How does the quality of a drum improve at higher price points?

Jupiter tarts

Junior Member
Greetings everyone! I'm rather new here and new to the world of drumming. I'm coming from a guitar background and was looking more into getting into drumming for the good of the group. Since our drummer recently moved away, we've been rather rhythmless . Now I never had a chance to have a good talk with her about kits so I do still have a few burning questions about the gear.

Biggest question is how does the quality of a drum kit improve with price point? I know that with acoustic guitars, in the $100-$300 range you were probably getting mass produced made in china, some better than others with plywood back and sides. From $300-$600 you could do a little better with American or Mexican made guitars with laminate back and sides or all solid one piece chinese made guitars. $700-$1000 starts cracking into the all solid wood guitars. By the time you were getting into the $1000+, you could probably get a high quality, all solid wood instrument from the manufacturer of your choice and not experience diminishing returns in quality until around $2000.

So with drums, what changes over various price points? Is there a noticeable increase in quality after a certain price point (better woods in snares, higher quality construction for cymbals, etc) and likewise, at what price would you say you start getting diminishing returns and the upcharges are a matter of preference? Is there a certain price point that gives "best bang for buck" range?

Perhaps a slightly less related question but, is it common for a drummer to put together a kit out of individual pieces of gear from different brands? I was possibly also thinking of doing this and getting individual used pieces rather than buying a new complete kit. Any help is appreciated thanks!
 
The tiers in which drums are available are extremely similar to guitar.

Beginner - Trash
Intermediate - think "Epiphone Les Paul"
Pro - think "Les Paul Studio"
Pro Custom - "Les Paul Standard" and above.


The differences come down to the choice of materials, the methods used to shape and finish the shells, the hardware attached to the shell, etc. Taking Gretsch as an example:

Beginner = Energy. It's trash. $600 gets you a full kit, hardware and really shitty cymbals
Intermediate = Catalina. $500-900 gets you shells and a snare
Pro = Renown/NewCustom. $1750 gets you the shells (no snare)
Pro Custom = USA hand made shells. Price is $2500 to $6000 depending on what you want.

Cymbals are pretty much the same, though I've never encountered an intermediate level cymbal I was happy with. Using Zildjian as an example:

Beginner = ZBT. Complete and utter trash for $200
Intermediate = ZHT. Supposedly better than ZBT for $350, but still sounds like trash to me
Pro = A and K lines for $800
Pro Custom = They have various offerings here, needless to say, it can get expensive.

It is extremely common for a drummer to mix components/brands. I play a Gretsch Renown with a Ludwig Snare, Zildjian A's, and Gibraltar hardware, with the exception of my BD pedal, which is a DW 5000.

There are numerous "buying my first kit" threads on this board, and the advice is usually all the same. Come up with a budget first. Buy used when you can. Cymbals/snare are more important than shells.
 
To add on to what KamaK said

Sound quality improves similar to acoustic guitars, most people won't hear the difference between a $1000 kit and a $2500-3000. It's about getting that last 10-15% improvement that the lower level kit doesn't have.

I have a $1100 Pearl VBX 5pc kit and a $2200 Mapex Velvetone 6pc, the differences break down as:

Higher quality finish, Ruby Burst stain versus Italian Maple Burl
Pearl Vision VBX
Mapex Black Panther Velvetone

Double flange hoops (thinner) versus Sonic saver hoops (thicker)

Kick mounted toms (more mass on the kick) versus Stand alone kick (less mass)

Birch shell construction versus Maple/Walnut shell construction, this is more preference than anything as both kits have great shells offering different sound profiles.

Anyway I think you get the idea that it's a whole pile of little things that add up to making a kit better, and worth more. Additional drums, better hardware, quality shell construction and a better finish all add to the value of a kit. Again this is very similar to an acoustic guitar.
 
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