Budget Drumkit
Discussion
Unfortunately drums are not cheap, small or quiet. Maybe consider an electric kit if space or volume are a consideration, but get a good one. Cheap musical instruments are not rewarding to play and make things more difficult and sound worse.
Try a specialist music or drum shop and consider 2nd hand, you'll get much better for your money.
Try a specialist music or drum shop and consider 2nd hand, you'll get much better for your money.
Definitely second-hand. When I bought my Mapex Saturns a few years back, I wound up with about £2000 of gear for £800.
You can pick up a decent starter kit with cymbals etc. for about £300 if you're lucky, and it will be much better than buying anything for £300 new! Good ones to look for:
Mapex V or M
Premier Cabria
Gretsch Catalina
Yamaha Stage Custom
Anything from PDP
I've never been a massive Pearl fan, but that's just me - their Export kits are fairly decent for the money.
In terms of cymbals, anything from Sabian, Meinl, Paiste or Zildjian will be decent enough. Some Stagg stuff is very good for the money, too.
You can pick up a decent starter kit with cymbals etc. for about £300 if you're lucky, and it will be much better than buying anything for £300 new! Good ones to look for:
Mapex V or M
Premier Cabria
Gretsch Catalina
Yamaha Stage Custom
Anything from PDP
I've never been a massive Pearl fan, but that's just me - their Export kits are fairly decent for the money.
In terms of cymbals, anything from Sabian, Meinl, Paiste or Zildjian will be decent enough. Some Stagg stuff is very good for the money, too.
Agree with most things that have been said, cymbals and skins are what make the most difference. I'd also add to the list CB drumkit or a cheap Honer kit, get some nice skins for it and some reasonable cymbals. The local drum shop to me does deals with various Zildjan/Sabian/Paiste when you add it with a starter kit so worth seeing what you can get something like that and some silencing pads for it might be an idea too.
A friend of mine recently decided to start playing drums, and he just won a 20 year old Pearl Export on ebay an absolute steal at £70, complete with useable ride, crash and hats. The hardware was OK, but had to replace the stool and hi-hat stand (£60 new) + it needed a set of tom & snare heads (£50)
I'll back up the Yamaha corner; I have a lovely Stage Custom kit and echoing the comments above about cymbals, that's where my money was spent (around £2,000 - *GULP*). I went with mainly Sabian Hand-Hammereds in various sizes as well as a Zildjian Dark K crash and A-Custom hats I couldn't resist.
The scary thing is how little my kit is now probably worth; there will be second-hand bargains around for certain.
The scary thing is how little my kit is now probably worth; there will be second-hand bargains around for certain.
CrabDan said:
The hardware design is so much better, especially the tom mounts. They're sh*t on the Export.
Couldn't agree more - found it almost impossible to get a decent tom angle from the Export mounts. My first kit was a Premier APK - even now I have fond memories of it (having recently been getting misty-eyed over a 9pce XPK on eBay and still hanker after a Genista in Turquoise).Re. cymbals - my Zildjians are 20+ years old and the crashes have only recently started to crack (Z Customs) - you get what you pay for from the premium cymbal brands for sure.
I bought one of these a few weeks ago as my first kit.
http://www.andertons.co.uk/electronic-drum-kits/pi...
Not my photo.
It's quiet, it's small, it has a mesh snare, has 10 preset drum kits, a metronome and an input for playing along to songs. I love it, and it's from a decent manufacturer. £399 brand new.
I admit it looks a bit like a toy, which makes people turn their nose up at it. It's a great little kit to practice on in the home, it works for me.
But if noise is not a problem I would also get a second hand acoustic kit as electric just isn't as good to play and hear.
http://www.andertons.co.uk/electronic-drum-kits/pi...
Not my photo.
It's quiet, it's small, it has a mesh snare, has 10 preset drum kits, a metronome and an input for playing along to songs. I love it, and it's from a decent manufacturer. £399 brand new.
I admit it looks a bit like a toy, which makes people turn their nose up at it. It's a great little kit to practice on in the home, it works for me.
But if noise is not a problem I would also get a second hand acoustic kit as electric just isn't as good to play and hear.
Edited by MSTRBKR on Sunday 30th September 21:04
drumsterphil said:
Re. cymbals - my Zildjians are 20+ years old and the crashes have only recently started to crack (Z Customs) - you get what you pay for from the premium cymbal brands for sure.
Depends on playing style, that. I cracked an 18" Z Custom Crash (my God that thing was loud) in 8 months playing in a Rock band, and that was with only occasional use owing to the sheer volume of the cymbal! 
I used to go through crashes at a shocking rate. Expensive habit! But then you're always riding on the crash with heavy music... Whacking them with sticks like tree trunks didn't help either.
It was A Customs all the way for me when it came to crashes. Oriental Chinas and for some reason I preferred Piaste hats and Sabian rides.
Edited by CrabDan on Monday 1st October 19:24
MSTRBKR said:
I bought one of these a few weeks ago as my first kit.
http://www.andertons.co.uk/electronic-drum-kits/pi...
Not my photo.
It's quiet, it's small, it has a mesh snare, has 10 preset drum kits, a metronome and an input for playing along to songs. I love it, and it's from a decent manufacturer. £399 brand new.
I admit it looks a bit like a toy, which makes people turn their nose up at it. It's a great little kit to practice on in the home, it works for me.
But if noise is not a problem I would also get a second hand acoustic kit as electric just isn't as good to play and hear.
How much noise do the pedals make? One of these might be good in my room!http://www.andertons.co.uk/electronic-drum-kits/pi...
Not my photo.
It's quiet, it's small, it has a mesh snare, has 10 preset drum kits, a metronome and an input for playing along to songs. I love it, and it's from a decent manufacturer. £399 brand new.
I admit it looks a bit like a toy, which makes people turn their nose up at it. It's a great little kit to practice on in the home, it works for me.
But if noise is not a problem I would also get a second hand acoustic kit as electric just isn't as good to play and hear.
Edited by MSTRBKR on Sunday 30th September 21:04
Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff