Good Drum Kit for under $700 (cymbals not included)

[VirtualSamana]

Is there a home recording favorite?

[Gidge]

Tama Rockstar!!!!!!!!

[Prism]

Funny you ask...
I'm looking for a kit as well, and just today I stopped into a local music store, and I really liked this one Mapex kit they had. It was $550, including hardware (no cymbals)....it's totally snazzy, the kick is REALLY fat and thumpy, the snare sounded great...anyway, I fell in love with it. If I'm in there again soon, I'll try and get the model name. It was niiiiice.

Isaiah

[nezpierce]

Originally posted by Prism
Funny you ask...
I'm looking for a kit as well, and just today I stopped into a local music store, and I really liked this one Mapex kit they had. It was $550, including hardware (no cymbals)....it's totally snazzy, the kick is REALLY fat and thumpy, the snare sounded great...anyway, I fell in love with it. If I'm in there again soon, I'll try and get the model name. It was niiiiice.

Isaiah

Under the $700 range, DW has a sub company named Pacific that sound really good, Gretsch has a lower line that has wrapped drums, (not wood stained) that had the BEST KICK drum sound I have heard out the box in a long time. Yamaha's new Stage Custum are good for the price. too

MAPEX is a very good buy! I own a Mapex kit right now and love it to death. It is very "tama" like...

nP

[Prism]

It was the Mapex V5254 ...Musician's Friend sells it for about $500 including shipping.

Isaiah

[getuhgrip]

http://www.interstatemusic.com/webap...pcat=&prevcat=

Check this out.

I just sold a set of ProM and can vouch for tone and construction. Heavy duty functional hardware. M series is a step down from ProM but the hardware is virtualy the same and they come in the sweet laquer finishes!

[mikeh]

The lower line Gretsch have a very warm "Gretsch sound", I played a kit recently and was pleasantly surprised.

I heard a Pacific kit in a store - they sounded OK, but I wasn't blown away.

I've always thought the Yamaha Stage Customs were a good buy, and now they have isolation mounts - which really improves the sound. I owned a set (of the "old Stage Customs) for about a year and was very satisfied.

Mapex ProM is a pretty decent kit - the M's are not as warm sounding but for the price they are decent. I've got a set of the limited ProM (with all Maple shells) - I actually like the sound better then my Premier Genista (all Birch) which had been my favorite kit.

[heylow]

...but have you investigated an old Ludwig kit??

I babysat a friends '66 Red Sparkle Ludwig last year and fell in love with it. I ended up getting a 3 peice 1970 sky blue swirl ludwig off ebay for like $400 and newer Gretsch snare locally for $150 and LOVE it!

With the old ludwigs, you get solid maple construction and warm sound...especially with coated heads! Admittedly, they are trickier to tune than say, DWs but you get the hang of em and IMHO, they sound better...I suppose it's all taste, though

The secret is, the 60s kit are crazy expensive...damn collectors! But the kits were built exactly the same through 74 or 75 so an early 70s kit is just as nice but cheaper! If your more player than collector, you get a deal

[Prism]

My friend's dad has a vintage Ludwig kit (and some vintage Zildjian cymbals that sound unbelievable)...I really like the kit overall...the snare is really nice, but it doesn't have the kind of sound I'd want in a kit...it doesn't sound rock & roll-ish enough...more like a marching band kinda sound, but it's still a great kit.

Isaiah

[getuhgrip]

My dad bought my older brother a set of the muti-colored acryllics in '73.
I was so pissed! I was stuck on this sparkle red set of Stewarts with some ACME cymbals that sounded like garbage can lids!

[charger]

I played witha drummer for years who had an attic special, a 67 Ludwig kit in champagne sparkle that had sat in someone's attic for 25 years. When he bought it, it still had the original heads. Unfortunately, he could never find a floor tom for it. It was this tiny kit that took a lot of work to get it tuned right, but once it was there, the sound was much bigger than its size. Very phat.