I’ve played my set for a couple of years, and I’m strongly considering buying a new one. My current set is really sad. The hardware is terrible; my cymbal stands, bass pedal, and hi hat stand are all falling apart. I bought the set on eBay a couple of years ago for about 250 bucks because I really just wanted to get one and see what I could do (it’s a TKO…I had never heard of this company until I purchased the it…it’s really low end). In addition to the faltering equipment, I really dont like its sound. Like I said, I’d really like to buy a new set. I want something that’s proven to be reliable, a set that will give decent sound with strong hardware that will not need to be replaced anytime soon. I’d say $1000 dollars would be my maximum price, but I’d like to stay well under that if at all possible. A nice five piece set, with two crashes, a ride plus hi hats would be ideal. What brands of drums and cymbals should I get?
Also, when replacing drumheads, is it necessary to buy two heads for each drum, or can only the batter head be replaced? While we’re on that subject, do drummers ever play with only one head on each of their drums?
I know these questions may sound dumb, but I really don’t know anyone closely that can tell me these things.
well i’ve been playing for coming up on ten years(which makes me feel really old), so hopefully i can help with your questions…
five piece kit: well, if you’re just looking to upgrade your set a little, you can probably find a good pearl export 5 pc. kit for around $400… that’ll come with heads for all the drums, hardware, etc. most companies have these kind of mid-entry level kits. i like pearl, tama, ludwig and dw(although good like finding a dw kit for under $1000).
cymbals: this is a big personal preference thing. i’ve been using zildjian since i started and with the exception of a paiste china cymbal, they’re all i use. but i have other drummer friends who swear by sabian or paiste. my recommendation for cymbals is to go to a music store where they let you play the cymbals, and just spend an hour whacking, tapping, rolling cymbals and find which ones you like. for example, on my kit(a 6 pc.) i use 13" mastersound hihats, 15", 18" and 19" crashes(of various weights), a 20" k custom dark ride, an 18" paiste 2002 china and a 10" splash. i got all of these cymbals one by one, finding how they played together and what worked with each other. i recommend this to you. however, if you’re looking to save some money, both zildjian and sabian have “starter kits” of cymbals, which are say a 14" pair of hihats, 18" or 20" ride and a 16" crash. they’re entry level cymbals and sound good enough to get by, but in the business of drums, very often you get what you pay for… if you’re willing to go out and find the cymbals using the method i recommend, you’re probably gonna be looking for 16" and 18" crashes, most likely medium weight(although if you’re playing jazz, perhaps lighter, and if you’re playing heavy metal or hard rock, heavier “rock” cymbals) and a 20" ride. hi hats are up to you, but most common are 14" cymbals…
drumheads: you probably only have to replace batter heads, and if i recall correctly, most mid level kits(like the pearl export i mentioned earlier) come with remo heads, which are certainly fine to leave on. as for playing with only one head per drum, that’s fine, but your drum won’t have as much of a rich, full tone. however, some drummers like the quicker more hollow tone of a single-headed drum. if you’re curious what the comparison is, listen to anything the eagles recorded in the 1970s that don henley played drums on. in the 70s, he played with only one head per tom. by comparison, keeping it in the same decade, listen to fleetwood mac’s ‘rumors’ and that’ll give you a good idea of what two headed toms sound like comparitively. pick which you like and run with it.
i hope i haven’t been too verbose and i hope this helps some. but i encourage you to find what you like and what sounds good for you, because being yourself musically is the most important thing as a drummer.
kefka is right on. Here’s my take on a few things.
As to the kit: Have you thought about buying used? You can often do better buying a used top-end kit rather than settling for something mid-grade for the same price. There’s a good article I ran across the other day that deals with finding a good-sounding drumset on the cheap. It has the project-studio owner in mind, so it’s no slouch. Here it is: http://www.indie-music.com/print.php?sid=775 .
Cymbals will be covered in the above article, but I’ll just insert that you would do well to avoid cymbals 14" and up that cost less than, say, $90 apiece at Guitar Center or such. Some cheaper models, such as the 802 and Alpha lines that Paiste offers, do sound gooddue to enhanced workmanship, but, like kefka says, you get what you pay for (though not if you do it right ).
Unfortunately, the resonant heads do need replacing; not as much as the batter heads, but still nonetheless. The mylar film dries out as time passes. A good rule of thumb is to replace your heads as often as you can afford to, if you play constantly. However, some drummers say ‘to hell with it’ and place their not-quite-battered batters on the reso side as they get a new batter. Your drum will indeed sound deader doing this, but it’s really not that important unless you’re doing great things in a studio with them. Some people would disagree with this economic-minded stance, and rightly so. I’m just a bit poor right now to keep myself in new heads.
Hal Blaine is possibly the most famous drummer to use single head, or concert toms. These pretty much came into being for two reasons: One, Hal Blaine had a pair of timbales on his kit previously, and liked their sound so much that he thought about having a whole row of them. Two, the new multi-tracking technology wasn’t used to lively drums whose overtones were amplified tenfold upon having a microphone placed a couple of inches away. Horrified engineers took to dampening the drums excessively, as well as removing the bottom heads to simplify the sound. People started to like such a sound, and it stayed in fashion for a decade. Some people such as Phil Collins still use single-headed drumkits because of the sound. Plus, they’re easier to tune. I recommend double-headed drums though; they sound richer. Of course, it’s up to you.
www.drummercafe.com is a message board that I like to frequent as well as the SDMB. It’s a very informative site as far as drumset and percussion, and the people there are well-versed in their craft and willing to help.
I used to play roto-toms which have one head and no shell. You can spin them to change the tuning. They live in a road case in the shed. After this, I think I’ll rescue them.
My advice: don’t buy a new kit. Buy second-hand double-braced hardware and second-hand cymbals. Until you get to pretty high end gear, almost all of the quality in your sound is provided by well-tuned, reasonably new heads.
I second kefka’s suggestion of trying to find a matched set of cymbals by playing them in the shop. There is no point getting the 5 best cymbals for your budget in the shop if one of them is really bright and the rest aren’t.
i agree that you can very often find good equipment used, but i must say that i highly recommend buying new cymbals. stands, drums, these things are pretty much as you see them, and hawthorne is spot on, drums are all about the heads and how you tune them. my bass drum and floor tom are both from my original drumset(a cb700) but with good heads, they sound great.
but cymbals are a very different thing. they change over the years, the sound changes the more they’re hit, the environment in, etc. for example, really old cymbals that have been played in clubs and have had years of cigarette smoke settle into the grooves have a dark, gorgeous sound, and you’ll be lucky to find them. however, you’ve got just as much of a chance of finding cymbals that sound great in the store, but have been abused by their previous owner and suddenly you get home and two weeks later, you get a crack in the cymbal and it’s pretty much shot. it’s a risk you can decide to take, because sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don’t. i mean, if you’ve only got $200-300 to spend on cymbals, then yeah, get the used A Customs rather than the new Scimitars, but just be ready to replace them if they crack. then again, just because you're playing new cymbals doesn't mean they won't break. it's all about how you play. but then again, that's half the fun :) just my .02. but i hope we’ve helped some
Quite true indeed, but there is the issue of the possibilty of a less-than-perfect bearing edge. Cheaper drums are notorious for having a passably-constructed shell that is only made moot by a poorly routed bearing edge. By looking to buy good quality used drums, the possibility is greater that the bearing edge is well attended to.
Another issue is that, yes, the heads are accountable for 80% or so of the drums overall sound, but that isn’t to say that the shell doesn’t matter. That 20% or so does make a difference. Cheaper drums such as the TKO brand (and others, including half of my kit, sigh) use a wood that is politely called Phillipine mahagony or correctly referred to as red luan, a common, fibrous wood that is commonly used in the center of interior doors. Such spongy wood threatens to, and often does, soak up the resonance from even the best tuned drumheads. If you must, this can be averted somewhat by finishing the inside of your shells with a few thick coats of polyurethane. There is also the issue with poor hardware in the case of the lugs themselves.. Also, mounting systems with cheaper drums are not too good, since these often decrease the resonance of the shell (Pearl, I’m looking in your direction…).
Overall, I say since you have the opportunity to lay down $1000 (assuming that’s American dollars), take it and get some nice stuff that won’t fail you. And, if you don’t have much luck getting good used drums (a rare possibility if you do it right), take a look at the budget/mid-grade kits offered by Mapex and Sonor; these are of pretty good quality generally, for the dollar.
Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier – those heads that come on the drums when you buy them, with the exception of Ludwig, Premier, and maybe DW, are crap. Replace them at your earliest convenience.
You guys are pretty much dead-on here. As far as sets go, a few years ago I purchased a new set of Yamaha Beech Customs. I played around on tons of sets before buying, and I decided that within my price range, this set provided the sound and flexibility that I desired. They can most likely be had for under a grand (used) today.
The heads that came with the set stayed on the drums for six months, and sounded pretty damn good, and yes, they were Remo.
Make sure you fiddle with plenty of sets before buying, and listen to the above posts, This is pretty much just a booster
I thought I’d add something else: Check the edges for nicks when you buy cymbals. These are the main sources for cracks. You must be very cafeful when you buy used cymbals as was mentioned. Also mind ‘keyholing’, when the center hole of a cymbal begins to resemble a keyhole from not using a cymbal sleeve on your stand. This is bad in general.
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