So I'm thinking about buying a drumset...

[TheShaggyFox]

I was wondering, since I can't afford everything at once, if it would be a smart idea to try and buy the parts individually, and slowly build up the set over time? Maybe this way it might be a little pricier in the long run, but the quality might be better than average? You tell me. Recommend me what companies you think make quality drum products.

I really want to get to know the art of drumming, and how to fix up a drumset. If I am planning on taking audio engineering seriously, I'm definitely going to have to learn how to work a drum.

Also, what is the deal with those musiciansfriend credit cards? If someone could please explain those to me, that would be great (such as, how long you have til they charge you interest, or if it's really even worth it, blah).

Thanks for reading!

[asmara]

Yamaha Maple Customs. Great kit, good return if you decide to sell. Suggest Craigslist or eBay to purchase the basic kit and add cymbals little by little. Musiciansfriend usually offers 12 months interest free for any 500+ purchase. Make sure you specify that when you order to confirm. Good Luck.

[percussion boy]

What if you bought a good used snare, set of hi-hats, and crash cymbal -- say, 18" more or less, that's also got a good bell sound? Then buy some kind of a bass drum, 20" or 22". With that you'd need a pedal, a hi-hat stand, and a height-adjustable drum seat that's comfortable for you. You could get more toms later, with or without a better kick drum.
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Cheap cymbals aren't really fixable, so check out name brands: Zildjian, Paiste, Sabian, Istanbul.
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Snare drums can be affected by different heads and EQ choices, but it's still nice to have a decent one. Any of the major brands might work for you. I would get something that's a standard size -- 14" head, 5" - 6 1/2" deep. Wood drums are nice, but I would lean toward metal for a first drum because it's harder to warp a metal drum or screw up the edges.

A 6" Ludwig is kind of a classic metal drum. A Chinese company called Peace makes good cheap snares. If you choose wood, I would try to find an old round-badge Gretsch; they're not that much on e-bay. Expect the snare strainer to have been replaced, Gretsch's suck.

Hope this helps. You may also stumble on a good used kit for the same money, so look around.

[???????]

I love old Gretsch drums, they're my favorites, but I actually would not recommend an old round badge Gretsch wood snare for your only/first snare. They have a certain kind of sound that doesn't work for everything, and isn't in fact something I would always thing "sounds good." The snare beds on them can be weird... more ideal for calf heads and hard to get to sound good with plastic heads. I've heard some that sound amazing and some that sound like they're full of socks. Pretty much all the ones I heard that sounded amazing were 3-ply. The 4x14 max roach "progressive jazz" snare sounds pretty good.

For an old wood snare, I'd recommend a Ludwig Jazz Festival or an old Slingerland Artist model. If you're looking for economy, look for an old Ludwig "Pioneer" snare. These were 6-lugs and generally had no wrap covering, but every one I've ever heard sounded bad ass. Good versatile drum for about $150 bux.

For a metal drum, in the 'value' department, you cannot beat an old Ludwig Acrolite. About 150 bux for this metal snare and sooo many studio drummers use them because they just "sound right." Supraphonics are also great, and they are 10-lug drums, but to me they don't sound ridiculously better/different than the cheaper Acrolite. They do have a prettier chrome plating, which unfortunatly likes to pit and flake off sometimes. They go for about double what an acrolite does, and having owned three of them, I can officially give my opinion that it's not worth the extra cash over the acrolite. I'm sure someone would disagree.

For cymbals, make sure that you center around cymbals made out of B20 bronze or one of Paiste's proprietary alloys, rather than the cheaper B8 "sheet bronze" cymbals (sabian B8, Zildjian ZXT, etc are all cymbals to avoid) unless you specifically want that harsh, cutting, loud, un-subtle B8 sound (some metal drummers do). Weight and thickness is all important in determining if a cymbal has the goods you want.

In any case, with the rest of the drums, the bass drum is clearly king. But as long as you have a decent drum where the bearing edges are not all fucked up and isn't made out of something weird or shitty wood, you will be able to get a good sound out of it through heads and tuning. That's the biggest thing with drums. You can take the crappiest drum and get it sounding pretty damn acceptable with the right heads and tuning. Good luck.

[kearnsalot]

If you're planning on recording a lot with these drums, I personally disagree with larger crash cymbal and ride choices. Go with smaller ones. You'll have a lot less issues with bleed and wonky frequencys and overtones when it comes time to mix. I use a crappy 14" crash when I record and I now have a nicer 13" that I plan on using a lot. Larger cymbals area must for a live setting in my opinion.

That's my .02. I pretty much agree with all the drum brands mentioned so far although you should check out a nice maple Sonor kit too.

[???????]

For recording, I have more success with thinner cymbals rather than those smaller in diameter, but everyone's needs are different.

With thinner cymbals, I find that you can play them lightly but they really "open up." So they sound like you're bashing the shit out of them but they're not loud and they don't get in all the other mics as much.

[markitzero]

Just a word of caution:

I purchased a drum kit a few months back for 2 reasons: To have one in the studio, and to become a better drummer (I am bad/mediocre currently). I found a cheap DW Pacific kit on Craigslist that came with everything including a few good cymbals, a nice throne and a cheap throne, and a Yamaha Flying Dragon double kick pedal, all for $500. An amazing deal, no, but certainly a good deal.

Even these cheap drum shells can sound more than acceptable if you take some time and learn about drum heads and how to tune them. I've gotten surprisingly excellent results from this kit, where the 5 piece basic package retails new for less than $500.

I've been practicing and getting better, so that's all good.

However, drummers who come into the studio to record always want to use their own kit. Even if they admit mine sounds better. So in that regard, its kind of a waste. The last drummer I recorded used none of my stuff, and the drummer before that used 2 cymbal stands.

So if part of your plan is to have other drummers use your kit, erase that idea from said plan. But if you just want to get into drumming, go for it. Drumming, like guitar or recording or anything else related, is a bottomless pit of money in pursuit of awesome sound. But its goddamn fun and I wish I was good at it.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

So if part of your plan is to have other drummers use your kit, erase that idea from said plan.

other drummers ask if they can use my kit all the time. which is fine cause at least i know it's in tune and sounds good, but to be honest i'm bored of recording the same kit and wish people would bring theirs...

[percussion boy]

Many good points here.

One quick clarification on old Gretsch snares:

I was thinking specifically of the '60s 5 1/2" wood snare that's pretty common, usually with some kind of swirly pearl finish on it. I would budget for having the bearing edges redone if you go this route -- Creative Music in Connecticut or the guy at Porkpie Drums could probably do a great job.

I'm a little puzzled by Brad's statement above that these drums are somehow limited and sound better with calf heads. For what it's worth, I've had the same one since 1980 and had exactly the opposite experience -- it's a drum that will do a lot of different things. Also has a great cross-stick sound with the diecast rim. But your mileage may vary. Lots of other great snares in the world, in any case.

ps -- Little crashes do rule when recording. My thought in recommending an 18" first was to get something usable as a crash and a ride, to save money; I have a Paiste 18" 602 series thin crash that I've often used as my only cymbal in a pinch.

[kearnsalot]

For recording, I have more success with thinner cymbals rather than those smaller in diameter, but everyone's needs are different.

With thinner cymbals, I find that you can play them lightly but they really "open up." So they sound like you're bashing the shit out of them but they're not loud and they don't get in all the other mics as much.

That's another way to do it. The ones I used are both small and thin. I personally find that the thickness really has more to do with the quality of sound rather than the sorts of frequencies they produce.

I'll have to check out a thinner ride cymbal and see what you mean first hand. Sounds interesting. That's the only thick cymbal i have. And my hi-hats, but those are very nice and sound fantastic even just on overheads, no close mic. They for some reason don't muddy any of the toms or snare up in the overheads.

Cymbals are something you can play around with. Maybe get some used ones(but nice used ones) and if you don't like them you can still sell them back to someone else at a reasonable used price.

[bleds]

I was just about to post a very similar thread myself as I'm contemplating a drum kit right now.

For me the big question is whether I try and get some older used set that's got some vibe or piecemeal a new set together.

One interesting suggestion I got from the drummer for one of my bands is that if you're not picky about everything matching you can get some great one-off deals on clearance from musicians friend. Most of them have cosmetic issues, but I read the fine print and they'll let you return if the item has serious defects that affect playability.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/clearance

[???????]

Many good points here.

One quick clarification on old Gretsch snares:

I was thinking specifically of the '60s 5 1/2" wood snare that's pretty common, usually with some kind of swirly pearl finish on it. I would budget for having the bearing edges redone if you go this route -- Creative Music in Connecticut or the guy at Porkpie Drums could probably do a great job.

I'm a little puzzled by Brad's statement above that these drums are somehow limited and sound better with calf heads. For what it's worth, I've had the same one since 1980 and had exactly the opposite experience -- it's a drum that will do a lot of different things. Also has a great cross-stick sound with the diecast rim. But your mileage may vary. Lots of other great snares in the world, in any case.

The old Gretsch snares are anythng but consistent in my experience.

be aware that re-cutting the edges is going to decrease the vintage value by a whole lot (I usually assume about half) if that matters to you. It's sort of like re-finishing a Pre-CBS Stratocaster. As the things go up and up in value, that sort of thing, for better or worse, becomes one of those things that "you just don't do." Silly, maybe, but that's how it is.

Percussion Boy: Is your drum the 3-ply or the 6-ply?

My friend has a sky blue pearl (is that what gretsch called that finish?) 5.5x14" 6-ply from about '60. It came with his 20-12-14 kit as the matching snare. He never uses it. Can't seem to find a good sound out of it, and this is a guy that knows his drums and has a lot of great snares incl an old radio king, a 4x14 Gretsch "progressive jazz," and a bunch of other stuff. More of an expert than me. So I guess I'm not alone in my opinion, but I'm sure you're not alone in yours either . I had another friend that bought an old round badge snare with the idea that it would be his last snare drum, and was sorely disappointed. In fact it was that snare that turned me off from the wood 6-ply Gretsches for good. The same guy had a red sparkle 6.5x14 though that was killer. So who knows. I also did try a white marine pearl 6-lug round badge one once and I actually preferred it to most of the 8-lug ones I've tried, but it still did not blow me away. I eventually ended up with a solid-shell 1ply Slingerland Artist model from the 60s. That's the snare I will probably bring to my grave with me, but that's neither here nor there.

Gretsches are actually my favorite drums, especially their small bass drums, but I just have not been able to get with their snares as a rule. Probably just a matter of personal preference. I love the diecast hoops on the toms. But on the snare I'm not so sure. Maybe Percussion Boy has just gotten lucky, or I've just been extremely unlucky. Nothing is outside the realm of possibility.

Of course it also all has to do with what you are playing on it.

[percussion boy]

Don't know if mine is 3 ply or 6 ply.

anyone who isn't willing to have the bearing edges done on a drum that needs it basically doesn't want the drum for playing. Edges go sometimes.

it's important to remember that with ANY drum, especially a wood one, it's ideally best to check the edges, the snare bed, and the roundness of the shell and hoops before buying -- which isn't always possible. A drum that sounds actually bad usually has some health problem or other.

Not much else to say. Good luck to the original poster.

[jckinnick]

I bought a pretty decent brand new 5 piece Silvertone kit for $500 on one of the online music stores. I think it was Sweetwaters online store.

[inverseroom]

I almost bought a set of Gretsch Catalinas earlier this year, but ended up getting some old Premiers from AndySmash for a hundred bucks, and rewrapping them. They're terrific for an amateur like me, and the Catalinas were nice, too.

Snare is an old Ludwig Acrolite, recommended by several people here. Great sounding drum.

I got Dream Bliss cymbals from Front Range Bronze--trashy and nice to look at.