Suggestions for electronic drum kit - budget range

B

ButchMel

New Member
Guys,
what would be a decent - yet affordable - electronic drum kit around the price ranges of Yamaha DT 532, Roland TD 17 lower-priced model) or slightly (few hundreds $) above that range ?

What would be recommendable in a USD$600 to $1000 price range ?

Looking for something decent for my 14yr old son, who started playing on a real set since age 6, very motivated. We're moving from a house to an apartment, I want him to stay as close as possible to real feeling, decent sound (that we can record to a DAW as needed).

How do we deal with double-pedal BD on such instruments ? (would a single BD pad work or does he need a second pad + a different double-pedal ?)

Sorry for possibly basic stuff - I'm a guitar player and know very little about drums. Writing here in his interests :)

Thanks beforehand,
 
From personal experience; only the top end and every expensive kits come near 'the real thing'. I have an Alesis DM10 and to me it just doesn't work playing small pads. Most bass drum towers or kick pads support a double pedal by the way.

What is an option and something i did myself, is putting mesh heads on the drums and putting triggers on them. This is a true DIY solution, but the feel comes the closet to a real set. Cymbals are somewhat hard to find, but there are people out there who sell real sized cymbals with triggers on them. I converted my Zildjian L80's with triggers and that beats playing small cymbal pads.

That + a good DAW (like Superior Drummer 3) is a good and cheap(er) alternative to the expansive Rolands.
Be sure though to have a good MIDI trigger interface or a good drum module to reduce lag/latency if you use a DAW (and be sure to have a computer to can handle it)

I stopped using this and just use mesh heads and the practice cymbals, because i kept keeping triggering issues. Does make some noise, but nowhere near a real set of drums and cymbals
 
I bought a TD-17KV last year and feel that the quality is very good, and would recommend it. I got an open-box one for around $1000. I have a double pedal on the single pad and it works perfectly.
 
You might find a used 700 series for the price of a new DTX-532 if you live close to a metropolis.

I have a 532, and find it acceptable. I would have bought a 562 or 720 if I could afford it.
 
If you're learning, you don't need perfect (expensive) fidelity to 'the real thing'. It just needs to sound good enough to enjoy the experience while learning. I bought one of Thomann's 'own brand' Millenium kits for around £250 years back and it was good enough for me to learn on and I still use it for practice. You can probably get mesh for around that price now.
I bought a Yamaha DTX module to 'upgrade' it and was horrified by the cheap, synthetic snare sound and got rid of it pronto. The Millenium sounds far more natural.
Yamaha base models look terribly skimpy to me too - tiny pads etc. The Millenium drumheads look way better for the price bracket. Alesis seem to do rebadged versions of some of the Millenium kits too.
Ps. Go for full circular cymbals - the partial ones are off balance and break from being hit against their pads.
 
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