Scaling down your kit. Experiences and thoughts?

My 9 pcs old school 1987 Tama Granstar stays the way it is with 4 up 2 down and 2 bass drums.

The number of stands with cymbals just 6 and an x hat for right side.

I had an 8 inch tom but sold it as upgrading is not really the thing either

The kit has history as a rental kit in the UK and maybe an artist named Ulrich behind it so it has special value and most importantly I still love it for what it is every time I play or just see it.
 
I used to play 6 now I am 1up 1 down. I think a smaller kit enhances my creativity as the 4 toms kinda forced me to do a "tom roll". Pretty much every fill was your typical descending tom roll. Now , it makes me use each instrument in a more "full way"(rimshots, edges, center, side, rim,etc).
 
I use a 1 up, 1 or 2 down for everything. It's easy to set up and take down. At the end of the night I can hear my bed a calling from the venue so pack away time is key. If I'm playing a midweek gig or driving to a gig straight from work the 2nd floor stays at home!

Cymbal wise I use a couple of crashes, a ride and hats. I love chinas and I have a 10" A splash that's beautiful but for live stuff it's a bit pointless and an extra stand to setup same theory with chinas they're a bit OTT for weddings and functions especially the rude.

Fair play to anyone who uses a big setup on stage and sets it up week in and week out. But if you can do everything on a 4/5 piece or even less......you see the point.
 
I currently play a 4 piece kit one up one down with hats/ride/2 crashes and it's perfect for me, my rack tom is mounted off a cymbal stand and I'm going to figure out mounting the floor tom off a cymbal stand to lighten the load!

I tried using kick/snare/floor tom and hats/big crash for a bit and it didn't work out I'm a simplistic drummer but I felt terribly limited. I've slowly added on a rack tom, ride, and another crash over the past couple years and it's worth the extra setup time and couple pounds of gear!
 
Better to revive an old thread than to start a new one, eh? ;)

I think i'm going to scale down my kit. I use a pretty extensive setup because i'm one of those drummers who loves to have all those different sounds. I need to set-up and tear down my setup every rehearsal and that takes me roughly 15 to 20 minutes. I realized this week that i'm kinda done with spending that much time setting up (so even more respect to Terry Bozzio haha), but also that i like the idea of refreshing my approach to the kit. Also feel that my setup is a bit cluttered, but also ergonomically i started to dislike that i need to turn my torso a bit too much to reach the 16" floor tom. Tried a couple of times moving the 14" next to the hats, but feels awkward.

So i think this Friday i will:
- let out the 8" tom and 14" floor tom
- put the 10 and 12" tom in front of me (off-set) and the 16" in the spot where the 14" was
- 'retire' the 8 and 10" splash and put the stacks in front of me, put the 6" Paiste Accent inverted on the bigger stack
- move the right crash over to the front to make room for the china on the right and move it to a more comfortable position
- and last but not least; nothing to do with scaling down, but putting an ISS mount on the 10" snare and mount it to the rack since my stands can't mount it properly. Oh ofcourse will still use 2 bass drums, because to me that's so much better than a double pedal haha.

Really hope this setup will work and sticks, because it's not the first time that after a few months i revert back to the huge setup i have now. Over the years i noticed that having at least 3 toms (either 2 toms/1 floor or 1 tom/2 floors) allow me to construct melodic fills that i have i my head, so this should work. Keeping the rocket toms, because i need them for certain fills to spread out the sounds and again the melodic part comes in to play.

EDIT:
Below the pic that inspired this ;)

attachment.php
 
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supermac said:
2. A sense of becoming more groove-based, minimal and getting more sounds of out a basic four-piece.
Click to expand...

Those were my two reasons for scaling down to a 5-piece. I also like the sound of fewer toms with wider intervals between them. It's a less "melodic" kit, which I like.
And I think I've said here before that most of the highly technical drumming I'm seeing these days is on smaller kits, with a few exceptions of course. Fewer toms doesn't mean being limited technically. Not at all.
But it does mean you can't hide any shortcomings behind big tom rolls and things like that. With a small kit, you need to actually have something to say.
 
iCe said:
EDIT:
Below the pic that inspired this ;)

attachment.php
Click to expand...

My cymbals would be set up a little differently, not much, but the drum config is my ideal setup.

So i think this Friday i will:
- let out the 8" tom and 14" floor tom
- put the 10 and 12" tom in front of me (off-set) and the 16" in the spot where the 14" was
Click to expand...

Exactly what I did.
 
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I hate lugging drums but I appreciate that the audience actually like to see a proper drum kit on the stage. having said that unless you spend the show playing fill after fill the audience don't really care about ur setup, all they really want is a tight groove with the odd pertinent fill.
 
Great Original post ,i am just going through this experiment now , i play a 4pc kit 1up,1down 1 ride ,2 crashes,and hats. i am an in the pocket type player ,i dont have monster chops and technique. but i am always complemented on my time. so i thought by adding another rack tom it would make me more creative ,with more fills , and a better drummer ? instead it distracts me away from my groove because i find my self thinking about when and how i am going to hit the extra tom all the time . the 4 pc just feels more at home and natural to me. With the help of all the posts from you drummers i realize 4pc is where i should be. i guess it depends on what type of player you are naturally ,not meaning you cant change, i guess thats why some people are more comfortable dressed in a T shirt and jeans some ,a jogging suit , or being all decked out in sharp looking clothes. Be true to who you are ! Thanks
 
My gig kit is a 2up 1down with snare & single kick/pedal. Ride/crashes(3)/hats on two stands & clamped hi hat stand. My 14" crash is on the hat. A lot of times I just roll with 2 crashes. Simple is good. Cover bands setup & loading in is easier without the multiple toms. I made an inventory on a legal pad to remember everything then put to memory.
 
I've also scaled down recently and I love it. My favorite, and arguably best, kit is a 7-pc DW (8/10/12/14/16/22/Snare). I like to play with 3 crashes, a china, an FX cymbal, and a splash or two. But that's a heck of a lot of gear to haul to gigs and set up and tear down. And even when I take the time to do so, I notice two frequent phenomena: 1) the sound guys never have enough mics for my kit, and 2) some elements of the kit only get struck once or twice during the gig.

So for the last couple of months, my rock cover band rig has been reduced to a 4-pc kit, a la Ringo - 13/16/22/Snare. Two crashes, hats, and a K Sweet ride which also makes a nice crash. Sometimes I bring a China if I want to get fancy. I've found that for 80% of the stuff we play, this is more than enough kit. There are a few songs that would be better if I had a third tom, but I can fake it on two, and I doubt that anyone notices.

I love the simplicity of the setup, as it allows me to focus more on the quality of my playing and not get distracted by lots of toys. The ergonomics of a 4-piece really can't be beat, everything can be set up within easy reach. And finally, it's much easier to haul, set up, and tear down.
 
EricT43 said:
I've also scaled down recently and I love it. My favorite, and arguably best, kit is a 7-pc DW (8/10/12/14/16/22/Snare). I like to play with 3 crashes, a china, an FX cymbal, and a splash or two. But that's a heck of a lot of gear to haul to gigs and set up and tear down. And even when I take the time to do so, I notice two frequent phenomena: 1) the sound guys never have enough mics for my kit, and 2) some elements of the kit only get struck once or twice during the gig.

So for the last couple of months, my rock cover band rig has been reduced to a 4-pc kit, a la Ringo - 13/16/22/Snare. Two crashes, hats, and a K Sweet ride which also makes a nice crash. Sometimes I bring a China if I want to get fancy. I've found that for 80% of the stuff we play, this is more than enough kit. There are a few songs that would be better if I had a third tom, but I can fake it on two, and I doubt that anyone notices.

I love the simplicity of the setup, as it allows me to focus more on the quality of my playing and not get distracted by lots of toys. The ergonomics of a 4-piece really can't be beat, everything can be set up within easy reach. And finally, it's much easier to haul, set up, and tear down.
Click to expand...
Well said Eric , i agree, you nailed it ! What size K sweet ride do you use ? ,i have a 21". Thanks
 
I purposefully bought my "big" kit 30ish years ago because I grew up playing on a 4 piece, 3 cymbal kit, and felt that I deserved, and needed, a bigger set up.

I also inherited the small kit, so now I have my big and small set up. I don't have to "edit" things.

When I feel like using the big kit, I do. I am still not to the point where loading in/out degrades playing the gig...many of my friends have fallen into that category now, which to me is sad. Maybe in 10 more years I will be there, but I hope not.

There are times where I will alter the set up of the big kit, but that usually does not involve losing any drums/cymbals
 
Man!..ive got a bit of a problem with the (I use what the music calls for outlook to a degree. I've seen Pelton..Jordon...etc play everything from jazz/pop/fusion/etc and just groove Shi-..into oblivion. OK..maybe some Rush stuff needs a drum or 3 more but even then I'll bet Pelton on a 4 would slay you into next week. I'm going from a 6 to a 4 and I doubt for a second I'll sit at break thinking damn..if I only had a 13.
 
I tried to scaled down, but each time I did, I did well but really had to make concessions.
My kit could be 6 piece 2 crashes - a splash a China, cowbell - twin pedal - but I mostly play 5 piece (2 up one down) and throughout experience I felt totally at ease and open minded with 5 piece, 2 crash a ride and a hi hat.
I can play a four piece but would not be so comfortable with only one crash For instance.
 
My 6-piece kit has 4 toms (10, 12, 14 and 16). Nowadays I breakaway the 10 and 14, add a 20" kick drum and have the perfect sized gigging kit!
 
Once I was using a five-piece kit plus two roto toms. Then I played a five-piece kit for many years. Now I play one up one down. Peace and goodwill.
 
I scaled down to a bass drum, snare, hi-hat, ride and crash roughly a year ago during the pandemic and honestly it's the best decision I ever did. My timing and creativity are so much better. My bass drum speed is also so much better as the bass drum often substitutes for tom hits. Bass drum notes as part of a fill sound so awesome and its something I wouldn't have really been able to explore if I was using a traditional set-up.

When I get back out on gigs and playing with others I expect my footprint may expand slightly but honestly this "no-frills" set-up covers 95% of my bases.
 
I have done decades of bar gigs with Rock bands , small group jazz gigs and Big Band gigs and wedding gigs and I just take a 4 piece kit ( 20/12/14 with snare ) plus a Ride , hats and two crashes for pretty much all my gigs .this is all I need and nobody has complained that I don’t have more drums .
 
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