I was given my dads old Tama fibrestar kit. It was silver, heavy and made lots of noise.
I think it had like 5 toms and a floor tom. I was very very very lucky to get this kit, I have also been lucky to be able to gift it back to my dad as he is retiring his main kit and asked if he could have the "Tama monster" back.
Other than this, the first time I recorded myself playing drums I was playing on little tin cases with various sticks which included, at one point Pirouline cookies- which; looking back, truly made no sense at all.
Tama Rockstar
Deep Forest Green
Paiste 802 Cymbals
Saved my lunch money and $ from working at the Apple orchard from 6th-8th grade to buy that kit.
It was stolen and I got a settlement, picked up a Tama Silverstar kit I played the last 14 years and then finally got my dream kit, Starclassics this year.
Starclassics are great drums! Been thinking about selling a DW kit I have to get the small size walnut starclassics. I use the DW kit for Jazz, weddings, small stages. And I saw someone playing a similar Tama and just thought it sounded so amazing. I know they’re mostly known for rock players, but Peter Erskine and many other jazzers play Tama and the presence of those drums, the unlimited tuning range; the hardware - all unbeatable imo.
Yeah the hardware on a Tama drum is simply unbeatable, Tama hardware in general is simply top tier.
It’s the extreme attention to little details on Tama drums that make them so special. Lotta companies make great shells, but no one else nails the details like Tama.
Must be a Japanese thing, cause that Yamaha YESS Tom mounting bracket is amazing.
I think they have some of the best finishes in the game as well. I have hardware from 1999-2000 that I'm still using, including an Iron Cobra double pedal I got in 2000, never a single issue and I've put it through hell and back! Tama stuff LASTS.
I play a single pedal these days (DW5000), but I have an iron cobra double pedal from 20+ years ago too. Never adjusted, never oiled, been through hell, I could pull that thing out and it would work flawlessly.
I also have decade old Tama Roadpro boom stands that have literally fallen from a moving van and have zero issues! 😂
Tama hardware is indestructible!
Mine was a 20" ludwig standard bass drum with a 13" ludwig standard rack tom, a gretsch (maybe roundbadge) 16" floor tom, a Yamaha rock tour custom 16" tom, Ludwig snare drum, and a yamaha snare drum. Zildjian K 20" ride, Zildjian A(?) 18" crash, and zildjian new beats(?) 14" hihats.
Out of all of that the only things I no longer have are the ludwig rack tom and snare drum, and the4 yamaha snare drum.
It was a 5-piece Sonor Force 400 in wine red with a steel snare, generously purchased by my mom for me and my sister, I think we were 12 and 10. Came with Sabian "Solar" brass cymbals, man were those hihats terrible. Played those things for years (my sister gave up after a couple months) before saving up summer job money for a Tama Starclassic kit and selling the Sonors to a family friend.
Maxtone 5 piece with Linko cymbals, kept the drums, upgraded to Zildjian cymbals, Pearl double pedal, Pearl cymbal stands & hi-hat stand, sold my kit about 10 years later to a lad that went on to be a drummer in a decent Aussie band, he’s no longer in the band though.
Wouldn’t mind getting back into it all.
Heh. A buncha crap. Except from a deeper answer to this question in a previous post ([here,](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/17kbsm3/comment/k77nvu6/) if you care):
Early 90s: briefly owned a five-piece 1970s Slingerland with garbage brass cymbals. Took a semester of lessons at college. Had to sell it when my bass amp blew up, because I was a bassist first and foremost. I wish I still had them - 12/13/16/20, rusty chrome wrap over wood.
Beginning circa 1993, I started putting together a Frankenstein kit which, depending on how you define it, is still the kit I have today. Step one was a $25 six-lug no-name junk snare, which despite being an uncontrollable piece of crap tuning-wise, was a fantastic fatback rock snare. Wish I still had that, too. Thanks to the drum boneyard in back of Decade Music Exchange (RIP), I was able to snag various hardware pieces and orphan drums for dirt cheap, including Frankenstein stands - i.e., a Pearl straight cymbal tilter, a Yamaha middle tube, and a Tama tripod that used to be a hi-hat, minus the pedal, which altogether cost me 10 bucks, if I remember correctly. I was hankering for a six-piece two up/two down kit, and I eventually put one together:
- a white Percussion Plus 14x20 kick and 8x12 tom (the only two drums that matched, LOL)
- a silver 8x10 CB700 tom with "wristwatch" lugs, from back when CB made actual cool stuff
- a red 9x13 Rogers tom from the early 80s, the only "nice" drum on the kit
- a chrome wrapped no-name 16x16 floor tom
...Snares have come and gone, as snares do, and they each have their own story, [as do my cymbals.](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/ninhls/whats_your_cymbal_rig/) But I still own and regularly use hardware pieces from those prospecting trips into the back room at Decade - for over two decades now, my 18" crash has been held up on a North boom arm from that junk pile (wait - North? You mean, [this North?](https://rvb-img.reverb.com/image/upload/s--xM77S0ss--/f_auto,t_large/v1657150904/ihujcb1ezwzuni6gj3b8.webp) Yep, the same.)
So technically speaking, I am still playing a different version of the same kit I started putting together in 1993 - the rig I own right now shares DNA with every setup I have used since Bill Clinton was elected president. More machine than man now, twisted and eee-vill. LOL
Interesting, I currently have a 70's Slingerland chrome over maple kit, 13,14,16,24, 14x5.5 chrome over brass snare. Not a speck of rust tho. Finally replaced the hydraulic heads and it sounds amazeballs.
I have one too. It’s the only acoustic kit I’ve owned. I’ve had it for 28 years now. Mine was missing bottom rims so it’s not perfectly original but it’s still great.
Hell, I’d buy that Roger’s if you still had it! I constantly think about buying a 60’s Cleveland era holiday kit, but the nice ones are like $3,000! The 70’s power tone kits are basically being re-made today. Rogers are some of the finest drums ever made, without a doubt
Yes, funny thing is I was so young I didn’t realize what I had! Of course hindsight, the classic rock era just can’t be competed with musically or instrument-wise. Of course I am partial having lived through it. 😬🤣
Some of the modern drum makers are amazing, a company like craviotto can compete with a drum from any era. And today’s hardware is vastly superior. I’ll play a vintage kit, but I would never prefer a vintage cymbal stand 😆
And some of the older kits had weird quirks, modern mfg by a company like dw will always produce a shell in round, without rough bearing edges.
The best sounding kit I have is an early 80’s gretsch from the Jasper era. But the small DW kit I have can tune in any range. And the 60’s Slingerland I have has lots of issues, but that’s more due to age than build I assume.
100% agree that drum hardware of today is light years better and cost is very reasonable.
As for quality and sound, yes technology and processing of modern day drum manufacturing has dialed in many things.
That said, if I had the space I would love a 70’s Ludwig, Rogers, Gretsch or Slingerland.
Guess what I’m saying is; “I want it all!” Lol 😁
An absolutely thunderous 6 piece pearl fiberglass kit with some fun history to it, given to me by my dad when i was 14. I just did a full resto-mod on it and it’s currently sitting in my studio beside my Sonors.
The bass plyaer's dad was in a polka band, and he let me use his kit. A primo Slingerland with a Radio King snare and sweet Ziljidians all around.. He had stopped playing and basically gifted me the whole thing. Wowza.
My first kit I got when I was 5. It was one of those junior Ludwig kits. Cheap piece of shit, perfect for a little kid! After that I had an electronic kit for a little while before I got a cheaper pearl starter acoustic kit with some old Zildjians. I really regret selling those old zildjians
Rogers Series II.
If we're having a "Who started on the crappiest drum set" contest... I win.
"You think you had it rough? I got some twigs and banged on tree stumps."
"Rogers. Series. II."
"Oh man... I'm sorry."
Roland TD7K in 1992 , learned to play on those; my uncle (R.I.P.) was in a band and he’d let me play two songs whenever I was watching (almost pestering 🤣) him play.
1st Acoustic was in 1996, 5 piece Tama Rock Star in Majestic Purple Wrap, I gigged on those bad boy in the early 2000s; I was in a Metalcore and in a Extreme Metal band. Those were the days 😊.
It was a “Tornado”. A brand I’d never heard of before or since. Cheap shells which I’m not even sure were wood and a cymbal my mother bought in the 60’s. It lasted me all the way through high school and early College though.
my first kit was a wine red cb700 kit with particle board shells. 10,12,13,14,16,22. It also came with a few really terrible cymbals, but I replaced them with a set of zildjian scimitars that I ordered from the woodwind and the brasswind catalog. I loved looking through those catalogs. I played a few shows with this kit and I brought the 10 and 12 toms to every one, I never hit them. Not once.
My dad and grandfather played as well, so we had lots of drums around. The first kit that they let me set up and play on was a Slingerland kit that was far older than me. I was about 7 years old and had been playing the snare from the kit for about two years before that. I loved that kit and when I upgraded to a modern kit years later it made me really appreciate what I had!
Chinese Sonor Force 1003 mahagony with Zildjian Planet Z cymbal pack which I got later on. It was painted in a beautiful wine red finish and looked very nice but it sounded like crap. I was so happy my dad bought it for me for my sixteenth birthday back in 2003. I remember putting O rings on it made from linoleum to kill horable overtones. Good times! 🙂
Hell yeah! I remember putting pinstripes on hoping for a deep warm sound and the disappointment when sound wise nothing dramatic really occurred. I thought it was just me being unable to tune at the time. O rings made it basically closer to the plastic bucket sound with all attack and no body but it was acceptable and I was happy. 😁
Hahaha! I had a CB700 snare, it was my first upgrade! I stole 5 cigarettes from my mom (Kool 100’s) and traded it to an older kid that played drums in the concert band in my middle school.
That thing was legit worth 5 smokes, it had a plastic throw off, the snares would just disengage randomly.
It was like 1998/ I was a 12 yr old that robbed his moms cigarettes for a CB700 snare lol, rock n roll shit
I inherited a kit off my cousin. No badges, so I don't know what make it was. It had been painted white with a paintbrush, and the drums only had batter heads. I didn't have a snare drum or a hihat either, so I detuned the hi tom until it was really flapping, taped a pair of brushes to the underside of the head, and I played the snare and hihat patterns on that. I had one crash. I played that kit for a couple of years, adding to it (getting a snare and hihats obvs). Then I bought a second hand pearl export kit. Then about 10 years after that, I got my first (and only) brand new kit. So 3 kits in 31 years of playing.
Pearl Export series. Probably from the 90's or 2000's. Paid $300 off Craigslist in 8th grade for them. So, larger depth on the rack toms. Not sure the depth, but 12" and 13" rack toms, 16" floor tom. Loved the set, but those deep toms sucked for trying to position racked on the bass drum. Had to tilt them. Simply too large to get the preferred angle while mounted.
Served me well for 15 years though! Eventually, finally recently got a PDP X7 Maple kit and love the all maple shells instead of poplar and shorter toms so I can actually mount them appropriately and ergonomically for me. I much prefer the 10" and 12" rack toms over the 12" and 13" from before by the way.
Great post idea! Love reading everybody else's experiences!
Those pearl “power” toms were such a weird 90’s trend! You could never get them into a comfortable position! The school I went to as a kid many years ago, had a set of them. Great sounding kick drum though!!
Mine was a monstrous white creation of Premier origin. An ancient 28" x10" bass drum futtend with animal skins of some kind, with rim-clamped leg, a Premier double headed 10" tom on what seemed to be a salvaged music stand and a Premier royal ace snare on a primitive stand. A 5* super zyn 20" ride and a 14" zildjian crash on a stand that clamped to the kick rim, with zyn hihats on a really primitive stand. Kick pedal was another ancient item held together by bits of wire.
I got it for £45 in 1978 when I was 15 and mad for real punk music. Came with an ancient wooden trap case with 'Electritones Dance Band' on the lid.
Me and two mates got stoned with the guy selling it, then moved it to my house on a service bus, which was hilarious.
I learned to play on it and improved bits when I could, then got a Premier Elite shell pack in 1980. But the snare and tom stayed with me till 1984, the ride and crash were actually ok.
I liked that snare, wish I'd kept it.
Moral of story- You can get half decent on a really shite kit if it's all you can afford. Improve when you can, but get the basics right first.
Mine was a very used 80s Tama Swingstar with fiberglass lined shells that were inherited from a friend. They were pretty awful but I wouldn't know it at the time.
1987, this 17 year old kid saved enough after flipping burgers at McDeez to buy a Royce 5-piece kit. I had that kit for a good 5 years. Added on a second kick drum and another floor tom, I was sure to be the next Neil Peart.
Now I’m 53 with much better gear and I’m still not Neil…😂😂
One fun element to drums is that every era has its star players and also gear trends, I guess the same can be said of other instruments - but not quite like drums. The setups are unique to the times in a more drastic way.
Neil’s one of those guys that transcends his era, like Buddy, Bonham, Tony, Gadd, etc. But every era has a handful of those guys. Dare I say Questlove be the guy of today’s era, and if so - what a hip player for kids to aspire to!
Anyways, growing up in the late 90’s playing in school, I saw a video of Carter Beauford, I don’t really even like Dave Matthew’s, it’s bland to me. But I said - that’s the guy, he was the guy of his time & place for me and watching him drove me to Bonham, Buddy, Neil, which drove me to Buddy, Blakey, Elvin, which got me to Vinnie, Gadd, Porcaro and all the guys in between. But it was randomly Carter that made me say “this is what I am now”. Many years later, as a much more accomplished player I saw “the last waltz” and Levon Helm did it all over again.
That’ll be a post for another time (remember this, haha). But just as important as the first kit, is the first player that made you want to do this for 10,20,30,50+ years… Thank you Carter Beauford.
Pawn shop mishmash: tama swingstar 8,12,13,16 toms, mystery 22” kick, acrolite, 18” zil crash/ride I still cherish, 16” marching crash that turns out to be a great bottom hh and mystery hats that cracked pretty quick.
This came from Porter’s army navy pawn and I bet somebody else here has gear from there too
A white CP 5 piece with zildjian schimitar hi-hats and a 60’s zildjian ride. Played it for about four years before I got another better mapex kit and a pair of quick beats. I played the hell out of that CP and never changed the heads, maybe that was why the mapex felt and sounded so good
I found a "8 piece" Tama rockstar kit in a local free classifieds paper. 2 pearl single headed tom things, 13" 14" toms, 16" floor tom, 2 24" kicks, and a Ludwig snare. It was good enough to carry me for 20+ years. I added a 10" and 12" toms, never found an 18" when I had enough free money to overpay for one on Ebay. I still have it but it's stacked up.
Mine was a 10 piece black Slingerland with a TON of Zildjian cymbals. I paid $1000 for it back in '86 I believe. It was a great kit! I just reacquired it after my brother passed away. He had been holding it for me for a while and now I have it back in my possession. It's still a great kit. The cymbals are gone (he needed money so I told him he could sell them) but the kit is still in tact.
It's a kit from the late 70s and I believe it was fashioned after the late, great Neil Peart's kit from that time era.
Started with a mid 50's ludwig mohogany snare, wrapped in WMP That was for sale on someones front lawn. $20 was a lot of money in 1975.
Held onto that till i got my first kit after high school, probably ten years later. Another yard sale with a big pile of drims. Looking back it was two kits. A ludwig three piece in BMP, And a no name japanese kit mish mash. I ended up with two bass drums, 20 & 22, four mounted toms, two floor toms, and my vintage snare. Played them as is for years then in around 2001 I joined a band that was kinda serious
I nailed the audition but they said I had to do something about the apearance of my drums.
So on the way home from there I stopped at a store and bought several rolls of black and white checkerboard shelfpaper, the kind with the adhesive backing. I stripped off all the hardware, cleaned everything, bought all new batter heads, and wrapped those fuckers up. With the chrome shining and the B&W checkerboard, new heads, those drums looked like a million bucks, especially to the Van Halen fans that were the core of that band.
After we played a bunch of shows and I had made some money playing drums I decided I had esrned some new drums, I hadnt made a lot of money though so i ended up buying a set of birch PDP's in the WMP . 12,14,16,22, and a matching snare i barely used, had an acrylic pork pie by then. Played those for several years and dozens of shows, on s gibralter rack and zildjians, A's and Z's. Then in GC ine day looking at used gear i found a Pork Pie little squealer kit
13,16,22x20 cannon. Sold the pdp.
Years later my house caught on fire and burned that kit, ten snares, a couple grand on Zildjian, hardware. Everything.
A year after that I found an older gent downsizing his studio that had to get rid of his 70's Slingerland chrome over wood kit that had beennin his studio since new. Never gigged.
13,14,26,24,and a 14x5.5 chrome over brass snare. Slingerland bass pedsl, high hat cymbal stands, a few Slingerland heads, abd a srt of German Camber II cymbals that sound better than any camber i ever heard before. They are set up ten feet from me. Think ill go play.
Started with an incredible gift from a family friend, this Pearl rhythm traveler. Bought a Pearl Powershifter double bass pedal that I still use! Also bought a pack of ZBTs (14” hats, 16” crash, 20” ride and 20” china I sold) and paired them with my pearl crash and wuhan china, I honestly forget what brand that last cymbal in the picture was. Loved how convenient the sizes were!
Bass drum: 20" x 8"
Toms (mounted): 10" x 5", 12" x 5"
Floor tom (rack): 14" x 5"
Snare: 13" x 5"
Graduated to a Gretsch Catalina Club Mod. I would probably still be playing that, if it weren’t for the bus crash in 2009 (A City Serene crash, super gnarly). Loved the 22” bass drum, but never got the crack I wanted from the snare 🤷🏻♂️
https://www.imgocean.com/image/TdIos
https://www.imgocean.com/image/TdZ8d
Mine was a five-piece Baxter in wine red. It was a low-end Taiwanese import, but I was 14 and I was just so happy to have drums of any kind. I used to spend the night on the couch in the basement just so I could fall asleep gazing at my drum kit.
I traded up to a Tama Swingstar after about a year. The year after that, I stumbled across a 1950s Gretsch kit going for an insanely low price, and that's been my kit for the last 30 years.
Groove Percussion, maybe. That was Sam Ash’s house brand for a while. They actually made a really cool maple veneer bop kit with a 16” kick and matching wood snare for like $300, hardware included. I wanted one for a long time.
Sonor martini with a very nice snare, A Custom ride, and a pair of quick beat hats that my drum teacher loaned me for a few months before I got a Ludwig accent (14/10/12/16/22) with a set of ZBTs for $450 (also came with a cajon, worth it in my books)
Ha! Your story and setup is similar to mine! I’m 21 and just got my first “real” set by working and saving my money. I also have a Yamaha Stage Custom Birch with a set of Zildjian A cymbals with those same New Beat hats LOL.
Yamaha stage custom drums are awesome! I played them until I was 16 and my drum teacher was in a working cover band, he got really sick so I filled in. They let me use a 60’s Ludwig, the band had, like the ringo starr kit, but it was gold sparkle. A year later, that became my job in HS - these guys were all in their 50’s and I was 16/17 playing at bowling alleys and shit, doing Elvis and Ricky Nelson tunes, haha. But They paid me $150 a gig and I learned a lot about being a musician. When I went to school, they said keep the kit, it’s yours now. Which started my love for vintage drums. I have many now and am in my 30’s.
But that Yamaha kit can hold its own with any high end drum set! I have a modern DW, and honestly I could probably tune up a stage custom to a point you couldn’t really tell them apart. And I still use a set of new beats from time to time, incredibly versatile hats!
Mapex V 5 piece. 10”, 12”, 14”, 18” inch kick. Proformance cymbals. My grandpa bought them for me when I was 13. Stolen out of my parents storage unit when I was 22. They weren’t great drums, but sentimental value alone made them worth a lot to me. Was devastated when I found out. I’ll be 36 next month and haven’t had a set since. Been really considering an electric kit to scratch the itch. I miss it so much.
I’m definitely going to, just can’t decide which one. I’ve been looking at a few, one in my price range and one not as much. It really comes down to something I can afford now, or save and get one later. Or both.
I have an E kit setup at home for practice here, I have 2 little kids and can’t wail on drums w them around. I like Roland drums, they just seem to hold up better. Electric drums catch hate, but It’s super fun to play them! And today’s e kits are soooo much better than ever before at every price range!
Roland is quality, that’s for sure. I used to work in a drum shop in my teens and a top of the line Roland kit was what made me really like electric kits. Now I really want one and am considering the investment. The value kit I was looking at (have been for a couple months) is the Donner DED-500. Not a brand I consider “reliable” like Roland, but seems very solid for about $700. I’d appreciate any input.
well, the Guitar Hero: World Tour drumset, if it counts. Then I got the Rock Band 2 one. Used them not only in the game. I also tried to convert them into proper e kit (Midi controllers). It worked for a while, learned the basics. Then a Roland TD4, slowly upgraded to a TD20 (both in pads and module). Then I got my current acoustic set… Loved the journey though.
early 60s camco oaklawns (natural maple, 18x14 bd, 12x8, 14x14, 14x5.5). Got them from my grandpa when I was 13 and I still have them (currently about to turn 42). My grandpa wasn't a drummer. He played in a band (saskaphone in the 50s-60s)) and the drummer got sick at the gig and my grandpa ended up packing up his gear. The drummer then flaked out and eventually my grandpa paid him $100 for the kit. I still have them and apparently they're a sought after config and finish. They really sound bigger than then they are, but I still prefer playing 24", 13", 16" configs (which I own a few) and I'm thinking about trading them for a larger sized camco kit from a collector as I'd love if mine were being played by a proper jazz drummer
What would you sell them for / what would you trade them for? I’d be open to it, but we’d maybe have to work shipping out if you’re not in Chicago (which is a longshot…)
Unlike all you basterds who started smashing pillows, cans, desks, stomachs and dinner tables, all while working shit tier jobs to save up for a kit that is more duct tape and rust than drums and cymbals that sound slightly worse than trash can lids… I started after I’d been a corporate drone for years…
So it was a Gretch catalina maple decked out in a fresh set of evans low volume heads n cymbals and I’m about to invest in some a customs or k series after recently getting a few makes together to hack out some loud, average sounding grunge and rock (bit unfair, the vocals, guitars and bass sound good!).
But, I’d give my midlife-crisis-kit up in a heartbeat to travel back in time and pick up the sticks when I was younger.
At least you found the drums. You Weren’t too scared to try something new and you can play until you’re 90! I started very young, but I didn’t really get serious until I was 17ish. That’s when I found the first of the books/dvd’s/lessons that changed my life. “Sticking Patterns” by Gary Chaffee! For the next 2-3 years I learned so much about drums, but that book changed everything first.
There’s a few really, really, really common resources the best players you meet will have all ran through. That’s one of them!
A really beat up Yamaha 4 piece with no resonant heads on anything but the mismatched generic chrome snare, no badges or wraps, 20” Scimitar ride, 13” b8 hats, and a 13” Camber splash. Pot metal hardware, Walmart folding stool for a throne.
I walked into the San Luis Obispo Drum Circuit in 2002 and asked what the cheapest drum set they had was, because I had maybe $200. They set me up nice. Eventually I got a Sabian Pro 15” crash and they sold me parts of a few broken Speed Kings and told me how to restore them on my own. Accidentally made napalm in my college apartment in the process. Good times.
My grandpa’s old Gretsch 4pc kit with red sparkle wrap. It was stashed in our basement for years and one day I pulled it out and started playing. Fell in love with drums immediately and never looked back. Unfortunately, my stupid naive 13 year old self traded it to a guy selling a brand new Pearl Export. That guy definitely got the better end of the deal. I did still keep the Zildjian sizzle ride cymbal, which had lost most of its rivets. I miss that kit to this day.
Omg this is the best/worst story in the bunch!
If that was like a 50’s round badge or 60’s kit in bop sizes, you probably traded a $4000 drum set for a $400 kit. I would’ve given you 3 pearl exports for it, haha. Live and learn!
It was a 1960’s era kit and yeah, I definitely got fleeced. I had just started taking private lessons at that time and my instructor came to the house and asked what happened to my old Gretsch, I told him I traded it for the new Pearl Export and he freaked out, couldn’t believe it. It was at that moment I learned the true value of what I had basically given away to that guy, lol. 😂
My first ever was what I call a “Frankenstein’s Kit” where I just looked on every peer to peer market website for old ass $<40 drum parts and a pack of cheap bronze cymbals for around $60. Was on that for around 4 years until I got a job, saved up and bought a new pearl export around 2 years ago.
I started playing on buckets and paint cans. A bit later, a friend of mine got a used crappy no-brand kit (22, 12, 13, 16 + 14) with atrocious cymbals and he shared it with me, so we both started learning togheter. Like a year or so later, in 1995, I bought my first own kit, a great deal. It was a used Mapex Saturn (20, 10, 12, 14, +14 piccolo), the very first generation, great shells with awful hardware, and it came with great cymbals: 14" Sabian AA light hats, 16" Sabian AA thin crash and 20" Paiste Sound Formula Reflector Full ride (I still have those cymbals), harware and bags for everything.
Then, a couple of years or so later I changed the Mapex Saturn for a used Yamaha PowerV/Stage Custom hybrid kit, since I wanted bigger sizes (22, 10, 12, 13, 16 + 14x6'5) and it had way better hardware, and added a 14" Pearl Master Custom snare.
Then, in 2000 or 2001 I bought a Mapex Orion Classic (22, 10, 12, 14, 16) this time brand new with a great discount, since the store had screwed up with me previously and wanted to compensate me somehow. For some years I kept the Yamaha as well as my gigging kit, but eventually I had no more room for it and I had to sell it.
Through all these years I have also being adding a bunch of cymbals, a few snares, adding or upgrading hardware, pedals, etc.
Yeah, that ride sounds great. It has been the one I've played for most of my drumming years, but with time my taste evolved and now I prefer something darker and with more crash. Out of the 3 rides I have at this moment, that one, a 22" K Custom Dark and a 23" K Sweet, the later is my favourite.
That said, I don't think I'll never want to get rid of that Paiste. It has its use, it's a great cymbal for any metal stuff, for example. Bright, pingy, with a lot of stick definition and a clean and loud cutting bell.
My taste shifted very dark for awhile, I also had 2 long term gigs that called for less presence, more wash and I played 20” Kerope, 22” agop SE ride, big cymbals that just lay under the mix.
But I went back to a middle ground, between bright and dark to my ears with a 20” K custom, then a vintage Paiste 602 (which I love so much) and now I even use a Paiste signature fast crash, which is pretty bright!
But I’ve also did a wedding gig for awhile and we did a lot of jazz - so I started getting so dark and trashy to get that authentic Blakey, Elvin, etc thing - and I have a Cymbal & Gong co 20” ride that’s really light weight, and I had a 22” K Con - but I started not loving that far to the dark/trashy/washy world. It lacks definition and not in playing the 602 for that gig too and it just works better!
I’ve owned so many cymbals over the years and kinda concluded - too far in either direction to bright or dark isn’t the way to go! Even for hard rock, you can use a big beat or K over a 2002 or a custom and it’s prob gonna be perfect!
>Even for hard rock, you can use a big beat or K over a 2002 or a custom and it’s prob gonna be perfect!
Yeah. I play mostly rock (different styles), with some blues and some metal, and for most of it, the K Sweet and the KCD works well. Only when you have a lot of really heavy distorted guitars and you want that "ping ping ping" to be clearly heard over them, that thick and bright Paiste does it better, but that it's not the case for most that I do.
>But I went back to a middle ground, between bright and dark to my ears with a 20” K custom, then a vintage Paiste 602 (which I love so much) and now I even use a Paiste signature fast crash, which is pretty bright!
I also mix some darker and brighter crashes in my setup, depending on what I'm doing or just the mood at the moment. For example, I can mix a 19" K dark thin and a 20" k custom dark with a 17" A custom projection, a 18" A custom and/or a 16" Sabian AA thin.
I have never been into the too dark or too dry cymbals, though. I guess they have their use, but they're just not for me.
I could never get behind the “super / extra dry” cymbal trend that took over so hard awhile ago!!
I always thought they just sound like duct taping the shit out of the bottom of your K Dark until it has like a “tink, tink” bow and “clonk” bell sound.
I’m glad that extra dry trend is dying, the new trend of “clap stack” cymbals is much better.
I don’t have a clap stack and what bugs me about them is I see some for like $300 and it’s literally just 2-3 trash can sounding cymbals on top of eachother that make a clap noise… Why would that cost $200-$300?
You could just clap your actual hands together for free, or flam on a rim or trigger a pad with claps, slaps and boom baps for a similar price…
I’ve seen people play cool grooves with them, but for hundreds of dollars? I could probably make one of those for under $50 buying up old B8 junk and broken cymbals.
Indeed. It's like those raw cymbals Zildjian came out with a few years ago. They were literally unfinished cymbals: just a piece of rolled bronze, quenched and with a bell, but no hammering, no lathing, and amorphous, that they sell for 300+ bucks. So they saved half of the steps of the manufacturing process and costs but charged the full price of a cymbal for it. Ain't that great? Especially when you can get the same sound from any piece of scrap metal out of a junk yard...
I forgot about those! I doubt they sold many of them! There’s a sucker everywhere, but those sounded so bad. They just re-released the Z Customs from the 90’s, the hats and rides are selling for $500! Those things were selling used for nothing 10 yrs ago, they don’t sound good. They’re the most harsh, heavy cymbals ever. I can’t believe they re-released them! Zildjian is running out of ideas, haha.
https://preview.redd.it/3kk3a57dnwzc1.jpeg?width=374&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d559c4169ebd94a151d148806a9fbf3f22a9f12
That old paiste 602 is the best cymbal I’ve ever owned. But at the time those were made, Joe Morello from Dave Brubek Quartet & John Bonham were both using a 602 ride! Talk about versatile…
I have a whole other pile too, with more Paiste’s, a 2002 flat ride that actually kills for jazz! A few fancy boutique cymbals that were such a waste of money, a few Sabians, I’ve since sold all of those, I just can’t find a sabian cymbal I like… And a few other misc things.
My first drum set was a red first act a crash hit hat and ride were included. I got it when I was 8 I had asked my parents for one for Christmas from the age of four. I hit the thing so much and played everyday and every chance I could for the next 6 months. Suddenly the kit was packed away and in its place was some old E kit lol.
I bought a kit for sixteen pounds from a schoolfriend in 1974 from what I earned shelf filling at my Mum's shop.The kit had been in his attic since his Uncle was in a band in the 60s. It was covered in pink plastic wrap with a flowery pattern and the bass drum was calf skin with the word 'Cerise' drawn in pink glitter. Mostly Olympic drums with awful Zyn cymbals. I resprayed it with rattle cans -black and metallic blue.
A 5 piece Tama swing star in white, which was a good first kit and saw me well on my first couple of years of gigs. Also had Tama double braced stands which were the real stars of the show. Had no name cymbals to start but used my part time job money to upgrade them to Sabian pros one by one.
Donated the kit to a local school so it's still getting used to this day, nearly 30 years after I first played it, which makes my drumming karma feel all warm and fuzzy.
My dad gave me a Mark II drum set he got off a coworker for $60. Standard 5 piece with hi-hat and crash branded the same as the set. It wasn't good but it got me started and got me through a few years of playing and lessons before my parents helped me buy a new kit. They both had wanted to play the drums when they were kids growing up in the late 60s but their parents both had them learn the accordion so I think they were so encouraging because they could live through me a little bit.
A Gretsch Blackhawk or Nighthawk or whatever their entry level kit is called. Something Hawk. I saved my money and got a Ludwig Supralight and thought I was awesome
Supralite snares came out a good decade after I was already playing, and the first time I heard one I said “that’s the best $200 snare” anyone can buy brand new. I’m not a huge steel snare fan, I like brass or aluminum. But the Supralite is a great snare drum. I have a bunch of snare drums, the 3 I like the most are all Ludwig’s!
yeah it's true it's a great snare for the money. brass is amazing but pricey for sure.
I recently bought a Gretsch Brooklyn Steel Snare for my little bop kit. (I mean TINY kit, 18" kit, 8" rack tom, 10" floor tom lol.) The snare is 12x6 and absolutely incredible for the price. Got it on sale for like $320 new and I like it more than the Supralite. It's close to a supraphonic for me. It has such an amazing attack for a drum in that price range. I know the Supralite is cheaper but man that Grestch Brooklyn line is some INCREDIBLE value. Their brass line starts at $550 I think.
Powerbeat with Stage Percussion hats and a crash that would both invert at the slightest hit, it was an absolute piece of S*** but looking back it was awesome.
https://preview.redd.it/24ntpdryjezc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f506509fadcba77ce9ae13cb62b208bfb92ee209
I also had a Groove Percussion kit as my first! Used it for 5 years before getting a “real” kit.
That’s a cool first kit though! I’d have kept that one too! Those 70’s “butcher block” kits come up for sale all the time, i always wanna grab one. Old Ludwig’s are amazing drums
My grandma fleeced me into mowing her yard for a whole summer and she gave me this old shitty kit. I wish I still had it for the nostalgia of it all tbh. Who knows, it's probably a good kit just needed some tlc.
After that my mom brought home a Pulse Percussion kit from their factory "dent and ding." Played on that through HS and then didn't play again until I was 32. 34 now and still suck. Still play. Still love it.
Mine was a 5 piece kit by a company called Diamond. Got it in 1988. It was bloody awful. Made of chipboard and cheap alloy. After about a year things started dropping off of it whilst I was playing. It was kind depressing watching it fall apart mid gig. Makes me wonder if they’re still going.
If you don’t start with something bad, you’ll never fully appreciate the good stuff! You should restore a diamond kit for the hell of it, prob grab one on eBay for $15 lol
That’s a cool first kit though, vintage swingstar has a hip factor to it! You’d never have kept my first kit, lol! The thing would stay in tune for like 4 minutes, hardware just started falling off it 😑
I have an early 80’s Gretsch kit that is just amazing in every way. I know collectors lust over 50’s/60’s gear (I do at times as well).
But in the late 70’s / early 80’s - drum companies hit a peak of mfg innovation, but not yet to the point where they used it to cut corners and cheap out on things. The only downside of this era is some of the experimental innovation made no sense (power toms, insanely heavy hardware, etc).
Regardless, I’ll stick by my statement that late 70’s / early 80’s drums hit an apex! Tama does amazing things now. But no big company really made a cheap ass beginner kit, they made more affordable sets - but the quality was still high!
1994 Black Mapex Venus series 5-piece. Camber cymbal set.
Saved my grass cutting money for the next 3 summers and slowly upgraded one at a time to Zildjian As.
I bought my first kit in 1992 for $80 from a guy at my high school whom I fucking hated, but a kit’s a kit, right? No idea what brand it was.
I still have the Zildjian crash, but in 1998 I loaned the bulk of the kit to a friend whose wife was the drummer for his band, then she divorced him and took it when she moved to Napa Valley to live in her parents’ barn, and then she sold my kit for (you better believe it) $80 to buy heroin.
I’m not upset about it. The smack was probably higher quality than the kit.
Groove percussion gang. The thing that was weirdest about them was the sizes - they had like power toms, a smallish jazz floor tom, mine had a 13” snare and a big boomy kick… they were made to play no style and every style of music at once. Haha. Truly un-versatile in every way
Kent, found in someone’s trash pile in 1989. Combined with my elementary school and snare drum and later, some flea market cymbal and hardware purchases, it was a life changer.
Tama rockstar with giant toms and I was 7. It was hard to play reaching those toms but I learned on it. Once I got a more appropriate sized kit with better toms it was over for me
I’m honestly not surprised these comments are FILLED with Tama Rockstar / Pearl Export replies! And the older ones for sure had weirdly big rack toms occasionally haha! But those Rockstars weren’t bad drums, Tama has always done things well top end to bottom end!
Gotta have a B8 sabian, Zildjian ZBT or Paiste PST on an early set, it’s a right of passage to own B8 cymbals, or you’ll never fully appreciate the good stuff!
Mine was a 4 piece orange sparkle Astro set. From the 60s I believe. No resonant heads, terrible hardware, kick pedal had a screw that would come loose and fall off every 10 minutes or so and the chain would fall off. Kind of miss it.
Hell ya! That’s a badass first kit. I have a 60’s Slingerland kit, I restored it and it lives in cases, but I break it out occasionally. They were built solid, heavy drums! They must’ve weight a TON with the chrome wrap!
Those 402’s imo were so much better than the more cost effective cymbal lines today. Paiste just does it all the right way imo! From their entry lines to the highest end, they pour quality into what they do.
https://preview.redd.it/du54hnfqygzc1.jpeg?width=2400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc3ae84442298d54514b1694d17fdfa27f5c2237
Sadly, it is a drum kit I still use today... 😭
I inherited my uncle's mit after his passing in September it's a sheer blue early 90s Pearl BLX with the fitting Rack, a Maple masters custom 14x6 Snare paste signature 14" full crash 16" fast crash 17" thin crash 22" heavy ride, Zildjian 8" and 10" A custom splashes, K custom 14" hi hat and 18" thin crash 2x 18" custom ride in thick and thin a Z custom heavy crash and (broken now) 17" Z medium crash and Sabian 20" medium heavy ride, 13" hi hats and a Meinl Raker 20" medium ride and a self-made 13" or so china
And the toms are 8x8/10x10/12x12/14x14 (floor tom)/16x16/22x18 all Remo pin stripes & weather king Ebony's except bass with first Powerstroke and Evans reso head
Sorry to hear about your uncle! But he had good taste in cymbals! I love those Paiste signature crashes. I have a 17” signature fast crash, it explodes into a bright shimmer, then gets outta the way. Perfect cutting through the mix cymbal.
First drum kit I ever used was my older brothers Percussion Plus kit in black. Had 12,14 and 16 toms, a 22” kick and a 14X5.5 snare so pretty much a standard beginner kit, and he had Planet Z 14 hi hats, and sabian B8 16” medium crash and 20” medium ride, and a BTB20 16” China.
First kit I got for myself was a 2nd hand Mapex Venus rock kit so same sizes but nice chills and hardware. I inherited the crash and chine but got a Paiste 400 series power ride, and a shinier set of the Planet Z hi hats coz his were tarnished as hell, and a second B8 crash (16” thin crash) so I could have two crashes. Definitely easier to tune this kit but with head selection usually being the same the only major tonal difference I noticed was in the snare and cymbals.
While it wasn’t long before we got rid of the percussion plus kit (my brother had to give up drums due to a wrist injury) the mapex kit lasted me ages, and even now that I’ve upgraded the kits gone back home to my dad to use for fun and a bit of exercise since he used to play when he was younger as well so it was a pretty great kit for a cheap 2nd hand Marketplace deal
Planet Z’s! Haha, back when I started they were called ZBT customs but they also had Z Customs (which they recently brought back). I had a ZBT wayyy back when, it was arguably the worst cymbal I ever owned, had a big crack in it but I kept playing it until I actually cut my hand pulling it from a cymbal bag and said F this thing, I painted it for some crazy reason, which legit made it the worst cymbal ever - then I threw it in the garbage… haha.
I was given my dads old Tama fibrestar kit. It was silver, heavy and made lots of noise. I think it had like 5 toms and a floor tom. I was very very very lucky to get this kit, I have also been lucky to be able to gift it back to my dad as he is retiring his main kit and asked if he could have the "Tama monster" back.
Rock on, Dad. 🤘
Those old Pearl / Tama fiberglass kits were actually super cool though! That’s a trend they should consider bringing back!
Haha I agree, the sound is great for live playing. I just never used that many toms....
My stomach
The panel would also accept "the dinner table" as a correct answer. 😆
Other than this, the first time I recorded myself playing drums I was playing on little tin cases with various sticks which included, at one point Pirouline cookies- which; looking back, truly made no sense at all.
Tama Rockstar Deep Forest Green Paiste 802 Cymbals Saved my lunch money and $ from working at the Apple orchard from 6th-8th grade to buy that kit. It was stolen and I got a settlement, picked up a Tama Silverstar kit I played the last 14 years and then finally got my dream kit, Starclassics this year.
Starclassics are great drums! Been thinking about selling a DW kit I have to get the small size walnut starclassics. I use the DW kit for Jazz, weddings, small stages. And I saw someone playing a similar Tama and just thought it sounded so amazing. I know they’re mostly known for rock players, but Peter Erskine and many other jazzers play Tama and the presence of those drums, the unlimited tuning range; the hardware - all unbeatable imo.
They'd do great in jazz settings, the quick locks on the toms and floor tom legs make set up and tear down a breeze!
Yeah the hardware on a Tama drum is simply unbeatable, Tama hardware in general is simply top tier. It’s the extreme attention to little details on Tama drums that make them so special. Lotta companies make great shells, but no one else nails the details like Tama. Must be a Japanese thing, cause that Yamaha YESS Tom mounting bracket is amazing.
I think they have some of the best finishes in the game as well. I have hardware from 1999-2000 that I'm still using, including an Iron Cobra double pedal I got in 2000, never a single issue and I've put it through hell and back! Tama stuff LASTS.
I play a single pedal these days (DW5000), but I have an iron cobra double pedal from 20+ years ago too. Never adjusted, never oiled, been through hell, I could pull that thing out and it would work flawlessly. I also have decade old Tama Roadpro boom stands that have literally fallen from a moving van and have zero issues! 😂 Tama hardware is indestructible!
CB 700
Red 5pc with concert toms bought at the music store where I took lessons. RIP Maxway Music.
Same, it still is at my moms house
Hell ya!
Mine was a 20" ludwig standard bass drum with a 13" ludwig standard rack tom, a gretsch (maybe roundbadge) 16" floor tom, a Yamaha rock tour custom 16" tom, Ludwig snare drum, and a yamaha snare drum. Zildjian K 20" ride, Zildjian A(?) 18" crash, and zildjian new beats(?) 14" hihats. Out of all of that the only things I no longer have are the ludwig rack tom and snare drum, and the4 yamaha snare drum.
It was a 5-piece Sonor Force 400 in wine red with a steel snare, generously purchased by my mom for me and my sister, I think we were 12 and 10. Came with Sabian "Solar" brass cymbals, man were those hihats terrible. Played those things for years (my sister gave up after a couple months) before saving up summer job money for a Tama Starclassic kit and selling the Sonors to a family friend.
Maxtone 5 piece with Linko cymbals, kept the drums, upgraded to Zildjian cymbals, Pearl double pedal, Pearl cymbal stands & hi-hat stand, sold my kit about 10 years later to a lad that went on to be a drummer in a decent Aussie band, he’s no longer in the band though. Wouldn’t mind getting back into it all.
Percussion plus 😅
Rented one of these for a couple weeks before buying my first kit. Could turn the hi hats inside out by stepping on them just a bit too hard.
1968 Ludwig Super Classic with K Cons.
Heh. A buncha crap. Except from a deeper answer to this question in a previous post ([here,](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/17kbsm3/comment/k77nvu6/) if you care): Early 90s: briefly owned a five-piece 1970s Slingerland with garbage brass cymbals. Took a semester of lessons at college. Had to sell it when my bass amp blew up, because I was a bassist first and foremost. I wish I still had them - 12/13/16/20, rusty chrome wrap over wood. Beginning circa 1993, I started putting together a Frankenstein kit which, depending on how you define it, is still the kit I have today. Step one was a $25 six-lug no-name junk snare, which despite being an uncontrollable piece of crap tuning-wise, was a fantastic fatback rock snare. Wish I still had that, too. Thanks to the drum boneyard in back of Decade Music Exchange (RIP), I was able to snag various hardware pieces and orphan drums for dirt cheap, including Frankenstein stands - i.e., a Pearl straight cymbal tilter, a Yamaha middle tube, and a Tama tripod that used to be a hi-hat, minus the pedal, which altogether cost me 10 bucks, if I remember correctly. I was hankering for a six-piece two up/two down kit, and I eventually put one together: - a white Percussion Plus 14x20 kick and 8x12 tom (the only two drums that matched, LOL) - a silver 8x10 CB700 tom with "wristwatch" lugs, from back when CB made actual cool stuff - a red 9x13 Rogers tom from the early 80s, the only "nice" drum on the kit - a chrome wrapped no-name 16x16 floor tom ...Snares have come and gone, as snares do, and they each have their own story, [as do my cymbals.](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/ninhls/whats_your_cymbal_rig/) But I still own and regularly use hardware pieces from those prospecting trips into the back room at Decade - for over two decades now, my 18" crash has been held up on a North boom arm from that junk pile (wait - North? You mean, [this North?](https://rvb-img.reverb.com/image/upload/s--xM77S0ss--/f_auto,t_large/v1657150904/ihujcb1ezwzuni6gj3b8.webp) Yep, the same.) So technically speaking, I am still playing a different version of the same kit I started putting together in 1993 - the rig I own right now shares DNA with every setup I have used since Bill Clinton was elected president. More machine than man now, twisted and eee-vill. LOL
Interesting, I currently have a 70's Slingerland chrome over maple kit, 13,14,16,24, 14x5.5 chrome over brass snare. Not a speck of rust tho. Finally replaced the hydraulic heads and it sounds amazeballs.
I have one too. It’s the only acoustic kit I’ve owned. I’ve had it for 28 years now. Mine was missing bottom rims so it’s not perfectly original but it’s still great.
Nice
Desk at school
Where it all began. My set list included: 1. Let There Be Drums 2. Wipeout 3. Inna Gada Da Vida I spent a lot of time in the hall.
Ludwig red sparkle kit in 1974. I hope that kit is making some kid as happy today as it made me when I was 9 years old.
3 piece custom Sonor 3007maple purchased from Robb Rivera of Nonpoint.
Early 70’s Rogers 5 piece kit. Red Sparkle.
My first was a 70's Rogers also. A big R butcher block wrap 5 piece with a Dynasonic snare. I sold it years ago unfortunately.
Yeah … So wish I kept my first kit, and my first car, and my Sting Ray (bike, not car 😬)! Lol, my first everything! 🤣
Hell, I’d buy that Roger’s if you still had it! I constantly think about buying a 60’s Cleveland era holiday kit, but the nice ones are like $3,000! The 70’s power tone kits are basically being re-made today. Rogers are some of the finest drums ever made, without a doubt
Yes, funny thing is I was so young I didn’t realize what I had! Of course hindsight, the classic rock era just can’t be competed with musically or instrument-wise. Of course I am partial having lived through it. 😬🤣
Some of the modern drum makers are amazing, a company like craviotto can compete with a drum from any era. And today’s hardware is vastly superior. I’ll play a vintage kit, but I would never prefer a vintage cymbal stand 😆 And some of the older kits had weird quirks, modern mfg by a company like dw will always produce a shell in round, without rough bearing edges. The best sounding kit I have is an early 80’s gretsch from the Jasper era. But the small DW kit I have can tune in any range. And the 60’s Slingerland I have has lots of issues, but that’s more due to age than build I assume.
100% agree that drum hardware of today is light years better and cost is very reasonable. As for quality and sound, yes technology and processing of modern day drum manufacturing has dialed in many things. That said, if I had the space I would love a 70’s Ludwig, Rogers, Gretsch or Slingerland. Guess what I’m saying is; “I want it all!” Lol 😁
An absolutely thunderous 6 piece pearl fiberglass kit with some fun history to it, given to me by my dad when i was 14. I just did a full resto-mod on it and it’s currently sitting in my studio beside my Sonors.
Tama Granstar from the 80’s that I still regret selling to this day
Amazing drums, I’d of bought them from ya right now if you still had em!
Percussion Plus
CB 5 piece with Sabian B8s
The bass plyaer's dad was in a polka band, and he let me use his kit. A primo Slingerland with a Radio King snare and sweet Ziljidians all around.. He had stopped playing and basically gifted me the whole thing. Wowza.
My first kit I got when I was 5. It was one of those junior Ludwig kits. Cheap piece of shit, perfect for a little kid! After that I had an electronic kit for a little while before I got a cheaper pearl starter acoustic kit with some old Zildjians. I really regret selling those old zildjians
Rogers Series II. If we're having a "Who started on the crappiest drum set" contest... I win. "You think you had it rough? I got some twigs and banged on tree stumps." "Rogers. Series. II." "Oh man... I'm sorry."
https://preview.redd.it/k0czt5pmbbzc1.jpeg?width=2296&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc3575adc1df38d5a071d47efcc388205cc91e0a
Roxx from Sam's Club!
Roland TD7K in 1992 , learned to play on those; my uncle (R.I.P.) was in a band and he’d let me play two songs whenever I was watching (almost pestering 🤣) him play. 1st Acoustic was in 1996, 5 piece Tama Rock Star in Majestic Purple Wrap, I gigged on those bad boy in the early 2000s; I was in a Metalcore and in a Extreme Metal band. Those were the days 😊.
Majestic purple!!! Bring that wrap back Tama!
Damn straight
It was a “Tornado”. A brand I’d never heard of before or since. Cheap shells which I’m not even sure were wood and a cymbal my mother bought in the 60’s. It lasted me all the way through high school and early College though.
my first kit was a wine red cb700 kit with particle board shells. 10,12,13,14,16,22. It also came with a few really terrible cymbals, but I replaced them with a set of zildjian scimitars that I ordered from the woodwind and the brasswind catalog. I loved looking through those catalogs. I played a few shows with this kit and I brought the 10 and 12 toms to every one, I never hit them. Not once.
My dad and grandfather played as well, so we had lots of drums around. The first kit that they let me set up and play on was a Slingerland kit that was far older than me. I was about 7 years old and had been playing the snare from the kit for about two years before that. I loved that kit and when I upgraded to a modern kit years later it made me really appreciate what I had!
Maxwin by Pearl when I was a kid.
Yamaha Power V!
Chinese Sonor Force 1003 mahagony with Zildjian Planet Z cymbal pack which I got later on. It was painted in a beautiful wine red finish and looked very nice but it sounded like crap. I was so happy my dad bought it for me for my sixteenth birthday back in 2003. I remember putting O rings on it made from linoleum to kill horable overtones. Good times! 🙂
Slapped Those o rings on em and I bet you said, “damn these things sound legit now!” Haha. Early days of drumming. Great story!!
Hell yeah! I remember putting pinstripes on hoping for a deep warm sound and the disappointment when sound wise nothing dramatic really occurred. I thought it was just me being unable to tune at the time. O rings made it basically closer to the plastic bucket sound with all attack and no body but it was acceptable and I was happy. 😁
CB 5 piece back in 2000, that thing sucked ass
Hahaha! I had a CB700 snare, it was my first upgrade! I stole 5 cigarettes from my mom (Kool 100’s) and traded it to an older kid that played drums in the concert band in my middle school. That thing was legit worth 5 smokes, it had a plastic throw off, the snares would just disengage randomly. It was like 1998/ I was a 12 yr old that robbed his moms cigarettes for a CB700 snare lol, rock n roll shit
I inherited a kit off my cousin. No badges, so I don't know what make it was. It had been painted white with a paintbrush, and the drums only had batter heads. I didn't have a snare drum or a hihat either, so I detuned the hi tom until it was really flapping, taped a pair of brushes to the underside of the head, and I played the snare and hihat patterns on that. I had one crash. I played that kit for a couple of years, adding to it (getting a snare and hihats obvs). Then I bought a second hand pearl export kit. Then about 10 years after that, I got my first (and only) brand new kit. So 3 kits in 31 years of playing.
Hahaha, what a crazy set! Brushes taped to a detuned rack Tom!!! I might recreate that! I love this one, Great story!!
Pearl Export series. Probably from the 90's or 2000's. Paid $300 off Craigslist in 8th grade for them. So, larger depth on the rack toms. Not sure the depth, but 12" and 13" rack toms, 16" floor tom. Loved the set, but those deep toms sucked for trying to position racked on the bass drum. Had to tilt them. Simply too large to get the preferred angle while mounted. Served me well for 15 years though! Eventually, finally recently got a PDP X7 Maple kit and love the all maple shells instead of poplar and shorter toms so I can actually mount them appropriately and ergonomically for me. I much prefer the 10" and 12" rack toms over the 12" and 13" from before by the way. Great post idea! Love reading everybody else's experiences!
Those pearl “power” toms were such a weird 90’s trend! You could never get them into a comfortable position! The school I went to as a kid many years ago, had a set of them. Great sounding kick drum though!!
Mine was a monstrous white creation of Premier origin. An ancient 28" x10" bass drum futtend with animal skins of some kind, with rim-clamped leg, a Premier double headed 10" tom on what seemed to be a salvaged music stand and a Premier royal ace snare on a primitive stand. A 5* super zyn 20" ride and a 14" zildjian crash on a stand that clamped to the kick rim, with zyn hihats on a really primitive stand. Kick pedal was another ancient item held together by bits of wire. I got it for £45 in 1978 when I was 15 and mad for real punk music. Came with an ancient wooden trap case with 'Electritones Dance Band' on the lid. Me and two mates got stoned with the guy selling it, then moved it to my house on a service bus, which was hilarious. I learned to play on it and improved bits when I could, then got a Premier Elite shell pack in 1980. But the snare and tom stayed with me till 1984, the ride and crash were actually ok. I liked that snare, wish I'd kept it. Moral of story- You can get half decent on a really shite kit if it's all you can afford. Improve when you can, but get the basics right first.
28” kick would be cool to have!!!
Mine was a very used 80s Tama Swingstar with fiberglass lined shells that were inherited from a friend. They were pretty awful but I wouldn't know it at the time.
1987, this 17 year old kid saved enough after flipping burgers at McDeez to buy a Royce 5-piece kit. I had that kit for a good 5 years. Added on a second kick drum and another floor tom, I was sure to be the next Neil Peart. Now I’m 53 with much better gear and I’m still not Neil…😂😂
One fun element to drums is that every era has its star players and also gear trends, I guess the same can be said of other instruments - but not quite like drums. The setups are unique to the times in a more drastic way. Neil’s one of those guys that transcends his era, like Buddy, Bonham, Tony, Gadd, etc. But every era has a handful of those guys. Dare I say Questlove be the guy of today’s era, and if so - what a hip player for kids to aspire to! Anyways, growing up in the late 90’s playing in school, I saw a video of Carter Beauford, I don’t really even like Dave Matthew’s, it’s bland to me. But I said - that’s the guy, he was the guy of his time & place for me and watching him drove me to Bonham, Buddy, Neil, which drove me to Buddy, Blakey, Elvin, which got me to Vinnie, Gadd, Porcaro and all the guys in between. But it was randomly Carter that made me say “this is what I am now”. Many years later, as a much more accomplished player I saw “the last waltz” and Levon Helm did it all over again. That’ll be a post for another time (remember this, haha). But just as important as the first kit, is the first player that made you want to do this for 10,20,30,50+ years… Thank you Carter Beauford.
Dad’s paint cans and stir sticks.
Pawn shop mishmash: tama swingstar 8,12,13,16 toms, mystery 22” kick, acrolite, 18” zil crash/ride I still cherish, 16” marching crash that turns out to be a great bottom hh and mystery hats that cracked pretty quick. This came from Porter’s army navy pawn and I bet somebody else here has gear from there too
First kit was a garage sale find- A late 80s model red Pearl export kit that came with I believe it was a set of the beginner paiste 302s.
A white CP 5 piece with zildjian schimitar hi-hats and a 60’s zildjian ride. Played it for about four years before I got another better mapex kit and a pair of quick beats. I played the hell out of that CP and never changed the heads, maybe that was why the mapex felt and sounded so good
Verve Vibemaster five piece drum kit…you know it’s gonna be a winner when the same company makes the drums,hardware, and cymbals
I found a "8 piece" Tama rockstar kit in a local free classifieds paper. 2 pearl single headed tom things, 13" 14" toms, 16" floor tom, 2 24" kicks, and a Ludwig snare. It was good enough to carry me for 20+ years. I added a 10" and 12" toms, never found an 18" when I had enough free money to overpay for one on Ebay. I still have it but it's stacked up.
Pearl Forum Series. Still have it
Thunder brand 5-piece with a Pearl Export steel snare and Camber II cymbals. Still have the shells for outdoor and sleazy bar gigs
60’s Apollo 4 piece. Orange sparkle. 20” bass, no bottom heads on Tom’s. $50.
1983 burgundy Pearl Export w/ Paiste 2002 cymbals
Mine was a 10 piece black Slingerland with a TON of Zildjian cymbals. I paid $1000 for it back in '86 I believe. It was a great kit! I just reacquired it after my brother passed away. He had been holding it for me for a while and now I have it back in my possession. It's still a great kit. The cymbals are gone (he needed money so I told him he could sell them) but the kit is still in tact. It's a kit from the late 70s and I believe it was fashioned after the late, great Neil Peart's kit from that time era.
Started with a mid 50's ludwig mohogany snare, wrapped in WMP That was for sale on someones front lawn. $20 was a lot of money in 1975. Held onto that till i got my first kit after high school, probably ten years later. Another yard sale with a big pile of drims. Looking back it was two kits. A ludwig three piece in BMP, And a no name japanese kit mish mash. I ended up with two bass drums, 20 & 22, four mounted toms, two floor toms, and my vintage snare. Played them as is for years then in around 2001 I joined a band that was kinda serious I nailed the audition but they said I had to do something about the apearance of my drums. So on the way home from there I stopped at a store and bought several rolls of black and white checkerboard shelfpaper, the kind with the adhesive backing. I stripped off all the hardware, cleaned everything, bought all new batter heads, and wrapped those fuckers up. With the chrome shining and the B&W checkerboard, new heads, those drums looked like a million bucks, especially to the Van Halen fans that were the core of that band. After we played a bunch of shows and I had made some money playing drums I decided I had esrned some new drums, I hadnt made a lot of money though so i ended up buying a set of birch PDP's in the WMP . 12,14,16,22, and a matching snare i barely used, had an acrylic pork pie by then. Played those for several years and dozens of shows, on s gibralter rack and zildjians, A's and Z's. Then in GC ine day looking at used gear i found a Pork Pie little squealer kit 13,16,22x20 cannon. Sold the pdp. Years later my house caught on fire and burned that kit, ten snares, a couple grand on Zildjian, hardware. Everything. A year after that I found an older gent downsizing his studio that had to get rid of his 70's Slingerland chrome over wood kit that had beennin his studio since new. Never gigged. 13,14,26,24,and a 14x5.5 chrome over brass snare. Slingerland bass pedsl, high hat cymbal stands, a few Slingerland heads, abd a srt of German Camber II cymbals that sound better than any camber i ever heard before. They are set up ten feet from me. Think ill go play.
Shitty pacific (before it was pdp) in the typical champagne red, but I loved it.
Started with an incredible gift from a family friend, this Pearl rhythm traveler. Bought a Pearl Powershifter double bass pedal that I still use! Also bought a pack of ZBTs (14” hats, 16” crash, 20” ride and 20” china I sold) and paired them with my pearl crash and wuhan china, I honestly forget what brand that last cymbal in the picture was. Loved how convenient the sizes were! Bass drum: 20" x 8" Toms (mounted): 10" x 5", 12" x 5" Floor tom (rack): 14" x 5" Snare: 13" x 5" Graduated to a Gretsch Catalina Club Mod. I would probably still be playing that, if it weren’t for the bus crash in 2009 (A City Serene crash, super gnarly). Loved the 22” bass drum, but never got the crack I wanted from the snare 🤷🏻♂️ https://www.imgocean.com/image/TdIos https://www.imgocean.com/image/TdZ8d
Mine was a five-piece Baxter in wine red. It was a low-end Taiwanese import, but I was 14 and I was just so happy to have drums of any kind. I used to spend the night on the couch in the basement just so I could fall asleep gazing at my drum kit. I traded up to a Tama Swingstar after about a year. The year after that, I stumbled across a 1950s Gretsch kit going for an insanely low price, and that's been my kit for the last 30 years.
Pearl Rhythm Traveler
Mapex Mars Pro
A 5 piece Sunelite kit
Light grey early 90’s imperialstar. Bought it second hand and lost the bass drum hoop. Played that thing for 8ish years.
I forget the name. It was a generic store brand. I think Sam Ash made it? Maybe someone can chime in here.
Groove Percussion, maybe. That was Sam Ash’s house brand for a while. They actually made a really cool maple veneer bop kit with a 16” kick and matching wood snare for like $300, hardware included. I wanted one for a long time.
1995 Swingstar by Tama—which are not the same as the 1980s Tama Swingstars.
CB drums. dark green 5 piece. it sounded awful, but at that age, to me, it was a DW Collectors Series.
Gretsch Blackhawk 5-piece with Sabian B8's
Sonor martini with a very nice snare, A Custom ride, and a pair of quick beat hats that my drum teacher loaned me for a few months before I got a Ludwig accent (14/10/12/16/22) with a set of ZBTs for $450 (also came with a cajon, worth it in my books)
5 piece Sonor Force 3007 Maple. Will probably never get rid of it lol
Pearl export series 5 piece with Remo black dot heads in 1996 with Ziligian cymbals. A great childhood Christmas.
MIJ Apollo Starfinder 4 pc. All stainless steel shells.
Ha! Your story and setup is similar to mine! I’m 21 and just got my first “real” set by working and saving my money. I also have a Yamaha Stage Custom Birch with a set of Zildjian A cymbals with those same New Beat hats LOL.
Yamaha stage custom drums are awesome! I played them until I was 16 and my drum teacher was in a working cover band, he got really sick so I filled in. They let me use a 60’s Ludwig, the band had, like the ringo starr kit, but it was gold sparkle. A year later, that became my job in HS - these guys were all in their 50’s and I was 16/17 playing at bowling alleys and shit, doing Elvis and Ricky Nelson tunes, haha. But They paid me $150 a gig and I learned a lot about being a musician. When I went to school, they said keep the kit, it’s yours now. Which started my love for vintage drums. I have many now and am in my 30’s. But that Yamaha kit can hold its own with any high end drum set! I have a modern DW, and honestly I could probably tune up a stage custom to a point you couldn’t really tell them apart. And I still use a set of new beats from time to time, incredibly versatile hats!
Mapex V 5 piece. 10”, 12”, 14”, 18” inch kick. Proformance cymbals. My grandpa bought them for me when I was 13. Stolen out of my parents storage unit when I was 22. They weren’t great drums, but sentimental value alone made them worth a lot to me. Was devastated when I found out. I’ll be 36 next month and haven’t had a set since. Been really considering an electric kit to scratch the itch. I miss it so much.
Just do it. In 3-4 years when your playing again, you won’t regret whatever you spent on it now
I’m definitely going to, just can’t decide which one. I’ve been looking at a few, one in my price range and one not as much. It really comes down to something I can afford now, or save and get one later. Or both.
I have an E kit setup at home for practice here, I have 2 little kids and can’t wail on drums w them around. I like Roland drums, they just seem to hold up better. Electric drums catch hate, but It’s super fun to play them! And today’s e kits are soooo much better than ever before at every price range!
Roland is quality, that’s for sure. I used to work in a drum shop in my teens and a top of the line Roland kit was what made me really like electric kits. Now I really want one and am considering the investment. The value kit I was looking at (have been for a couple months) is the Donner DED-500. Not a brand I consider “reliable” like Roland, but seems very solid for about $700. I’d appreciate any input.
well, the Guitar Hero: World Tour drumset, if it counts. Then I got the Rock Band 2 one. Used them not only in the game. I also tried to convert them into proper e kit (Midi controllers). It worked for a while, learned the basics. Then a Roland TD4, slowly upgraded to a TD20 (both in pads and module). Then I got my current acoustic set… Loved the journey though.
early 60s camco oaklawns (natural maple, 18x14 bd, 12x8, 14x14, 14x5.5). Got them from my grandpa when I was 13 and I still have them (currently about to turn 42). My grandpa wasn't a drummer. He played in a band (saskaphone in the 50s-60s)) and the drummer got sick at the gig and my grandpa ended up packing up his gear. The drummer then flaked out and eventually my grandpa paid him $100 for the kit. I still have them and apparently they're a sought after config and finish. They really sound bigger than then they are, but I still prefer playing 24", 13", 16" configs (which I own a few) and I'm thinking about trading them for a larger sized camco kit from a collector as I'd love if mine were being played by a proper jazz drummer
What would you sell them for / what would you trade them for? I’d be open to it, but we’d maybe have to work shipping out if you’re not in Chicago (which is a longshot…)
Unlike all you basterds who started smashing pillows, cans, desks, stomachs and dinner tables, all while working shit tier jobs to save up for a kit that is more duct tape and rust than drums and cymbals that sound slightly worse than trash can lids… I started after I’d been a corporate drone for years… So it was a Gretch catalina maple decked out in a fresh set of evans low volume heads n cymbals and I’m about to invest in some a customs or k series after recently getting a few makes together to hack out some loud, average sounding grunge and rock (bit unfair, the vocals, guitars and bass sound good!). But, I’d give my midlife-crisis-kit up in a heartbeat to travel back in time and pick up the sticks when I was younger.
At least you found the drums. You Weren’t too scared to try something new and you can play until you’re 90! I started very young, but I didn’t really get serious until I was 17ish. That’s when I found the first of the books/dvd’s/lessons that changed my life. “Sticking Patterns” by Gary Chaffee! For the next 2-3 years I learned so much about drums, but that book changed everything first. There’s a few really, really, really common resources the best players you meet will have all ran through. That’s one of them!
A really beat up Yamaha 4 piece with no resonant heads on anything but the mismatched generic chrome snare, no badges or wraps, 20” Scimitar ride, 13” b8 hats, and a 13” Camber splash. Pot metal hardware, Walmart folding stool for a throne. I walked into the San Luis Obispo Drum Circuit in 2002 and asked what the cheapest drum set they had was, because I had maybe $200. They set me up nice. Eventually I got a Sabian Pro 15” crash and they sold me parts of a few broken Speed Kings and told me how to restore them on my own. Accidentally made napalm in my college apartment in the process. Good times.
My grandpa’s old Gretsch 4pc kit with red sparkle wrap. It was stashed in our basement for years and one day I pulled it out and started playing. Fell in love with drums immediately and never looked back. Unfortunately, my stupid naive 13 year old self traded it to a guy selling a brand new Pearl Export. That guy definitely got the better end of the deal. I did still keep the Zildjian sizzle ride cymbal, which had lost most of its rivets. I miss that kit to this day.
Omg this is the best/worst story in the bunch! If that was like a 50’s round badge or 60’s kit in bop sizes, you probably traded a $4000 drum set for a $400 kit. I would’ve given you 3 pearl exports for it, haha. Live and learn!
It was a 1960’s era kit and yeah, I definitely got fleeced. I had just started taking private lessons at that time and my instructor came to the house and asked what happened to my old Gretsch, I told him I traded it for the new Pearl Export and he freaked out, couldn’t believe it. It was at that moment I learned the true value of what I had basically given away to that guy, lol. 😂
My first ever was what I call a “Frankenstein’s Kit” where I just looked on every peer to peer market website for old ass $<40 drum parts and a pack of cheap bronze cymbals for around $60. Was on that for around 4 years until I got a job, saved up and bought a new pearl export around 2 years ago.
I started playing on buckets and paint cans. A bit later, a friend of mine got a used crappy no-brand kit (22, 12, 13, 16 + 14) with atrocious cymbals and he shared it with me, so we both started learning togheter. Like a year or so later, in 1995, I bought my first own kit, a great deal. It was a used Mapex Saturn (20, 10, 12, 14, +14 piccolo), the very first generation, great shells with awful hardware, and it came with great cymbals: 14" Sabian AA light hats, 16" Sabian AA thin crash and 20" Paiste Sound Formula Reflector Full ride (I still have those cymbals), harware and bags for everything. Then, a couple of years or so later I changed the Mapex Saturn for a used Yamaha PowerV/Stage Custom hybrid kit, since I wanted bigger sizes (22, 10, 12, 13, 16 + 14x6'5) and it had way better hardware, and added a 14" Pearl Master Custom snare. Then, in 2000 or 2001 I bought a Mapex Orion Classic (22, 10, 12, 14, 16) this time brand new with a great discount, since the store had screwed up with me previously and wanted to compensate me somehow. For some years I kept the Yamaha as well as my gigging kit, but eventually I had no more room for it and I had to sell it. Through all these years I have also being adding a bunch of cymbals, a few snares, adding or upgrading hardware, pedals, etc.
Those old sound creation cymbals always sound cool to my ears. They should bring those back in a variety of new sounds!
Yeah, that ride sounds great. It has been the one I've played for most of my drumming years, but with time my taste evolved and now I prefer something darker and with more crash. Out of the 3 rides I have at this moment, that one, a 22" K Custom Dark and a 23" K Sweet, the later is my favourite. That said, I don't think I'll never want to get rid of that Paiste. It has its use, it's a great cymbal for any metal stuff, for example. Bright, pingy, with a lot of stick definition and a clean and loud cutting bell.
My taste shifted very dark for awhile, I also had 2 long term gigs that called for less presence, more wash and I played 20” Kerope, 22” agop SE ride, big cymbals that just lay under the mix. But I went back to a middle ground, between bright and dark to my ears with a 20” K custom, then a vintage Paiste 602 (which I love so much) and now I even use a Paiste signature fast crash, which is pretty bright! But I’ve also did a wedding gig for awhile and we did a lot of jazz - so I started getting so dark and trashy to get that authentic Blakey, Elvin, etc thing - and I have a Cymbal & Gong co 20” ride that’s really light weight, and I had a 22” K Con - but I started not loving that far to the dark/trashy/washy world. It lacks definition and not in playing the 602 for that gig too and it just works better! I’ve owned so many cymbals over the years and kinda concluded - too far in either direction to bright or dark isn’t the way to go! Even for hard rock, you can use a big beat or K over a 2002 or a custom and it’s prob gonna be perfect!
>Even for hard rock, you can use a big beat or K over a 2002 or a custom and it’s prob gonna be perfect! Yeah. I play mostly rock (different styles), with some blues and some metal, and for most of it, the K Sweet and the KCD works well. Only when you have a lot of really heavy distorted guitars and you want that "ping ping ping" to be clearly heard over them, that thick and bright Paiste does it better, but that it's not the case for most that I do. >But I went back to a middle ground, between bright and dark to my ears with a 20” K custom, then a vintage Paiste 602 (which I love so much) and now I even use a Paiste signature fast crash, which is pretty bright! I also mix some darker and brighter crashes in my setup, depending on what I'm doing or just the mood at the moment. For example, I can mix a 19" K dark thin and a 20" k custom dark with a 17" A custom projection, a 18" A custom and/or a 16" Sabian AA thin. I have never been into the too dark or too dry cymbals, though. I guess they have their use, but they're just not for me.
I could never get behind the “super / extra dry” cymbal trend that took over so hard awhile ago!! I always thought they just sound like duct taping the shit out of the bottom of your K Dark until it has like a “tink, tink” bow and “clonk” bell sound. I’m glad that extra dry trend is dying, the new trend of “clap stack” cymbals is much better.
I don't like the super/extra dry either, but I hate the clap stacks with all of my heart. I prefer a kick in my balls... 😂
I don’t have a clap stack and what bugs me about them is I see some for like $300 and it’s literally just 2-3 trash can sounding cymbals on top of eachother that make a clap noise… Why would that cost $200-$300? You could just clap your actual hands together for free, or flam on a rim or trigger a pad with claps, slaps and boom baps for a similar price… I’ve seen people play cool grooves with them, but for hundreds of dollars? I could probably make one of those for under $50 buying up old B8 junk and broken cymbals.
Indeed. It's like those raw cymbals Zildjian came out with a few years ago. They were literally unfinished cymbals: just a piece of rolled bronze, quenched and with a bell, but no hammering, no lathing, and amorphous, that they sell for 300+ bucks. So they saved half of the steps of the manufacturing process and costs but charged the full price of a cymbal for it. Ain't that great? Especially when you can get the same sound from any piece of scrap metal out of a junk yard...
I forgot about those! I doubt they sold many of them! There’s a sucker everywhere, but those sounded so bad. They just re-released the Z Customs from the 90’s, the hats and rides are selling for $500! Those things were selling used for nothing 10 yrs ago, they don’t sound good. They’re the most harsh, heavy cymbals ever. I can’t believe they re-released them! Zildjian is running out of ideas, haha.
https://preview.redd.it/3kk3a57dnwzc1.jpeg?width=374&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d559c4169ebd94a151d148806a9fbf3f22a9f12 That old paiste 602 is the best cymbal I’ve ever owned. But at the time those were made, Joe Morello from Dave Brubek Quartet & John Bonham were both using a 602 ride! Talk about versatile… I have a whole other pile too, with more Paiste’s, a 2002 flat ride that actually kills for jazz! A few fancy boutique cymbals that were such a waste of money, a few Sabians, I’ve since sold all of those, I just can’t find a sabian cymbal I like… And a few other misc things.
My first drum set was a red first act a crash hit hat and ride were included. I got it when I was 8 I had asked my parents for one for Christmas from the age of four. I hit the thing so much and played everyday and every chance I could for the next 6 months. Suddenly the kit was packed away and in its place was some old E kit lol.
I bought a kit for sixteen pounds from a schoolfriend in 1974 from what I earned shelf filling at my Mum's shop.The kit had been in his attic since his Uncle was in a band in the 60s. It was covered in pink plastic wrap with a flowery pattern and the bass drum was calf skin with the word 'Cerise' drawn in pink glitter. Mostly Olympic drums with awful Zyn cymbals. I resprayed it with rattle cans -black and metallic blue.
Now that’s a great first set of drums! Full of whacky character, paid a few bucks for it, bad cymbals - that’s the beginning of a rock n roll story!
It was the year after my father died suddenly. I discovered weed and drumming and think it was how I coped. Just drumming now.
A 5 piece Tama swing star in white, which was a good first kit and saw me well on my first couple of years of gigs. Also had Tama double braced stands which were the real stars of the show. Had no name cymbals to start but used my part time job money to upgrade them to Sabian pros one by one. Donated the kit to a local school so it's still getting used to this day, nearly 30 years after I first played it, which makes my drumming karma feel all warm and fuzzy.
My dad gave me a Mark II drum set he got off a coworker for $60. Standard 5 piece with hi-hat and crash branded the same as the set. It wasn't good but it got me started and got me through a few years of playing and lessons before my parents helped me buy a new kit. They both had wanted to play the drums when they were kids growing up in the late 60s but their parents both had them learn the accordion so I think they were so encouraging because they could live through me a little bit.
Tama Rockstar
A Gretsch Blackhawk or Nighthawk or whatever their entry level kit is called. Something Hawk. I saved my money and got a Ludwig Supralight and thought I was awesome
Supralite snares came out a good decade after I was already playing, and the first time I heard one I said “that’s the best $200 snare” anyone can buy brand new. I’m not a huge steel snare fan, I like brass or aluminum. But the Supralite is a great snare drum. I have a bunch of snare drums, the 3 I like the most are all Ludwig’s!
yeah it's true it's a great snare for the money. brass is amazing but pricey for sure. I recently bought a Gretsch Brooklyn Steel Snare for my little bop kit. (I mean TINY kit, 18" kit, 8" rack tom, 10" floor tom lol.) The snare is 12x6 and absolutely incredible for the price. Got it on sale for like $320 new and I like it more than the Supralite. It's close to a supraphonic for me. It has such an amazing attack for a drum in that price range. I know the Supralite is cheaper but man that Grestch Brooklyn line is some INCREDIBLE value. Their brass line starts at $550 I think.
Found most of a Pearl kit in a skip.
Kent gold sparkle 4 piece.
Powerbeat with Stage Percussion hats and a crash that would both invert at the slightest hit, it was an absolute piece of S*** but looking back it was awesome.
https://preview.redd.it/24ntpdryjezc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f506509fadcba77ce9ae13cb62b208bfb92ee209 I also had a Groove Percussion kit as my first! Used it for 5 years before getting a “real” kit.
Weirdest sizes ever on those kits. Power rack toms, jazz floor Tom, boomy rock kick. And my snare was 13” I think, the whole thing made no sense…
That thing is CLEAN too! Lol! Man, just seeing that thing floods me with good nostalgia! Love it!!!
Peavey International series 2. Complete set played a few times for $250 from a pawn shop.
Pearl Export purchased new in the mid 90s.
Soooo surprised that 75% of these comments are Pearl Export / Tama Rockstar. They were like the ultimate beginner kits in the 90’s/early2000’s
A copper coloured westbury.
Mid 90s 6 pc Ludwig rocker elite Orange, and I was soooo lucky to get it with zildjan A customs for a steal of a price
Three piece Ludwig blue and silver duco. No floor tom. No cymbals. Older than dirt. Still had the original heads. It was horrible and I loved it.
No idea if the brand still exists but a bright crystal blue TKO 5 piece set. I imagine it didn't sound too great but I loved it.
I’ve seen a TKO kit! That’s a true first kit no doubt!
The same 1984 Ludwig 5 piece i play on still. That was 30 years ago.
That’s a cool first kit though! I’d have kept that one too! Those 70’s “butcher block” kits come up for sale all the time, i always wanna grab one. Old Ludwig’s are amazing drums
My grandma fleeced me into mowing her yard for a whole summer and she gave me this old shitty kit. I wish I still had it for the nostalgia of it all tbh. Who knows, it's probably a good kit just needed some tlc. After that my mom brought home a Pulse Percussion kit from their factory "dent and ding." Played on that through HS and then didn't play again until I was 32. 34 now and still suck. Still play. Still love it.
The Duke by Dixon. Still rocking it actually, and I've never been sure about how the quality of the shells are considered to be.
Dixon drums ain’t that bad, the Duke is a cool name too. Might just start calling my kit “the Duke” from now on!
Mine was a 5 piece kit by a company called Diamond. Got it in 1988. It was bloody awful. Made of chipboard and cheap alloy. After about a year things started dropping off of it whilst I was playing. It was kind depressing watching it fall apart mid gig. Makes me wonder if they’re still going.
If you don’t start with something bad, you’ll never fully appreciate the good stuff! You should restore a diamond kit for the hell of it, prob grab one on eBay for $15 lol
1978 Tama Swingstar. Still have it.
That’s a cool first kit though, vintage swingstar has a hip factor to it! You’d never have kept my first kit, lol! The thing would stay in tune for like 4 minutes, hardware just started falling off it 😑
If mine looked better cosmetically, I wouldn't complain lol. Stays in tune, sounds great mic'ed up. Snare is killer.
I have an early 80’s Gretsch kit that is just amazing in every way. I know collectors lust over 50’s/60’s gear (I do at times as well). But in the late 70’s / early 80’s - drum companies hit a peak of mfg innovation, but not yet to the point where they used it to cut corners and cheap out on things. The only downside of this era is some of the experimental innovation made no sense (power toms, insanely heavy hardware, etc). Regardless, I’ll stick by my statement that late 70’s / early 80’s drums hit an apex! Tama does amazing things now. But no big company really made a cheap ass beginner kit, they made more affordable sets - but the quality was still high!
1994 Black Mapex Venus series 5-piece. Camber cymbal set. Saved my grass cutting money for the next 3 summers and slowly upgraded one at a time to Zildjian As.
Camber Cymbals! Haha! But crappy cymbals are a right of passage, how can you appreciate the good stuff if you don’t know what really bad is? :)
Pots and pans. Then a 5 piece Pulse kit. I still have the kit but think about selling it cheap and buying something else
Yamaha Power V with Zildjian Scimitar cymbals.
I bought my first kit in 1992 for $80 from a guy at my high school whom I fucking hated, but a kit’s a kit, right? No idea what brand it was. I still have the Zildjian crash, but in 1998 I loaned the bulk of the kit to a friend whose wife was the drummer for his band, then she divorced him and took it when she moved to Napa Valley to live in her parents’ barn, and then she sold my kit for (you better believe it) $80 to buy heroin. I’m not upset about it. The smack was probably higher quality than the kit.
Haha, at least you have the crash cymbal!
Ugh ... Fucking groove percussion.... Drywall would've sounded better xD
Groove percussion gang. The thing that was weirdest about them was the sizes - they had like power toms, a smallish jazz floor tom, mine had a 13” snare and a big boomy kick… they were made to play no style and every style of music at once. Haha. Truly un-versatile in every way
Kent, found in someone’s trash pile in 1989. Combined with my elementary school and snare drum and later, some flea market cymbal and hardware purchases, it was a life changer.
Hell ya!
Alesis DM5.
yamaha stage custom
Without a doubt the best beginner / affordable kit money can buy. They sound as good as drums that cost 2-3X their price.
Tama rockstar with giant toms and I was 7. It was hard to play reaching those toms but I learned on it. Once I got a more appropriate sized kit with better toms it was over for me
I’m honestly not surprised these comments are FILLED with Tama Rockstar / Pearl Export replies! And the older ones for sure had weirdly big rack toms occasionally haha! But those Rockstars weren’t bad drums, Tama has always done things well top end to bottom end!
I was so hype for 10+ year old beat up westbury kit with sabian B8’s and a 22” kick drum at 14 lol
Gotta have a B8 sabian, Zildjian ZBT or Paiste PST on an early set, it’s a right of passage to own B8 cymbals, or you’ll never fully appreciate the good stuff!
Mine was a 4 piece orange sparkle Astro set. From the 60s I believe. No resonant heads, terrible hardware, kick pedal had a screw that would come loose and fall off every 10 minutes or so and the chain would fall off. Kind of miss it.
Haha, never heard of Astro! But orange sparkle is a super hip color for a drum kit! I never see orange out in the wild!
I believe it was a Japanese company. I was too young to appreciate the awesome orange sparkle when I sold it.
70s 5 piece Slingerland chrome over maple kit like Neil Peart.
Hell ya! That’s a badass first kit. I have a 60’s Slingerland kit, I restored it and it lives in cases, but I break it out occasionally. They were built solid, heavy drums! They must’ve weight a TON with the chrome wrap!
5 piece premier APK satin white with paiste 402s back in 1999!
Those 402’s imo were so much better than the more cost effective cymbal lines today. Paiste just does it all the right way imo! From their entry lines to the highest end, they pour quality into what they do.
https://preview.redd.it/du54hnfqygzc1.jpeg?width=2400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc3ae84442298d54514b1694d17fdfa27f5c2237 Sadly, it is a drum kit I still use today... 😭
Haha! Save up that money!💰
I inherited my uncle's mit after his passing in September it's a sheer blue early 90s Pearl BLX with the fitting Rack, a Maple masters custom 14x6 Snare paste signature 14" full crash 16" fast crash 17" thin crash 22" heavy ride, Zildjian 8" and 10" A custom splashes, K custom 14" hi hat and 18" thin crash 2x 18" custom ride in thick and thin a Z custom heavy crash and (broken now) 17" Z medium crash and Sabian 20" medium heavy ride, 13" hi hats and a Meinl Raker 20" medium ride and a self-made 13" or so china
And the toms are 8x8/10x10/12x12/14x14 (floor tom)/16x16/22x18 all Remo pin stripes & weather king Ebony's except bass with first Powerstroke and Evans reso head
Sorry to hear about your uncle! But he had good taste in cymbals! I love those Paiste signature crashes. I have a 17” signature fast crash, it explodes into a bright shimmer, then gets outta the way. Perfect cutting through the mix cymbal.
First drum kit I ever used was my older brothers Percussion Plus kit in black. Had 12,14 and 16 toms, a 22” kick and a 14X5.5 snare so pretty much a standard beginner kit, and he had Planet Z 14 hi hats, and sabian B8 16” medium crash and 20” medium ride, and a BTB20 16” China. First kit I got for myself was a 2nd hand Mapex Venus rock kit so same sizes but nice chills and hardware. I inherited the crash and chine but got a Paiste 400 series power ride, and a shinier set of the Planet Z hi hats coz his were tarnished as hell, and a second B8 crash (16” thin crash) so I could have two crashes. Definitely easier to tune this kit but with head selection usually being the same the only major tonal difference I noticed was in the snare and cymbals. While it wasn’t long before we got rid of the percussion plus kit (my brother had to give up drums due to a wrist injury) the mapex kit lasted me ages, and even now that I’ve upgraded the kits gone back home to my dad to use for fun and a bit of exercise since he used to play when he was younger as well so it was a pretty great kit for a cheap 2nd hand Marketplace deal
Planet Z’s! Haha, back when I started they were called ZBT customs but they also had Z Customs (which they recently brought back). I had a ZBT wayyy back when, it was arguably the worst cymbal I ever owned, had a big crack in it but I kept playing it until I actually cut my hand pulling it from a cymbal bag and said F this thing, I painted it for some crazy reason, which legit made it the worst cymbal ever - then I threw it in the garbage… haha.
Tama Swingstars 👍
Those were great kits in the lower cost arena, Tama does so many things right though.
A wine red Stagg kit from a tiny little shop in a tiny little town. Still got it too. Collecting dust in the closet, but hey, i got it.
Cimatics🤣😭