[chuck]

Hey, I'm new on this forum.. its looks great.
I'm lookin' round for a decent first kit but have no intention of buying another in 2-3 years, cause cymbals and alternate hardware will always milk me for more $$...... so I was hoping to get some opinions on the type of kit to keep for awhile thats suitable for heavy rock and made with quality/durability. I've put together $1000 to go towards a 4 piece - shells and hardware only. Venues will be small festivals, outdoor parties, rock clubs, biker bars.

any help??

[shazaam]

Originally Posted by chuck

Hey, I'm new on this forum.. its looks great.
I'm lookin' round for a decent first kit but have no intention of buying another in 2-3 years, cause cymbals and alternate hardware will always milk me for more $$...... so I was hoping to get some opinions on the type of kit to keep for awhile thats suitable for heavy rock and made with quality/durability. I've put together $1000 to go towards a 4 piece - shells and hardware only. Venues will be small festivals, outdoor parties, rock clubs, biker bars.

any help??

Buy Gretsch Drums Catalina Club Mod 4-Piece Shell Pack at Musician's Friend

those are nice sets for the $$$, sounds perty nice live, not sure what kinda heads were on it though.

[guss]

Out doors? that might wreck the wrap! under shade or shelter, they start to bubble if you dont.

[shazaam]

being outdoors isn't really good for any drums/heads though.

[parkerdj]

Here's my progression:

Age 15: spent $300 and got a CB percussion 5-piece. Yes, it was as sweet as it sounded. It came with a crappy hi-hat and cymbal stand, and a Zildjian Scimitar crash and hi-hat set. Which sounded like a pile of scrap metal being dropped off a 10 story building. Over time, I got a Pearl eliminator double-pedal, some Paiste Alpha cymbals (and a Sound Formula crash), and was a happy high-schooler.

Age 20: got some money from an inheritence and bought a Pearl export series kit and a used DW maple snare. Sold my CB percussion set (w/ Gretch snare) for $400. It was like stealing, but the guy made me an offer and I took it. Over time, I replaced the Pearl pedal with a DW 5000 pedal, got all new hardware (stands, throne, etc.) and built a complete lineup of Sabian AA/AAX. I owned that kit for 10 years, and never will have a bad thing to say about it.

Age 30: ponied up and got a DW maple shell kit (10, 12, 14, 22) in burnt-toast fade, and a Pearl Icon Rack (Gibraltar tom mounts). I think I'm finally done building. I slapped Evans Genera G2 clears on the toms (my favorite batter) and an Evans EQ3 kick batter, and I could not be happier with the sound. The 10 inch tom just sings.

[EphICanIMite]

DW maple. It started as a 4 piece bebop shell pack. I would have never guessed that I would pay for a DW kit. But several years back I walked into the local Guitar Center the day after Thanksgiving when they were having their "We'll pay the sales tax" sale. I walked into their drum room stack and packed with shell packs stacked everywhere. As I walked around looking and drooling thinking I would probably just spend about 1200 bucks on a yamaha shell pack, I turned the corner and found something that caught my eye. That DW bebop shell pack I'd seen and played before, but knew I couldn't afford. Then I spotted the price and asked the salesman "what's wrong with it?" He said "nothing's wrong with it other than it doesn't like the younger group want because it only has an 18" X 16" bass drum".
I said "but I've played it before and that little bass drum does NOT sound whimpy at all". To which the salesman agreed but said "a lot of his customer want a bass drum that looks bigger". So, I bought that 4 piece DW bebop set that listed for 3200 bucks, regularly sold for 2700 and they finally after a year of trying to sell it... sold it to me for 1495. And they paid the sales tax.
That's why I have that set. Although, I've almost doubled what I had into it when I ordered a matching 14"x5" maple snare and the 13"x16" tom. Oh well, even at that I still feel good about it. And not only do those drums look beautiful, but they sound awesome as well.

EPH

[juan (the ping-pong ref.)]

I play an 5pec. Astro because my grandpsrents baught it for me but i want to get a pearl soon.

[taye drummer]

Me i play Taye kit. Why (1) Im Different (2) Good quality but dosen't cost as much as others
Ive got a five piece fusion kit,but i can add on to make it a seven piece.(which i will do over time) But I saw this in a vision three years ago when i first joined my church, and they did not have a set of drums or a drummer. I guess you can say it was God sent.The first set was a C.B700 But now i have taye. Its my,no His choice for our Ministry

[Harry]

In my twenties, a while ago, I had a fantastic Gretsch kit, I sold it because I was a bit hard-up, it is one of the dummest things I ever did!

However I bought a used (4piece compact) Premier vintage Jazz kit.
The hardware on that kit (from the 70ties) does not look much, compared to modern standards it is a bit spindly, the quality though is super, and because the lugs are quite small there is not a lot of "interference area" on the shells.
You do not need a drum key on this set because it has a groove (slot) on top of the tensioning rods where you can put a screwdriver or a small coin!! to purpose.

The shells (birch) are superb, especially the snare.
I was thinking about upgrading but to have something better I have to go to real expensive pro-stuff.
So i keep smothering my set in baby oil, and have the right heads on them and be happy about it.
I also have a set of nice Meinl fibre-glass Conga's for my Latin exploits, I just painted them (professionally) metallic racing green, Like Simon Phillps's (my favourite Drum Hero) Tama kit.

Happy Drumming and cheers,
Harry

[PocketProtector]

I started playing pearl 12 years ago and never ventured to play anything else.