drums under $700

[mostfamiliar]

These will be used almost exclusively for use in my home studio. Should I go birch or maple? New or vintage?
Does anyone favor a particular snare? I tend to prefer wood snares and I like the sound of the vintage jazz kits.

[The Scum]

I like the sound of the vintage jazz kits.

Then that's a pretty strong indicator of what you should be looking for. If you dig a little, you can find older Ludwig, Slingerland and Rogers kits that aren't painfully expensive. Read every Craigslist posting that just says "drums for sale."

There's also some of that "vintage jazz" kinda sound that comes from your choice of sticks and heads, and a large part of it from how you play. Learning to be effective with wood-tip 5As can get you there on almost any modest kit.

Does anyone favor a particular snare?

I have an older Supraphonic that does me very well. It's pitted, dented and dirty, but that's part of it's funky charm. A real bread & butter sort of drum.

I've been hunting for a wood counterpart for it, maybe an old Slingerland...

If you can swing it, have one wood and one metal. They both have their uses.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

If you're on a budget it's worth looking at old Japanese kits. Raven, Stewart, Bolero etc. They pretty much all came out of the same factory and there are some jems there. I have a 60's Raven kit that lots of drummers have have fallen in love with. I bought it for $50 and got very lucky (mostly because I'm not a drummer and don't really know what I'm looking for).

[digitaldrummer]

the Gretsch Catalina jazz kits are actually pretty cool sounding for the money too. Mahogany shells I think.

and you can't beat a 5x14 supraphonic for versatility.

[Producer/Engineer]

I like birch shells in the studio. Beautiful warmth and also important are the drum heads that you choose. I love Aquarian's Super Kick ll on the kick. It's awesome and does not ring.
An 18" kick is plenty big and they mic up well.
I'm ga ga over Pork Pie's lil squealer snare, it's sick. huge crack

[Snarl 12/8]

I like birch shells in the studio. Beautiful warmth and also important are the drum heads that you choose. I love Aquarian's Super Kick ll on the kick. It's awesome and does not ring.
An 18" kick is plenty big and they mic up well.
I'm ga ga over Pork Pie's lil squealer snare, it's sick. huge crack

I'd like to caution you against getting an 18" kick. They can sound awesome, no doubt, especially recorded, but I find mine hard to play. It's pretty impossible to get the beater to land right in the center of it. I'm faster and more accurate on my 24" kick?! I'd say, for a general purpose drum, that loads of different people are going to try to get comfortable on, don't stray more than 2" either direction from the 22" standard.

I also have a lil squealer (weird coincidence?) and I'm not super ga ga over it. I had it in the closet for a year and I just recently brought it out to go with my 18" kick. The squealer's a 13" snare (most are 14") it's a tad quieter than a 14" and better balanced with the 18" kick. I still think my Supraphonic 6.5"/14" is a better all around drum, but I'd have a hard time balancing it with that tiny kick.

Just sayin... 18" kick with a 13" lil squealer is *a* way to go, but maybe not the most versatile/readily accepted by the masses.

One thing I'm thinking about doing, is getting one of those kick drum cradles to bring my 18" a couple inches up off the floor. My only gripe with that drum size is the playability problems of having the kick beater super short and still not hitting the middle of the head.

[cgarges]

TI like the sound of the vintage jazz kits.

Which ones? Vintage Slingerlands sound TOTALLY different from vintage Gretsch drums. Rogers drums have their own tone as well, and European kits like Sonor, Premiere, and ASBA have certain similar American counterparts, but they all sound different from each other. I suppose there weren't too many Ludwig players that come to mind in the jazz genre except Stan Levy. Ludwigs certainly have their own thing as well (although somewhat similar to the Rogers vibe).

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Producer/Engineer]

I like birch shells in the studio. Beautiful warmth and also important are the drum heads that you choose. I love Aquarian's Super Kick ll on the kick. It's awesome and does not ring.
An 18" kick is plenty big and they mic up well.
I'm ga ga over Pork Pie's lil squealer snare, it's sick. huge crack

I'd like to caution you against getting an 18" kick. They can sound awesome, no doubt, especially recorded, but I find mine hard to play. It's pretty impossible to get the beater to land right in the center of it. I'm faster and more accurate on my 24" kick?! I'd say, for a general purpose drum, that loads of different people are going to try to get comfortable on, don't stray more than 2" either direction from the 22" standard.

I also have a lil squealer (weird coincidence?) and I'm not super ga ga over it. I had it in the closet for a year and I just recently brought it out to go with my 18" kick. The squealer's a 13" snare (most are 14") it's a tad quieter than a 14" and better balanced with the 18" kick. I still think my Supraphonic 6.5"/14" is a better all around drum, but I'd have a hard time balancing it with that tiny kick.

Just sayin... 18" kick with a 13" lil squealer is *a* way to go, but maybe not the most versatile/readily accepted by the masses.

One thing I'm thinking about doing, is getting one of those kick drum cradles to bring my 18" a couple inches up off the floor. My only gripe with that drum size is the playability problems of having the kick beater super short and still not hitting the middle of the head.

No problems with the beater hitting the middle of the head here. If this is happening because when you adjust the beater the opposite end of the post from the beater is hitting the frame of the kick, you simply buy another beater, put it on and adjust it so that the beater is centered on the head, mark the post with a Sharpie, take it off and hack off the post, re-install, done, play.

[The Scum]

If you're on a budget it's worth looking at old Japanese kits.

If you're not familiar with what to look for, those kits can be a real crap shoot...flat bearing edges, no vent holes, masonite shells, pitiful hardware...I used to have a very early Pearl kit that was pretty horrendous. Rail consolette, anyone?

I'm ga ga over Pork Pie's lil squealer snare, it's sick. huge crack

You're right - the pistol rimshot is the defining mark of vintage jazz drumming.

[cgarges]

no vent holes

Vintage Gretsch drums don't have holes, either. At least the toms don't. I'm convinced that's a big part of the sound of those drums. But you'r etotally right, otherwise. Some of those 60s and 70s Japanese kits can be cool and some of them can be a real mess.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[UnlikeKurt]

Troll the craigslist. I got my 70's ludwig kit for $120 and it's in amazing shape. I later found an early 80's ludwig kit with really large sizes for $200 that a friend ended up purchasing. Also worth mentioning, both of these sellers knew what they had on hand but wanted to give the right person a good deal on awesome kits.

[Snarl 12/8]

I like birch shells in the studio. Beautiful warmth and also important are the drum heads that you choose. I love Aquarian's Super Kick ll on the kick. It's awesome and does not ring.
An 18" kick is plenty big and they mic up well.
I'm ga ga over Pork Pie's lil squealer snare, it's sick. huge crack

I'd like to caution you against getting an 18" kick. They can sound awesome, no doubt, especially recorded, but I find mine hard to play. It's pretty impossible to get the beater to land right in the center of it. I'm faster and more accurate on my 24" kick?! I'd say, for a general purpose drum, that loads of different people are going to try to get comfortable on, don't stray more than 2" either direction from the 22" standard.

I also have a lil squealer (weird coincidence?) and I'm not super ga ga over it. I had it in the closet for a year and I just recently brought it out to go with my 18" kick. The squealer's a 13" snare (most are 14") it's a tad quieter than a 14" and better balanced with the 18" kick. I still think my Supraphonic 6.5"/14" is a better all around drum, but I'd have a hard time balancing it with that tiny kick.

Just sayin... 18" kick with a 13" lil squealer is *a* way to go, but maybe not the most versatile/readily accepted by the masses.

One thing I'm thinking about doing, is getting one of those kick drum cradles to bring my 18" a couple inches up off the floor. My only gripe with that drum size is the playability problems of having the kick beater super short and still not hitting the middle of the head.

No problems with the beater hitting the middle of the head here. If this is happening because when you adjust the beater the opposite end of the post from the beater is hitting the frame of the kick, you simply buy another beater, put it on and adjust it so that the beater is centered on the head, mark the post with a Sharpie, take it off and hack off the post, re-install, done, play.

I find having the beater shaft being only 2" long to be a problem. No momentum or force behind the kick.

[Snarl 12/8]

I'm ga ga over Pork Pie's lil squealer snare, it's sick. huge crack

You're right - the pistol rimshot is the defining mark of vintage jazz drumming.

I was going to say, the Squealer is an interesting drum (talk about vent holes, there's like a million.), but to me, it's very "modern" sounding. Whatever that means.

[The Scum]

So what's a good snare for an Al Jackson, Jr. kinda backbeat? Where you're not hitting many rimshots, and a Supra is a little too bright?

[mostfamiliar]

does anyone have any insights on premier (made in england) kits or yamaha stage customs?