Seriously considering getting Yamaha DTX400 drums - any reason why I should try other makes instead?

fatherjack

As the title says, I've been thinking about learning to play the drums for a while now.  The Yamaha kit seems a decent compromise between price (about £350ish) and quality - I don't want to go mad on budget in case it doesn't work out, but although I could get cheaper, I don't want to have to think about upgrading from a really cheapo set, and I may get round to recording one day (ha!)

Any others that may have slipped under my radar?

Axe_meister

Depends on how serious you are about learning them.

I've bought my son some real drums this Xmas, the electric kit is severely lacking at that sort of 
price range.

All the pads are, are triggers for a single sound at differing volumes (depending on how hard you hit it),

but you can't damp symbols, do rim shots and other dynamic techniques. My son ended up never
practising at home as the different between electric drums and real ones was so night and day.

For £350 you could get a bloody good second hand kit with some practise pads to dampen the whole thing.

equalsql

The new Roland TD-1KV looks good and seems to be getting good reviews.

It's £471 quid but there might be some offers going as Christmas and the new year approach.
It may be worth spending a bit extra to get something decent.

Strat_a_tat_tat

Ungigged, second hand ROland kit could be good value.  Go for a kit with mesh heads... try to avoid the rubber pads if you can.

guitarfishbay

A used higher level Roland kit perhaps? The mesh? snares are pretty nice.

The beauty is - if you've got a laptop/PC you can eventually get a program like BFD3 and get some incredible sounds from the kit. So if you like the e-kit the next upgrade I'd suggest is getting a drum program, I've yet to hear an electric kit that has sounds as good as the best drum VSTs.

An acoustic kit will feel and perform differently, but may not be practical.

Strat_a_tat_tat

I hadn't realised how many close neighbours I had... until the first weekend after I bought an acoustic kit... and on that weekend most of them turned up on my doorstep... to complain about the noise!

Even the best electronic kits can't produce the subtle nuances that can be achieved from an acoustic kit... but acoustic drums can be mega loud (and not very practical).

Strat_a_tat_tat

HOw much do old Roland TD8 kits go for nowadays?  They're a good few years old... but all the drums have mesh heads.

strumjoughlamps

I moved on from a Roland TD1 (which was excellent for a compact kit wish I had kept it as a 2nd) to an Alesis DM10 Studio and it is absolutely superb, I tried a few kits by Roland/Yamaha/Alesis from the £400-£800 price range before deciding on the Alesis.. the DM10 brain is absolutely amazing, the tweak etc.. you can do are pretty much infinate, the chokeable ride and crash are superb, the assignable rims again superb.. everything about it is tip top, replaced the mylar heads on the bass with a Roland mesh and put a Z-ED triple mesh on the snare because they are probably the weakest link but they work fine on the toms although I might mesh head them in the future..

if your are Leicester way feel free to pop in for a demo.

PolarityMan

I've got the dm 10 x with mesh heads too. The mesh heads beat the piss out of pads I wouldn't go Roland or Yamaha unless you can afford top of the line because at every other price point they don't really compare featureswise