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Drummers- What is recommended for an upgrade?

jonesjc14jonesjc14 Posts: 32
edited February 2010 in Musicians and Gearheads
I've been playing for 4 yrs and am looking for an upgrade from my crappy Pearl kit, what do you recommend? I play rock/jam styles. I'm looking for a cutting, high-pitched, bounce sound in my toms(ex. DMB, String Cheese Incident) so I can expand my styles more from just solid rock... I want to be really flexible on my drum set with styles and rhythms. I'm looking at a six piece birch Sonor 2007 kit. My goal is to get many different opinions from different people before I make any decision...tell me what you think.
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Comments

  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    First name in drums right now is DW, Drum Workshop. They're not the only ones worth playing, but you can't go wrong with them. For jam/rock, I'd seriously recommend looking at fusion kits, with a regular-sized kick drum, and smaller toms. Iso-mount toms are a must.

    OCP, Orange County Percussion, is a personal favorite. Ayotte, and some of the nicer Yamaha stuff. I also really like good Sonor stuff. Pork Pie has some good stuff. And of course there's always the vintage market, old Slingerland and Ludwig kits, etc.

    Then again, I've heard some $300 shellpacks sound great with the right heads and tuning. If you want to spend the money on good shells, be ready to buy new heads (top AND bottom) for all drums.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • coutchboycoutchboy Posts: 15
    Don't get hung up on brand names. Go try out different sets and you will find what you want. Keep in mind two things: 1. you get what you pay for; 2. if you play with a band try and think in terms of how your potential drums SOUND as a musical instrument and not as you playing solo. And I guess one other thing, enjoy the damn process. It's not every day we get to buy a drum set! Enjoy!
  • CJMST3KCJMST3K Posts: 9,722
    Been playing 25 years, and have had about 3 sets, and my current set is a Premier Resonator I bought in the early 90's or late 80's. Happy with it.

    DW is the premier drum makers... most expensive, but with so many great drummers using Yamaha, it either means Yamaha makes great drums, or that they have the deepest pockets to pay these drummers. ...though, most of the drummers I like use Zildjian cymbals, but I greatly prefer Paiste...

    DW & Yamaha are both companies I will consider eventually getting my next set from.

    Also, consider how tall the bass drums are. I wish I could recess my toms just a little bit, but my bass drum is too tall to move them anymore down... so might as well consider that part too.

    And just FYI, I'd prefer sinking money into a used and dinged great drum company, than a sparkling new not-so-great drum company. :)
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  • MichaelMcKevinMichaelMcKevin Posts: 1,161
    I have to disagree with a bit of what people have already said.

    "You get what you pay for"
    -To a certain point, sort of. IMO, many of the kits you'll find in the $1500-2000 range sound equally as good (or better) as any $3000-4000 DW kit. Look at the Mapex Saturn and Gretsch Renown Maple. Both are PHENOMENAL kits, especially the Saturns.

    "DW, DW, DW..."
    I personally dislike DW. I think they sound "good", but a lot of what you pay for is in the name. Yamaha truly are amazing drums, probably the best of the well-known manufacturers.

    You seem to be unsure of what it is you're looking for. Do yourself a big favor and wait. Take your time. Maybe you have the money now, but there's no need to go out and spend $3000+ on a kit when you don't know the sound you're looking for. Do you like higher-pitched, articulate toms or big boomy Jon Bonham toms? How many toms do you want to cover your range? Do you want a loud deep boom from a kick drum or a smaller punchy thump? Maple? Birch? Oak? Ash? Look up the differences in these types of woods.

    Personally, I think 22z18, 10x8, 12x9, 14x14 and 16x16 is what you wanna look for. Four toms to cover pretty much all of your ground between musical genres, with the right highs and lows present. 22x18 is pretty much a standard sized kick that's also versatile. Go out and play any kit you can get your hands on. Remember that a high price tag does not always mean its that much better than a kit for half the price.
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  • moomamachumoomamachu Posts: 20
    check out premier. they shells are fantastic.
    look great, sound great. very versitile.
    just slap some new heads on em and youre ready to go....
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