Re: HELP!!! Which Kit to buy?.
I'm pretty much an unabashed Pearl fanboy, so I'd personally lean towards Pearl, and to me, it really doesn't matter much which one, with the exception that I prefer Optimounts to the I.S.S. mounting, and therefore I'd select from a series that uses the one as opposed to the other.
Having said that, there are so many good kits out there starting at kits marketed as "Entry Level Pro" on up. I think you'd be hard pressed to go wrong with just about any kit from any of the major brands once you got past a certain quality point.
Case in point, I own a set of Pearl SMX Session Customs in Vintage Fade. They were marketed as Entry Level Pro, rather than the full out "professional level" of the Masters series at that time, but to my way of seeing things, there just isn't much about my drums that isn't fully professional. Here were the differences at that time between the SMX Sessions and the MRX Masters:
SMX had a lacquer finish, MRX used polyeurathane.
SMX used 2.3 mm triple flanged hoops, MRX used die-cast
MRX had a select grade of maple for the outer play, SMX didn't
SMX kick drum has 8 lugs per side, MRX has 10
SMX used the same bridge style lugs as the Export Series, MRX used Masters series lugs
SMX used standard tension rods and swivel nuts, MRX used stainless T-rods with brass swivel nuts
SMX used 1000 series uni-lock tom arms, MRX used 2000 series, all direction tom arms.
SMX cost roughly $1000 less than the MRX
Those differences where the rubber hits the road were mostly cosmetic or were mostly immaterial to the sound. Here were the similarities:
Both were 6 ply, 7.5 mm maple (and with the exception of the outer ply, were made from the same stock)
Both had the same bearing edges cut on the same equipment
Both used the same bass drum spurs
Both used shells made in the same facility, the same way
Both used the same optimounts for tom mounting
I couldn't justify the added expense for the MRX (the MMX with thinner shells was another matter) and I really dug the finish of my drums, so I got them and have never looked back. My drums are solid, they sound great, they look great, they are high quality - truly pro-level drums IMO.
I kind of wandered around the mulberry bush a bit, but the point I'm trying to make is that you don't "have" to spend the money on a kit marketed as a pro kit to get a great set of drums. I like mine enough that I'm not too familiar with the new models and where they are priced, simiply because I am satisfied with mine to the point that I haven't bothered to keep up with it. With that in mind, check into Pearl, Yamaha, Tama, Mapex, the DW Performance series, and anything else that's made from good wood, (maple, birch, bubinga, etc) has at least 2.3 mm triple flanged hoops (and even that's not a deal breaker - more on that in a second) and has some kind of suspension mounting.
Regarding hoops, I set a church up with a Yamaha Stage Custom birch kit - 22" kick and 10, 12 and 16 inch toms. WONDERFUL kit. My biggest gripe with those drums, aside from the stock heads, were the flimsy hoops and the stamped sheet metal bass drum claws. Everything else about those drums rocked and they sounded great. I donated 2.3 mm flanged hoops for the 10 and 12 inch toms and put new heads on the kit, and it really came alive. If something catastrophic happened to my drums, I would quite likely pick up this kit and outfit it with die cast BD claws and hoops - I liked them a lot, and they are marketed as a mid-level kit, but they sounded every bit pro-level IMO.
Good luck with your search!
Your = possessive - your stuff, your dog, your car, etc
You're = you are - a contraction.
Learn it. Love it.
Bookmarks