5 Things You NEED To Know BEFORE Buying New Drums (ULTIMATE GUIDE) 

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Don't get too wrapped up in what kind of drums you buy. Remember, only other drummers care about what kind of drums you use. Good heads, proper tuning and quality cymbals are far more important than what brand or type of kit you play. No one in the audience is going to leave because you're playing on poplar and not maple.

I would also add the "ease of recording" factor with electronic drums as well. They are a VERY good tool for songh writers, for sure. When paired with a decent VST its impossible to tell the difference. Actually it is because they sound SO much better than they would if you recorded a kit in your bedroom!

I am a happy user of a Pearl decade maple set - 6 pieces. Very happy about this mid range drum kit, but I find there is no limits, compared to all other music instruments on how to compose a drum set, equaly among the choice of pieces and hardware as much as how to actually place them. I bet, without much risk of losing, there is no 2 identical sets in the world, as soon as they come out of the box, most drummers have customized/prefered setup and parts. I think of my drum set more as collection item than a music instrument, and it proudly throne in my living room where most people would have a home theater and couches. I like the idea of being my own earthquake maker, fortunatly for the neighbors, I have none. Cheers and thanks for this presentation.

The Ludwig classic maple kits are also incredible. Don't let the name 'Classic' fool you. These are super versatile kits and come in all shapes and sizes. They also have a lot of beautiful finishes.

An awesome maple snare at a great value is the 13” X 7” Tama SLP G Maple. Very versatile and will only set you back $379. Relatively cheap as far as high end gear goes.

Can we all stop for a minute and appreciate the quality of the videography for these videos? Man, your drone shots are awesome and the editing is excellent.

I've been looking for this type of breakdown... especially on different materials. Thanks for answering this question.

Awesome video. Keep up the great work. Anyone wanting to learn the drums. You need to get on the DBO waiting list. Gabe is an amazing teacher, an you can not go wrong. Hope to see you all there.

i miss my pearl vision set from 10 years ago. i had to get a 2nd snare for all situations but you cant go wrong with one wood and one metal. one was a pearl sensitone, and the other was a pearl vision birch snare. despite being cheaper snares, once i figured out what combination of heads and tuning to use on them both, i fell in love! if you have to choose only 1 then what you need to ask yourself is "do i want a *ping* or a *crack* ?"

Such a helpful and nice video. Keep up the great work!

My dream kit is a pearl but as a beginner I went with a ludwig accent 5 piece and added quite a few zildjian cymbals and hihats. I have to say I love it although I have to get better at the tuning of them as well as keep working on my rudiments.

Thank you gabe..this helped a lot...merry Christmas 🎄

This is some high ass production quality for a video like this. I love it! Getting things sorted out on buying a new drum set for my studio

Lots to comment on, in video order: 1) While technically all electronic devices are electric, electronic is the more specific and accurate word. 2) Different styles of jazz tend to use different sizes. The standard 18x14 be-bop bass drum isn't the best size to use if you're playing modern fusion. Big band drummers used to use 24" or even 26" bass drums, but nowadays tend to go smaller. However, tuning can allow you to get away with using "improper" sizes, to a point - you'll never make an 18" bass drum sound like a 24", but a larger drum can be made to sound somewhat smaller. 3) Do rock drummers no longer use deeper toms? Back in the 80s and early 90s, it was 12x10 (12x11 if you're Tama), then in the late 90s and 2000s some started using 12x9. Are rock drummers back to using 12x8? 4) Ergonomics are another consideration WRT sizes, specifically how high your rack tom(s) end up being relative to your snare, due to tom depths + bass drum diameter. Some people don't care, and they want that 24" bass drum no matter what, but some might prefer a smaller bass drum and shallower toms to make the kit more comfortable to play, even if it means not getting to sound like Bonham. 5) Wood species does not have a drastic effect on drum sound. At best, "drastic" is relative to how uncompromising you are to obtaining your exact concept of the ideal sound, if you even have one. However, in a universal sense, differences between wood species are slight. No one is going to be able to hear the difference in a band situation, and if the drums are mic'd, the sound can be adjusted with EQ. Quality construction, good heads, and proper tuning have a far greater effect. 6) While not a decision many drummers have to make, you forgot to discuss counterhoops. As someone with drums with triple flanged, die-cast, and wood hoops, I feel that, unless you really know what you're getting into, stick with triple flanged. Wood hoops are higher maintenance and more difficult to replace unless they're unfinished, while die-cast hoops choke the drum a little and have a less forgiving feel when hitting rimshots. And both are a lot more expensive. 7) If you're on a budget, put your money toward a few quality cymbals and a good snare drum first.

I’d love to try a 21” kick drum. It might be the perfect kick drum. Low end of a 22 with the punchiness, playability and versatility of a 20. But head companies would have to start making a 21” head which shouldn’t be a big deal at all for them.

The realization in these videos is incredibly good 👌 I'm impressed

Awesome Gabe! Really useful! See you in my next DBO lesson. On the way, to my practice room 💪🏻

I am 53 years and watching all about drums as this was still on my bucket list! Thanks for all the tips!

Very nice video!!! Great content! Thanks for helping me buy my new drumkit!

amazing presentation ..a lot of effort there!

That pearl kit you showed at the 2 minute mark for the BIG DRUMS SOUND, that is exactly what I want!!!!!!!

Keep up with the awesome videos :) Hard rock bordering on metalhead here. Had a pearl export (20/10/12/14, sorry, don't remember the depths) and a mapex saturn 3 (22x20/12x10/16x16/18x18), both using a Mapex Black Panther Phantom snare as a usual main but had the Pearl export snare as a backup or side snare. I found I liked the 1 rack 2 floor setup better than the 2 rack 1 floor for a 5 piece, but those are rare to come across without ordering a 3 piece and an extra floor tom, or a 5 piece and dropping one rack tom. The biggest thing I found that improved tone and presence was quality cymbals and heads. As much as I preferred the saturn 3, the export definitely got more practice and road use as they were a fair amount cheaper to replace in the event of damage or theft. If there was a nice venue (rare for the bands I was in in those days) I'd drag out the saturns, but those exports with the phantom snare killed every performance I setup at, though I did miss the second floor tom for those thunderous breakdowns and shots. Hardware? Something solid, smooth, and within your budget, though I wholeheartedly recommend double braced stands over single. The Pearl eliminator series did me very well for many years with the export kit, and when I found the Saturn 3 kit, I splurged on a Mapex Falcon double bass pedal because... uh... idk, brand matching? Biggest difference was the option to swap to a direct drive bass linkage and the swappable weights in the beater head, and a bit smoother operation iirc Definitely recommend the Aquarius Superkick 2 bass batter and the Remo controlled sound snare batter. I never experimented with tom heads much past what was suggested as good, so I don't have much to say there. For cymbals, I found I liked the sound of Sabian HH and HHx series crashes, rides, and hihats, a Vault 19" Holy China and a Paragon splash cymbal (I think it was a 10"? maybe a 12"? Not sure why I went on that long of a rant, but hey, maybe someone will find that useful, and I got to relive the glory days when I got paid to hit things with sticks LOL ...oh yeah, wishlist? dude, I'd love to even be able to afford to own a kit again, especially that Phantom snare. They were the first things that went when I was without reliable income for half of 2016, along with most of my guitars. Bought some new to me guitars and amps since then, and have been focusing on that more so because it's a fair bit cheaper to get back into from scratch.:( /endADHDrant

Another brass snaredrum that I can totally recommend now that I had the chance to try it out for a couple of weeks is the Tama John Tempesta signature snare which is reaaaaaally punchy and has a lot of nice overtones!

First kit was a primer at 7. 2nd was and is my baby Ludwig rockers. Still use 99% of the time. 3rd is a pearl export. I'm not great at wood types, bearings, ect. I just like what I hear regardless of what others think of it. Even mix matching drums. You do what you want! Be creative! Don't let people tell you how you should do your kits. If you like it, that's all that matters

I own a reference pure kit in matte black oyster finish!! Such a killer kit and totally worth the money!!

i havent even watched the video yet and i already love it. already planning on buying my first snare soon (even though its not a full set but sooner in life absolutely 😅)

This is like the most well edited video I’ve ever seen

Best Pearl Drums Advertisement I ever saw... Nice solid advice in between though! Thumbs up!!

Awesome work for this video as ever. You deserve more viewers… cheers from France

Thank you for this video. It helped me a lot for choosing a snare drum. And video was also very much entertaining.

Can you maybe talk about things required for live gigs? Think cases, trolleys, setting up, back up stuff and most importantly: in-ear monitoing

Cool video! 👍

Great vid I watched all of it. I have the 2019 supraphonic I love my bronze 7x14 A&f the best....

Tama bell brass is the end all be all brass snare, in a lot of drummers opinions. Great video, love the editing.

There's one other aspect I can think of that wasn't mentioned and that's bearing edges on your drum shells. Shells with a more rounded 30 degree edge will have more contact on the drum head, creating less attack and more warmth, suited for jazz and quieter music. Sharper 45 degree edges will have less contact, thus more attack and volume to cut through the mix.

Great content here !!

I have had three electronic kits all Roland a TD6, TD11KV and a TD25KV, before the TD11&25 I had a TAMA Rockstar acoustic set which I bought second hand, sold it to buy the TD25 but could not get it to sound like an acoustic set! The rubber cymbals especially the high hat I didn’t like, so I thought why don’t I just buy an acoustic set and be happy, so I bought a new Pearl export studio set bought a new set of Evans heads now I am happy! As we are just an amateur band and play these days only for fun in a small “studio” then these fit the bill.

I love your channel bro, seriously underrated! you should have like 1 mill subs

Pearl free floating brass is my favorite brass snare.

Hey Gabe great video again. But I have a pearl roadshow and I love it great step up kit.

I play an Acrolite, it sounds really good.

Incredible. Incredible. Incredible.

I loved your video✌️ I personally play: Ludwig Lb 403 Super brass snare drum (14x6.5) and i love this thing, it has such a nice punch to it and even though I've been playing it for 5 years, i get a smile on my face every time i hit it on stage. I do use a Tama drum set and some paiste, zildijan, and meinl cymbals: Tama Superstar Custom Hyperdrive 22" Flat Black « with 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 for the toms. Cymbals: Meinl classics custom crash ( 14, 16) Meinl dark custom dual trash crash (16) Meinl dark custom trash china (18) Paiste Pst 8: Hihat (14): medium and sound edge Crash (14) 2x Crash(16) Crash(18) Medium Ride (20) Zildijan: K custom sweet (18, 16) K custome ride (22, 20) A custom (14) A custom (18) I play all styles of music, but of course not with all the cymbals. I play in various types of bands so I am very happy to choose a sound from rock/metal to some jazz if needed. Of course i have to say that i play pop/rock/classic arrangements with a traditional tyrolian orchestra (Blasmusik) Lots of love from Austria Buddy🇦🇹✌️

I'm still rockin' the Vision series Natural Birch rig, but I would love to get my hands on an identical set up Masterworks in Marine Blue fade with black nickel hardware...

Great vid! Personally I have narrowed down my snare choices to 2; a Pearl B4514 ( a Jupiter without the parallel strainer ), and a Pearl Vinnie Paul signature snare. One COB, one wood, both great sounding snare drums

Thanks

Would be tough, but maybe setting up and playing the choices would be helpful.

when ever i go out and buy drum stuff its always in that order: -cymbals -hardware (preferably pedals) -snare drums -rest of the kit

PDP 20 ply maple and walnut, 14"x8" is a great snare for a great price

I love how you threw in the fact about the higher tier drum kits don't come with a snare hardware or cymbals but hopefully by the time someone like myself is ready to buy one they will have the hardware snare and cymbals already just saying.

For an E-kit I’d recommend the Roland TD27KV instead of the pearl e merge

Honestly I have so many drum kits I have all kinds drums for all genres in all kinds of sizes with different head combinations. Also e kits is great to have too and I have a Roland td 20 that I love

funny thing i watch this video and it convince me to get a metal snare, i went to amazon and settle for a Ludwig Supralite since the price was good...Receive the package..opened it and amazon must have messed up as i receive a brand spanking new Ludwig LB417 (black beauty) and it was in a Supralite box. so thank you Gabe for your advice and thanks to the amazon staff who messed up the packaging.

im getting a mapex tornado so exited!!!!!!!!

I use and own both e-kits and acoustic. I don’t have much experience with acoustics as I’ve only ever owned one but I’d always recommend going with mesh head e-drums. In particular Roland ones because you CAN replace the heads on them if they break which I have done before. I do have a wood snare recommendation and that’s the Tama SLP Fat Spruce. It looks beautiful and gives off a fantastic low end even at higher tunings

trying to pick a set for my 12yr old daughter.. she loves Travis' style of music.. we're also located in mid MI.. i'll have to check out off beat drum co.. i dig the same music and can't help but get interested in whatever she's doing.. so i subbed. lol we also skate.. cool to see ya on a board! and thanks for the info, bud

I like the gamble kits

I highly recommend the Chad Smith pearl signature.

Well done brooooo

Don't forget the different series of gretsch drums they've been around a long time and they sound great

What is the best brand of drumset?

Ive got 12-13 inch rack toms, 2 16s on the floor (I want a 14 or 18 but havent found one that matches the set color wise) 22 inch kick. 14x5.5 snare. 14 inch hats, 16-18 crash, 20 inch ride, 18 inch china. Eventually adding a splash and hopefully 14 and 18 inch floor toms. Gotta bring that thunder.

The drum stick and tape 😂 great video thank you!

Wish SJC got a little love here. For $600, their Pathfinder 3-piece shell set is actually insanely good, especially for the money. Been on it for 2 years now and I'm still as happy with as I was on day 1.

Wait, you're in Detroit too? That's soo cool!

thanks. Can you make a video about cymbals? There's just so many different options!

best sounding drumset i ever heard was Gavin harrison's Sonor, tuned very deep low

Insanely good video ! Any plan talking about *CONCERT TOM* ? I love those things but nobody seem's to play them anymore. I have a four pieces W/B Starclassic kit with a converted concert rack tom and a converted concert Floor tom and they both sound *MASSIVE* !

My all time favorite snares ever! Pearl ultracast snare, 6x14 Yamaha musashi snare, 5x14 Dw collectors series, 7x14 Favorite kits ever.... Tama starclassic bubinga, current kit Dw collectors series Pearl masterworks kit

u should make a video abt the apps on ur phone (just like going thru everything, showing anything that helps u drumming wise) just a random video idea i thought would be cool

How long is the waitlist usually? I joined the waitlist today

I’m not sure about wood type effecting sound, at least not noticeable sound. Didn’t John Bonham use an acrylic kit at one point? Close your eyes and see if you can tell a drum’s material type. I think it’s probably a marketing thing. I’ve heard a drum kit made from sewer pipes. Sounded great. 🤷🏻‍♂️

BRO the quality of his videos is crazy

I’ve had an acoustic for around 4 years. At Christmas though I’ve started making music using a software and my acoustic isn’t able to record. The only trouble is I don’t want to buy an electric if it’s really crappy in feel for an insane price.?

I have a copper phonic and i tune that shit high, my favorite metal snare

I have to disagree with certain sizes of drums for types of genres. I belive its all about turning your drums I use and have used a jazz kit 18 12 14 14 for rock and metal bands. With ease. And they sound better than a big kit surprisingly

The Alooominum snare that’s stuck in London is now known as an Aluminium snare until it gets back to America 😂

Can you explain what all this means? High/mid/low. “Brighter with overtones”. What’s it mean?

hey @drumbeatsonline could you do a video about acrylic drums?

High Tier: Ludwig Legacy/Classic Maple, Gretsch USA Custom, Pearl Masterworks, DW Collectors Medium Tier: Pearl Export, Gretsch Catalina, Tama Imperialstar Entry Tier: Ludwig Accent, Pearl Roadshow ALWAYS BUY USED!!

@Drum Beats Online what do you think of the Pearl Masters Maple Complete?

Acrylic?

What about acrylic kits ?

Thank you Gabe. I have often wondered at the differences in the various woods used to make drums. This was most helpful to me in determining what my next kit will be. Currently, I play a PDP Double Drive (a birthday gift a few years ago). Though it is more suited to Rock or Metal, I find that it works well with the eclectic playing that I do. I play rock, jazz, Latin, funk, reggae and even ballads on this kit. Your video explained to me why I have a difficult time tuning the snare to get the sound I like. Based upon the wood, it is more suited to a lower tuning and I prefer a higher tuning. Thus far I have compensated with moon gel, but after this, I may tune it down a little and see if I can find a happy medium. :-)

Which bronze ?

hey gabe, imma need an editing course from you

To me it would be Canopus/Zildjian set definitely

I’m intermediate and pretty short but I want a kit that comes with at least a ride, crash and a snare with the other 3 toms. I play almost always rock but I’d like to get into pop a little down the road I’m 5’2. Can you recommend a kit for me?

Does Slingerland still around

What about bronze for materials? I've seen people use a bronze snare. Danny Carey, and I'm pretty sure tomas haake does it.

I'm stiuck on the Mapex Armory or Ddrum or PDP Maple Concept

Who does the editing? Is it all you? Fantastic video

Sounds like a big giant ad for Pearl. SO Many other great kits out there!

ignore previous comment on recent video, unless an updated one of these is needed? (unsure how fast the drum world evolves)

How about ludwig supralite? Is it good?

I started off with a second hand Roland td4. Since I’ve been pretty consistent and don’t see myself stopping or losing interest I’m trying to figure out how I want to upgrade. I don’t want to be trapped on ekits and right now I’m concerned I won’t know how to play on acoustic since I’m getting used to having to hit the cymbals a certain way bc of the triggers. I’m not sure if I should invest in a better electric kit since they have improved over the years since mine came or if I should get an acoustic kits and just get mesh heads and a module so I can practice on a real kit too.

What abt acrylic kits?

I haven't played the drums in over 20some years. Recently i have been looking to buy a new cheap set to get back into it and also for my kids to play. So much out there. So far im looking hard at the pearl roadshow fusion or new fusion. And the Tama Stagestar. Both are about same price and in my budget. With the pearl cant decide to go fusion or new fusion 20 or 22 inch bass drum i hate decisions lol. Anyone have some recommendations?😅

how about the acostic design e kits oh and how about dw exotic