What's Your Favorite Drum Brand?

[Abraxas]

Gretsch

 

[Ragged Glory]

As a side note, what kind(s) of kit(s) do you guys have/use? In other words, what are the sizes for each shell/drum? 12" Snare? 10"-14" Toms? 16" Floor Tom? 20" Bass? 4, 5 or 6 piece? What ya got?

 

[Abraxas]

I have a Gretsch catalina ash kit: 22" bass, 14" snare, 8" tom, 10" tom, 12" tom and a 14" floor tom.

 

[Ragged Glory]

^ I used to have an incredible Tama 12" Maple Snare with a beautiful finish & die-cast Gold rims. Atleast I believe it was die-cast, but the main thing was its size, sound & overall beauty, not to mention the classy Gold rims. It was the best sounding Snare that I've ever heard or played even up to now. I truly loved it & got a lot of pleasure out of it. The main reason(s) I (unfortunately) traded it in were a few...


1. Neighbors ALWAYS complain about sound & I wanted to focus on an Electronic kit.

2. I had an Electronic kit ahead of time so I wouldn't have to wait after selling/trading my Snare & (close to) the rest of my kit.

3. My Double-Bass pedal was getting old & showing some age so I wanted to focus on getting a new one.

4. I chose to purchase a new single pedal over a Double-Bass pedal in order to show off & develop my newer, more complex skills instead of "taking the (previously) easy way out."

5. My new pedal, therefore, pretty much cost me nothing.



By the way, I'm not much into 14" snares even though I used to have/play a few of them back then. I quickly purchased a 12" stand (probably around the same time that I purchased my Custom snare) & I'm not totally sure, but I may have also tossed that old "beginner's" type 14" snare stand that I used to (have to) use. I just love the sound & feel of a 12" snare a whole lot more. To each his own though. That's one thing that's also pretty cool with my Electronic set. My Electronic set can/will provide you with all sorts of sounds & sizes including both 12" & 14" type snares. Sometimes I even use the snare sounds for my Bass!

 

[Abraxas]

I've been thinking about either selling or trading my kit cos my kit is (almost) bigger than my room and I live in an apartment. Plus I thought I was going to be in a band with a friend of mine but that apparently isn't going to happen. I dunno. Maybe I'll be like Trent Reznor and play everything myself.

 

[Ragged Glory]

^ There's many, many sounds on my Electronic kit. If you want variety or at least more than just basic sounds/Drums, then I'd definitely tell you to go for an Electronic kit. It might start off a little pricey but it's more than worth it over time. Should you form a band, volume wouldn't be a problem either if you needed/wanted it on stage or while practicing. Get the right speakers & you're all set.

 

[Khor1255]

I started out with a hand me down 'hybrid' kit with 2 mismatched (22 & 20 inch) bass drums with speed king pedals, two 12 inch and 2 13 inch ride toms tuned so they sounded a step down from one another, 2 16 inch floor toms (same tuning scheme) various junk cymbals stands and hardware an LP cowbell and later two snare drums modified to sound like timbales.
My first real cymbal as a Zidjian Amir crash ride and my first good piece of hardware was a Viking hi hat stand that improved my playing about 75% from the days I couldn't trust the hat not to malfunction so avoided doing tricks on it like the plague.

Years later I bought myself a fantastic set of Tam Superstars with extra deep shells. By this time my hand me down collection of cymbals wasn't too shabby because a few of my friends were semi pro musicians and used to give me the stuff they didn't want anymore. Once I got a good set my playing improved exponentially. There is a lot to be said for hardware that doesn't malfunction and drums that don't shake around and walk away from you. Sadly, they two years I spent with my drums in the closet almost drove me crazy so I sold them because I knew I was going to spend the next few years in apartments and didn't want the torture.

When I lived with a guy who was in a band we chipped in for a so so set of composite Tamas (Rockstars maybe?) but return to apartments meant he had better use of them than I. I rented a house then quickly got first a crappy no name set then a set of Mapex Mars series drums I still own (although they are in Baltimore and I now live in California.

 

[Ragged Glory]

^ Was Tama your vote or did you vote for anything yet? Either way, I remember starting out a while back with a cheap 3 legged hi-hat stand & it really gets/got in the way if you're playing/starting Double-Bass Drumming which I was at the time. Even if you aren't playing Double-Bass Drumming, the 3 legged hi-hat stands are/were still annoying & shaky (which you'd think a 2 legged one would be, but my 2 legged one was not). That wonderful 2 legged stand was also from Tama & I hadn't played anything that felt better & lasted longer. When you think about it, pretty much everything I used was from Tama except maybe the Cymbals, Drumheads (after replacing the ones that originally came with the Drum/kit) & my Vic Firth sticks. I also have a pair of Ahead sticks too but I still think I prefer my Vic Firth sticks over Ahead even though many wood sticks will be & have been replaced over time.

 

[Khor1255]

When I buy another set it will most likely be Tama. So I guess that's my vote.

 

[Ragged Glory]

When I was starting out I considered getting Pearl along with Tama. As time progressed, I decided that Tama was easily the better choice over Pearl in my opinion.