What brand of drums do you play or like and Why?

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Mongoo

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What do you play on, and what qualities does it have which make you like it over other brands? Same thing goes for anything particular on your set. As ex. you might like larger toms for blank reason etc..


Mongoo
 
Yamaha Recording Custom - "Power" sized toms with Evans EC2 on top & G2 clears on bottom, for a little bit punchier tone.

I switched from a Ludwig Custom Maple kit, so hopefully I can make some good comparisons.

1. Birch & Maple are TOTALLY different animals. The tonal characteristics of the drums are much different. Both sound great, though.

2. Yamaha hardware is the best there is, IMHO. The Ludwig hardware, while good, is real heavy & cumbersome. I have MANY more options with tom placement using the 360 degree ball mounts that the Yamaha comes with. Cymbal arrangement options are more abundant with the Yamaha's as well.

3. Due to the hardware, my setup time is much smoother and faster. The hardware doesn't dent, memory locks don't snap, and everything stays in place from the time I tighten everything up. It's hard to beat the great sound that a Ludwig maple kit will put out, but overall I like the Yamaha's better. The birch is definitely different, but it sounds GREAT!
 
I'd have to say Taye

I like the Taye TourPro or Studio Maple for a couple of reasons:

1. Pricepoint - save your money for where it counts; mics and cymbals. If the shells are produced with at least some element of consistency (and if you can tune the drums properly with the head for the sound you are going for) you should be fine. For straight studio work, maple would be the way to go.

2. Hardware - the hardware is solid and is great for quick teardowns/setups.

I could go on about other petty things, but these are the main points.

-JV
 
Pacific CX MAPLE 7-piece. Why? Because for $450 you can't buy anything even close. Plus I like the tom setup on it (8, 10, 12, 14, 16)
 
I'm with you on the Pacific's sound, sirslurpee. My 5 pc. MX's ($649) sound exactly like what I think drums should sound like and dangit, the price was right. Beautiful sustain on the toms and fat, punchy defined bottom on the bass drum. I spent a whole day at Guitar Center, played my current Pacific set side-by-side with other top-shelf DW, Tama, Pearl kits and frankly, the Pacifics blow them all out of the water IMO. I'd originally gone set on some Tamas or Pearls when the Pacifics won my ears over in a close second over another competing kit which was the stand-out winner over them all (read on). So far in recordings, the toms penetrate throught the mix as does the warm crack of the wood snare. I use pinstripes on top, amabassadors on the bottom for toms. For snare, the standard coated ambassador and on bass the Evans emad.

Next time I run into a surplus of cash, I'm also going to have to agree with Brad_C. The Gretsch Catalinas birch kits are awesome and I would love to get a set of those in my arsenal. I definitely would have bought them first instead of the Pacifics if I had the extra dough at the time of purchase.
 
types of wood

As far as maple, birch, mahogony, and mixed wood shells go. How would you describe their sound qualities? What styles of music are the different woods geared towards?

I am looking for a reasonably priced kit that records well. Whenever I go look at drums they're always out of tune and it's difficult to really get a good feel for them. Any suggestions on drum shopping tips?

Thanks,

Mongoo
 
Mongoo said:
I am looking for a reasonably priced kit that records well. Whenever I go look at drums they're always out of tune and it's difficult to really get a good feel for them. Any suggestions on drum shopping tips?

Thanks,

Mongoo
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Mongoo- the market is flooded with "reasonably priced kits that record well." Tama, Mapex, Yamaha, etc., all make entry level kits good enough for recording. It's really hard to say what you might like w/o knowing you, your tastes, or your current skill level. I will tell you the room you record -- and how well you tune the kit - are more important than the actual brand of drums you'll chose.

If you are in a store that has out of tune drums, why not ask a sales rep to help you tune them up? This works best if you there when business is slow.

Say, "hey, I'm seriously considering this kit vs. that kit, but I can't tell with the kit being out of tune. Can you help...?"

If the sales rep knows what he's doing, watch closely and maybe you can learn something. If he doesn't, you can use trial and error together.

If he gives you the run around, remind him his merchandise would sell better if it was tuned properly -- and then leave his store... maybe he'll also realize he just lost a potential customer.

Mongoo said:
What styles of music are the different woods geared towards?
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I wouldn't equate type of wood with type of music. It varies. You really need to play and hear the differences for yourself. For instance... Personally, I love the sound of birch toms but I also found I needed to beat the hell out of em, esp. that birch snare, to make it sound good. The maple kit was great and the snare was awesome but every day it sounded different (due to change in weather/humidity) Metal snares seem to be more consistent for certain situations, but required a tricky muffling scheme, etc.
 
RezN8

RezN8,

I come from a grunge background, and also listen to groups like Morphine, Tom Waits, Radiohead, Fugazi, Violent Femmes. What I play is a combo of these I guess with a little Latin thrown in. I would say I'm an intermediately skilled drummer.

Any ideas or shell packs I should check out based on this? The set will only be used for recording and practice.

The room I'm in right now is carpeted. I was thinking I'd throw some sheets of plywood under the drums to help it resonate. Do you think that will work or do I need to build a riser?

Thanks,

Mongoo
 
I play Dave Conaway Custom Drums (Maple, gold HW), Pearl BRX (Birch, Cherry.) And my trow around set is a Mapex V series (Bass wood)
 
Mongoo said:
RezN8,

I come from a grunge background, and also listen to groups like Morphine, Tom Waits, Radiohead, Fugazi, Violent Femmes. What I play is a combo of these I guess with a little Latin thrown in. I would say I'm an intermediately skilled drummer.

Any ideas or shell packs I should check out based on this? The set will only be used for recording and practice.

The room I'm in right now is carpeted. I was thinking I'd throw some sheets of plywood under the drums to help it resonate. Do you think that will work or do I need to build a riser?

Thanks,

Mongoo
Click to expand...

Mongoo- it's hard to say whether a drum riser would make things better or worse, because I have no idea what the rest of you room is like (size, type of walls, other objects in the room, etc...)

Often a drum riser would tend to make the kit sound more boomy (a freq. that's hard to control and usually adds up to mud in the mix).

The types of artists you mention vary widely - Morphine's drums sound more lounge Jazzy to me, while the Violent Femmes almost seem like old skool Punk version of what a Jazz drum set sounded like. Did that make sense? Probably not... anyway, Radiohead's drum sound varies too much from album to album, song to song, but I'd put them in the avant-garde rock sounding drums... what's my point? I'm not sure.. I dunno :o

I guess I'm saying there are too many variables to even try to point you in the right direction. What kit do you have now? What don't you like about it?What is your budget?

Depending on your situation, a number of kits can get you close to the sound you'd like using proper tuning, muffling, mic techniques, etc.

I wish I could be more help.
 
Amen

silentman said:
I like the Taye TourPro or Studio Maple for a couple of reasons:

1. Pricepoint - save your money for where it counts; mics and cymbals. If the shells are produced with at least some element of consistency (and if you can tune the drums properly with the head for the sound you are going for) you should be fine. For straight studio work, maple would be the way to go.

2. Hardware - the hardware is solid and is great for quick teardowns/setups.

I could go on about other petty things, but these are the main points.

-JV
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Wow im surprised to see someone else who likes Taye drums. Ive been playing some Taye StudioMaples for about a year now and every music forum I'm one where this question comes up, i seem to be the only one who even mentions Taye. I hate to say they are the best bang for the buck (which they are) because they sound like drums that are way above the taye price range. And dont get me started on the features! the hardware alone far surpasses that of any other drums ive played.
 
i have a lot of drum kits

2.5 Dw's
a double kick Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute


I prefer the DW all around. The yamahas sound great, but are VERY dry sounding, and not too versitile in the studio. Live they are fine, but they dont have the versitile sound of a DW kit. The DW's can be molded to sound great in any setting. I have big sized drums (22,10,13,16,18), but i can still get jazz tone out of the drums with the proper heads and miking. They have a nice warm, round sound and are FULL of tone, which can be compressed to cut down, or hit it with TransX (waves plugin) to lengthen the resonance and decay.

Overall, the best drums i have ever played, except a Sonor Designer or Signature
 
The first day I had drum lessons, i was already self taught for a year with this cheap ass set that was fallign apart. So my teacher showed me his sets he ahd for sale. Ended up buying an old tama superstar. Pure birch. The quality of the thing was very impressive, and the price for my entire set (thats 11 piece, but i keep two 13" toms in storage, so technically 9 piece, thats if you count the mini tymps) was $1500. Around 1100-1200 on drums, 100 on mini tymps, and 300 on snare. For such a bgi set, that aint bad. The sound is very very nice, but the old ahrdware is kinda rusty and very hard to adjust. They sound best with single ply, punchy with a medium decay. And hey, if these sets were used by Billy Cobham, Neil Peart, and Bill Bruford, you know they're good :p . Seriously though, I didnt know who any of those guys were back when I got the superstar, so that didnt influence my decision. My snare is an old brass yamaha 14x7 or 14x8... amazing...
 
Taye

NegadivOne, what Taye features are you talking about. I've never heard of Taye drums. Moneywise how much are they and how much more do they sound like?

Thanks,

Mongoo
 
You can find info on Taye drums at http://www.tayedrums.com

I have a set of their Studio Maple and have been quite happy with how they sound and record. Ray Ayotte formerly of Ayotte drums is behind the brand.
 
tilinmyowngrave said:
The first day I had drum lessons, i was already self taught for a year with this cheap ass set that was fallign apart. So my teacher showed me his sets he ahd for sale. Ended up buying an old tama superstar. Pure birch. The quality of the thing was very impressive, and the price for my entire set (thats 11 piece, but i keep two 13" toms in storage, so technically 9 piece, thats if you count the mini tymps) was $1500. Around 1100-1200 on drums, 100 on mini tymps, and 300 on snare. For such a bgi set, that aint bad. The sound is very very nice, but the old ahrdware is kinda rusty and very hard to adjust. They sound best with single ply, punchy with a medium decay. And hey, if these sets were used by Billy Cobham, Neil Peart, and Bill Bruford, you know they're good :p . Seriously though, I didnt know who any of those guys were back when I got the superstar, so that didnt influence my decision. My snare is an old brass yamaha 14x7 or 14x8... amazing...
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thats not an AMAZING price, but not bad.
 
I play GMS & Ludwig drums Cause I can. No really I think my GMS kit are the easiest set of drums to tune & get a great sound out of. Heck ALL the companies make nice drums now for a given price range. Too much competion not to make them good.
 
In the last year ive been using a Pearl Masters, Tama Superstar but ive recently bought myself a Mapex Orion.

The Orion wins - it's just amazing. Tune the drums low - you have a rich deep powerful sound, Tune them up high and they're bright with lots of attack and great resonance.

Every heads you stick on them - they change the tone massivly. I've never noticed such HUGE diffrences when changing the heads depending on the sound you want.

Its just SO versitile. I reccomend them to everyone - seriously - these drums rock.
 
I have an old set of Pearl's top of the line from somewhere between 1969 to 1977 , not sure, that's as close as they can be dated . After the '68 cataloge and before the '78 that are on line in the Pearl Archives .
. I've had them for about 10 years .

If I had a blank check to get a whole new set I would go nuts trying to decide what to get .

Either the new Pearl Reference series , Star Classics or DW !!

The Pearl's are a combo of wood types and DW gives you a choice . If Tama gave you a choice of birch or maple I think there wood be more out there .

Something like these would be cool !!!
 

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