Upgrading a junior set for use?

[elenore19]

Just a thought here.

Anyone ever try to use a Junior drum set? Like, not for a 'junior player' but for possibly recording and practicing with?

I would replace the heads and all. Would that work? Or would it not be worth buying the new heads for. I could possibly get a free junior drum set, and I'm weighing out all my options here.


Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks dudes.

 

[isfahani]

I have tried this, and it really depends on the quality of certain components and how much hassle you're willing to go thru. Some of the things that I ran into with the JR set I was given: The rims on the toms and "Snare" are all really thin, so when I put real drumheads on, they wouldn't tune easily if at all, due to the fact that they would bend under the tension... x2, top and bottom!

The other thing is, in order to get any real sound out of the 16" kick drum I got a floor tom hoop (howevermany holes, mine has 6) so that the beater shaft on the adult sized pedal doesn't connect with the rim, and a kick riser to raise it up so the beater isn't hitting the head like an inch away from the rim... Unless, of course, you're going to use the cheep-o to-scale kiddie kick drum pedal.

If it's free, it doesn't hurt to try!

 

[elenore19]

I have tried this, and it really depends on the quality of certain components and how much hassle you're willing to go thru. Some of the things that I ran into with the JR set I was given: The rims on the toms and "Snare" are all really thin, so when I put real drumheads on, they wouldn't tune easily if at all, due to the fact that they would bend under the tension... x2, top and bottom!

The other thing is, in order to get any real sound out of the 16" kick drum I got a floor tom hoop (howevermany holes, mine has 6) so that the beater shaft on the adult sized pedal doesn't connect with the rim, and a kick riser to raise it up so the beater isn't hitting the head like an inch away from the rim... Unless, of course, you're going to use the cheep-o to-scale kiddie kick drum pedal.

If it's free, it doesn't hurt to try!

Hm. Alright. Sounds pretty much like

"You could try, but it doesn't work"

Did you ever make it work? or no?

 

[ranjam]

I've done this more than once. It will work, but as soon as you step up to even a 'crappy' full size kit, you'll notice a huge difference. What I did, and only because I am legally insane and handy with many tools (a very dangerous pairing), was recut the bearing edges, packed all the lugs (you'll hear them squeak when you record otherwise), and spent $1,925 on trying every drum head known to man, and spent 865 hours trying all tuning ranges. After all that work, the drums did sound really nice. But then I went and took a portion of a larger 80's Tama Swingstar kit (low-end entry-level kit). I actually took the 18" floor tom and after putting a tom mount on it used it as a kick drum . It works fine. It is my main kit now; small enough to fit in any car since I took all the small diameter drums. And most soundmen admit it sounds waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than even my best tweaked Apollo/Bolero/Gracy/Raven/Stewart/Zim-Gar kit. Watch your tuning, and they'll record great. I did the 'anti-gear' trip, and bought every cheap 60's Japanese kit for miles around. Now I've flipped about 75% of those over (at a loss ), but gained insights and knowledge that have no price tag. Or so I keep telling myself.