretty natural in this position. Instead of your hats being at 9:00 position, try to get them to about a 10-10:30 position...you know...maybe a little more "in front" of your snare instead of "beside" the snare. Once you get this in a comfortable position, adjust your entire kit around this.

The above instructions is what I do. Plus I have 15" hats, so this is super comfortable for me to play. About 13 seconds into this video, you can see my set-up pretty well. Because I set up like this, I almost feel like my hats are more in front of my snare, and therefore easier to hit. I play my hats at about the 2:00 position. I don't feel like I'm "crossing over" much at all, and nothing feels forced. 14" hats are nice, but I love the larger target of my 15" hats.

At about the 13 seconds into the video, you can see my set-up. I hope this helps!

 
Hi everybody, thanks a bunch for the feedback and info - there’s 2 small music rshops near me but there hasn’t been much in the way of used gear. No chain shops, no shops specializing in drums, no pawn shops :( I wish I had access to a good used market and larger shops with stock to hear things in person, I’ve been listening to stuff on that mycymbal site, and I know every cymbal will be a little different, but at least I think I can narrow down to general product lines that way. I have been looking at eBay and reverb a bit more - the sabian hats did sound pretty nice.

I’ve been looking at the 700 series stands more closely now thanks for the suggestion, they seem like a good option that fits in the budget better. Not having owned any stands before I thought I might need the beefier stuff.

PorkPieGuy thanks for the setup suggestion and video, my hh stand is closer to the 9 o’clock position I would say, and as I’ve pieced the ekit together I always would setup the rack first and then fit the HH stand in where it would fit vs. setting up the HH, snare and kick first, then setting up the electronic pads around them. Definitely gonna try that out. I do have a double kick pedal so that pushes the hh stand to the left, maybe I’ll reverse the order, I dunno. Thanks!
 
My suggestion would be to do this: Tear down your whole kit except for your drum throne, hats, snare, and kick. As you are adjusting your hats, push them forward a little and then a little closer to the snare drum. Your foot position should feel pretty natural in this position. Instead of your hats being at 9:00 position, try to get them to about a 10-10:30 position...you know...maybe a little more "in front" of your snare instead of "beside" the snare. Once you get this in a comfortable position, adjust your entire kit around this.

The above instructions is what I do. Plus I have 15" hats, so this is super comfortable for me to play. About 13 seconds into this video, you can see my set-up pretty well. Because I set up like this, I almost feel like my hats are more in front of my snare, and therefore easier to hit. I play my hats at about the 2:00 position. I don't feel like I'm "crossing over" much at all, and nothing feels forced. 14" hats are nice, but I love the larger target of my 15" hats.

At about the 13 seconds into the video, you can see my set-up. I hope this helps!

This will also put your legs less spread, your knees about equidistant from the snare, and your feet... um, "even" (not parallel, unless you're pointing your toes inward by turning your feet at the ankle) with each other, ideally with your ankles directly under your knees, or just slightly forward. More comfy overall.

An extra bonus I get from doing this is that I don't actually cross my arms/sticks over. Starting with my matched-grip starting position learned in high school marching band (it was the late 80s and our band director didn't switch the snare line to traditional until 2 years after I graduated), which is German-grip (palms down), I keep my wrists straight, sticks held at about a 45 degree angle inward from being straight extensions of my arms, stick tips in the middle of the snare head. This puts my forearms parallel to each other, pointing straight forward, and the stick tips naturally come together to make an "arrow" pointing forward. From there, I figured out that if I just moved my right upper arm forward a smidge and then rotated my forearm to the left a bit (keeping my elbow where it was when I moved my upper arm forward), then lift it a little to get over the hats' edge (obviously), the tip of my right stick fell comfortably on the hats with out the sticks crossing over. I got the idea from Bill Berry in the beginning of the video for "The One I Love" by REM. (He doesn't really show the marching grip/position thing- it was just a happy accident that it helped me do it.)
 
I do have a double kick pedal so that pushes the hh stand to the left, maybe I’ll reverse the order, I dunno. Thanks!
I don't play double bass, but I've seen others extend the slave pedal over to the other side of the HH pedal. Some cheaper pedals' linkages / drive shafts (whatever it's called) have inner & outer sections that aren't long enough to extend that far, but I bet most good ones don't have that issue.
 
(I'm kind of late to this thread...)

The better weather is coming, so you might be able to visit garage sales and rummage sales in your area. Sometimes there are used cymbals of good brands and you can get a very good deal. But you do have to be very patient for the good stuff to appear and that can take many months. But you might be able to find a few really nice items to round out your kit. I got a really nice set of hi-hats that way.
 
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