20 Best Drum Kits For Hip Hop (2023 Updated)

Purchased for my grandson’s 6th birthday. He loved the set. My husband and I, both musicians, were impressed with the quality of the drums. The hardware, understandably, was not as durable as what would be expected from an adult set.

The ride/crash cymbal sustained a few dents from my grandson. Overall, a good starter set for kids. Satisfied with this purchase and would recommend it to a friend. Further, the customer service and management at MIX are very impressive.

We bought this set for our son after reviewing different drum sets. This one had a little bit of everything. And honestly, it looks great assembled and sounds great. It’s sturdy and not cheap looking.

The pedal requires a little force behind it, but our son manages to get it to work. He’s 21 months. The stool has two different settings, but is still a little tall, so we just use a different seat until his legs can reach the floor.

Customer service is great. They can help you find the perfect set for tour kid!.

I bought this set for my 5 year old grandson’s birthday thinking ok it a kids set of drums how good can they be? Never opened the box until 3 weeks later to assemble them the day of his party. Got the shock of my life!!!! These drums are a little kids professional set.

Excellent quality in every detail. These drums surpassed all my expectation on how good could they be. For you not so good do-it-yourselfers you will have no problem assembling them. I have been playing drums for years, so take it from a drummer.

You will not be disappointed.

Sound: The cymbals aren’t good, but they sound fine for what they are. The drums sound good and you get everything you need to play. I got this for my 8 year old about 6 months ago and he’s played them every day since we got them.

They have been an amazing kit for someone learning. Features: The most useful features on the product is that it comes with literally everything you need and you will never find a better deal for a budding drummer than this kit.

Ease of Use: You will definitely want to replace a lot of the hardware and I will over time. This set seems sturdy enough to last a while. I plan on replacing the cymbals, stands, pedals and heads over time and as needed, but since I just play occasionally and it’s mainly for my son to learn on, there’s nothing egregious enough for me to want to replace immediately.

Quality: We got the blue set and it’s looks amazing. I LOVE the look of this set. Everything has held up well over the last 6 months. Granted, as I said my son is 8, he hasn’t broken anything playing it yet.

I did dent the crash bell when I was playing it and I wasn’t going that hard. Value: The value of this set is second to none, honestly. For the price you get a set that you can jam and learn on until you become a pro drummer! It’s easy enough to add on to as needed and the look of this set is just snazzy.

I feel bad complaining about anything on this set considering I already feel like I stole money from them for everything I got. Manufacturer Support: I haven’t had to deal with the company directly, but they have amazing tutorial videos on their site.

The Wow Factor: When I learned to play drums some 26 years ago, my mom bought me a cheap set from the local drum shop and I used that set for literally 15 years. She spent more then on that set(although I did get some great Paiste cymbals with that set) than I did on this set.

It was a drab black set and it was the best present I ever got growing up. I was so happy that I could do the same for my son and get him a way cooler set than that. It’s been one of my favorite purchases I’ve ever made and it’s awesome to see him on his drumming journey and having a blast while doing it.

Overall: For my son’s 8th birthday, I couldn’t figure out what to get him. I was perusing another site(sorry!), and some drums came up. I saw a lot of 250-300 dollar sets that came with everything from brands I’ve never heard with mixed reviews.

So I decided to come to this site and look around and found this set almost immediately. I’ve always loved Pearl products and this set hasn’t disappointed. If you are buying this set for learning or light jamming purposes, then this is the set you want.

If you are willing to put some money into it, then you could easily do some light gigging with this set as well.

Great buy- this set is great starting point. once I’m ready to upgrade, I know I’ll want to keep this set and just maybe change out cymbals and maybe skins. it really is great. I barely tuned it and it already has a deep chunky tone to the toms and base drum with pretty good resonance.

I’m really having fun messing with it. Beautiful look too.

I have played drums for about 20 years and most of my life I have used a Tama Swingstar drum kit from the early 00’s. The Pearl Roadshow drums themselves are very nice- surprisingly nice. They look beautiful and you can see/feel the build quality is very high for something in this price range.

The stock heads that came with it actually sound good after fine tuning them. I will be swapping them out with some Evans shortly to dampen the tone a bit. They will RING and sustain for a long time which is great if you’re into that.

I put some moongels on my Tom’s after tuning them to my preference and they really “Thud” now. The snare drum is fantastic quality as well and sounded great after briefly tuning it- the Tom’s took a bit more time to refine.

The hardware is surprisingly sturdy and responsive. The hi-hat hardware appears to be plastic where the pedal connects to the stand, but hasn’t been an issue so far. The bass pedal is insanely nice for this price point.

Of course, costs have to be cut somewhere, and that would be the cymbals included with this kit. The hi hat cymbals are bad. They are lifeless and dead, there is no crispy hi hat sound coming out of them.

Mine also got slightly warped and dented within a few hours of playing. The Crash/Ride is also very cheap. but. surprisingly, it doesn’t sound bad. Along with drum heads I will definitely be buying a new hi hat and a pair of cymbals, but I think this cymbal will still have a place in the kit.

It’s got a nice big splashy kind of thing going for it, and if you are a capable drummer you can get a great ride sound out of the bell and area just shy of the bell with proper dynamics. If I could have found this set for cheaper without the cymbals I would have done that, but it is so ridiculously good priced you cannot go wrong here.

Overall: I’ve been waiting over a year to post this review. I bought my kit from zZounds. 12 payments no interest is a winning combination for me. I bought the kit to be a touring, gig kit as I would be playing all through CA, Las Vegas and Laughlin, Phoenix and most of AZ.

I purchased my kit March 2020. I got the kit and less than a week later every was shut down because of Covid-19. All my gigs for the year were cancelled. I was planning to use this with a funk music tribute band that plays music from the 60s -80s.

I assembled the drums, tuned them, gave them a quick practice session at home low volume and in the cases they went. The country never opened for the rest of the year. I wanted to gig the set before I reviewed it.

Fast Forward to July 2021 and I’m back to my first gig of the year. I’m playing in an 80s rock band with some curveballs into new wave and some other dance hits of the era. I brought the kit to the gig and set it up, tuned it up and the band played the first song and bam, they all snapped their heads and looked back at me.

(I had been using a very crappy backline set at the rehearsal studio). After the first song it was on. The drums sounded incredible. They sound like I spent much more on them than the price tag of $999 US.

The kick drum had all the punch and bottom end. Wasn’t too plastic sounding. Had a rich deep tone but still would have the snappy response I needed. The toms, incredible. They sounded very similar to a DW kit which blew me away even.

They don’t choke out, the have great sustain, stayed in tune all night (which was a surprise because it was an outdoor gig that started using afternoon heat and went into the night time) they had nice rich tone, very responsive, projection was excellent and they cut very well.

No choking out on any of the drums. Floor toms were not hard for me to tune and I got them where I wanted them and where the shell sounded best and I can tell you they sounded fat, warm, rich and punchy.

No issues with them going out of tune. I got the last Blue Lacquer kit zZounds had. The finish is impressive. Flawless. No scratches, no inconsiderate on the finish and it sparkles great under the lights.

I checked all bearing edges and they were all smooth, properly cut with no flat spots and no low spots or uneven spots on them. Every single drum on the kit looked gorgeous and sounded better than they looked.

Tom mounting hardware is the only shortcoming as they do not offer a single Tom option to match the PDP line that I could use in my rack. The only single Tom mount is designed to be cymbal stand mounted.

I run racks on all my kits. The time mounts provided hold well and are solidly built and finished nicely in chrome. Overall the kit blew me away. It is very much a DW product and DWs DNA is all over this PDP offering.

European Maple is not the same as North American maple but no one in the crowd will notice. Easy to dial in with the PA and EQ. The drums performed flawlessly. They looked like a kit that easily cost 2-3 times as much money.

If you want a solid kit with some pro features at a bargain price, the PDP Concept Maple is hard to beat. The value packed into this kit and the quality of the drums and the tonal richness makes this an excellent buy for entry level players, mid level players and professionals.

There’s no shame in playing this kit. It delivers better than a lot of other brands top of the line pro level kits. This is also an excellent choice as a gigging kit for pros that don’t want to haul around their Collectors series DWs and damage them, and I would not hesitate to use these on tour as well.

If you are a fan of DW products, need a kit that won’t empty your wallet, looks impressive and sounds impressive, these are an excellent choice. I cannot think of one downside to these drums except maybe a little bit of lack of versatility with the snare.

But even with the included snare you can change heads and tune to your needs and still be in decent shape. Good luck and keep it in the pocket.

Overall: Okay, so let’s get this started. An honest and in-depth review:The PDP Concept Maple. First and foremost, if you’re anything like me sifting through reviews, you’re looking for reviews from individuals that actually own the kit, have experience with other kits to form a basis of comparison, and understand other brands and features.

You’re ALSO hoping the reviews you’re reading aren’t from an overly excited 13-year-old that just got his first kit, and hasn’t had time to settle into it. You are in luck! I am a recording drummer. I have played drums for 20+ years.

I own a total of 6 drum kits, that’s a downsize from the 2 I had in storage. Four of them, I purchased from zZounds. but that’s another story. The PDP CONCEPT MAPLE: Upon receiving the boxes. (it shipped in two) I grabbed a knife and cut away the tape, everything was well packaged in foam tape, or plastic wrap, with bumpers.

I opted for the natural lacquer finish because there’s something about a blonde drum kit that I like. I immediately changed the heads (I always do) and started tuning. The first things I noticed: The finish is applied evenly, and very nicely.

The bearing edges were cut properly, (unlike early runs of the kit) and there were no flaws. I did notice that the lugs were a bit longer than any other drum lug I’ve had (including a DW collectors series) and that they were a bit stiff backing out, and that’s the only reason why this review is at 4.

5 stars, because I wanted to nitpick something, so if you’re cool with that, proceed to checkout and get this kit. Anyways. Tuning was shockingly easy, the maple shells have a lot of nice low end, with really good resonance and sustain.

The hardware is nice, and the DW snare throw off is a very expensive feeling touch, that I’m glad they threw in on the snare. The bass drum hoops are thicker than they appear in pictures and actually look really great when mounted.

The toms themselves don’t choke tuned high, and maintain good resonance tuned low. versatility is a very nice touch, and I notice the small details that the Concept Series offers. The bass drums mounting hardware that goes through the center threw me off.

I love a virgin bass drum (a drum without a piece of hardware through the center) I quickly found that PDP makes a plate that you can mount over the bass drums drilled out hole, and you can’t mount your toms on a snare stand or double Tom stand, so again.

details and versatility is nice. The Tom mounts float over the hardware so it doesn’t strain on the lugs, potentially causing awkward tuning issues when the drum is actually mounted. This means that when you tune the drum on the floor, the drum sounds the exact same when you mount it.

Another great detail. Everything about the kit screams “high end”. finding lacquer kits at this price with cheaper wood alone is a task. So yes, they look beautiful. And if you’re like me, you’re comparing this kit to other similarly priced kits in the same realm, and by all means.

check them out. The difference is the details PDP offered me, over competitors. Those little nice touches really reflect that PDP makes drums for drummers, and they wanted to cater to a vast genre of drummers.

Would I buy this kit again? I’m already thinking about another just to have a backup to drag around. Overall, this kit is honestly priced too low for what it all is. To me, the Concept Series is a kept secret, and experiencing them in your own environment is a real treat.

Enjoy.

I have been a professional musician and a drummer for 50 years! In that time, I have seen a lot of brands and gear come and go. I remember well Don Lombardi’s drum shop in Santa Monica, CA when I moved out to the West coast after college in 1974, and knew they were reselling/building the original Camco bass drum pedal, which was in a league of it’s own at the time.

Imported and import/U. S. -hybrid made kits are becoming more prevalent, with amazing quality for the money spent, however, the market as a whole is shrinking, the volume of users unable to support the vast arrary of brands.

DW has now become one such musical instrument conglomerate, or rather a percussion conglomerate with it’s acquisition of Toca, LP, Gretsch, and the DW/PDP brands. The only real gripe I have with PDP as they come from the factory is that they have this graduated hoop/rim thickness, which they claim is to reduce overall drum weight, but I think is really a tone killer that saves them big money.

The hoops on the snare, the 8″ tom and the two floor toms are fine in terms of weight, but it is not unusual to see areas on the rims which are rough on the flanged edges and/or do not have a sufficiently heavy layer of chrome plating to last.

PDP branded stands and the “double mini turret” lugs on the Concept drums have excellent plating. So , four of my seven drums in this kit are now wearing 2. 5mm thick, triple flanged hoops made in Taiwan by WorldMax.

The bearing edges on these shells are every bit as even and smooth as those on the DW Performance Series kit that this one replaced, and IMHO the overall tone and resonance of this group of shells is actally sweeter and more controlled than the Performance Series shells.

at less than half the price when you factor the 8″ tom, which I do not even have placed in my rack. The Remo made in China provided heads are fine for the resonance side, but I want either Controlled Sound or Pin Stripe USA-made heads on the batter side.

Only because of the heads and rims on some of the drums did this kit not rate 5 stars! When you’re first setting everything up, be sure to use nylon washers under the flat metal washers for your tension rods to help maintain your tension and tuning when you play.

The 10-lug, 10-ply all maple snare with the DW throw-off is a sweet drum and a great alternative to the DW chrome over steel shell snare that I normally have as a part of this kit. This finish is not a wrap, and is one of the most even and beautiful polyflake lacquer finishes I have ever seen, and every single shell is perfect in this respect.

Again, IMHO, these modern thin multi-ply maple shells today do not “sing” as well as they can when they are choked down with all the wood pores closed from adhesives and Nitron-type wraps, even though DW offeres them on Performance and Collector Series drum kits.

I’d put the quality of this kit on a par with the Gretsch Renown Maple, the Tama StarClassic, and the Mapex Armory Series. Great sound, beautiful to look at, and terrific value even with the extra cost of changing hoops and heads.

Alesis Nitro Mesh 8 Piece Drum Kit Bought this on a members sale as it had the most to offer in the price range. Instruction for set-up were mostly trying to interpret the pictures. I reversed the left hand bar socket with the snare one to get a bit more height on the snare.

Snare is now at 25″ and my throne at a comfortable 23″. Realized right away that I should have bought the 10 piece expanded kit that gives an extra cymbal with choke and a 2 zone tom. Easy add-on that went on sale one week later so I got that as well for Father’s Day.

Sets up to make a pretty small footprint with a great variety of kits and sounds. Once I started editing sensitivity, echo, eq and sounds I got several very realistic and playable kits. Haven’t even played with the midi capabilities yet.

Nice to have a kit with a volume control for when the grand-daughter comes over to play. I run mine through a Kustom PA50 powered speaker which is plenty loud for the living room. It won’t replace your acoustic drums but great for practice and studio.

As Always Fast Free Shipping from Musician’s Friend.

This kit gets great reviews for the most part and I was quite disappointed to find what I actually got. Guitar Center where I purchased it did not have any floor models set up so I just bought it to give it a try, since it could be returned within 14 days, although there was a “15% restocking fee(about $57.

)” The drums themselves are quite small and nothing at all like an acoustic drum kit in placement or radius so for anyone over 5′ 5″ this is a difficult kit to be scrunched up behind. I’m 6′ 1″ and can say a teenager or other beginner of smaller stature is who this would be best suited for.

Onto the sounds themselves, out of about 40 different kit options most are quite cheesy and primitive in technological advancement, I’m thinking 1991 is a generous time frame for their level of real drum-mimicking sound quality.

I did find a couple of electro/industrial type sounds I liked. Next, the volume through headphones is quite limited. I listen to music on my earbuds at a louder volume than this is capable of! Next, the rims of the snare and toms are so deep and protruding that they’re nearly impossibly not to hit when you’re working with such tiny drums.

All this aside, I would have kept this kit as a practice tool in my apartment for when I can’t get to the rehearsal space as often as I like if it weren’t for it DISPRUPTING AND AGGRAVATING MY NEIGHBORS!?! Now keep in mind I only used it through headphones so no amplification was involved.

Even so, the sheer impact of the kick drum getting the rubber kick pad apparently “shook the pictures” of the walls of a neighbor in my building not even directly under or next to me!! I got two complaints from two different neighbors in one week, saying it sounded like I was pounding on the floor.

Keep in mind, they can’t hear the other drums so it doesn’t even sound like beats, just annoying home improvement but daily and erratic. I tried reinforcing the kick pedal, adding another layer of carpet under it – nothing helped.

I bought one of these for my father-in-law for Christmas and it was the perfect gift for him. He’s always wanted to learn drums and for the price I paid it’s good value. I have a Roland TD10k set with a few upgrades I made over the past 7 years, such as all mesh 2-zone heads and a TD-25 module.

This is not that. Let’s get that straight: It doesn’t match Roland in any tangible way. The Roland is highly customizable, with every aspect of the kit able to be dialed-in to get the optimal experience.

This is more “you get what you get” in sound and features. It has a stable of presets, which can be somewhat dialed-in but you’re not adjusting zone area/sensitivity, it’s pretty much velocity and amount of reverb.

The listening experience is iffy. My father-in-law tried his Bose QC30s which were barely audible with barely any kick, the snare and toms sounded distant and the cymbals were present but distorted. Yuck in my ears.

Swapping them out for my Sony MDR-7506 changed the game, with a much more natural sounding experience. Switching to my Slate VSX was an even more satisfying e-kit monitoring experience, with punchy bass, full toms and a cracking snare.

Playing this kit through a drum monitor is ok, but it really was at optimum when played over my PA system with two 12″ full range and an 18″ sub. I realize not everybody has this but once you try it it’s hard to go back.

Jamming along to practice tracks through an IPad was a lot clearer this was than through the kit’s AUX patch. The module includes its own practice tracks which is useful if you don’t have a phone/iPad/computer or still live in 1997.

The kit is smaller than the Roland, especially it’s height. I’m 6’2″ and couldn’t REALLY adjust it tall or wide enough for my comfort. My father-in-law is 5’9″ and it’s suitable to him. It’s durable enough, the mesh heads will last forever, I know that.

The frame is solid and sturdy enough but only just. A good practice kit for people looking to keep their chops on a budget.

This kit is actually better than what I was looking for. I first saw an old 1950s cocktail kit in Amsterdam and immediately fell in love with the concept. Flash forward a couple decades and I finally got the chance to buy one on Taobao (China’s main online shopping site).

I loved the design and the price was right. A couple of problems, though I had anticipated them. One, the bass drum sound is a little flat. Fair enough; it’s shallow and with a small diameter. Also, the snare drum is FAR louder than the rest of the kit.

You can mess with the tuning, or what I do is dampen it. A shame though – it’s a really good sounding snare. I recommend it. But if you’ve never had or played on a cocktail kit, try one out. You can’t expect a full sized drum kit sound one of a cocktail kit, I don’t care who designed it or what company makes it.

But as cocktail kits go, this one is ace.

For my cover bands smaller gigs I used to use a Cajon as a bass drum with a little snare and was considering buying roto toms to add, but I went with this drum kit instead. I am very happy so far, much less to carry in night after night.

Great kit, but it needs modification. Mounting a cymbal boom to the legs of the kit will give you a lot of vibration and ringing into your drum mics if you are playing through a sound system. I added a Hi Hat stand and a cymbal stand to this kit.

I tried several different drum heads and the best I found are the Evans EC2 clear tom heads on the entire kit. The “bass” drum does not have a standard bass drum hoop size, so a 16″ Bass drum head like the Remo powerstroke 3 will not fit on this kit.

You will need to buy 16″ tom heads to use on this bass drum. I mounted a beta 91 with the kelly shu inside the bass drum, and with the “lid” that comes with the kit I can get a great deep punchy sound from the bass drum.

This kit is miles better than the nitro mesh for several reasons. The first is the 10” snare which may not seem like much from the 8” that the nitro mesh has but trust me, it alone is worth it. Not only that, the rest of the toms is dual zone which allows for rim shots.

The kick is also much larger allowing you to install a double kick pedal with no issues. The cymbals can also all be choked. The stand feels much more premium and sturdy. It also sits higher than the nitro mesh.

The only thing that is left to be desired is, a better drum module. It is essentially the same as the nitro mesh. The sounds of the drums arent bad but they are not good either. A simple fix if you have ez drummer or whatever on pc.

Or you could upgrade the module to a better one later down the line. All in all, i am absolutely satisfied with this kit and for another 170$ on top of the nitro mesh, it is absolutely worth it.

I purchase this because this is one of the best e-drum under 500, here are the pros. The pads are very responsive and able to use a double kick drum The size of the pads are the best among this price point and the module functions are more than enough However the sound from this module is a little bit weird tho.

If you want better sound, it better stick with Roland or just upgrade the module later on. Most people compare this with the Roland TD-1DMK I think the surge mesh kit is still the clear winner since it can adjust the sound individually.

Also it is able to add 2 additional pads and I assigned them as crash2 and China cymbal. The Roland one can’t let you adjust the sound kit at all. I will recommend this one to all beginners but remember, only if your budget is a back on your neck.

If you get a little more budget, just went straight to the TD7DMK from Roland. It get all the bell and whistles from surge, but with a better sound.

I bought Alesis Crimsom II SE three months ago after reading soooo many reviews to make a good decision. One thing I didn’t want is to have a kit that feels like you’re playing in a toy and this one really feels like real drum.

I like the size of the pads and cymbals. They are well made and has a impressive sensitivity. I just have some bad response on the Ride/bell which does not always work well in between, but I am still need to try some adjustments.

The 8″ tom is a little annoying, just because the rim on e-drums are a little taller. I wish Crimsom had an 10″ 2nd tom. The trigger for the EZdrum is just perfect. Just plugged and worked right way.

I added a stand hi-hat with Lemon controller and worked perfectly when playing EZdrum, but not so much playing with the module sounds. The reason I am mentioning the EZdrum is because the module I use only for practice because they don’t sound that great.

Overall, the feel of play on Alesis Crimsom is what I expected for a Edrum and I’m very glad that I didn’t but anything less than that. Currently I’m planning to replace the tons by the Strike ones, but only to look good on video.

I recommend it specially if you’re a beginner and are searching for a real feel drum that you just buy and play out the box with no worries. Thanks Alesis for making it!.

Apparently I’m space limited, so I’ll try to be concise. You get what you pay for, in the sense that if you look at kinds of entry level cymbal sets for $300, hi-hat stands for $150+ you start to appreciate what you get here.

You can start playing right away, provided you can get it all put together without instructions. MAKE SURE you get a drum key, or you’ll have problems. Once set up and tuned well, hey, I’m pretty happy with it.

The drums anyway. I’ve already got a towel in the bass because I don’t like a lot of reverb from that. When you look at the cost of hardware and other metal, you will get my next point. If you’re a faster learner, or have the basics down, you will outgrow at least the cymbals and hardware very fast.

This is likely the biggest cost cutting. They’re cheap and flimsy. My main issues are the hi-hat stand and throne. The throne is a death trap that I have to tighten every few minutes. If you aren’t a child and weigh adult weights, bump your budget by $100 and get your own throne.

Lastly, the hi-hat stand doesn’t have a real clutch. Just a felt, a washer, and a nut that falls off ALL THE TIME unless you crank it down, which isn’t right. Overall, It’s a great way to get started, but just keep in mind like many things, it can quickly become a money pit.

My main kit is a 1965 Slingerland and I’ve owned a few other high-end kits over the years. I bought the Ludwig Accent 5pc as a spare practice kit. Yes, I hung the low-end ZBTs on the wall and threw out the Ludwig stock heads once the kit arrived.

But I could tell right away the drums were very well made even though not of the best woods obviously. Before putting it together, I checked all the edges, did a bit of sanding, and put new Evans heads on everything.

Once I got it tuned I was pleasantly surprised how good everything sounded. Even the snare sounds nearly identical to my Ludwig Classic Maple snare and – surprisingly – a bit better than my 1965 Slingerland Gene Krupa Radio King.

One day I’ll take the shells apart again and sealcoat the insides which should make it even better. For the last 4 years the kit has been set up with a set of Zildjian Custom As all around. Other drummers and musicians are surprised how great the kit sounds for being only a few hundred and sticker labels instead of metal badges (I suppose you could even purchase Ludwig badges and put them on if it bothers you).

Reading other reviews I see that a number of buyers seemingly got bad hardware or the drums don’t sound good at all, but maybe I just got lucky. I would definitely recommend the set for youngsters and beginners, but don’t be surprised if the kit sounds better than the price, especially if you put good heads on them and tune them well.

The low-end Ludwig bass pedal has gotten a little sloppy but I changed it for one of my Pearl pedals, and the Ludwig hi-hat stand that came with the set is still going strong after 4 years. So definitely recommended to beginners and intermediates looking for a spare kit.

And you may get lucky like me and end up with a kit that after a bit of tweaking sounds like a $3500 set.

I’m using this to leave at someone else’s home. I’d say if you can get it for around $300 it can work for you. You’ll need a couple upgrades to be around $150 and you’ll need to provide you own cymbals with stands along with a thrown.

Cymbals, Stands, and Heads are garbage and should be dealt with as such IMO. The shells can be made to sound good with new Heads. I would also recommend replacing the claw hooks on the Bass Drum to give it a more updated professional look.

For me it’ll work. I have most of the stuff laying around. Otherwise this set is intended for the Beginner. Ages 7 to 12 as is.

This is my first acoustic kit and I wanted something with a small footprint. It’s a really smart looking compact kit but it has plenty of volume, probably too much for my circumstances so I’m going to try a Remo Silentstroke on the snare drum to start with.

The early reported issues attaching the kick pedal seem to have been resolved as there is plenty on the riser for it to grip on to and looks longer on mine than I’ve seen in videos. The Ludwig badge is also metal and screwed on compared to early ones that just had a sticker.

Overall I’m really pleased with it, so much better than hitting rubber pads on my previous electronic drum kit.

I needed a practice kit to use between gigs on a house set and this little guy fit the bill nicely. I put an Aquarian super kick 2 and regulator on the kick, swapped the stock snare out for my 5×14 supraphonic, and paired it with my Tama classic hardware.

I’ve found it’s not only highly portable, but also incredibly fun to play and much bigger sounding than you would expect a kit this small to be. The only downside I’ve found is that the drums pull out of tune quite a bit, but that’s to be expected at this price point.

I would definitely recommend!.

This is the second Breakbeats kit I have owned. I used it primarily for jazz, but I also used it for funk/soul in a small venue context. I ended up selling the first one in order to buy a Gretsch Marquee so I could get bigger sound for festivals we were playing.

As time went on I regretted selling my Breakbeats kit more and more, so I had to get another one. I noticed right away that the hardware on the new generation has been upgraded and feels more beefy. Also, they stopped using sticker logo decals, and instead went with a thin riveted metal badge.

which is cool. I was however surprised and a bit disappointed with the construction. I don’t know who is doing the inspections on these kits, but on my recent purchase the bottom bearing edge on the floor tom had a dent, which is not great for the head contact.

I has to sand it real quick with an orbital palm sander. Also, the hole on the top of the bass drum where the rack tom post inserts into the drum was super rough and splintery. that never got sanded after it was drilled (que the palm sander part 2).

Also, every single screw on every single drum was loose and had to be tightened from the inside of the drums with an impact driver. It only took a couple of minutes to do the whole kit, but between the sanding and screwing, I kind of feel like that all this post-production work is not my job, and it should have come from the factory more finished than it was.

I replaced all the heads on every drum. I went with Evans G2 coated for the batter side on the toms, and G1 clear for the resonant side. The snare got an Evans G1 on the batter side, and an Evans Hazy 300 on the snare side.

The bass for an Evans EMAD on the batter side, and an Aquarian ported head on the resonant side. This kit sounds fantastic now, and I will be giging with it regularly. For the money spent I probably could have just bought a Yamaha Stage Custom Birch kit, but it is a done deal now, and I’m happy.

I’m primarily a guitarist, but as a multi-instrumentalist I’ve always wanted my own drum kit. Since I mostly just wanted something affordable to sharpen my skills on, & thus not anything that would break the bank, I first started looking at straight-up entry level kits.

Realizing that I would eventually want something that would satisfy a more intermediate-level drummer, I started looking at the PDP Encore kit, and ordered this complete set in the Azure Blue finish.

It came quickly from GC’s warehouse, and I set it up myself. It did not come with any instructions for assembly, but fortunately I watched a couple of YouTube videos beforehand & putting the kit together was very straightforward.

I love the sparkly Azure Blue finish! I had a buddy who’s a pro drummer give me a hand with the tuning, and even with the stock heads that came with the set, they now sound great, and will sound even better when I eventually replace the heads with some upgrades.

The cymbals that come with the kit are hands down the worst part of the set, so plan on spending at least another $100-$200 to get even just some decent used hats & a crash/ride. But the kit comes with a throne, heads, & a cheap pair of sticks, so once you get it set up you really can start playing right away! While the throne isn’t the greatest, it’s functional, and the rest of the hardware is super-sturdy and lives up to DW’s (PDP is a DW brand) stellar reputation.

Now that I’ve invested a little extra into some decent cymbals and some extra hardware, I really feel like I’ve gotten a way-better-than-entry-level drum set at a decent price. I’d absolutely recommend the Encore kit to anyone looking for an affordable set to get started on!.

The kit overall is good. The price is pretty fantastic. I do however recommend saving up for a more high quality kit. As I was expecting the cymbals are very bad. The snare took a lot of tweaking to sound right.

It did not come with instructions so you’ll need to look them up or a tutorial. Good for upgrading. Definitely replace the heads.

I was shocked at the quality and sound of this drum kit. It looks great and once tuned sounds excellent. It’s my 14 year old sons first adult drum kit and he loves it. Only downside was no instructions.

Lots of tutorials online to help thankfully.

First “real kit” bought for recording, gigging and my own drum studio. The shells have great tone, tune up easily and can be tuned to a variety of genres. I have the 22 kick version so I’ve not tuned up the kick but it is punchy and loud tuned low.

The shells sit well in many different genres of music and the satin caramel finish is eye-catching without being flashy. My only complaints would be the hardware could be a bit more sturdier and high end but the shells and hoops are all excellent quality.

Also I prefer having toms on stands above a virgin bass drum but the YESS mounts are easy to position and I had no problems getting the 10 and 12 toms exactly where I like them. I plan on getting an add 14 floor tom to compliment the 16.

This set is amazing! For an entry level kit, they sure do give a lot of great features and quality. The packaging was quite impressive to be honest, I couldn’t believe they fit an entire 6-piece set into 3 rather small boxes, but they did, and pretty securely I might add.

So very well done on that end! The pedals are quite responsive and build quality of the bass pedal in particular is top-notch. Cymbal stands are all very sturdy, and the cymbals themselves are actually pretty decent (I’m now looking to get the 14 and 18″ Meinl HCS package, and have a 10″ splash on the way).

As others have stated, the heads do leave a little to be desired. But after getting everything tuned in, they really aren’t THAT bad. And for everything this package has included and the quality build, I really can’t complain about a piece that gets wear and tear and needs replacing eventually anyway.

I mostly got this kit because my kids have outgrown their junior sized kit. But I’ve also been casually teaching myself to play and this is going to be so much better than sitting at that small kit. I’m now really motivated to practice more! I’m no expert but I am impressed with the quality of these Tama drums, and all of the hardware seems very solidly built.

I saw lots of reviews that were negative on the Meinl HCS cymbals, but to me they sound great. I’d have to think that anyone who didn’t like parts of this kit would be an advanced drummer who should be buying one of the higher-end kits anyway.

I highly recommend this kit for a beginning or casual drummer, and I would actually think you could use it for local gigs too. If you spent twice as much, how different would they sound at a bar or wedding reception?! I wish I had bought these sooner.

I bought this kit because I was looking for something that was very complete and could build on top of. The good thing is that this kit comes with everything you need to play with minus the sticks; pedal, cymbals, hardware and throne.

I was very pleased at the sturdiness of the hardware and the overall quality. The cymbals are not top notch but they are pretty good, especially the HCS ride cymbal. Some of the things I didn’t care for was that the throne was small and a little uncomfortable.

Some of the toms came with already installed heads and others didn’t but that isn’t the issue, rather that you are getting Tama brand heads and they don’t sound all that great, but with a really good tuning and some moon gel you can make them sound pretty good for what it is.

And the last thing are the materials of the drums. You are getting poplar shells so don’t expect a lot of versatility of deep resonance with these. The best thing you can do for this set is put on a new pair of your preferred heads, your choice of snare and maybe a better throne.

Aside from that this is a fairly solid kit and well worth the money for everything you are getting. I got the dark blue finish and it looks really good.

I Have had a week with this set ( walnut finish is gorgeous) and its amazing. I did purchase Evans G1 coated Batter heads for all toms but left stock reso’s on ( will be getting Evans G1 coated for tom reso’s).

Evans UV1 batter for snare with Evans MS3 reso( I know its a marching snare reso) head but will be going back to the Hazy 300 reso soon, also have puresound 20 strand blaster series snare wires, just experimenting with sounds and tuning on this snare.

Evans Emad 2 bass drum head with stock reso ( will be putting on Evans EQ3 Coated White Reso Head on it soon) with a sheet for the inside to help get the sound I want. First, being that its a virgin bass drum that is a cannon.

Second, the Tomahawk snare is a beast in its own and very versatile. The toms just sing very beautifully, but I put Rtom moon gels on all my heads. Its an exceptional package and you will not regret this purchase.

I also have a set of Sabian XSR super set ( 14″ hi hats bottom heavy/top medium – 14″/16″/18″ medium/thin fast crashes – 20″ medium ride – 10″ splash) with gold coverage headed my way, and will be doing a review for those next.

More Reading- Musicians Friend is the place to go they saved me a bunch of money, but you need to call instead of doing it online FYI, my tuning technique. I finger tighten first then use the Evans tourq key next and drum dial, then I go by ear to final tune.

Reso and Batter tuned the same for toms, bass drum heads are batter by ear and feel and reso head is tighter, snare heads batter is a looser than reso.

In a nutshell, I’ve been playing since I was in the 5th grade (1993), and have been playing the local club scene around DFW since 2001. I got my first kit in 1997, after my dad decided he didn’t want me playing metal on his 1960-something Ludwig anymore.

And I can definitely understand that. The thing is a classic. So I got a Premiere XPK kit that ended up lasting me 20 years, as of this year. That thing took a lot of abuse over the years, as I’m a very hard hitter, not to mention the plethora of gigs I’ve played over the years.

I decided it was time to upgrade my arsenal and, now that I’m also in the middle of nursing school and up to my eyeballs in student loans, I wanted something that would give me the most bang for my buck.

And the Mapex Armory line does the job. I just bought the shells, as I have my own rack system that’s still in really good condition but, let me tell you, these drums sound fantastic!! I researched them out the *** before purchasing, listening to as many sound bytes as I could find, and so on.

I can’t believe they didn’t cost more. Mapex really has its act together, and has the average consumer in mind. My Premiere kit has 16×16 and 18×16 floor toms, and I can actually tune the Mapex 14×14 and 16×16 lower, respectively, and still get a beautiful sound.

The kick sounds like a shotgun. Those extra 2 inches of depth really help it pound. I’ll probably buy a second kick eventually, just because I am used to playing on two and my style of music generally calls for that look, but the single kick still cuts through so well that I don’t mind only having one for the time being.

I’ll just “cheat” for a while with my double kick pedal :). Overall, these drums are super easy to tune, and the Tomahawk snare is actually pretty nice too. I’m not a huge fan of steel snares, but it will serve well for my blues side.

I’ll probably eventually get the Chris Adler signature snare, because that thing sings!.

The set I bought had 14″ snare and Hi Hats, a ride and a crash cymbal. i know lots of good drummers so they set ti up as good as possible, replaced the heads, and tuned it to the max. If you know a good drummer this is a great starter set, they were impressed for the money.

For the cost of one good Zilgian ride cymbal you get a whole full size kit. The new one seems to have a 13″ snare and hats and only one cymbal. This was for the wife and she lost interest but it’s been in my studio for drummers to rehearse on so they don’t have to move their gear.

other than bringing in a couple cymbals they use it for rehearsals. it’s been on a few recordings and with everything tweaked and professionals using it you’d be hard pressed to complain. Slowly it’s been upgraded, new hardware, cymbals, DW kick pedal, now it’s going away and being replaced with a Yamaha Studio custom set.

But it served it’s purpose.

Sounds great for beginner. Easy to put together. Except the high hat cymbal, it’s very stiff but not sure if that’s because I assembled it incorrectly or if it’s just a bad high hat cymbal. My son is a very tall 9-year old and it’s the perfect size.

This is a great starter drum set. It´s good for kids over 7, but it´s good also for older players. Well constructed, including good cymbals. All materials are enough good for a drum set in this price point.

The sound is bold, balanced and well defined. Well packed with complete fittings. The assambley and tune took about 2 hours. Worth the money.

I haven’t seen any other reviews of this online so I’m glad I get to be one of the first! Apparently I’m one of the few people I know of that picked up one of these kits. (The Guitar Center I bought this from only ever ordered two and I got the second kit) I have to say, I’m very impressed with it.

I upgraded from a Gretsch Catalina Maple kit, and while some may argue I downgraded from a 7 piece kit to a 5 piece, I’d like to say I now have 5 amazing drums vs. 7 good drums. Features: The Design series also has features I’ve always seen as professional in other drums at its price point: it has an undrilled/virgin kick drum which is something I’ve always wanted with a drum set, twenty lugs on the bass drum and snare drum, North American maple, and of course the DW tom mounts and mag throw off on the snare.

Another couple of undocumented features is that it also comes with 2 small DW pillows you can put inside your bass drum for muffling and memory locks for your floor tom legs. I wasn’t expecting those at all, and I give kudos to DW for caring enough to add those in there.

Last but not least, its greatest feature for me was its price! I was thinking about buying a Tama Starclassic Performer before I bought this, but I’m unemployed and can’t afford the high end kits where I’d have to buy a snare drum separately.

So the fact that I was able to get a snare drum in this package for less than $2000 with tax, makes this a great bargain. I understand some purists won’t be a fan of this kit because it was made in Taiwan, but really, who cares? Gretsch makes its Renown series in Taiwan and those are great kits as well, and DW has proven it can do an excellent job, if not better with producing an amazing kit from Taiwan as well.

The only gripe I would have with the kit feature wise is that DW decided not to give the Design series die cast hoops, but really, the triple flange hoops are fairly standard with DW’s other kits and probably would have made the kit more expensive.

Also, don’t forget to get some kind of hoop protector for your bass drum pedal so you don’t mess up that beautiful finish on the hoop. I had to learn that the hard way after putting my Pearl Eliminator on the hoop without protection.

=] Looks: I bought the Cherry stain lacquer and it looks beautiful in person – the bright red really stands out in lights and it’s literal eye candy. I also really like the mini lugs because they’re not too imposing and people are still able to tell it’s a DW kit.

Quality and Reliability: Outstanding. I plan on using this kit for a very long time, and I’m just so impressed by it. I definitely feel like I have a professional level kit that was worth saving up for.

The sound quality is excellent, easy to tune, and the kit looks absolutely beautiful. Well worth the money.

I am new to drumming. I’ve played bass guitar, guitar, and keys all my life. And just recently wanted to start playing drums. After buying an electric drum set with the amp and everything I felt like if I spend that much money on those drums, for that amount I could have bought myself a nice acoustic set, so I returned the electric ones and did a whole bunch of research on drum brands, shells, heads, hardware like everything!! I was down to a PDP Maple Concept drum kit in Walnut, and this DW Design Series set, I even called DW for some help and they were awesome and very helpful.

I went for the DW and I am very very happy with the sound, the look, the feel, the quality is there, all of the hardware is nice, they didn’t miss anything. The snare sounds amazing once I figured out how to tune it! The stock tom heads sound great, but I will most likley be changing them to even better heads later on.

I had a 4 piece performance series which is between a design series and collectors. I saw a 5 piece design series for $799 at GC and decided to trade in my performance. I’m glad I did. It sounds every bit as good as my performance did, maybe even slightly better.

It is not a collectors by any means, but then again it’s 3,000 dollars less. Plus it’s really easy to add on an 8″ tom and 14″ floor tom to make it a 7 piece kit. Like others have said, you will need a DW SPECIFIC tom stand or DW TOM ARMS ( which run $40 each).

Not a big deal though. I can’t say enough good things about these drums.

Like most drummers who buy this kit, I got it to have an additional set for gigs at small and low volume venues. It certainly is compact and easy to transport, so it does meet those needs. Beyond that, however, I’ve become increasingly unhappy with it.

I’ll start with the worst part. The bass drum riser included with the kit is completely worthless. The bottom plate doesn’t extend far enough out from under the bass drum hoop, so the footboard on my kick pedal would hit the hoop, making it totally unplayable.

So I immediately had to make modifications to make it even usable. Next, the screws and clamps that hold the riser to the bass drum hoop became jammed up so that I can’t tighten them enough to keep it in place on the hoop.

So now the entire riser and pedal constantly move out of position and are in danger of falling off entirely. I’m an experienced craftsman and I know this isn’t a case of user ignorance – the riser is simply poorly designed and manufactured.

If you buy this kit, you should just plan on replacing the riser right away, or be ready to make serious modifications to it. Even in a budget kit, I don’t believe it should come with parts that just don’t work.

My other issues with this kit are just the general cheapness of the materials and construction. This is evident in the wrap, the hardware, and the assembly. I won’t go into all the details, but it’s basically just a cheaply constructed kit.

In fairness, it is priced and marketed as a low cost kit, so that’s fine if that’s what you’re expecting and you’re willing to deal with those issues. If you just want a set that gets the job done for a low cost then the Questlove could be just fine.

Just don’t get this kit expecting that you’re getting a great deal – you’re getting what you pay for. These days, almost every drum maker is offering similar sized kits (many in the same price range) and if I did it over I would definitely go with a different brand, even if it meant paying a hundred or so more.

The instructions weren’t very clear so it took a long time to put together. Good value as discounted though.

I really enjoy playing the drum kit

TranslateShow in original languagePedalboard economica molto semplice ma completa per 5 pedali, era quello di cui avevo bisogno. E’ compresa di trasformatore e cavetti di alimentazione con polarità modificabile in base al tipo di pedale, è resistente e il velcro tiene bene i pedali attaccati.

Pienamente soddisfatto. StrumentiMusicali. net poi è velocissimo e il servizio è eccellente come sempre!.

This set sounds pretty good overall and comes with everything​ you need, even a drum key and a pair of sticks. My biggest complaint is with the cymbals. They don’t sound very good and are cheaply made.

Also the hardware could be a bit better too, one of the screws on the hi hat stand stripped out when I was putting it together. Oh well, at least it still works like it should. If you are on a budget or just starting out, this set will work for you.

We have a older set of these drums given to us and added some evan clear drum heads on it! and stuffed a pillow in kicker, tuned it, added some more quality stands and higher end high hats , accessories and def can’t complain for the price these are at for a beginners set its traveled up past that level with users , it’s been stuffed in a SUV and lugged around to quite a few small venues with quite a few metal bands using it within the last year , backlined it at some of them venues with no complaints from other bands that where not beginner’s either ! Pretty impressed.

When I was deciding on what kit to buy myself as I progressed through my drumming adventure, I wasn’t sure what brand to go to. I’d played Mapex, Ludwig, and other sets in the past but nothing really compares to the sound of these beauties.

Was worth every penny.

Thunderous kick and floor. The 13″ has everything you need from a rack tom. A ton of attack and beautiful tone. I bought this kit to play in more of a folk rock band. I wanted a bigger sound than my DW’s 12/14/22.

This absolutely does the trick. I feel bad leaving my DW behind but this kit just kills it. I chose the Ringo Star wrap (Black Oyster) and it’s simply beautiful.

This kit exceeded my expectations and has brought me great joy. It is playable art. Should have come with a 14″ floor tom. I saw a small picture of this kit in a mag back in March. I had wanted it based on that alone ever since.

Every add I saw for it, everytime I got online and google it. It just called my name. I’ve been playing drums one year. I have had a vintage Ludwig kit, a Gretsch Catalina Maple and a Mapex Meridian.

Recorded the Mapex sound best so that is what I kept. all I knew about it was that it was one of the best looking kits ever, it didn’t even have a 14″ floor tom. I’m the guitar player in my band, but I really enjoyed playing drums too so it’s a hobby.

I finally found the right deal and pulled the trigger. The first thing I did was compare recordings of the Mapex and Gretsch, well not true, the first thing was to just stare at it. It is gorgeous. The finish is great.

If you look at the postings online, its the lighter of the blues you see. The quality of the hardware, hoops, the way it tunes, everything is so much better than any of my other kits. Ok, you do get a lot more for the money.

Back to recording, it sounds great, clear and even. Didn’t blow the Mapex away, but it definately was livleier, with a better overall sound. I have experimented with heads, Evans single ply coated, Remo 2 ply coated, Evans SST Clears.

All sound very good. The snare just cracks with the stock Evans G1. I tried a couple different heads there too, but went back to the G1. The bass drum gave me the most concern. I really wasn’t getting enough boom out of it at least at the back of the kit.

Out front sounded better. I have it set pretty good now, the Emad with small ring, and an Evans pillow just touching the head with a corner, but plan to try out some other heads. One thing tere is I couldn’t bring myselt to cut a hole in the stock reso head for a kick port.

Looks too good. Seriously weeks later, I still just stand and stare. I contacted Gretsch about a 14″ floor, and it sounds like it will be a reality some time in the future. So that’s good news. I would buy this kit again.

This kit is really just well built.