Expert: John - 12/5/2007

Question
QUESTION: What should I be looking for to determine the quality in a beginner set? Have heard everything from the number of lugs per drum to the number of plys per shell. Please give some guidance here.

ANSWER: Ply's don't really matter right off the bat, later on in a drummers career they become a sort of preference thing, but many don't even bother thinking about them throughout their lives so I don't think you need to worry about that.  Lugs, make sure the number is even.  Preferably in the 6-8 range on each drum.  A lot of "toy" kits you find at places like Wal-Mart and Target (which all of these kits are junk and more to just play around on rather than play on...hence the term "toy" kit) have 5 lug shells, which makes them impossible to tune correctly.  Really, you need to look for a complete kit, which should come with 1 bass drum, a snare, 2 or 3 toms, and the hardware (tom holders, snare stand, throne)  Also, buy brand name.  Pearl puts out an excellent line of beginner kits, as do tama and Mapex.  The beauty of pearl beginner kits is that they come complete with cymbals...not good cymbals, but something to get you through for a while.  The site I tend to use is www.interstatemusic.com and if you click on drums and percussion on their main page you can filter it into their beginner sets which anything they have up is pretty much worth buying as a beginner set.  Stay far away from brands like first act though, for these are the "toy" kits I refer to.

if you have any other questions, feel free to ask.  hope this helped.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks. As a follow up, I've heard that some drummers feel the generic brand name drums, the so-called no-names are just as good as the brand names, ie., Pearl, Tama, Ludwig, but hard at half the cost. Is it your opinion I should shy away from all off-brand sets?

ANSWER: off brand kits are not pitch matched, made with inferior woods, and made to fit a cheap price...therefor they are NOT as good as name brand kits.  Now, with that said, many people consider some brands to be off brands when they are actually not off brands, but just smaller manufacturers.  so if you have a particular brand in mind, send their name to me and if I do not know of the brand already I will do some research and let you know what I think.  


hope that helps

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you: One brand and model that I've heard alot of conflicting information about is the DW Pacific EZ Series. Appears that this is DW's entry set in the $250-$300 price range. Some have said good quality others that it is poorly manufactured w/poor quality. What do you think?  Also ever heard of either GP Percussion or Gammon Percussion?

Answer
the pacific line is a fine line for beginners.  DW, as always, stresses quality over everything else, and this holds true in their pacifics.  They might not be as well built as any high end DW kit, but for beginners sets they are fine.  And I have heard of GP percussion, from another question actually, and I was not overly impressed by their kits when I researched them.  as for Gammon Percussion, they seem to be decently built kits, but a bit on the cheaper side, referring to their overall quality.  One thing that throws me with them is that on their web site they refer to their mounted toms as "power" toms...which they are actually NOT power toms but standard toms...and that alone makes me a little shaky about that company.  The one thing I did like about them is that all of their hardware was double braced, which usually shows a bit more care, but the "power" tom mistake still throws me enough to the point where I just don't feel right advising them as a good company to look into.


hope that helps, and keep the questions coming.