Beginner drumkit recommendations please

fretmeister

As it says - a mate's kid wants to learn to play.

Acoustic or electric - all is under consideration at the mo.

I think they'd like to spend under £300 if they can.

ta

Amigo

A Roland TD-4KP can be had second-hand online for that budget on a certain website, and it has the advantage of being foldable for storage.

viz

My son had a 2nd hand Hayman kit recommended by someone who knows what he’s talking about, and never looked back, it’s fantastic. This sort of thing. Over time he replaced all the cymbals and hihat but the basic stuff was excellent, heavy duty, well-made. His was a 70’s kit, this is a reissue. No idea what the difference is. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154781302134?hash=item2409af3d76:g:-e8AAOSw1~ZfR4fW

Whistler

fretmeister said:

Acoustic or electric ... under £300 ...

One thing worth knowing is: how important is the noise level (or lack of)? Will neighbours hear? Is the kid's family looking forward to not hearing the TV or their thoughts?

People think of electric drums as quieter but I discovered that my neighbours (semi-attached), whilst they could not hear what I heard in my headphones, they did not enjoy hearing the constant thwack of wooden drumsticks hitting hard rubber pads - rubber drums, rubber cymbals. Electronic all-mesh drum kits are more expensive but are quieter. Acoustic drums can be made to be quieter than electric drums by changing the drum heads, using silencers and/or other hacks.

I have had multiple electric and acoustic drum kits, the result is I am of the same opinion as @viz in that a cheap, secondhand acoustic kit is a better value start and the better foundation as it can be upgraded bit by bit as the desire and finances allow much more easily.

fretmeister

viz said:

My son had a 2nd hand Hayman kit recommended by someone who knows what he’s talking about, and never looked back, it’s fantastic. This sort of thing. Over time he replaced all the cymbals and hihat but the basic stuff was excellent, heavy duty, well-made. His was a 70’s kit, this is a reissue. No idea what the difference is. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154781302134?hash=item2409af3d76:g:-e8AAOSw1~ZfR4fW

That looks pretty good!

fretmeister

Whistler said:

fretmeister said:

Acoustic or electric ... under £300 ...

One thing worth knowing is: how important is the noise level (or lack of)? Will neighbours hear? Is the kid's family looking forward to not hearing the TV or their thoughts?

People think of electric drums as quieter but I discovered that my neighbours (semi-attached), whilst they could not hear what I heard in my headpshones, they did not enjoy hearing the constant thwack of wooden drumsticks hitting hard rubber pads - rubber drums, rubber cymbals. Electronic all-mesh drum kits are more expensive but are quieter. Acoustic drums can be made to be quieter that electric drums by changing the drum heads, using silencers and/or other hacks.

I have had multiple electric and acoustic drum kits, the result is I am of the same opinion as @viz in that a cheap, secondhand acoustic kit is a better value start and the better foundation as it can be upgraded bit by bit as the desire and finances allow much more easily.

I hadn't thought of the edrum still being annoyingly loud.

Thanks

octatonic

Used Yamaha Stage Custom.

Electric kits are a waste of time- even a 5k Roland plays worse than a £300 used Yamaha kit.

Yamaha have the best branding, the best hardware (in a budget kit) and the shells are fantastic for the money.
My first few drumming gigs were on a Yamaha Stage Custom.

This is the FB group you want:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/443259535799308

DrumBob

As a drummer first, I would not recommend electronic drums for a beginner. Electronic drums are not real drums at all; they are lifeless pads with wires attached to them. They have their place, but a kid should start on a real drumkit. There's no comparison. 

That Hayman reissue set looks nice, but I have no idea who makes them or what the quality is, but for 200 bucks, how can you go wrong? 

viz

DrumBob said:

As a drummer first, I would not recommend electronic drums for a beginner. Electronic drums are not real drums at all; they are lifeless pads with wires attached to them. They have their place, but a kid should start on a real drumkit. There's no comparison. 

That Hamer reissue set looks nice, but I have no idea who makes them or what the quality is, but for 200 bucks, how can you go wrong? 

Hayman - old British company that made drums for drummers who needed to be loud. Jimi Hendrix’s drummer used them. I think the kit my son’s got is from the early 70s. It’s great. As far as I understand, the brand’s been reborn, using the same design principles as before. Good luck to them.

Teyeplayer

viz said:

DrumBob said:

As a drummer first, I would not recommend electronic drums for a beginner. Electronic drums are not real drums at all; they are lifeless pads with wires attached to them. They have their place, but a kid should start on a real drumkit. There's no comparison. 

That Hamer reissue set looks nice, but I have no idea who makes them or what the quality is, but for 200 bucks, how can you go wrong? 

Hayman - old British company that made drums for drummers who needed to be loud. Jimi Hendrix’s drummer used them. I think the kit my son’s got is from the early 70s. It’s great. As far as I understand, the brand’s been reborn, using the same design principles as before. Good luck to them.

My old drummer collects original Hayman kits. They are reliable and solid, sound good (to my ear at least), can be had for a reasonable price and are loud. Much better than a cheap s/h budget kit.

Boromedic

Thanks for posting this topic and sorry to intrude, I started drumming as a teen so a full size kit was obviously the only choice. My 5 year old daughter has expressed a desire to start playing and I'm in 2 minds whether to get a junior kit first and then buy a bigger kit later or just go for a bigger kit. She is tall for her age (1m 20, or nearly 4ft for imperial people!), however lacks coordination as yet so leaning towards junior kits. However the t'interweb/YT suggests that a full size kit can work...... Price wise, there are minimal differences in the budget levels too.

Not fussed on the quality, I can tune a shitty kit to sound as good as any mid range kit with some decent heads, plus she can bash them around and not bother me. What has everyone else done with young un's? 

mike257

If you've got £300, I'd spend £200 on the kit, and £100 on a new set of decent heads and a couple of pints for an experienced drummer to come and rehead/tune the kit. 

Even relatively inexpensive kits can be massively improved by quality heads and proper tuning. 

prowla

I'm not a drummer, but we did have an electronic kit for our sons for a while, so here are my thoughts:

• The snare pads generally seem to be better than the rest of the drums on the more budget kits.
• The integral bass drum pedals on some kits are rubbish, so get one you can attach a real pedal to.
• If your kid is playing it upstairs, it'll be like someone stamping on the ceiling in the rooms below.
• Get some decent headphones.
  

personalnadir

Traps A400 kit is worth looking at, folds flat so easy storage/transportation. Might fine it 2nd hand in your price range

Fiddlesticks_

I can’t recommend what to get, but I can recommend that they avoid the Alesis Nitro Mesh. I have it and it has two very irritating problems that have led to me not using it:

1) the pads are too small AND the rims are too high, making it frustratingly easy to hit the rim rather than the pad if you hit at a low angle like I do.

2) the inbuilt drum sounds are stinking.

exocet

2nd Hand Tama Swingstar.