Travel sized drumkit / 16" bass drum.

JazzMasterWil

New member
Ok some of you guys know that I play in a band that only uses mini intruments...... I think the mini guitars and basses are cool and everything, but I'm a little leary of buying a mini kit. I started the band, so I really shouldn't bitch. But I just wanted to get some feedback on travel sized kits. (Or on 16" bass drums in general).

Up untill today I thought I only had 4 options.

The first option was the kit that could fit into the front of a v.w. bug (I think it was a yamaha hip pig, or something like that.... ya'll probally know what I'm talking about.... the front part of the bass drum latched on, and you could fit all the other drums inside of it, and latch it all back together).

The second was buying keller shells and trying to make the kit myself. (This was a bad idea from the get-go.... I know nothing about cutting snare beds and things like that).

The third was having somebody custom build a mini kit.

*All of theese prices were a little more than I wanted to spend on a "third" kit.*

So the fourth option was to buy one of thoose sucky little kid drumsets (like the type my rich aunt bought me when I was 5, just so she could piss my mom off).

Untill I today I hadn't seen the light..... :D :D :D

I saw a 4 piece groove percussion "travelers" set at sam ash for 379. I don't think that's a ridiculous price to pay for that kit. And it did look like it was pretty decent.
http://samash.com/catalog/showitem....=&Contains=&Search_Type=Department&GroupCode=

But now, here's the real kicker (pardon the pun.) I'm also very interested in this kit.
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--GREGCES684

But it is almost 200 more expensive, and not as small.....

Really there's only a few ways that I can justify buying a kit this small. The first reason is that I'm the drummer in mini mortem.

Also, I do from time to time play very jazzy surfy kind of tunes and my big "death metal" drums don't really give me the sound I'm going for.... Plus it's a real pain in the ass to have to keep tuning the bass drum up and back down over and over again. :o (I'm lazy)

The third reason, is that my Sonor Force Maple kit doesn't leave the house. Which only leave me with Tama Swingstars to get with. (I've gigging with a lot worse than that, trust me).

I also drive a compact, 2 door hatch back..... I have to fight a war with the car (and it usually wins) to carry a kit with me somewhere.

So I think I can fairly well justify buying a smaller kit. I think it'd be a really handy to have around.

Please let me know your opinions.... I'm leading towards the g.p. because it's cheaper. And I already have a pretty nice (to me anyways) kit. But the Gretsch would hold it's value better, and have a little more stage appeal. (I really don't need 2 rack toms for this band though......)

Any advice.... experience.... or suggestions would be greatly appericated. If anybody has a sound clip of a 16" bass drum, please let me hear it. Thanks a lot guys - Wil
 
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/detail/base_pid/445925/src=01340

You can't get much cheaper than that.

Personally, I'd build my own kit, but it won't be any cheaper. It would probably sound better, but it wouldn't be cheaper.

You're looking at $200 in shells, $75 in lugs, $75 in hoops, $35 for spurs, $25 for tension rods, $50 in mounting hardware, etc, etc, etc, plus shipping...

But on the other hand, you'd get to finish it in whatever you like and take pride in building a kit!

As far as 16" bass drums go, I've never played one. I've played 18's before, and that's about as far down as I could possibly go. Then again, I play rock and metal, so I'm not looking for tight sounds.
 
I dunno if you noticed it but the 16" on the gretch kit is the depth of the bass drum. I believe it's a 18" bass drum. Sorry if this isn't helpful but I just wanted to make sure you knew.

IMO I like that gretsch kit. I've never played anything like that before, but it looks like it would be fun.
 
I see what you're saying.... but check it out

"18" x 16" bass drum
12" x 8" tom
14" x 14" floor tom
5" x 14" snare"

That would mean that the snare is 5" diameter and 14" deep.... that can't be right... although.... 8" diameter and 12" deep for a tom doesn't sound right either.... Holy crap batman I'm confused.....

Good looking out of finding that kit cheaper. :D I really appericate it, the difference is one tom and 130 bucks...... I don't need a 3 tom kit for "wil bring you kit over to the bbq and we'll play some old c.c.r. songs...." For that I'd rather have the 130 and they can keep the tom....

I'm really leaning toward the gretsch.... I wish there was someway I could play them both side my side and really check them out. But god knows if you ask to play a drumset at a music store (excluding the digitals... they'll let you destroy them) they look at you like you've just said the most insane thing they've ever heard......

When I bought my Sonors (second hand from a store) I was like "look asswad" (showed him the cash) "are you going to let me play this kit, or is your buddy going to get all this commision"..... he eventually let me play the kit..... I walked outside, smoked a ciggarette and paid the other guy for it. :D
 
Look what I just noticed...... thoose sneaky little..... :mad:

"Instant Rebate
Good through 12/26/05
Buy the Catalina Club 4-Piece Shell Pack and receive a $100 instant rebate! (Price shown already includes your rebate) "

Alteast zzounds was honest about the price..... For 30 bucks I'd rather have 2 toms..... what a headache
 
That looks pretty cool, but the kick drum still wouldn't fit in my car and it's a little out of my price range. Thanks though. :D
 
What about just modifying your existing kit to do double duty? Assuming you have a standard 5 piece kit, you can get a riser for the floor tom that will convert it into a kick, your 13" tom would then become your floor tom and the 12" tom would become your mid. You then have the option of adding an additional 10" tom for the high and if you'd prefer not to have to modify any of your drum shells to accomodate all this, just get clamps that will mount each tom holder to your cymbal stands. It might also be cool to substitute the snare with a 13" piccilo and maybe even add in a few latin percussion pieces. All this would probably cost you what a decent mini kit would new and you wouldnt even have to buy it all at once. Also, in the event your mini band flops, the money would have been much better spent this way because every piece I've suggested would be perfectly usable with your full size kit, where the mini kit would just be collecting dust.

DRUMMAKER.COM is a good online vendor to check out for discount hardware and theres a vendor on Ebay called "Nationalmusicsupply" that offers decent add on drums for cheap if you dont want to build anything. (No, I'm not affiliated with either)
 
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I agree with you and disagree....

I've actually thought about converting my tama floor tom into a bass drum... And buying a piccolo. I'd always get some good use from a piccolo as a second snare on the "big" kit.

The problem is that, I don't gig with any of my sonor stuff.... it's all quilted maple. There's no the kit is ever leaving my g.a.s. (ghetto-ass studio) unless I move. So I'd still get stuck looking for little toms.... (because the swingstar toms are very big).

My solution to that was roto toms..... but that to cheesy even for me..... :) Don't get my wrong, roto-toms are fun to play (if you have 3 or 4 and a full sized kit). But it'd just be too cheesy to use them as my primary toms.....

Plus I completely disagree that the little kit will collect dust. Follow the link in my sig and listen to the song.... That's the "normal" way my sonors are tuned.

I have to tune them a lot differently for a "not so metal" sound. And I do record a lot surfy, jazzy, and bluesy songs....... It's a serious pain in the ass to tune them up to record, then tune the back down for band practice all the time....

So the little kit would be a great kit for recording. (If nothing else, it'd be less work on me.....) And no matter what I try to do, I can't tune drums to sound "smaller".

Thanks for the input though..... I'm really leaning towards that gretsch kit :D
 
I say Build it.

Why not build it a drum or 2 at a time?

Do a Kick, snare, and floor tom. Then add rack toms. Or even use rototoms for your toms.


Tim
 
I just might do that.... But it's going to end up costing me a fortune I bet..... If you don't mind me asking what how much did you have to spend on your drums excluding the shells.

As far as the lugs cost like X amount per drums. The heads are X expensive..... I mean just like a "ball park" number.

Thanks :)
 
I agree with the person that said 18 was small enough. An 18 with a rack tom and a floor tom plus a picolo snare can sound wonderful esp with some kinds of music.
 
Pearl R. Traveler: I'm not a fan of cheap drums, but I have this kit for a backup to throw in my truck and it sounds better than I anticipated. Decent bang for the buck, but I didn't look at other kits it the price range...
 
I have a Mapex Voyager kit (Mahogany), Which sounds much bigger than it is. I don't know if they still make them but they did sell new for $400 about 4-5 years ago.

I compared the Voyager very closly to the various Hip Gig and Jungle kits (the other "portable" kits that were marketed at that time) and the Voagers sounded as good for less than 1/2 the price.
 
premier also makes a couple small sized kits available at sam ash. one is a cabria kit for $439

Bass Drum 18" x 16"
Snare Drum 14" x 5.5"
Toms 12" x 9"
Floor Tom(s) 14" x 14"
Cymbal Stand(s) Boom Cymbal Stand Included
Snare Stand Snare Stand Included
Hi Hat Stand Hi Hat Stand Included
Bass Drum Pedal Bass Drum Pedal Included

the other is an artist heritage birch for $837

Bass Drum 20" x 8"
Snare Drum 13" x 5.5"
Toms 10" x 6"
Floor Tom(s) 13" x 11"
 
Check out www.tayedrums.com and look at the go kit. I'm not sure if it's out of your price range but it looks beautiful and taye drums are great.
 

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