heatmiser
mr. green christmas
I'm gonna blaspheme for a moment here about those drums - DW, Gretsch, Tama, Pearl, etc......they're all about the same. If you're comparing apples to apples, a high end Pearl or Tama kit is no better or worse than a high end kit from another manufacturer. Obviously a DW is leaps and bounds better than a Sound Percussion kit, but I did say apples to apples. DW puts together some fantastic kits.....but they can sound just as shitty as cheap stuff. I know a guy with a....sit down for this.....$15,000 DW kit. It's your basic 6pc - one kick, two rack toms, two floor toms, piccolo snare. It looks stunning. Silver sparkle boat-flake finish. It sounds pretty mediocre. Well tuned, good heads, the guy can play, it just sounds like a good drum kit. Not spectacular. Just okay. If you sat in a room with three decent quality kits and someone played them all, you couldn't tell which is which. The area where those high end kits really shine is consistency with bearing edges, quality shells, lug locations, tuning range, and hardware. I think a gigging drummer will be better served with a quality kit. Not so much for the sound, but just for the better fit and finish. For someone that just wants a kit to record, any old decent name brand, good quality kit that's tuned properly with the right heads for the job will be perfect.
Yeah, that all makes sense and is in keeping with other comments I've read of yours. There's no chance of me buying one of those expensive kits, but I was impressed by the look and finish on many of them.
The yamaha rydeen kit I borrowed for 2 yrs. was bought used there in like new condition for $400.00 with HHs and a ride. That seems like a good deal now. Everything they had yesterday was either super expensive ($800 - several thousand), or an overpriced little kid's set-up.
I guess I thought I could piece together a 22"+ kick, a vintage sounding snare, a pair of HHs and a crash or two out of cheap used gear, but it doesn't seem to work like that. It seems to be a full kit or nothing (although snares are obviously sold separately in huge numbers).
Sorry - I know this isn't the drum forum...