Low Budget Drum Kit

[DM24]

The kits I have played and heard are the forum, export, swingstar, rockstar, and mapex v series. I thought that the forum, swingstar, and mapex v kits all felt kind of cheap and did'nt sound that good. I like the rockstar. I have only heard the export with crappy heads but they did'nt feel like a cheap ass kit.

Well the Forum, Swingstar and V kits are all the lowest kits that Pearl, Tama and Mapex do so obviously they will send worse than the Export and Rockstar costing about $150-200 more. It's like anything, you get what you pay for....

The Export in my oppinion is the best sounding mid range kit, great price, great finish options, durable hardware and great customer service. The rockstar again is a good kit but i think the Pearl is better kit.

The Pearl Forum kit is another good kit, i was very surprised when i heard the kit tuned up nicely, it was not that different to a kit priced a fair few hundred more. Aslong as you can tune fairly well and keep your heads in good condition there's no reason why any of the kits mentioned here will not fullfill your needs.

 

[mjau]

Is anyone recording drums n a small room like mine (10x12) and getting good results? I'm just thinking that everything is gonna be muddy as hell even with bass traps (rockwool panels) covering the corners.

My room is a little bigger than yours (about 15' x 12'), and I've got a Yamaha Stage Custom I'm recording. Two things have helped me tremendously: bass traps, and relying less on my overheads and more on my close mics. I try to get a solid kick and snare sound, and use my overheads for some cymbal pickup and some stereo spread. A mono front of kit mic with a little compression is usually all the "room" I have in my drum mix.

 

[travelin travis]

My room is a little bigger than yours (about 15' x 12'), and I've got a Yamaha Stage Custom I'm recording. Two things have helped me tremendously: bass traps, and relying less on my overheads and more on my close mics. I try to get a solid kick and snare sound, and use my overheads for some cymbal pickup and some stereo spread. A mono front of kit mic with a little compression is usually all the "room" I have in my drum mix.

thanks for the info. i have read that some where - small room, close micing is best. i will definitely be putting up bass traps. what exactly is the problem when using overheads in a small room? do you get a muddy sound?

where in the room do you setup your kit? i mean like the center of the room, against a wall, etc. do you have any sound clips?

 

[VFsticks69]

By far the pearl export would be the best bet. You can get one for pretty cheap without cymbals but it would be worth it. They rock. It also is the heads you put on it. Alot of people would shoot me for it, but remo pinstripes sound the best on this kit. Pearl kits usually make the best entry to mid level sets on the market. Export is the best though. I have played on others and the only mid level set to match, well beat it for that matter, was a birch pacific set. it costs WAY more too. good luck choosing.

 

[travelin travis]

i just talked to a friend about a guitar amp that he has been trying to sell me for a while (i've been holding out for a lower price). anyway, he said he has an old tama rockstar kit complete with cymbals and all hardware, that i can use. i just have to buy some heads for it. apparently the kit has been stored at a friends house for 2 years so i would probably be able to keep it for awhile without any worries of him needing it back any time soon. so now i just gotta figure out what heads to get.

i'm gonna be recording in a small room (10x12) lined with rockwool panels for bass traps. i like big open sounding drums but in a small room that's probably not likely gonna happen. the mics i have right now are 2 sm58's and a cad m179. i planned to get a pair of MXL 603's and a Superlux fk-2. i was gonna get remo ambassador's but i'm wondering if the open resonant sound of those heads would just turn into mud in a small room. can anyone reccomend heads?

i'm still gonna keep my eyes/ears out for a kit of my own. at least i will have something in the mean time.

 

[geet73]

I have a Pearl Export I'm recording right now with Remo Clear Emperors on it. My room is 13X15X8 or so. Pretty small. It sounds damn good.

 

[travelin travis]

I have a Pearl Export I'm recording right now with Remo Clear Emperors on it. My room is 13X15X8 or so. Pretty small. It sounds damn good.

what type of music do you play? got any sound clips? you have emperors on the top and bottom?

 

[dgatwood]

So you mentioned the Ludwig Accent Combo. That's the set I'm playing currently.... (With a grafted-on Pulse 10" add-on tom and a fleet of extra cymbal stands and cymbals, that is.) Been pounding on it for about a year now. Thus far, it is holding up just fine. That said, it required a little work to make it suitable for recording:

1. The throne squeaks like a mouse in a cage. Carefully placed felt in the post will help....
2. The bass drum heads on mine came with a nice crease across the middle. I ended up replacing both heads almost immediately, as I like my bass heads tuned lower than my highest rack tom....
3. The top tom heads don't have that much tone. I replaced them all with pinstripes.
4. The cymbal stand, while double-braced, isn't nearly as heavy-duty as the Ludwig cymbal boom stand I bought at the local music store. It's good enough for crashes, but don't try it on carpet with a long grabber boom holding a heavy ride. Dial 1-800-NOT-STABLE.
5. The mechanism holding the top half of the high hat needs to be screwed back together every few hours of play.... Maybe some loctite....
6. The Pulse add-on tom mounting hardware... sucks. The theory of mounting with rubber isolation bumpers under the rim sounds nice, and it really does have a nice ring, but... it took the longest time for me to figure out how to keep it from falling off on the ground while playing....

That said, if you ignore the squeaky throne, it's all decent starter hardware, IMHO. Nothing to really rant about (other than maybe the throne).

 

[travelin travis]

So you mentioned the Ludwig Accent Combo. That's the set I'm playing currently.... (With a grafted-on Pulse 10" add-on tom and a fleet of extra cymbal stands and cymbals, that is.) Been pounding on it for about a year now. Thus far, it is holding up just fine. That said, it required a little work to make it suitable for recording:

1. The throne squeaks like a mouse in a cage. Carefully placed felt in the post will help....
2. The bass drum heads on mine came with a nice crease across the middle. I ended up replacing both heads almost immediately, as I like my bass heads tuned lower than my highest rack tom....
3. The top tom heads don't have that much tone. I replaced them all with pinstripes.
4. The cymbal stand, while double-braced, isn't nearly as heavy-duty as the Ludwig cymbal boom stand I bought at the local music store. It's good enough for crashes, but don't try it on carpet with a long grabber boom holding a heavy ride. Dial 1-800-NOT-STABLE.
5. The mechanism holding the top half of the high hat needs to be screwed back together every few hours of play.... Maybe some loctite....
6. The Pulse add-on tom mounting hardware... sucks. The theory of mounting with rubber isolation bumpers under the rim sounds nice, and it really does have a nice ring, but... it took the longest time for me to figure out how to keep it from falling off on the ground while playing....

That said, if you ignore the squeaky throne, it's all decent starter hardware, IMHO. Nothing to really rant about (other than maybe the throne).

Thanks for the info. I think I'm gonna hold out for a export or rockstar kit though. In the mean time, I will have my friends rockstar kit to get started with. I'm sure any of those cheaps kits would hold up fine for me seeing that I'm not going to be moving them around or taking them out any where. The thing that concerns me most is the sound. I have played 4 or 5 cheap kits and was never impressed with the sound. The guys that owned these kits made them sound decent but I have heard much better tone and clarity coming out of a rockstar kit with stock heads. I'm sure the export kit would also have similar sound quality with decent heads on it. I think it would be wise to just keep saving my nickels and keep my eye out for a better quality kit.

 

[Licketysplit]

For heads I reccomend getting coated ambassadors over clear ambassadors. I don't think they would sound muddy at all.

Also for cymbals don't get the ZXT/ZBT line (!). They're really overpriced imo, and sound like shit. I reccomend getting either Sabian B8 pros, Pro Sonix, B8s, or Paiste Alphas.

 

[travelin travis]

For heads I reccomend getting coated ambassadors over clear ambassadors. I don't think they would sound muddy at all.

Also for cymbals don't get the ZXT/ZBT line (!). They're really overpriced imo, and sound like shit. I reccomend getting either Sabian B8 pros, Pro Sonix, B8s, or Paiste Alphas.

thanks for the info. as far as cymbals, i'm not sure what that loner kit has yet. i will be picking it up this weekend some time. i had B8 pro cymbals on the rockstar kit that i had. i liked em for heavy stuff. i don't really play much heavy music any more. i'm gettin old i suppose.

i'm thinking heads are gonna be either ambassadors or emperors or a mix. i'm not sure. i don't know damn about drum heads. only one way to find out i suppose. buy some and listen.

btw, thanks to everyone so far for suggestions and info. with me being the cheap bastard that i am and if it was'nt for this place, i'd be buying the cheapest crap i could find and wondering why it sounds like shit.