I once tried out with an originals metal band. one of the kids playing guitar was about 18 and brought his mum to the rehearsal. she just sat on the couch in silence staring at everyone the whole time. the kid brought a Roland cube amp which was like 10-20 watts while everyone else had at least 100watt stacks. the kid and the other guitarist spent the entire day horribly trying to “shred” over each other at low volume and the other guitarist was an A-hole who kept whinging at the drummer because he gave him a lift and wanted petrol money. then halfway through the rehearsal, decided to leave to go grocery shopping. no one was playing in sync, and everyone was awkward and unhappy. it was an absolute nightmare.
Picked this up yesterday. Bloke was selling a swag of Sabian, Zildjian and one lonely Paiste. I was there for a 15” Zildjian K dark thin crash but this HH 16” with a slightly higher pitch was far superior to my ears. It now sits nicely alongside a set of HH hats and very sweet HH Hot ride.
Added this to my collection over the weekend. Huge sound! Just goes on forever. As glassy as anything you could imagine. Great for hard rock. Can’t wait to give it a run!
Thinking of taking the v-drum plunge once I get out of this rental and into our house.
I’ve resisted up to this point… generally I feel like if I’m gonna spend that kind of money I would rather put it back into my gigging set.
But I’d really like to be able to play at home and my giant five tom monstrosity is probably not practical for the space I will have. And I’m not playing right now anyway.
I need to be able to use my own samples though. Otherwise that’s kind of a deal-breaker.
It’s one of those drummer dilemmas SB. I’m lucky to have the space for both but tend to only use the acoustic kit mid afternoons when I won’t disturb too many people- otherwise it’s the e-kit. I’m glad I got the latter. It keeps me playing nearly every day, even it’s just a run through rudiments for 15 minutes. My only advice would be to spend decent coin. Those cheaper e-kits are cheap for a reason…
I’m looking at mid-level Rolands and maybe some of the higher end Alesis models. Has to be mesh at a minimum; no rubber - that’s carpal tunnel waiting to happen
I bought an Alesis 7 years ago, hoping I would have the motivation to learn and practice, but ultimately hoping my son would take up the drums.
He took up guitar instead, but we both enjoy mucking around on the drums from time to time.
One big drawback though are the old Mylar heads.
They’re really not enjoyable to hit on, don’t provide a true bounce, and are still quite noisy for electronic drums.
Have just ordered a full set of mesh heads from Prism in the States which should improve playability markedly.
Will post pics when I’m done with the conversion.
I’ve got a Premier Artist Series that has more often than not gathered dust over the last ten years. I also had an Alesis DM10 but hated it. Had no natural feel to it, and as you’ve mentioned it’s still very loud for an electronic kit.
I’m keen to get another electronic kit though once I get into a better house, no room where we are currently. I’ve got a one year old and he loves the bongos, and strumming my guitar and playing the keyboard. Hoping he will learn an instrument when he’s a little older. It’s such a great outlet.
I had an old guitarist/singer I wrote music with over 8 years ago send me some samples the other day, asking for my input. Got me keen as to get back into it
I’ve got a Roland TD11. It cost me a grand about six months ago (In Perth). It has a mesh snare and rubber toms/cymbals/HH. If I could change anything it’d only be to get mesh heads all round and maybe dual zone cymbals. That said, I’m more than happy with it and the rubber heads are not terrible at all. I think Roland is a bit like the Apple of the e-kit world. It’s slightly more expensive, but it’s good and it just works. I’d look around- see what’s out there once the pandemic drawbridge goes up and you can get a good look. But TD11 is a great place to start for us mid-level guys.
The bass player in the last band I was in here had a TD-12 at his house, so that’s what I played when I went there. They were okay but my wrists usually killed for 2-3 days after. For whatever I felt like I had to hit them really hard. That was also 10+ years ago and I know technology has caught up.
For me the custom sounds thing the most important… I don’t really care about having multiple zones or ultra maximum sensitivity - it isn’t going to replace my real drums.
Obviously, Roland are the pinnacle, and sound incredible anytime you hear a half decent drummer use them.
Alesis do give value though.
My DM10X kit has a triple zone ride, 1 of the 2 Crashes is chokeable, Snare and 2 toms are 12", the other 2 toms are 10".
Haven’t heard the sound thru a dedicated Drum Amp, but thru my Sony headphones it sounds pretty good.
I’m not a drummer though, so hardly a review, just seemed great value at the time compared to the Roland kits.
Forty years to the day since John “Bonzo” Bonham died. I was fortunate enough to see him with Zed Leppelin (as l like to call them) at Kooyong long ago.
This article is for all those who appreciate the art of drumming. l post this as it is the only way l can a meaningful contribution to this thread.
My Tama Star kit with Joyful Noise snare…Been playing it for nearly two years after playing a Premier Signia for about 20. I never thought I’d play a better kit then the Signia but here we are.
What a terrible waste. He was only 32. Wish I’d had the chance to see them live, but they broke up about a year before I was born.
I’ve been playing for about 20 years (not very well) and from what I’ve seen and heard Billy Cobham, Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich and Jeff Porcaro should be way, way higher on that list…
Took this beauty out for a jam last week. Early ‘80s Yamaha Recording Custom kit, with vintage 15” Paiste 2002 HiHats, mid 80s Zildjian K 20” ride, 16” Paiste Modern Essentials crash, 16” Sabian HH crash and 16” Paiste Signature full crash. Nice! Also tried out the new super light Yamaha Crosstown hardware. Excellent!
