Okay,

I'm purchasing a drum kit this week. It's final! Now I'm the kind of person who wants all the opinions about stuff he can get before making a decision. I know I'm not educated on kits AT ALL, so therefore I'm either listening to the bullshit ppl post on musiciansfriend or listening to someone who actually knows their shit like the ppl here. So with that said...

I need a kit. I have a bit of a flexible budget $300 - $500, but I'm a tightwad so I'd like a cheap but still good quality kit. I am a beginner, but not fresh to the game. I actually play drums in all the jams I do with locals, so I have my shit down, but still am considering myself a beginner.

Here's what I'm considering:

Pacific Drums by DW EZ 5 pc. w/ Cymbals
Sonor 503 Std. 5 pc.
Ludwig Accent 5 pc.

Then also the Pearl Forum and Tama Swingstar, but they peak on the money I want to spend, cause I have to add shipping to all this too. Maybe if I could get musiciansfriend to throw in some cymbals and hardware to make it more worth my while.

Anyways, can you drum gurus take a few moments to tell me what would be a better buy and why. The only thing I can see being a plus would be the Ludwig has a wood snare. Please share any/all ideas, suggestions, comments, slander, etc. Thanks!

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Tama Swingstar would be the best of the bunch.

The Pearl Forum is alright, but the Swingstarr is better, the Forum is the worst Pearl kit.

Stay away from Pacific, their hardware is dog shit. (although if you don't mind forking out for a higher level Pacific and getting decent hardware, the shells aren't too bad)

The Sonor isn't a bad choice, but again I don't like the hardware much, particulaly the lugs, as the don't have the square end used by every other drum manufacturer which I find is a pain in the ass, but the shells and the rest of the hardware is all good.

The Ludwig I can't really comment on, having not had much experiance with it.

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I'm not too big on Pacific drums. Why? The hardware is pretty horrible. The pedals are just... Yeah. The shells can't be bad if they were made by DW though. But the main thing about getting a begginer set is getting everything you need to start out. Not to have to buy a ton of separate shit right away. So I would say no to that.

The Sonor is a decent choice. I like the style tom holders both they and Tama use. I've heard nothing but good things about the drums and they sound good everytime I play them.

Ludwig seems to make pretty badass drums. That would also be a good choice. They don't seem to be very popular in metal though. I can't even think of a metal drummer that uses them off the top of my head. Im pretty sure one of the Opeth drummers used one on one of the early albums. Not sure if it was Martin or Anders.

But personally, i'd go with the Sonor.

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So either the Sonor's or the Ludwigs. Anyone else wanna throw in their 2 cents. BTW, I've already purchased some hardware. I got a couple stands a cymbal and a double bass pedal on the way. Yea... pretty crazy to buy drum shit when you don't own a kit, but as you can see... I got full intentions. Open to all opinions, suggestions, comments, etc. Thanks!

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i dont know much about new kits, but id like to add you can always cross check your choice with craigslist.com. but i understand if you want to buy something new. i may myself buy a new kit in the future. the used market is loaded with good deals on relatively new kits

Will check that out. If I can score a relatively good deal. I just planned on buying new from musiciansfriend cause most the prices for their stuff new is the same prices as used stuff on ebay, plus ppl most of the times jack up shipping to line their pockets, and musiciansfriend will sometimes throw in free shit. Thanks for the reply though will check that craiglist. Anyone else wanna comment?

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Craigslist! As cool as having a brand new kit is, you would save a lot of money trying that first. Besides you will probably upgrade at some point anyway. Also think of what you could get in that price range on the second hand market. Additionally most drummers take care of their equipment, at least I know I do.

www.craigslist.com

It sucks for me though. I'm from a shithole state with shithole towns all around. No one gets rid of anything. There's no one here to buy ridden shit from. There's like one page of musical equip on craiglist in my state. That's why I'm always more inclined to use ebay or buy new. Be different if I lived in a big city. Drums though, are a bitch to ship, so that's why I'm gonna buy new, so I can get a break on shipping with free promotions and whatnot.

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Yeah it is expensive. Make sure you shop around, musiciansfriend has a price match guarantte. I wound up getting around 2-300 off my kit and free shipping I believe. I took a couple hours of searching through websites, but I found a match.