pearl or yamaha

[jax]

Hi. I'm about to purchase a kit, but I'm not a drummer. For my first kit..(and in all likelyhood my last) what should be my choice? I am aware of the price/quality factor and have established a budget of sorts. In the Musicians Friend catolog they have a Yamaha DP2F56 5-piece set for $750 and a Pearl EX251 export for $720 .These are the most expensive kits in the catolog although the website has a larger selection. Could someone help me out? Please don't tell me it depends on what I want because I don't know exactly. I do know that I want a 'quality for the price' rock kit... not to mention something that won't make me 'look like a runt in front of the others' (little AKIRA reference, can I get an amen).So .. out fo these two?.. or does someone have another suggestion. Thank you.

 

[theletterq]

Look more towards what you need or require rather than what you want. Sizes and numbers of pieces and hardware and cymbals, etc play a major role in price. I can tell you right now to definitley stay away from the Yamaha. Only the top of line Yamahas are worth a damn. Pearl Exports are "ok" although I would go with the Export Selects. Something I would do is go to http://www.waddellsdrums.com and request a catalog. Waddells is the cheapest mail order drum company that I have found in 10 years of shopping for drum stuff. I'm assuming your budget is in the under $1000 range. You will easily be able to find something for that. Another thing to do is check out internet classifieds or ebay for a good used kit. But as always, risks apply...

 

[Jon X]

Musician's Friend is overpriced the majority of the time, but if you want to buy from them get a price from another online place and they will normally match it.

I agree that the Pearl kits are a better choice than the Yamaha at that level, and matter of fact I have an Export Select kit here myself. I think Pearl has even improved some aspects of the Select kits without raising the price since I bought mine as well. You should be able to get them for less than $1000 like theletterq mentioned, but get the best quality cymbals your budget can afford. I made the mistake of getting cheap cymbals the first time thinking I was just going to record so they would be fine once I EQ'd them. Wrong, they sucked and were by far the worst sounding part of the kit.

The Pearl Export select should meet both the "quality for the price" expectation and keep you from looking like a runt.

 

[memo]

First of all, both the Yamaha DP and the Pearl Forum kits are the manufacturers lowest line. And those prices you have found are way too much for those drums. I've seen 5-piece Pearl Exports that go for $599. So try to check out other online shops like http://www.waddelssdrums.com, http://www.lidrum.com, http://www.samash.com etc.

The best thing to do is go to a local drumstore (if you have one) and try the kits out. You can easily get a Yamaha Stage custom for around $800 which sounds much better compared to the Yamaha DP. And again for $800 you might be able to move to one of Pearl's higher lines the session series.

One other kit I would recommend is the Premier Cabria. It is one of the best entry level kits which I have ever heard. The toms are warm, full and punchy as well as the bass and the crisp snare. You should be able to get one around $700.

And the most important of all are cymbals. You can always change the sound of a drum, using different heads, tunings, muffling etc. But a bad cymbal will always sound bad. I've heard a goodly tune Pearl Forum which sounded better than a badly tuned DW set (top of the line) with crappy heads. But a Zildjian ZBT or a Saluda cymbal will always sound bad. Try to get cymbals from higher end series, you might have to get them slowly but it will be well worth it. Check out Zildjian's A, A Custom, K, K Custom and Z Custom lines, Sabian's, AA, AAX and HH lines. Paiste's Signature, Dimensions, Traditional and Alpha series.

If you have any more questions, I'll be glad to help

 

[ditnoj]

Jax hit on an important point. How much you spend (for a non-drummer) depends on how much you plan on learning about tuning the drums and what heads to buy.

Also there is a LOT you can due to an entry level to mediocre drum set to make it sound GREAT. (Also...sticks DO make a difference!)

Out of all I saw in the post, I would suggest the Yamaha Stage Custom

Also, your cymbal selection should cover a range of sounds from bright to dark and differecnt decays or you're going to get real bored, real fast with the sounds, especially the horrible same crash sound after every fill syndrome that I hear so much and hate

D out ITNOJ