Drum advice Required

[Charley Farley]

Having not played for nearly 8 years, I have recently picked my sticks up again as a few of us locals have set up a band... After much pub-talk, we have now been going for 3 months, and we have fairly shocked ourselves by realizing that we are not too bad! Up until now, I have been using somebody else's very basic kit that they have found off E-bay for £250 all in... (make unknown).

I used to play to a half-decent standard in various bands at school and Uni, with regular gigs on covers and our own stuff etc, and would class myself as 'proficient'... However, I sold my kit on graduating.

Anyway, the wife has excelled herself this Christmas, done some research and totally surprised me with a brand-new Ludwig Black Magic snare... it's beautiful and sounds incredible... She has also given me the all-clear to source a kit- Very happy days!

With a budget of £5-600, I am after bass, toms, cymbals and hardware. I am happy to buy used- but don't have the faintest idea what to get... I am looking for quality and a nice tight sound. I used to have a Pearl kit and don't have the faintest idea what to go for now, although I do fancy Ludwig...

So, any pointers on what I might want to look at for this budget???

Cheers

[ratbane]

Hi,

Loads around at that price. I would always go ebay at that budget.

I picked up a 5 piece Sonor Designer last year for £600 with all hardware. Original price would have been £3k ish. Cymbals on top mind.

Have a look in your local drum shop regarding sizes.

I sold a superb Premier Projector kit in standard sizes for £250 last year. You wouldn't go wrong at that level either.

[HOGEPH]

Loads to chose from second hand there. Good skins will make a big difference to a cheaper kit. There is no such thing as a good cheap cymbal, so spend more on those. Sabian AAX are very good for live music.

Pearl, Premier, Yamaha all perfectly good and a good place for info is www.mikedolbear.co.uk

The same site has free ads, so put a wanted ad in http://www.drumclassifieds.co.uk

I recently sold all my stuff, had loads of enquiries, and it didn't cost me a penny to advertise.

[A911DOM]

Cant really add much to the above - Skins will transform a kit (high end or low end of budget).

As Ive found to my peril in the past, always use the best hardware you can afford - a collapsing drum stool and bass drum pedal are not what you need whilst mid song in a competition at the B'ham NEC

I use Sonor gear personally (Delite in amber birdseye maple finish), I bought it on basis of wanting a BIG sound, with great build quality and thats what I got - it is thunderous.

Before that I had a Premier XPK kit in a sort of purpley blue colour and to be honest it was a great piece of kit for the money - you should be able to land a decent kit for 3-400 quid and then maybe add some decent hardware and cymbals as you go!

I use Zildjian now, but listening back to some of the recorded stuff I have, the Sabians were outstanding for the money - again ebay may be good for this as long as you're careful.

In your situation I'd be looking for maybe a beaten up Pearl Masters kit - Birch if you want a tighter sound - Maple if you want volume and depth, or Premier gear... Yamaha and Tama would also see you right. Just see whats about and go and have a bash on it before parting with the cash.

[A911DOM]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-Stage-Custom-Nouveau-...

Heres a whole set up ready to go - Yamaha Kit with cymbals etc - 550 buy it now price which doesnt seem too bad.


Or this - shell pack with new heads fitted:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FANTASTIC-REFURBISHED-EARLY-...

Edited by A911DOM on Tuesday 5th January 14:24

[adam85]

A911DOM said:

I use Zildjian now, but listening back to some of the recorded stuff I have, the Sabians were outstanding for the money - again ebay may be good for this as long as you're careful.

Out of interest, would you have any links to your stuff? I too am a keen drummer, would be great to listen to some PHeadBashers

[HereBeMonsters]

I'd say don't be afraid of stuff with a few knocks on it at this price. Usually means it's been gigged and upgraded. I went for a pristeen Premier XPK kit back when I was playing, at a £150 premium over some more rough and ready ones, and discovered it was only like that as it had been kept in the spare room, cold in the winter, hot in the summer, and it had all warped and gone mouldy.
Thankfully I managed to get my money back (although I had to drive them back 50 miles to him!) and bought a more beat up kit.

Big fan of the Sabian AAX cymbals, don't scrimp in this area. I started out with a Pearl crash/ride which was a bloody nightmare. I tended to cheap out on the hats and get two nice crashes and a mental ride (Zildjian hand hammered) but it depends what you're playing.

[A911DOM]

adam85 said:

A911DOM said:

I use Zildjian now, but listening back to some of the recorded stuff I have, the Sabians were outstanding for the money - again ebay may be good for this as long as you're careful.

Out of interest, would you have any links to your stuff? I too am a keen drummer, would be great to listen to some PHeadBashers

I did happen upon some old stuff on an MP3 site the other day which was amusing - But no...

However - send me some postal details and I'll pop an old album of one of the bands in the post next time Im near the english post!

(When I was promoting this album a few years ago there was a group of PH'ers came along to see us at the Carling Academy Bar in London )

[TonyHetherington]

My kit has been chopped and changed a little over the years - snare, hardware and most importantly cymbals, but the core has always been a very simple and inexpensive Pearl Export kit that I have owned for perhaps 12yrs. I've replaced the skins a fair few times and, as I say, it's like trigger's broom with the hardware and other bits - but the core sound remains absolutely superb, and you'd really be surprised the amount of sound guys that always compliment the sound.

It's put up with 12yrs which have contained lots of gigging/practicing. If you are going to start gigging (or rather moving your drums, so practicing as well) I can't recommended hihgly enough the Percussion Racket set of bags. Best investment I made about 7yrs ago and have never looked back around 200 gigs later.

Cymbals - that's a bit of a piece of string question, really. I used Zildjian ZBTs for a while and they were great, lasted well, but ultimately didn't carry the sound as you went up for bigger venues. Just over a year ago I invested in some Zildjian A-Custom specials. Stunning, though not cheap.

So, as others have said - hardware is key, the drums themselves really don't need to be silly money but a nice set of skins really does make the difference.

If you're curious - this is my band www.thedeccas.co.uk and we'll be on Radio Caroline next monday at 10pm :