Hi

Sooo…I’ve always fancied a proper drum set (I’ve had a couple of rubbish electronic ones) but …

Will an integral garage (no heating) be too damp/cold to keep it in?

What sort of thing should I be looking at with a tiny budget?

I have very sensitive ears – is there such thing as ‘musical earplugs’ ?!

Ta

Tiny budget? Secondhand, no question.

Look for something like an old Premier – the older ‘long lug’ (the tension boxes on the outside of the shell) XPK, APKs are very well built, sound great and bear their years well. They go for well under £300, and if you keep an eye on eBay and Gumtree you might be able to pick one up for under £200. The later ones aren’t as well built but are probably better than the FEPOS (“Far Eastern Pieces of…”) that are the equivalent of bicycle-shaped objects you get in toy shops.

Brands to avoid are Percussion Plus, Hohner, Dragon, Gear4Music and the cheaper Stagg stuff – basically anything that’s made in huge bulk in Taiwan from firewood and churned out in the bigger music shops. Basically, Pearl aside, anything with tom holders that look like this:

should be avoided. Pearl came up with the original and still use it, but it’s used on most low-end kits now.

Anything by Yamaha is likely to be good, Premier as previously mentioned, and most of the big brands have a beginner line that’s not too shonky. Some Pearl stuff is okay – avoid their absolute beginner stuff, but it’s a rare UK drummer that hasn’t played a Pearl Export at least once in their career, and the kits do stand up to a fair bit of abuse.

Garage should be fine – the heads are plastic, and as long as it’s not too damp the wood won’t be affected. Watch out if it is damp though – my kits are stored in my mancave which has damp problems, and I have to keep cleaning mould spores off the outside. If you let that build up, it can stain the wood.

DEFINITELY use earplugs – I’ve always used em but my old man didn’t for 30+ years and has ended up with hearing damage. Try Etymotic ER20s – cheap and cheerful, but they attenuate volume whilst letting a reasonable sound through:

http://www.etymotic.com/er20.html

Also branded as Elacin:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elacin-ER20S-musicians-hearing-protection/dp/B0034ZI9AQ

Doc’s Proplugs are good too, but I find the fit problematic.

can’t disagree with any of Jakester’s post.
Mapex do a reasonable budget line too – Horizon – I’d be tempted to avoid their lowest line, Tornado, though.

watch out for “shell packs” – they’re just the drums, no hardware. Like buying a bike frame but no wheels, fork, groupset etc

Budget kits usually come with cheap & flimsy hardware, so once you’ve changed the heads (can be expensiver but well worth it) that would be my first thing to start looking at upgrading

The biggest problem, price wise, is likely to be the cymbals – thay can be very expensive, or cheap and very poor (brass rather than bronze).
Again, S/H would be your best bet if you’re on a budget. At a very bare minimum you’d be looking at a pair of hi-hats and a crash/ride, but once you get started on decent cymbals the N+1 rule can start to kick in 😉

You’d be looking at the cheaper offerings from Zildjian (ZBT), Sabian (B8), Meinl (sorry, I don’t know their budget range) or Paiste (101). Most of these brands/ranges can be bought as a matched set (hi-hats, one crash and one ride, two crashes if there’s an offer on) for less than the sum of their parts. Istanbul Mehmet are very nice but I don’t think they have a budget range

here’s a couple of online shops you could have a look at:
http://www.drumshop.co.uk – Washington, Tyne & Wear
http://www.drumwright.co.uk – Reading
http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/drums – chain of shops across England, there’s a good chance there’ll be one near you

john_drummer – Member
At a very bare minimum you’d be looking at a pair of hi-hats and a crash/ride, but once you get started on decent cymbals the N+1 rule can start to kick in 😉

Current count:

9 ride cymbals
6 crash cymbals
2 china cymbals
2 sets of hi-hats
3 splashes
2 7-piece kits
10 snare drums
Lots of hardware

hence the need for a mancave to put it all in! I think the key point is to realise that the difference between an expensive kit and a basic kit could well simply be the heads (drum skins). Spending £50 on a new set of heads can make much more of a difference than spending £500 on a new kit.

Spending £50 on a new set of heads can make much more of a difference than spending £500 on a new kit.

indeed it can

My count is:
1 6-piece kit (two up two down)
1 extra snare drum
1 pair hi-hats
1 ride
1 china
1 splash
4 crashes

I’ve just spent about £120 on new batter AND resonant heads. The drums are lovely but they skimped on the heads

Cheers chaps.

I did think about secondhand kit but I don’t have a car I could put drums in to collect them!

Hmmm

I did think about secondhand kit but I don’t have a car I could put drums in to collect them!

oh dear…

if you buy (s/h or new) from an online shop, they’ll be able to deliver. It will cost, of course

but as soon as you start playing in a band, that’s your next problem 😉

If you already had a car, I’d say “you’re gonna need a bigger car” but as you don’t have one, “you’re gonna need a BIG car”

I could get all of the above into a Citroen C4, but the front seat passenger would have at least the smaller floor tom on their lap. No rear seat passengers, no room for that, they can ride on the roof

Second hand definitely the way to go, some people will post them , especially if it’s just a shell pack. Like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mapex-Meridian-Maple-Drum-Kit-/151587605554?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item234b534c32

that is nice. Would need a hardware pack & cymbals to make it complete. £350 is a bit overpriced IMO for a s/h shell pack – I only got £375 for an 8 piece M-birch complete kit (no cymbals)

Sorry I mean I do have a car but it’s a 2 door coupe :-/

I can’t actually play the drums inany real sense so it’s unlikely I’ll be joining a band 😀

..I will need to also find someone to teach me…

Cant help with drum knowledge but feel you need some credit for an excellent thread title.

..I will need to also find someone to teach me…

where are you ?

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh3EaTiPoaQ[/video]

Im a bit out of the loop these days, Id say an old pearl export will be fairly cheap and a good kit. They take a beating (ha!) and still last.

Seeing pics of drums has me all nostalgic from 6 or 7 years back. I may have to dig some photos of my kits 🙂

I’m between Chesterfield and sheffield.

I guess there is always YouTube !

ah, you’re a bit far from me, but there’s bound to be at least one decent drum tutor in the Sheffield area. Get in touch with Rockem Music in Rotherham, they might be able to help. http://www.rockemmusic.com

Or you could watch the Jared Falk* videos on youtube, but there’s no substitute for being in the same room

*other online/video tutors are available