Brands usage

[slinky]

Are there any major brands you have never used or at least tried?

There are a lot of boutique companies out there and most of them I have never tried but as far as major manufacturers for me it’s

Drums and hardware
Slingerland
Gretsch

Cymbals
Soultone they seem to be gaining traction in the cymbal market

Heads
none

Sticks
none

[Ricardo]

I started playing drums in 1964.
The only major drum maker I have never tried (and never even played) is DW.
I hear they make good stuff....

[slinky]

Hey Ricardo, wow that’s a surprising one. I played a DW house set at a place a couple summers ago and it sounded pretty good from the throne. Bass drum seemed a little thuddy but they had it stuffed.

[rickthedrummer]

Slinky, a lot of drums (regardless of brand) sound good where you sit. It's what they sound like at the other side of where you're playing. Clubs with drapes, curtains, carpeting are going to sound different than a club with all hard surfaces. I can remember when it seemed like every club owner went nuts with acoustic tile. Keep in mind that people soak up sound also. If you run your soundcheck in the afternoon in a club that has maybe 25-30 people in it (happy hour people) but at night when the band comes to play, and the place now has 200+ people, and the drums sound a little different it's because people soak up sound also.

Drums are at the mercy of room acoustics more than any other instrument.

As for different brands of drums, I have probably played on just about every major company's drums at 1 time or the other. If they are well built with good hardware, I don't care what the company is, it's still always going to come down to the tuning.

[slinky]

Hey Rick yeah I’ve always heard that about the sound. I had someone playing my snare at a place once and it sounded better than I thought it would. I was pretty happy about that. I’d like to hear everything sometime besides what the videos catch. Those DW’s sounded pretty good on the video too though

[drummer]

It's what they sound like at the other side of where you're playing....
Drums are at the mercy of room acoustics more than any other instrument.

That's some serious truth right there! As drummers, we must always recognize that regardless how good our drumkits sound in front of us, we need to know how they sound out front.

[drummer]

I've never used or tried most of them. Some drummers are gear heads or at least want more experiences. I've always kind of stayed with whatever I liked and once I find something that works, I don't spend money to try other drums or cymbals. Mostly, I've stayed with Yamaha and Pearl brand drums and mostly Zildjian and Sabian cymbals. I've tried a lot more different drumstick brands than anything.