[Rossco]

hi i want to get something like a PDP X7 i think that that would be the best choice for me but i would like to know if anyone knows of a better option for a similar price. Or just anything else to consider.

[CJDG]

I am curious about how you came to this choice like what you look for in this kit

Just something to think about...

If you buy a seven piece kit... no matter what quality... you are dedicating yourself to some
high cost come drum head changing time. Then if you decide to play out and want to bring
the whole kit... etc... blah blah blah.

Is birch the type of sound you are looking for in a wood?
Drum Woods
Are those drum sizes going to be
appropriate for the music you are playing? I don't mean to come off like a jerk if that is what I sound like. I just want to be sure that you have put some thought into it before you drop about 1k on a kit that doesn't suit your needs, or requires a lot of maintenance.

Unless you go used.. and find a good deal.. you will most likely not get a better price. Birch is
I think is less expensive than maple... so you get a deal with that. Today you get so much more for your money. Isolation mounting, color combinations, etc... the beginner/intermediate kits of today are much better than even a few years ago.

If it is just that you want options to hit you might wan to check out some of the mini-timbales or ddrum's version of the octoban, rototoms, etc... then you can use less drum set and more effects...

Hope everything works out for you...

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[Rossco]

first of all thank you for making the time to give me a very well detailed response.

now i would like to get a 7 piece mainly because i want to be able to do longer fills than i can currently do on my 5 piece.

The type of music i will be playing will probably vary from Rock and Funk to Metal. I am not sure what size drums would be good for that.

And when it comes to wood i think that maple would be really good but i am not sure if i can fit it into my budget.

Any way again i thank you for your help on this.

[CJDG]

Not a problem. I think the sizes of the drums will do you well for a wide variety of music. The smaller the drum you get the less bottom end you will have. You can always tune up a 16" floor tom but try tuning a 14" to have the depth of a 16"... no really go ahead and try.

If I had anything to stress about all of this it would be learn how to tune the drums. Read up
on it... or at lease visit the Evans homepage.... check out the videos. There are some excellent videos on tuning drums at that site.

Another thing to consider is that you do not have to set the drum kit up like they have it in the picture. Experiment. Swap one of the floor toms to the left side of the kit and you open up some new opportunities for interesting sounds/combinations.

I have a total of four toms... three rack and one floor.
The floor tom is to my left and the 13" rack tom is now my right side lowest tom.
I have taken my smallest drum the 8" and cranked up the tuning so that it is a little
bit higher in pitch than the snare drum (with the snares off). This was all done to increase
my range with my current rock/metal band.

Just remember... experiment.. do your own thing...

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