How To: Cheap Used Kit to Pro Level Drum Set 

Some advice from someone (me) who has been playing drums for 57 years, since the age of 3. The absolute hands down winner for the best drums at the lowest cost are Yamaha Stage Customs. 5 piece set at $650 and are absolutely beautiful as well in the natural finishes. Swap the batter heads for something good and you'll have a kit that sounds similar to, and in some respects better than Yamaha Recording Customs which cost $4500 for a 5-piece kit. I own both in addition to many other high-end drum sets. I bought the Stage Customs a few years ago as I always wanted to put together a monster 10 piece set and didn't want to spend $10,000 for it. It consists of: 8-10-12-13-14 Rack Toms, 14-16-18 Floor Toms, 22 Bass Drum, 14 x 5 1/2 Snare. All those drums cost me about $1350. And with the Stage Customs, its EASY to buy all the optional drum sizes if wanted as readily available and in-stock. When they arrived, could not believe how well they were made for the money. After playing them a few weeks using the cheap stock Remo UT heads, I swapped those out for Remo Pinstripes on the toms, an Evans Genera Dry on the snare and an Evans EMAD 2 on the bass along with an Evans Pillow (I use that in all my bass drums). I kept the stock heads for the resonant heads (no reason to change those). I was then absolutely astonished by the sound. By all means, if wanting a great drum set without going into debt, buy these.

I had this exact drumset growing up. I had a crappy Pearl Export and as I was playing more, I was sooo ready to upgrade. I saved money for the Vision by doing chores and jobs, and I eventually bought it and I was hyped! I loved it and it sounded great once it was upgraded. This was my go to set and and I even gigged with it! I had it from age 15-21. Sadly it was stolen out of my car in 2018 and it hurt because of sentimental value. I still have the snare though, and I’ll play with it on my current set from time to time. It’s so good to see a full set like the one in your video! :)

Hi Casey! I recently purchased the pearl roadshow 5 piece drum set! You inspired me to gain the courage and ask my parents! Thank you!

He just made us see his whole advertisement for selling that kit. Great strategy.👏👏👏

I’m pretty sure Vinnie Colaiuta can make any of these drums sound great!!! Sometimes it’s not about the instrument, it’s about who’s playing it!

When you all those changes it easyly doubles the prize you have already payed. I recommend changing heads first, in most cases this alone fixes most of the problems.

I'm proud to say I've been drumming semi professionally as a part time job on the weekends for about 8 years now and I'm still on my Vision birch kit with Sabian XS20 cymbals and A DW 8x14 steel snare, Remo pinstripes and Emad Heavyweight bass drum head. that's good enough for me honestly and it helps that I have great mics and I'm decent at audio engineering and equalizing my kit for our PA system. 😄

Back in the 80s and early 90s Yamaha 9000s and Pearl Masters didn't have rims mounts and sound awesome! No need for expensive resonant mounts. I bought a great condition Mapex Armory shell pack second hand for $350 and it wipes the floor with any Pear entry/mid level kit. Spend your money on cymbals and heads. Save the rest towards a nice snare.

My main kit is a Tama starclassic hyperdrive bb kit. That’s my baby for life. I also bought a used Tama superstar classic which i got for 400 dollars. Such a great kit for the money. I bought it as a backup kit to gig with and take on tour. It can take a beating with great hardware on it. It does have a different feel between the superstar and starclassics and the hardware and mounting system and hoops on it. But nothing wrong with having a mid level kit, if you put good heads on it and know how to tune it can sound extremely good. Hardware is the most obvious between higher priced and mid level drums but also the wood used is just higher quality. Cheaper woods are used for entry level and mid level kits compared to Starclassic or star drum shells.

Also Casey I started drums because of your channel

I would’ve loved a complete before/after comparison

To the drummers who can't afford pro drums, this gives hope!

Hey Cooper I hope you and your family are safe, thank you for keeping God first. You and Cobus are my favorite drummers with Samus coming in a close 3rd. One day I hope to be able to play my Yamaha Stage custom I got from my late father when I was 13 when we moved from Mississippi to Ohio. I'm 27 and the last time I played was in 2014 and I have to make repairs but I can not get new heads and cymbals until I get a job. I'm 27, play country, pop and rap at home and I'm hoping to get back to my love of drumming as soon as possible. I love my kit, it was used when I got it and it is fantastic and wood. I'm blessed cause dad got me my dream instrument. Sorry for going on a long tangent but I just hope you are blessed and please enjoy your family. God bless Sincerely Gabriel P.s You should cover some Toby mac, DC talk or KJ52.

the true secret of tone is the time spent on the bearing edges. Rims/Heads/Mounting will definetly help. But finding a drum builder to cut and finish edges properly will take a $300 drum kit and make it sound like a $3000 kit. Within reason of course.

I'll try not to be toooo cynical...😁 But you buy a 500$ drum, take probably about 1000$ worth hardware and Evans...and upgrade it to a 1500$ kit. My advise would be, maybe put the new drumheads on the cheap drum, play that until you saved enough to sell the cheap one, and buy a realy good one (if needed, you could even change the drumheads with your very good ones). Instead of wasting that money on turning a cheap drum, into an upgraded cheap drum. Your drumming is amazing by the way!! 😊🤘🏻

Burning question: does he endorse Evans now?

Hey just thought i should say you where the main reason I started playing drums and I really thank you for that you are so I spiring and your style is unmatched keep going and inspiring young kids to get into drums because it helped me threw so much and I would be a lot less of a person without them THANK YOU !!

the drummer is what makes the drums sound good

Another big difference between the two kits is the CL lugs on the Session Studio Select. They provide extra weight & allow for a more full resonance.

I just found a 5 pc Vision by Pearl that someone put out to the curb. Exact same color. I asked the guy if he was really throwing it away. He said ya. He said they were in the shed for a few years and there was a little rust here and there on the hardware. I think they are worth bringing back to life.

Casey: Now I’m not here to tell you not to buy the Session with Black Halo Glitter Me: *whew!*. (because I already bought it)

I have a 5-piece old school Pearl Export (11x13 rack tom, 2 floor toms, snare and kick drum) and now because of this video that you made I am gonna purchase a Vision 5-piece kit in the same configuration that I have now so thank you for the info. Keep Rockin' and stay safe

Some new heads go a long way! Beautiful kit....love the finish on that

In the 70's 80's we used to put Dead Ringers inside the heads. It made them sound Identical to these.

I have a used Mapex Rebel drum-kit that is Mapex's higher-level beginner kit. The toms actually came with clear Remo Pinstripe heads and they sound pretty darn good... I love Evans heads and may get one for my snare (since I'm not a huge fan of the resonance of the Remo Controlled Sound X currently on it), but for it as a stock kit, it's more than I could've hoped for.

I had a pearl vision birch 8 piece double bass set, was good for a while, then I got rid of it, got a pearl session custom all maple 6 piece kit and that was nicer. That set was sold and I now own a Pearl masterworks African mahogany 6 piece kit.

Man i use Pearl export from 90s and its still a beast with good heads...I love Pearl and i think il never change to any other brand :D

I have a Pearl Masters Series in Bubinga in my studio....LOVE it , sounds great

Ok, so you buy a cheaper set, spent lots of money to "improve" it. Like adding more expensive hoops, more expensive tommounts to make the drums vibrate better and then damp them again.... :( It's not how I think a professional set should sound. You can get that sound by just changing the heads. And something you should check are the bearing edges! I've done a lot of restoring drumkits, expensive vintage kits, midpriced ones and cheap and they all benefit from improving the bearing edges. You can do a lot yourself with cheapers sets if you're careful or otherwise ask a pro. Spend some time or money on that!! But, even more easy (and probably cheaper), why not get yourself a good second hand kit from a originally higher pricerange and quality!

Would you mind addressing the elephant in the room and tell us why you've suddenly started playing Evans heads?

I updated mine with opti mounts gyro lock tom holders 2.3mm hoops sp30 bass drum legs lb 200 floor tom leg brackets brass legs brass Tbolts brass air vents brass free floater brass die cast hoops remo ebony pin stripe heads double demon drive pedals paiste rude cymbals octobans 1030 cymbal stands 12 drums in total plus bongos this kit is now as good as any pro level kit . A masters kit in this size would be 15k at least in Australia i also have 15 cymbals .

I guess we have different concepts of a “professional sounding kit.”

I don't care what anybody says... That Pearl Vision is a hidden GEM. It's a great working drummer's kit. If your snare, cymbals & hardware is top shelf. Fresh quality heads will make that kit sing like a Pro. It's what I call a high end Beater kit. I save my Trophy kits for the big stage. Everywhere else this kit is my go to. I've played in front of 3K+ on a Vision kit and rocked them all. When it's tuned, Mic'd & played right... You will not hear a big difference through a massive PA.

Love my PEARL Vision Maple kit.

I just stained my mapex tornado and it looks absolutely killler. Im getting new heads for it and a new snare so it should be killer soon

I know Pearl makes great drums but I have never liked their hardware at any level which is why I don't own a set. The Omni sphere type tom mounts are my goto so Tama, and Yamaha, Gibraltar mounts rule! Love'd your video!

This is a cool video. I just wish people could hear what it really sounds like. Every drum video has post mixing done to it and it won’t sound what the average drummer playing in a garage or their room will hear with no mixing.

That kick sounds incredible!

Casey, this is cool, I know this is a question completely irrelevant to the video, but how do you download the m4a or mp3 files of the songs you do a drum cover to.

Hey @Coop3rdrumm3r, thank you for the demos you do. As a suggestion, it would be very helpful for someone like me to see the A/B differences in the drums before you make the changes and then the A/B differences after. I'm always curious about how different drums in the same sizes sound next to each other under different head/tuning/rims situations. Like what does a 12x8 export sound like next to a 12x8 Roadshow v a 12x8 decade maple? That would be very helpful and interesting. Thanks for listening to the suggestion and for your demos.

Iv'e got an old premier drum set from the 90's and sounds just fine....FOR A BEGINNER!!!

I've been playing drums for 40 years. I'm not a pro, but I'm pretty good. I have DW collector's, PDP CXs, Ludwig Vistalites, Tama Granstars, and mid 80s Pearl Exports. Cymbals I don't cheap out on, but drums I can barely tell the difference if you have good heads. Snare drums are different, cheap snare drums sound cheap, but for toms and kicks, not too much difference to my ear. Thanks!

Funny thing, I saw this video just a few days after I did this exact same thing to the Pearl Decade Maple set I use for gigging. Cost was about $200 for the whole kit, not counting heads. Definitely makes a difference on the attack and sustain of the drums.

A before and after sound comparison would've helped and a sound comparison between to two drum sets (the upgraded cheap set and the expensive set) would've also helped.

A common mistake with word usage is the word to Damping or Dampening. it's a VERY common mistake and even I've made that mistake too.. HOWEVER, for this application, the correct word would be DAMPING which is to attenuate or reduce the amplitude of the waves of the instrument vs making it wet or moist which is what Dampening would be the correct word.. The heads are a personal preference. Pin Stripe heads are "Pro" level heads and many "Pros" use them, those heads were just very old and the mylar seemed to be getting that haze. If you put brand new hears, you can choose which ever head gives you the sound that you prefer. Hoops will make a HUGE impact. There are many choices for a "pro" level hoop.. There are thicker flange hoops, Die Cast hoops, wood hoops, etc. The two most common hoops for are "Pro" drum are the thicker flange hoops or Die Case. The die cast will typically give better rim shots and side stick, more control and focused sound and are less likely going to warp. There are new hoops from companies where they are kind of a hybrid where the rim is more like a cast hoop where the edge of the hoop is doubled over, but it's still a flange hoops. DW makes their True Hoops, so they are SUPPOSED to have an improved rim shot/side stick but still a flange hoop. Pearl makes the Fat Tone hoops which have a welded rim very similar, but a little more expensive double over edge. Again, to make better rim shots, side sticks, plus it adds to the rigidity of the hoop. Typically speaking for snare drums, it might be better to upgrade to the Fat Tone or True hoops OR Die Cast if your drum has the thinner flange or even the thicker flange hoops. There are other companies like Yamaha that make Die Cast hoops, but instead of using a Zinc alloy, they use an Aluminum alloy and it sounds a little different. I had a Yamaha Maple Custom kit which is considered a Pro level kit and I replaced the cast aluminum hoops with Die Cast zinc hoops.. It changed the tonality, plus the newer hoops were thicker and more rigid. Also, whenever replacing drum heads or if have difficulty in tuning, you need to check the roundness and flatness of the hoop AND the roundness and bearing edge of the shell. An out of round hoop and/or out of round shell will make the drum untunable.

Your kit is the best ever

After seeing this I kinda have to show my kit some love.. I got my pearl fourm set from the thrift store for roughly a days pay.

Beautiful kit. I had a Pearl Precision Session Select I bough at Sam Ash back in 1997, 6 pieces with a Metal Sensitone Snare, Shells were Black Mist Color with Lacker Finish, it was a medium line kit, mahogany and maplewood shells combined, it had a very deep low tone to it and resonance; at the time I got it, paid $1000 for just the drums, on sale from $1275, I had it until 2010 then I traded it in at Guitar Center (they bought the shells for $700.00 as they were in pristine condition) to get a $1200.00 6 pieces Gretsch Renown set, on sale from $1500.00, now the Gretsch Renown shells are kind of Red and yellow blend color on lacker shells as well and they are Maplewood, they sound really good with more controlled tones to it but imagine my disappointment when I found out they were made in fucking China! something that escaped me at the time I got them, I do not remember seen the Pearls made in China but even when the latest sounds good I could never got over the fact they are NOT the true ole fashion USA Gretsch, with the Gretsch, which did not came with snare I bough really cheap from a friend who used to have a drum shop (less than a third of its cost) a Mapex Black Panther Snare with hand-hammered brass shell! I have never used it in any recording so I do not know how well or bad it would be but live that thing sounds really nice!....The years with pearl and with the Gretsch, I have a variaty of Zildjian cymbals in all sizes and several models but i have not opened that vault in about 5 years so I do not even remember what I got there :).... so you would think that is enough to be happy and play until rupture but after all that, late 2017 I got what I believe are the last drums I would ever buy; 7 Piece Purple Heart Wood DW! just the shells were $7000+ I have another inversion in 2 separate set of Sabian Cymbals, The Dave Weckl HHX Evolution collection (almost all sizes) and the Neil Peart's Paragon collection, to top it all up, got some other investment in DW 9000 Series Hardware; everything from racks to stands where I could turn the drums and use it in any configuration I would like; i have to mention all drums have hard hardware cases; Humes and Berg for the Gretsch and SKB for the DWs, all road ready...now the best part....I do not play drums!!! not any more any ways; all is part of just a taste for it and a desire to collect what I would have love to have available to me when I was active playing years back; but let me tell you, it does me good just to set it all up and look at it; you can see some of my covers in my you tube channel under "rody drums covers" or "rody outdoors" unfortunately I do not have any recordings with the Pearl or the Gretsch but some with the DW and the sound is incomparable; of course the price goes up with quality; Some drummers do not like DW, good drums are good drums no matter their name or manufacturer and every one out there has their low end and their top of the line but with good miking technique and some upgrades and patient, one can make literally any drums sound good; back in the day I forgot to mention I used to have a small "Jazz" kit made by Grove Percussion, who was a proprietary company from Sam Ash Music, I used to work there for a time as a drums salesman and got mine for about $400.00, set it up with good heads and miked right that little kit was out on many rock gigs and had an amazing sound too, nothing like the DW or the other drums of course but decent enough for me to keep bringing it to the smaller places we used to play like pubs and really small restaurants and places like such, unfortunately, I also sold that kit, and I have regretted selling my Pearl set as well, which is why I do not sell the Gretsch, even when I do not like the fact they are Chinese made. There are other inversions made trough the years in microphones cables, recording gear, software, sticks, drums heads and many peripherals that all amount to $$$ always, no matter what, it never really stops and I am fully retired from playing actively! Music is an expensive career or hobby especially for the drummer; if you want top of the line, be ready to pay but any decent price drums like the one you show here would satisfy just to anyone that would not have the budget for top of the line...me? I just think life is too short to drink cheap wine; I always get as much as cash allows me to afford, but that is me!

2 things you left out to take it to the next level is having the bearing edges redone, and sealing the inside of the shell.

Evans heads & e-rings are what I use , but I can take an entry level kit with it's hardware and make it sound expert pro! It is all about the shell bearing edges, epoxy them and smooth wet sand them back to proper angles after epoxy dries . Here is a pro tip trick: heads resonate and fiction wears those edges over time , heads must be free to resonate correctly w/o fiction . Take some Chapstick regular and apply to the underside of heads were the ring & maylar meet! Wax is a perfect fiction cutter ... don't use candle wax or oil , Chapstick is a soft wax that stays in place. 2nd pro tip: take all those lugs off and wrap them springs in some thin foam or 1 ply toilet paper ... Rattles & Buzz's be gone! Apply good coating of regular axle grease with a Qtip to the lug head tuning threads,go to hardware store and get locktight blue for the fastening screws to keep them in place for eternity and a day! Now after you have done this , you will hear a perfect pitch tone coming from the drums ... any minor ring can be taken out by a floating e-ring ! Now the rest is up to the micing sound engineers , let them use the appropriate mics... that's their job too make you go Boom!!! Pro tip 3 : In the world of cymbals and stands , you get what you pay for ... get the top of the line!!! You'll thank me for this later!

At the end of the day, if you want a better sounding drum set, start with B20 Bronze cymbals before your drums. Cymbals can't be tuned, nor new drum heads added to the them etc. What you get is what you got, and nothing ruins a drumset more than crappy cymbals.

I really love Cooper3drummer keep it up I really love the drum set

I love you Cooper drummer!🥁🎷

I love your drum videos 🥁🥁

hi casey i'm a big fan of yours I have a question if u buy a drum set do u invest it or your just rich

I have Ludwig accents and have evans g2s and I still had to use duct tape and a paper towel for them to sound good the only thing that just sounds beautiful is the snare

I bought new Mapex saturn V red strata 10,12,14,20 on sale 900e :D I have too Ludwig classic maple 13,16,24.

The drums look awesome

Hi Casey, I've been watching ur videos since I was starting playing drums, u have really cool covers and this kind of content is great too. I would like to ask u something, since u have probably tried most of the drumheads out there, the thing is that all of my favourite drummers play remo vintage coated emperors (which my near local music shop never has in stock) and I would like to know how much sonically different they are from the normal coated emperors. Also how good are those new evans uv2s and would they be a nice replacement to the drumheads mentioned before? Thank u in advance.

When they grow up they will be Ludwig Classic Maples!!

The vision has 6 ply rack toms and 8 ply floor toms and kick

Drumming is improving 👍🏻👍🏽

Im not so sure about the price point for this upgrade. 4 or 8 superhoops if you do the reso as well. 3 optimounts and new top and bottom heads? Thats at least 500 bucks on top. I think I would then rather go for a better kit right away and save me all that upgrading work? plus in the demo you have like 3000$ mics on it and they are definitely processed...but sure, they sound better than before :-D not trying to bash this video at all just my thoughts. I have the highest respect for what you have achieved casey!

Killer chops

Great video!

I love your vids

SIR COOPER AS A BIGGINER WHAT SHOULD I BUY BRAND NEW DRUM SET OR USED DRUM SET?

Evans surpassed Remo years ago. Aquarian has always been better than Remo. I personally believe Evans UV1 and UV2 are the best batter heads on the market today. Evans Reso 7 are awesome underneath either of those as well. You owe it to yourself, and your drums to give these heads a try. They are a little more expensive than the Remo counterparts, but they are also more durable making them well worth it. Go check out Rob " Beat Down " Brown's YT video on the UV2's, you'll see what I mean.

😯😯😯 i have the exact same drumkit but 6-piece and in a tiger red color too bad pearl discontinued this line of drums.

Yooooo love ya content

Excellent.

Isnt all your upgrades around the price of the better kit???

Clean mustache bro 👌

Earthworks mics? Those definitely help it sound good.

And though remember, even though B20 bronze cymbals are expensive, they will last a couple generations before losing their sonic ability.

I have a vision birch but in mirror chrome and trying to find a 10-inch rack tom is hard.

I would love to have a drum lesson with ya buddy!

What a great video.....

what’s the hoops called? and the mount? i have the same exact kit and want it to sound like that! i already have the heads, all i need is links to the hoops and mount. anyways great video! keep up the amazing work g

does changing the hardware affect the sound of the drum?

Very nice

Do you think I could make a 17 year old pearl export kit sound good? I don’t wanna buy a new kit and I’ve been drumming for a few years but I haven’t worried about sound of drums till a few months ago.

so how much did you spend on upgraded hardware? also, did you do anything to the bd?

I like this man

Cooper big fan

Dude sweet sound, what's the fill you do at 7.27? Cant quite get my head round it.

I think you're a nice guy Coop and I truly believe your heart's in the right place. However when you get down to brass tacks after you spend the money on heads new rims all the things you need you're up to $1,500. This is not my opinion this is 35 years of experience and fact. Merry Christmas best of luck to you in the new year and keep on rocking in The Free world brother 🥁🤘

Your a legend

Where can I find super hoops for my toms? I have the same kit

What about Evans drumheads

I would of liked to hear you play that set mic'd up before you upgraded it to hear the difference

Nice !!

That's an awesome video

What kind of drum pads to muffle? Did u use?

Hey Ooo I have a question I have a pro Mapex set and I’m getting the right sounds out of the toms and I have all Evans heads top and bottom..... how do u tune your toms

Yes the Vision sounds nice, but the shells are poorly made. Mine had seating prolems (except the Bassdrum) and so the tuning and stability of the kit wasnt good at all. Also the bearing edges were sharp as a knife

I have a 1983 pearl export. How can I upgrade this kit, other the the remo heads I have on it? Thnx n great bud.

So what's cost for parts compared to just buying a drum already done?

That floor Tom sounds absolutely trash

Love ur vids