How to Choose a Budget Drum Kit

If you have just started playing drums, or searching for a good quality drum kit on a budget, it can sometimes be hard to know exactly which one to go for. It is far too easy to flick through drumming magazines or visit websites and see your drumming heroes sitting on their thrones surrounded by the top end Gretsch, Pearl, DW,Tama kits etc. But lets be honest, most of us will have to look at the lower end products until we finally sign a five-album deal with EMI.

I recently learnt of a term used by drummers and musical instrument distributors "F.E.P.O.S" which stands for Far Eastern Piece of ****, well Ill let you guess the rest. I must admit there is a lot of F.E.P.O.S drum kits out there, but if you dig deep and do your research it is possible to find a great drum kit with all you need to start playing straight out of the box. The make a great present for someone, or an ideal starting set up to expand upon.

The main things to consider are sound quality, build quality, and of course affordability. The best starting point is to read reviews either in drummer magazines or online. Ask other drummers what they recommend.

After working in the music industry for a number of years and performing
In bands I regularly had the chance to try out a few of these entry-level kits at trade shows or whilst playing in rehearsal studios. Here a few thoughts to consider when choosing your first kit or a kit that falls into the sub £300 bracket.

Do you choose fusion or rock sizes?

Generally kits are classed as rock or fusion sized. Rock kits usually come with
12", 13" and 16" Toms, a 14" snare and 22" bass drum. The larger drum sizes offer a bigger sound for Rock/pop music.

Fusion size kits usually come with 10", 12" and 14" Toms, a 14" snare and a 20" bass drum. Generally speaking these kits are used by Jazz, Fusion, Pop artists who want a tighter more controlled sound. Of course many artists pick and mix their drum set up and use different sizes and depths of drums, but most sub
£300 kits fall into these two categories.

Should I choose a junior or full size kit?

Junior kits are usually made for children between 4-8 years old. If youre thinking of buying a kit for a child over 8 years old, I would recommend choosing a full sized kit as the child will soon outgrow the smaller kit.




Will I need to buy anything else to get started?

Most of the entry/budget kits have everything you need in the box e.g. drums, cymbals, sticks and a drum stool. Visit your local dealer or do some research on the Internet especially regarding the cymbal quality. Some of the cymbals that come with the less expensive drum kits are quite frankly terrible! Others are fairly good considering the price and provide a great starting point to enable you to add better cymbals as you progress.

Which manufacturer should I choose?

The type of company that manufactures the kit can make all the difference.
A lot of the big name drum companies have their own budget/beginner lines.
These companies are experienced in building drums and would want to confident before they agreed to have their name stamped on the kits. The Ddrum D2 kit is a good example and a great kit at the price, nice hardware and the demo kit tried sounded fairly decent. Also a lot of the big music companies who make many different instruments and have a good reputation for quality should be looked at. Ashton music from Australia makes a huge range of musical equipment and have a fantastic drum kit TPR522 rock kit, or TPF522 fusion. I was impressed with these as you really do get everything, including sticks, stool, and a handy tuition DVD. They retail for around £270-300. Another good consideration is the Performance Percussion PP250 Or PP300. Again you get everything in the box which retail around the £250-300 mark and seem to be a very popular choice. I played one a while back and after a bit of tweaking had the snare sounding pretty good.

One important thing to remember is that no kit will sound great right out of the box. You need to get advice on setting up the kit and tuning each drum. There are guys and girls I have met at gigs who are using the most expensive gear, but it sounds terrible because they have not learnt basic tuning techniques. It is possible to make a cheaper kit sound great, and learning now will make your future drum purchases sound even sweeter.