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Mrs P is encouraging me to pick up the sticks again (I suspect she wants me to join her big band so she doesn't have to drive anymore) and I'm very keen on the idea.
Trouble is I've sold all of my stuff, other than a few pairs of sticks, and a bass drum pedal (my 2nd choice one sadly, I sold my Pearl Eliminator early on), so I need to buy everything all over again.
Another problem is that I'm got no more space now than when I got rid of the old ones, so I'll need them to be relatively compact when packed away, also they need to be as cheap as possible without being crap.
I've been looking at the compact kits, specifically the Pearl Midtown and Ludwig Breakbeats, but I'm a bit concerned they'll not be loud enough for playing with a big band, I used to use a 20x17" bass drum and that was fine, but these are only 16x14".
Also cymbals wise, any tips on what is good now but cheap? I used to use Sabian AAX and Hand Hammered BITD but I can't afford that sort of thing now, and cheap cymbals used to be awful. I'm happy with second hand, but even then they seem to be well over £100 per cymbal for something decent.
Any tips or ideas?
Your wife is encouraging you to get involved. the obvious choice is to get decent kit no matter what it costs, and add 20% to the price of everything you pay when you tell her. You can then legitimately "use" that 20% buffer to fund bike purchases, having already had the spend approved.
You're on to a winner.
Nice idea, but I have a sneaking suspicion I will have to fund the drums myself out of my 'pocket money'. Which would eat into my biking funds anyway so I'm going to keep it at the budget end. Hopefully less than £700ish. Preferably much less.
Is an electronic kit feasible? Much less space and can be had cymbals and all for around the budget. I always used top store my kit in a tower so it didn't take up any more floor space than the bass, to be fair it was a 24" in a 26" case so it was still silly big.
Buy a crap kit and tune it well to give more money for cymbals? I always bought expensive stuff and it sounded arse, my mate had a banger of a kit but could always make it sound brilliant.
Of the two mentioned I'd go for the Ludwig for no other reason than I have never liked Pearl. Last time I considered getting a mini kit someone suggested one, I think it was a ?love or Questlove kit, really cannot remember now, looked good though.
I used to have a Flats drum kit too, not sure if they are still around
Nice idea, but I have a sneaking suspicion I will have to fund the drums myself out of my ‘pocket money’
Make sure you get petrol money from her if you're driving her there then.. 😀
@thepodge - I should have said, we've got a leccy kit in the living room but I don't think the band leader would be happy if I rocked up to a VE day celebration gig with it. The Questlove Ludwig one is the breakbeat (or pocket kit but that's too small for an only kit) that I'm looking at. It looks lovely.
I did think about buying something cheap as I had an absolute nail of a pearl export kit years ago that cost me £100 but with some pinstripes on it sounded brilliant. I replaced it with a half decent Yamaha kit when I started working and I was massively disappointed. It's just the space side of things, all of the ones that are cheap on ebay are 22" base drums. I could do with 20" max, 18" would be better.
Edit - Flats! Yeah, they're dead now sadly, wouldn't be loud enough for this gig either. I had a flats snare drum hoping it would be an awesome piccolo, but it was crap 🙁
Right, I'm 99% sure this is the kit I'm going to get.
Any thoughts? It's the Ludwig Questlove Breakbeats that will suck up over half of my total budget, but the sizes are right, plus it looks pretty pimp. Then I need to buy cymbals, I've found the Millenium B20s on Thomann that look rubbish but sound great for the money, I reckon I can get the whole shebang for under £750 with stands.
It's a nice kit, but if you can I would stretch to an 18" bass drum kit. The total size isn't going to be ridiculously more, but you'll be able to project a whole lot more without micing the kick. I've used an 18" with a big band and also with a band with amplified guitars and it just about coped.
The Gretsch Catalina Club kits are great for the money, even better if you find one second-hand.
For "cheap" cymbals, take a look at brands like Dream, Stagg etc. They're the next price bracket down from Zildjian, Sabian etc and you can get some really good ones (you can also get some absolute bin lids too, so make sure you try before you buy if you can). Otherwise second-hand is best (I tend to get all my cymbals second-hand if I can - I love them played in a bit).
A really good place to look is Graham Russell Drums - they deal with lots of second-hand stuff of very good quality.
Yeah the bass drum size is my main concern, is worried 16” would be too small and quiet, but when you get to 18” you’re looking a couple of hundred quid more or proper crap.
Ive looked at the Dreams and Staggs(and Wuhan and Mastersound...) they sound really good, that’s what lead me to the millenniums. They’re b20 too which I like, and they sound good on the one YouTube view of them, plus they’re only £160 for a full set (HH Ride & 16” crash) which would help me control my overall spend. Just whether the next set would be anywhere near as good, and they only sell them on Thomann so would have to order from Germany.