Practice drumkits and performance kits ?

[drmpunk]

I'm just throwing this out there to get some opinions. I know a lot of us have multiple kits just curious do you guys have practice kits and live performance kits ? I don't really have a drum room my band has a practice spot so 4 of my 5 kits sit in there cases at my house and I use my mapex pro m's to practice on when I play live it's been a mix of kits I use but never the pro m's. Does anybody else do this ?

[slinglander]

I have my old, basic Slingerland kit, HH stand, 2 cymbal stands at the band practice site(bass' house). Gig out kits at my place for practice w. cymbals, cases, etc.
I did warn the band members that the drums will sound differently when gigging!

[EddieV]

I've got 3 kits I gig with and a two I teach on. I use one of the gig kits if needed as a rehearsal kit when necessary.

It makes like so much easier and less time consuming when you want to rehearse.

[Merlin Coryell]

Right now Ive got 3 kits setup in our studio. My kit, my guitarists kit (usually used for practice since he doesnt play them in this project), and my ekit for recording.

Beginning next month, I will have my Mapex Maple kit as the "A" kit, my Ludwigs as my practice kit, his will collect dust (:P), and the DM10 will return to my apartment where I practice afterhours or on off days.

[Texdrumr]

Yep, 2 kits. Tama Imperialstar is primarily for practice and the Gretsch Renowns get used for gigs and recording.

That being said, the Imperialstars sound great - so it's not from a better sound perspective. More from a cost/quality stance.

[jmastrodimos]

I have two kits: My "mini" kit which is a Tama Stagestar in classic red. It's my gigging kit. Easy to carry with cases.

I also have a set of Mapex Meridian Birch in honey amber. It's my practice kit. It's never been taken out of the house. They are both "my babies."

I also have 6 snare drums:

1) the Mapex snare that came with the kit
2) a Mapex Phat Bob
3) a Taye all maple w/maple hoops
4) a Taye black aluminum alloy w/wood hoops
5) a DW Collector's Series chrome over brass
6) a Pork Pie 13x7 patina brass

Always looking to add.

[drummer]

I've always had a practice kit on the side. It's often just one of my pro kits and I change them out, mix them up, etc.

[Drumbledore]

I've a few. Two e-kits here for teaching on, one that I'd use for my own personal practice. A variety of gigging kits, such as my main one, a Rogers/Ludwig hybrid, with an assortment of snares to mix and match with, another Rogers set, a Trixon co.cktail kit, a variety of other drums that can be put together as another set, and finally a RIMS Purecussion set which I've been using a lot to do home visits with, real easy and quick to set up. At this new house I've moved in, the Purecussion set's been pulled out a couple of times already.

Okay, just done some photos earlier today in between doing things today. I added a Remo Ring Muffl' to the bass drumhead and just a bit of gaff to dampen and round out the sound of the tomheads. Didn't go for Moongels as these would probably get ruined with the heads being pushed up against each other and the tom arms and Ring Muffl' every time they'd get packed away.

[N2Bluz]

I have the old 3pc shell kit (bass, 13" rack, 16"FT) that I fixed up specifically for practice. I leave it set up at our practice site. I use my 5pc Premier shell kit (bass, 10",12",13" & 16"FT ) for gigs. As I'm typing this, it's 3:00AM and I just got home from our gig tonight and tearing down that big, heavy Premier kit... I'm REALLY liking the idea of using the 3pc kit all the time. The Premiers sound phenomenal, but I'm getting tired of unloading a pickup full of drums at 2:00AM!

[Ricardo]

I practice at the bassist's house where he has a cheap Yamaha kit set up -- I'll usually bring along an extra cymbal or two for each rehearsal.

My gig kit stays set up in my house where I practice even more hours without the other band members. As far as set-up............the Yamaha practice kit is one-up, two-down just like my gig kit, so I like that coincidence a lot..........the only major difference is that my gig kit has a double speed cobra bass pedal and the practice kit is a single.

I bought a Ludwig Epic kit for practice two years ago but it is currently sitting in cases and unused at this time.

[Rotarded]

I keep the Yamaha set up at home for practice, a Roland E-kit (with regular hats and ride cymbal) at our band practice "studio", and keep the Concept Maple kit packed and ready to load for gigs. The Luddy will only make it out of the house for special occasions.

Some nag me about having too many kits, but with the work schedule I have it's so much easier to not have to set-up, bring with, or tear down anything except for gigs. I can just walk in, sit down, and play.

[CB700]

I have one kit that I practice and gig with. I use my son's Ludwig accent to teach on.

[tamashane]

My gig kit and practice kit are the same, my DW's. I am fortunate enough that my Pastor lets us practice at the church. It also helps that the bass player is his son! We only practice twice a week, and gig about once a month, so setting up and tearing down is really no problem. Our sound man is also a drummer, so he helps me a lot.

[inthpktplayer]

It's really convenient to have enough kits to leave at a rehearsal space. Just makes life much easier. I have a crappy Gretsch Energy kit set up at one rehearsal space and a Mapex M Birch at another. At home I have both of my gigging kits (Keystones and Saturns) set up and practice on those on my own. I usually take the Saturns into the studio. The 1968 Ludwig Clubdate is just for looking at. The Exports are in the back room and never see the light of day.

[drumsetsnide]

I have one kit that stays in the rehearsal/drum room (which I'm fortunate that it is at my house) for rehearsing with the band and practicing on my own and another kit that I use for gigging. The other three kits are playable and in very good shape but they stay on the storage shelves in the drum room. One of the three is a late 50's Gretsch Round Badge that my father learned on and passed down to me. I doubt very much if that will ever see the outside of the drum room and I know that it will never be one that gets used on a regular basis.

Having a practice kit and a gig kit helps so much. One can stay in the cases and be ready to go and another one can stay set up ready for rehearsal and practice. Makes things much easier.

[Jackie]

I make sure all my kits are gig worthy. That means I would use any one of my kits to play a gig. I do not have expensive kits. All my kits become a practice kit at some time. If I get bored with one kit I change it out. It just keeps me interested. Which one do I bring on a gig depends on the music, the space available for band setup and which kit I am in the mood to play. I have a Yamaha stage custom kit (1998,22"bass drum, the best sounding kit that I have ever had) and a Ludwig bebop kit (new,16" bass drum). I sold my Mapex pro M which is a excellent kit to play out with and also sold another Yamaha kit I had, which was a great kit. My shell pack kits where all less than $550. Right now I am down to two kits. I have been thinking about getting a sonor bebop kit (18"bass drum).

[RHD03]

I used to do the whole practice rig/show rig thing. But now a days, I seem to have drums all over this town haha. I'm in the service and there's zero room for a kit to be set up in this house on base here...so my practice rigs ARE my show rigs. I have 2 kits that are at each of the band HQs that I'm in, and the DWs sadly are just packed up in their cozy SKBs for now. I may break them out for special occasions though. The PDPs will be going away soon as I'm starting a long process of replacing them.

[Digital]

I have 3 kits. My ekit is purely to practice on, the Peavey is for gigs and the DW is for practice/recording.

I'd love to take my DW out to a gig but I'm too afraid of something happening to it.

[Zeta]

I don't even want to talk about how many kits I have.

My Camco's will never be gigged unless it was a very nice venue, so they are pretty much my practice kit.

My Fiberglass (once rewrapped), Shines and the Stave kit I built can circulate depending on what the venue is.

Shines- at big shows with big stages
Fiberglass- at big shows with small stages
Stave- for small venues

[RHD03]

I have 3 kits. My ekit is purely to practice on, the Peavey is for gigs and the DW is for practice/recording.

I'd love to take my DW out to a gig but I'm too afraid of something happening to it.

Your DWPS is lacquer right? I can understand your concern. I thought the same thing when I bought my Dubbs...but they are Finish Ply so I gigged them anyways. I've been fortunate that nothing's happened to them so far.






Knock on wood.

[MileHighDrummer]

For me, it's practice like you play. So one kit for all purposes or two identically set up kits so one can stay put.

[Warren Wright]

Ive got my 6 piece Yamaha Oak Custom kit to practice on and to gig with, when I play the larger venues. I did have them in their cases and the Power V Specials set up but they swapped places....see below~

I have an 8 piece Yamaha Power V Special kit that I split up into a 4 piece ( that I play every Thursday at a gig Ive had now for 14 years ) and a 5 piece that I have in cases now at home.

And I have my Yamaha DTX-500K E-kit that I also practice on and gig with as well - especially on the smaller venue gigs and my 100 watt Acoustic bass amp ( with a 15" Peavey Black Widow bass speaker that I replaced the original speaker with ) gives me ample stage volume and I use the on-board DI output to go to the Main Board - the guys love the E-kit because of the lower stage volume compared to an acoustic kit...and they sound really good~!