Any recommendations for a good sounding/competetively priced house drum kit? I've seriously looked at the new Gretch line, and they sound wonderful (properly set up), but want to explore options....

Now is the time for you drummers to come out of the closet...looking for an 'all around' kit, nothing super fancy (IE DWs...) but able to get great sounds at a great price, and have a build quality that will last more than three sessions...

Thanks for your input....

i am also needing to grab a basic kit.

http://www.tayedrums.com/

I'd recommend you have a look at Taye Drums. [pronounced "tie" ] They're a newer company, but they've been making drums for other companies for years, and are headed up by drum-company-veteran Ray Ayotte. Unlike a lot of other companies who use Keller shells [ though, there's nothing wrong with that ], Taye makes their own shells, and hardware and everything else.

I've not only been impressed with the drums, but also the hardware. Check out their snare stands with the BallTilter. You can literally get the snare drum in any position and angle and lock it down.

You can get into some pretty serious kits in the $1000 range. Check out the ProX, RockPro, and TourPro kits. Taye's getting a real buzz going in the drum community. And since they're a smaller company - that doesn't spend buttloads of money on advertising - and is not as well known yet, you're getting a lot more kit for your money.

BTW, you're probably needing some cymbals. For house kits I'd recommend:

Zildjian 14" New Beat High Hats
Zildjian A Thin Crash - 14", 15" or 16"
Zildjian 20" K Ride

Thanks for pointing these out. I love to see what new young companies are out there and how they are trying to innovate.

rock

bford

I've had quite a range of kits come through here in the last couple years. Vintage Mapex and Gretch, a couple kits from small custom manufacturers, and the usual guitar center midrange stuff.

So far the best sounding kit has been a Tama Rockstar with the second best being a custom made kit that cost the guy about $3,000 for the shells.

The Rockstar, however, wasn't a fair comparison because it belongs to Matt, the best drummer I've ever recorded (he's going to Berklee on a scholorship). This guy puts on new heads before each session and meticulously tunes his drums. Then he plays them with great finesse.

I guess my point is that I would love to hear somebody like Matt play two sets of drums back to back that he set up himself to be able to hear what the difference really is. I would also like to know if a good kit can make a crappy drummer sound any better (I kind of doubt it). It would also be interesting to know if expensive drums are more forgiving of setup compared to cheaper drums. In other words, if you really tweak the setup, like Matt does, do you end up narrowing the difference?

Anyway, sorry to address your post with a bunch of questions but that's my .02.

I believe Ray Ayotte left Ayotte and is Pres of Taye, so his world reknowned expertise is involved. Hard to go wrong.

Some of the guys (old guys lol) I know here in Vanc knew Ray when he was just starting up and are good bud's with him. Asked my friend Don if he knew about Taye drums and he just said "no, but I heard Ray started up the Co (involved?) so if this is the case, I guarantee they'll be great."

the taye drums look sweet

I needed a house kit on a tight budget so I found a good condition a Tama Rockstar on ebay for peanuts. Came with Starcast mounts, a Pacific snare (ok enough) and decent hardware including that Taye snare stand--Dot's right, it's a great snare stand!


Then I put the majority of my budget in Zildian A Custom Mastersound hats, 16" fast crash (GREAT crash!). Also got an A-custom 20" ride, returned it, got a 20' ping ride, and will probably keep that in the corner, suck it up and get a used K when I can actually find one locally (most folks aroun dhere play those ZBTs or whatever the cheap crappy Zildjes are, or Sabian B8s. Neither record well IME which is why I spent the cake on cymbals and got middle-of-the-road drums).

The Tamas record fine when they're in tune.


I plan to add a Taye snare and floor tom when it's justifiable.

I picked up a used set of Tama Starclassic(birch) in the paper for a grand. I put new heads on all (Ambassadors). I had a couple of drummers over to tune them but wasn't happy with the results. Then I hired a studio engineer I had met who was also a drummer to come over and tune them. Voila! there it was, big and fat. I'm convinced not many drummers know how to tune their drums. I've got the Zildjian new beat hats, and a good 16"Sabian HH crash. Just need a ride. I've gotta say having a decent, tuned, miced up kit ready to go is a real pleasure and makes things go much faster(drum wise). (Looks bitchin too).

Cheaper drums, as long as they are round and have good bearing edges, can sound just fine with some good heads and tuning.

Really good drums can sound like crap if ya can't or don't tune them.

I have to agree that you just need to put up the dough for good cymbals. ZBT and B8 are yuk!

I don't even like most of the regular A Zildjians or AA Sabians. They usually sound too clanky with gongy undertones that are too prominent.

Zildjian New Beats are good versatile hats.
I have a pair of 14" Sabian AAX Stage Hats that are nice, too....and some 13" K Custom Dark hats. Look for hats that are not warped, most are, and they can give a mushy or even wierd sound when closed with the foot.

Crashes- I love K's and A Customs and the A Zildjian and Cie Vintage.

Rides-

A Zildjian and Cie Vintage 20" my most versatile fave.

K Constantinople light ride 20" -very dark and Jazzy sounding, like the "old" Ks.

Sabian HHX Evolution 20" - heavier bell, louder, but still has more nice wash than most louder cymbals. You can still crash on it without getting gongy, unlike most heavier cymbals.

Most importantly, for recording, and I think for just plain better sound is to get cymbals on the thin side.

just my 1.24¢

Hey Dudge, ever use a Zildjian K pre-aged dry light ride?

thanks

quote:

Cheaper drums, as long as they are round and have good bearing edges, can sound just fine with some good heads and tuning. Really good drums can sound like crap if ya can't or don't tune them.

I really agree with this! I've seen what would be considered very mediocre drums used by top flight studio players that sounded incredible. I think each kit will kind of "prefer" a certain type of head (depending much on the musical material of course). It then comes down to skilled tuning and most importantly skilled playing. I had a Pearl endorsement for several years, and have been fortunate to have played a lot of really fine drums from various makers, but frankly I don't get hung up at all on any brand or shell material, etc., for studio work. Today, drums are so well made that even most entry level kits can sound good enough to be used as a "house kit."

drbam

quote:

Originally posted by Darius:
Hey Dudge, ever use a Zildjian K pre-aged dry light ride?

thanks

Yeah Darius, I used to have one.
That's another good one.
I Wish I had kept it.

Thanks gents...I'll begin looking into all your suggestions...

The guys I use most seem to agree that the kick, are toms are interchangeable to a certain degree - and most would bring their own snares and cymbals anyway....

I do remember when I worked in a small music retail store 20 some odd years ago, I HATED having to mess around with changing drum heads in store sets....guess I'll have to learn to unhate it, regardless of which set(s) we choose...

Again, thanks!

this, is such good info

I will second the Taye option. I love mine. Very well built and sound great. I got the Basswood kit.

quote:

I do remember when I worked in a small music retail store 20 some odd years ago, I HATED having to mess around with changing drum heads in store sets....guess I'll have to learn to unhate it, regardless of which set(s) we choose...

LOL! Yeah its definitely one of my least favorite tasks and often I find myself putting it off till I absolutely can't stand the way a drum is sounding. Changing heads on the entire kit is a day long job to do correctly I think.

drbam

I bought a vintage Slingerland 5 piece for peanuts years ago, changed heads and added hardware and cymbals piece by piece. I'm a bass player so I have to rely on the great advice of the professional drummers I work with.
And each time one uses my kit they will tweak the tuning a little and every now and then I'll barter to have them spend some time tuning the kit.
A couple fellas like my kit so much we end up using it exclusively on the road in three different groups I've led.