Hey guys (and girls),

This is my first post on this discussion board and I hope the informed musicians here can help me out.

I'm looking to buy a new drum set, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, and consequently, the price. In general, I'm looking for a Ludwig-type kit. A strong kit with heavy toms and deep resonance. I'm thinking along the lines of a Bonham/Ginger Baker type sound, probably a 4-piece. When I look online, I see Ludwigs from $399--$1,500+. I'm not sure of the price range I'm looking for (I'd spend around $1.5k if the kit is worth it).

When I bought my last kit (Pearl 5pc. Studio Master), I sat down at a few kits and picked the first one that really made my ears perk up. In retrospect, I think I should have been more intelligent and discriminating when shopping for a kit. Problem is, I don't really know how to be more intelligent and discriminating when shopping for a kit. Any suggestions?

Hi teenagewasteland
Are you planning on micing these drums through the L1? If you are you might want to consider an E-kit.
Rick

+1 on that.

I'm not a drummer, but I am in a band and one of the very best things about the whole L1 concept is its simplicity/compactness/portability.

e-drums fit right in with this philosophy. They're far more compact than acoustic drums for one thing, but that's only the start. With an e-drum kit, you have a simple signal feed, and that's it...just plug right in and go. You eliminate all of the sonic issues involved in micing drums, as well as the expense and added complication of mixers/drum mics/mic supports and stands/cables.

Do you have an L1?

Except that some Ekits, especially the high end Yamaha's etc... have multiple outputs.

The kit that we used for our church band, had 5 outs.

I am sure you can get ones with only one out that have a controller to balance everything, but this one was pretty amazing and complicated.

My drummer has an e-kit. The good thing as well is that you can mix and match the brain/drum module (where all the sounds come from once triggered by the pads) with most of the kits out their.

Be wary though and read reviews on musicans friend and elseware. My drummer bought two cheaper kits. The pads are fine and trigger well with his roland td3 module. But, the hi hat had been broken twice because of some design flaw. The trigger didn't break, but some little plastic part that kept it on the stand broke under normal stress. And of course cymbals aren't under warranty.

It does sound great though. With the L1 he gets automacitally miced drums sounds ,without the hassle of tuning drums.

It also lends us a lot more flexibility as to rehersal volume.

Your main consideration is going to be what module/brain you need. The less expensive ones have about 5 trigger in puts and a L/R out which would go to your amp. Which is fine for live. We run the e-drums into one L1 so drums are mono anyway.

But, part of the choice might be based on recording as well. With our module the most I can do is pan the kick hard left and the rest of the drums hard right to have them on seperate channels in the mix.

with the more exepensive module/brains, you have and input and and output for each cymbal and drum head. Which means when you record it, it would make levels for the each drum and panning very easy and sweet to deal with. Whereas with a cheaper one like we have, we are kindof stuck having the drums on two channels and not really being able to pan them as nicely as they should be.

If I were a drummer getting into e drums I would consider the module first, and build my kit around that. You can always buy more pads and add them on to your kit. But you can't add more inputs/outputs to your brain.

e-kits are alot easier to move around as well.