My friend is getting drums today, what should he get

[GeertSamuel]

I think if you start of on an electronic kit and you barely get to play for the 1 to 2 years after that you have a big problem with the "dynamics" of acoustic drums. Electronic kits are nice and ok to play on, cymbals do sound shit. But however you hit it, you wil get a sample out of it. I think getting an acoustic kit learns to play with the acoustics, learns you to properly hit a drum as I think you won't get that if you play on an electronic kit.
But that's just my $0.02

 

[Jaymz]

I think if you start of on an electronic kit and you barely get to play for the 1 to 2 years after that you have a big problem with the "dynamics" of acoustic drums.

 

[Sloan]

gretsch makes the best drums in their price range IMO

+boner

I bought a Gretsch Catalina Birch set for recording stuff a few years ago and every drummer i've had in here has loved it. i sold it to the drummer in my cover band so i basically get to keep it around. yay!

 

[KeithRT99]

the low-mid priced gretsch kits are really nice. Tama rock stars are another good choice. I like some of the cheap pacific kits, but the hardware isn't so good. I have a kit, but i think i'm gonna buy some electric kit so i can practice whenever i feel like. At the moment, it's hard to find time to play; i can't play after about 4pm or before noon, as it would piss off the neighbors. If you can go acoustic, do that.

 

[Jaymz]

What about Pearl Exports?

 

[006]

I'm actually looking into a Ludwig Accent CS Custom kit at a local shop. With a Zildjian 4-pack of cymbals, everything out the door would be $907. That includes hardware, throne, drums (obviously), stands and cymbals, and a kick pedal. I don't play metal or anything, mostly breakbeat and bluesy shit, but I have jammed on the Ludwig kit a couple of times and it sounds really great. There was a Gretsch Catalina kit there as well, it wasn't as warm, but that's only preference. The Ludwig and Gretsch are both extremely usable for recording, which is always a plus. I originally was going to buy a DDrum acoustic set, the Diatribe. The Ludwig and Gretsch are both 100% birch with great finishes I might add. The DDrum set was 1/2 birch and 1/2 basswood, so it had some good body but a rediculous amount of overtones and ringing. On top of that the DDrum's hardware left a LOT to be desired as far as durability in the long run. The Ludwig and Gretsch hardware was beefy as hell. You could throw those stands in front of a train and only get a scratch, if that.

The shop dude plays metal and he had hooked up a double pedal to it and the 20" kick was extremely punchy and clear, the larger kicks (offered with the Gretsch kit) turned out to be quite muddy in comparison, but they had a lot more thump. In a recording situation, I'm not sure if I'd rather have thump over clarity and punch...you can always add thump in using sines or even MaxxBass, etc. Everything else on both the Ludwig and Gretsch kits were pretty much equal, just slightly different sounds, nothing major. Both sounded great.

The ludwig (kit w/ hardware) was $625, the Catalina was $650 (shells only), the DDrum (kit w/ hardware) was $670. When you buy a kit from this shop though, you get the throne and any cymbal pack at 1/2 the price. Overall the Ludwig was the best deal, it included really great hardware and had an awesome sound, and was 100% birch. If the Gretsch had hardware I would probably get that, but I want to spend as little as possible so the Ludwig was the obvious choice. I wouldn't recommend the cheaper DDrum sets to anyone based on the hardware alone, it just seems way too cheap. The sounds are OK though.

Hope that helped.

~e.a