... so I currently play guitar, but I'm thinking about starting drums. I've been advised not to get an electric drum kit by a drummer friend of mine, because he says that I won't get the feel of what normal drums should be like if I start out on an electric kit (he has both an electric and normal kit).

I'd like to start out, whether I buy an electric kit or not, with double bass pedals, as to be honest I'll mostly be playing black/death and some power metal anyway. Obviously I won't be doing blast beats and gravity rolls within a fortnight, but I'd prefer to start straight off with at least the option of using double bass.

I've got about £250 at the minute, which obviously won't get me too far if I'm aiming to get a kit with a double bass pedal on top of that, but I can easily get more pretty soon and I get paid weekly. Still, cash is an obvious consideration.

I'd rather not have a shitty argos-style drum kit, even if it is my first kit, imo it will be an investment of sorts lol, so i'd rather have something at least half decent. For electric I'm not sure what makes, but for a standard kit I was thinking maybe a Tama kit, though that's largely because most of the people I know that play drums use Tama and the kits all sound good.

So any suggestions on double bass pedals, whether to get an electric kit or not, what kits would be best for a beginner (with sound quality in mind still)... and then whatever else you can think of to help out before I go for anything.

Help much appreciated

(PS if this needs to be in the kits section, woops, but I thought it would fit better here because I wanted general advice about starting drums aswell)

your gonna have to get a PA system and decent speakers with that electric kit, cables and a decent module to boot


sounds very expensive

So that's a 'dont get the electric kit' then



Any reccommendations for a starter kit????

a thing about those kits are: think about moving it to a show, setting it up in a timely fashion, the chance of loosing a cable or small components, the chance someone may steal your module or something important,making sure nothing gets damaged taking it somewhere, it starts to become a expensive headache. one of those things wouldnt last long on the road,or gigging frequently unless you were unrelentingly maticulis with labeling everything and having specific cases everything goes in all marked and stuff. a complete system of breakdown,load out,set up, repeat

with decent gear, acoustic drums, things become more practical, more cost efficient. the drums,hardware and cymbals have a higher theshold for use and abuse. repair and replacement parts costs are also less with normal drums

whatever you buy you are gonna be using in close proximity of people who gonna be drunk,beligerant and unmerciful. so in essense the stuff you own is disposable in a sense, you have to be prepared for damage and theft.

ive had people crash headfirst in kits ive owned, ive slipped and fell many times loading in crashing my drums, my bandmates amps into pavement, once i had to chase down a guy who accidentally loaded out my bandmates guitar cables<a few pedals and all the cable where stored in a milk crate> right before we were gonna go on stage

so i have a philosophy of whatever gear i own, it has to be entirely necessary and practical for use. those kits are 2000$-3000$ off the bat and still maybe another 1000$ for a PA and speakers, that is too insane a price for me

yeah, but he's a guitarist who wants to learn drums. and if he plays black/death metal I don't think he will be at a gigging level anytime soon ...

thats even worse, 3-4000$ of gear just for something to play at home

i say just get a tama drumset, the ones that run about 500$,a jumbo sized solid kit,zildjian or sabian cymbals will do, dw has some decent mid range priced double pedals

this way you're spending about a 1000$ and if you decide to stop you can resell it and all its components, as opposed to the electronic drums i seen 2nd hand that the owner still insists on at least getting the same amount he spends on the thing which NOONE is willing to pay for

fuck dw pedals, they are shit

pick up pearl eliminators if your on a budget ($250), next best thing really to a pair of longboards

Also, Your friend is right, an electric is nothing like a real kit man, like some dude above me said go with a cheaper tama, pearl export are fine starter kits too (i hate their tom mounts).

I didn't want to start a new thread so I just brought this one back up (after all, it's not too old).
I was thinking about electric drums because my acoustic kit is so shitty. I thought one of the benefits would be never busting a head or cymbal -- or in general fucking them up in any way -- and having to replace it, but am I wrong in assuming that? What exactly are the differences between electric and acoustic kits as far as pros and cons go? I already have a PA system, so that particular cost is already out of the way. And I realize that they're more expensive than acoustics, but I'm thinking maybe the positives that I thought they had aren't true (in example, the whole durability thing). And yes, I did read existing replies, which is what made me curious about it.

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I don't know much about electric kits, but one of the biggest advantages with them that I see is that your hearing won't be as fucked with after you play. Accoustic kits are loud (obviously), and wearing ear plugs isn't an option when you are jamming with someone else.

On the other hand, accoustic kits look good on stage and can sound better than an electric kit. You don't have to worry about so much electrical equipment to haul, and you can find that one kit that you think sounds great, that kit that has that warm sound and those cymbals that make your spine quiver (in the good way).

For Double Pedals, it's one of those try-it-out-for-yourself-and-see-which-one-you-feel-comfortable-with deal. In my opinion, DW, whether single or double, has great pedals that are easy to control and adjust. Just try out abunch of pedals on a kit you like and see which feels good.

I did that very thing. I spent some serious money on an elec drum kit because an acoustic was out of the window.

So i'll tell you what it means to have an electric drum kit

I don't really plan on gigging with it.. mostly recording, because thats what i do. An electronic drumkit will allow you to alter the sound of your drums a shit load easier than an acoustic set. (i.e. things like.... decay, pitch, and obviously changing the actual sound (the sample))

Next. Its a volume issue. Acoustic drums are fucking loud as balls. I used to play my friends and after playing for a lil while, my ears would be ringing. With an elec drumset like i have. What i do is connect headphones to it (you don't need a pa what so ever if you have an elec drumset, in fact with personal practice i prefer NOT to have a pa system) but then i connect my computer to my module. I play to music through my headphones, and it sounds and plays fucking great.

The downsides to an elec drumset. If you think its completely quiet... Oh hell no guess again, because i STILL have to make sure either A. nobodys home... or B. get permission. Because when placed especially on a 2nd floor, the bass pedals make it really loud. (obviously from vibrations)

Another bad thing is like what was said before money. I'm not a person that spends cheap money on music equipment. If i want something i want something that is going to A. Last and B. Be worth the money. So i spent a total of 1,500 dollars on my set. (ebay and friend prices). So money is completely an issue. If i had spent that on an acoustic set, it would have been hella nice. but thats another story.

Btw i use the Iron Cobra Jr. Pedals. Works for me. I got them second hand from a friend. They're beat up and still good to use.

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i might be getting a electric kit soon but im not sher what one to get because i only play on acoustic ones. i want one for recording easyer and so i can play at night. i need 3 toms on it and 2 cymbals. can anyone help me out(with a link or a price range im lookin at)?

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Like i've said before, i have a roland td-6k. The ebay price was 1150, that was actually a pretty decient price for what i've seen them go for before.

Its not too bad, 3 toms, 2 cymbals, and it also has the mesh snare. Its also expandable too. I could probably put up to 3 cymbals, and 4 toms. I've ghought about it.. but i don't think i want to spend more money on it, when i'm thinking about trading it for an acoustic set once i move out of my current house.

Also, i'm not sure of your situation, but there is no way in hell i could play this at night. Granted neighbors dont' hear, but everybody in the house does.

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do you play it hard or is it just noisy?

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Kinda noisy, but its mostly the vibrations that cause such the problem. I'm on the 2nd floor so anybody below me definately hears it (mostly the bass drum) But then again, it basically sounds like somebody wacking a mousepad with a drumstick or somethin. Basically a not so loud hammer sound. Its louder than i think people think. Although if you were to have all mesh triggers, it wouldn't make a sound at all. My snare doesn't make any noise.

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my friend has an electric kit and it dosent make much noise at all so im going to look into getting that one or one like that

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You can grab some midi drum triggers for your drums if you want the best of both worlds.

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What kind does he have?

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I guess this would be the place to put this:

My drummer is looking for a Electric kit for practicing at home and for recording and shit. His budget is around a grand. Any recommendations on a Kit? (He'd probably be looking on Ebay)

Electric Kits are great for recording. Think about it, it's all direct. With real drums you have to get all these mics and make sure they don't bleed into each other. Plus if you want any weird drum effects it's as simple as a turn of the knob. And the volume is adjustable.

What my drummer does is he has a real drum kit with certain electric things as well. He has two seperate acoustic bass drums on either side but has an electric bass drum in the middle with double pedals on it. He also has one electric tom, one electric snare (both a real and electric snare are beside on another) and one electric cymbal. That way when we jam with covering The Berzerker or C.U.M. he just uses the electric bass drum and stuff. Plus he also has a sampler on his kit so when he one of the pads a sample plays.

Personally I prefer real drums mixed with electric.

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That would take a shit ton of experimenting and what not to get that shit down right... haha Fuck that i'll go one way or the other but not both.

As far as the guy above... I have the Roland Tdk-6 its not that bad. I think you can get a slightly cheaper one than that and it would sound decient. I mean mine sounds pretty decient with the tweaking that i've done on it. I think you may only sacrifice the snare. Being that you would get the regular rubber one and not the mesh one.

I recommend it.

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i like to go to guitar center and mess around with the electric kits. set it to techno mode and bust out some beats. NN SS NN SS NN SS NN SS

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tmfreak, im thinking of getting the same roland kit as you. its within my price range. how is the sound on it? does it sound realistic or does it sound like some shitty keyboard effect? thats how most of the electric kits on youtube sound like. i dont know if they were roland or not...but still.
have you got any clips of the roland? im really interested in hearing how it sounds like before i buy it. im a beginer so im not going to walk in to a shop and try it out, i think i will look like a complete retard as i have absolutely no drumming experience at all, lol.

so yea, please post some clips if you can.
Cheers
User01

edit: i have another question. i notice you have TD-6KW. i thought you had the TD-3KW...i dunno why . neways, i wont be able to get the 6KW because its like £960 in the uk which is some thing like $1770 . i wont want to spend that much on my first kit as i dont know if i will stick to it. but whatever. i think the 3KW is more suited to my budget. so heres the question. do you know if the 6KW and the 3KW have a similar sound/tone, if they have similar features, options and build quality, and could you go over the main differences.
lol, sorry for the 20 questions. im just a bit of a drum n00b

My old death metal band recorded a demo using an electric drumset and it would sound like shit whenever or drummer would blast.

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Ive played drums for 3 years. It all matters with what feel you like. In my opinion i would say not to get the electric set because it kind of cheats for you. when you play double bass or do rolls either sometime it doesnt pick it up or it makes it sound faster than it really is. it also gives you more of a rebound. which you need to learn on am acoustic kit because it actually makes you d the work instead of the head.

I play a 8 piece Pearl Export series set with abt zildjian cymbals. altogether it costed me $1500.00 and its a double bass set. it sounds good. Tama is also good. if your looking to buy cymbals sabian are cheap and sound good. and tamas drums give a nice deep sound.

Now if you want to the work get anacoustic set
if ypu want the head to fdo the work buy an electric set. a good place to buy a drumset and cymbals s at www.musiciansfriend.com thats were i got my set and they send it to you free shipping.

i recently moved into an apartment and had to pack up my acoustic and buy an electric. as much as i hate banging on the electric, it is good for practice. it does, however, miss beats sometimes when i play faster.

Yeah, I think electric drum kits are nice to use, especially for the begginers like myself,! Wah

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Well as I started the other thread about electric kits, sorry...

But I have some questions about electric kits I will post later... I have to run...

So anyway can some of the drummer guys around here give some advice...

I'm looking at roland electric kit, although any other good kits say them, must have mesh snare though...

price range is about 2500 or so... little over maybe

Must have wicked sick sounds though ahah... I'm trying to look at the drum tone on Will Haven - Carpe Diem or Today is the Day - Sadness Will Prevail.... I'm sure they used electric kits on those albums...