Umbrella News

Choosing a Drum Kit under £300

2009-12-22T11:39:00+01:00

Choosing a Drum Kit for under 300

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 I’ll 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 you’re 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 be 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 good with a little tuning. The kit also comes with Cymbals, a stool and a stick bag with sticks. 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. The other good option are the Stagg Kits.

Stagg music really dominate the beginner and budget market as they have their own factory and make sure the standards are high.

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.

Electronic Drum Kit vs Acoustic Drum Kit

2010-03-03T00:00:00+01:00

Electronic Drum Kits vs Acoustic Drum Kit

Back in the 60’s and 70’s most people would associate drum kits with the traditional bass, snare, toms and cymbals set up with a rock and roll drummer bashing out some beats, seemingly in a world of their own. With the advancement of technology this would soon change.

In the late 70’s technology allowed for the introduction of electronic drum kits. Imagine if you told Keith Moon that his hallowed acoustic drum kit would be replaced with an electronic version. The suggestion would have come across as being completely insane – and for good reason. Electronic kits back in those days were very basic and the quality of sound lacking to say the least.

These days though you’d find it very difficult to choose based solely on the quality of the sound. In fact Bill Bruford of King Crimson was one of the first to introduce the electronic drum kit to his sets, and has almost completely abolished the need for acoustic drums. You’ll find it very hard to notice the difference.

In some ways you can understand the reticence of drummers to sell out to the digital age. Digital just doesn’t quite fit with the rock and roll image does it?! However, with more bands becoming reliant on gigging to make an income and also with music genres constantly overlapping and morphing, bands need to be adaptable to change and how technology can help them – even your good old rock and roll bands.

There is no doubt though that any drummer worth their salt will be able to maximize the variant of the sound they produce through a variety of tricks (sorry I can’t tell you these – you’ll have to work them out for yourself). To progress as a drummer though and make a little bit more money for your back pocket, its important there days to be adaptable to different styles of music, and who knows you might just get some session work.

By saying this I’m not suggesting that you have to completely replace your acoustic drum kit for an electronic version. For starters the reality is you have to pay a lot of money for a very good electronic drum kit – over £2000 in some cases. And aside from the money aspect, setting up an electronic drum kit is quite technical.

Another way to look at bridging the desire to keep your acoustic drum kit and embracing technology you could have a look at including something like the Korg WAVEDRUM. This is a second-generation drum module that you’ll be able to take anywhere in the world and add a whole new sonic dimension to your sets. With hundreds of on board sounds, presets you will not get bored.

Apart from being portable the great feature of the Korg WAVEDRUM is that it mimics the dynamic range you would get from an acoustic drum and allows real power of expression by responding perfectly to the performers action and how they play. No Korg WAVEDRUM will sound the same! I won’t go into great detail about the wealth of features, but imagine you’ve been hired for some session work that involves some congas fills and you don’t own congas. You have a decision to make – either buy some congas, which would require a significant investment and then the hassle of travelling with them, or buy a drum module that you can fit into your hand luggage at a fraction of the cost. Go figure!

So to sum up, I don’t think there is a clear-cut winner between an acoustic drum kit and an electronic drum kit. In my view it’s about embracing elements of both and expanding your diversity and sonic capabilities. Who knows where this journey would take you, but as a musician who can deny themselves the endless possibilities that exist with the inclusion of technology into their kits.

2Box DrumIt Five Electronic Drum Kit

2010-05-19T00:00:00+02:00

2Box DrumIt Five Electronic Drum Kit

The new 2Box electronic drum kit not only looks the business, but plays and sounds it too.

Umbrella Music is an official London based 2Box dealer, so why not come to the shop to try it for yourself? Our drum expert has been playing on the kit and is amazed, especially what you all get for £1599!

The 2Box drum kit is easy to assemble and play out of the box, and when you work your way through the sounds on the brain you'l lbe mightily impressed.

Click for all the features on the 2Box DrumIt 5.