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i couldn't find this topic- looking for recommendations for a new drum set. professional kit. all around- rock/funk/jazz. i currently have an old pearl birch kit in my studio that would need too much work to make it worthwhile, rattling hardware, etc. i also have a DW collectors kit for gigging that' i like very much- drums are not heavy for travel and sound good- i'm not sure why so many on this forum do not like DW drums.
thanks

With DW, for some of us, it's the sound, sound of the tom generally.

It's just a taste thing.

The point of a kit is to help you sound like you want to and be comfortable.
In many contexts you can't tell the difference, certainly the average listener can't, but that's not really the point.

All the brands make good stuff and these days even the cheap stuff is good.

Only certain extremes are style specific.


What's your:

Personal taste?

Budget?

Maple Custom Absolute (Vintage natural finish). Aluminium hoops are a huge plus. Thin, resonant heads. Premium hardware. The ultimate non-vintage kit imho. Good luck!

Purchase a used kit and do it smartly. Yamaha Recording Customs, especially pre-YESS mount 80's-early 90s era, and Sonor Lites from generally same era can be had at reasonable prices. It would be tough to beat the price-to-quality ratio of those purchases

personal taste: i like my dw's, i had a yamaha maple custom kit but sold them - got tired of the power tom sizes and the drums are heavy. budget- i'm looking for a pro series kit . thanks

shuby wrote:got tired of the power tom sizes and the drums are heavy.

Absolutes. Not power sizes and they´re the lighter drums I´ve ever played...

For the money, Pearl BCX. Total professional quality at a lower price.

Die-casts are obviously heavier, but as mentioned you can get them in other sizes.

You can offcourse experiment. Make it a point to have different flavours. Depends on what you want to use it for.

No secret that I personally just want a USA Custom when I can afford it. It's just what I like. Not very innovative, more or less just the good strat or Les Paul of the drummer world, but that's sort of my taste in guitars too, it's all I want and what my main influence plays when I think he sounds the best. What can I say. I'm boring. I've rarely played a kit I didn't feel comfortable with, but those instances for me was a PDP at a school I worked at, some sort of DW Collectors at another school. Also, though I think many people sound great with the modern warm Sonor thing, it just isn't for me. The Classic Series are a take on it, but still for me, close but no cigar. Stubborn old bastard that I am.

There it is, that sound that I know, there's that sound that I love, there's that familiar sound, there's that great sound. Hypnotized yet?


If you really love you DW Collectors, just get another one. Plenty of wood combos there though, right.

Going light, there are offcourse these:






Here in Norway, the cheapest pro kits are Pearl Reference. Great used kits everywhere of all configurstions. It's a bit strange, but you almost can't give tem away.

Yamaha is the big thing and offcourse, largely due to Benny and Jojo, I would think, Sonor has grown a lot. People want the SQ2s though and they're a bit out of reach for the average player.

What's your budget? What country do you live in?

Realistically every major manufacturer will have something good in the top end..

What sounds are you looking for? For all around maple is good.. I think in the end it will be the hardware that should be the difference if you are going for an all arounder sound wise.
All the major companies will have something that sounds good if you are going for top end stuff.. It's when you need a more specific sound that the brand matters.

Just don't buy any DW or Pearl drums.