Electric Drum Kit.

Drake5 · 9 Oct 2012 at 09:06

I've played the drums for some years now but I haven't been able to play as constant as I want to as I have an acoustic kit and the neighbors are always complaining about it.

I've thought about investing in an electric kit so I can just stick some decent headphones in and get going.

Are electric kits silent in regards to this? Can anyone recommend which type of kit to look for? It has to be fairly small though as I have limited space. Max budget of £400.

Cheers

mrthingyx · 9 Oct 2012 at 09:14

Budget will be tough, but second hand might be more interesting.

Regarding the noise, electric kits are a lot quieter (obviously), but the kick pedal'n'pad will make a bit a of thump regardless. As long as oyu get a decent matt underneath you shoudl be ok.

ShortWarning · 9 Oct 2012 at 10:26

£400 definitely will not get you anything decent. Nothing that feels anything like a real drum kit at least. I had an £800 Roland (can't remember the model) and it was absolute rubbish to play compared to a real drum kit.

As far as noise is concerned; obviously it's a lot quieter than an acoustic kit but I live in a semi detached and I'd still have the neighbours banging on the door complaining after 20 minutes. So it's quieter but it's still not quiet by any stretch.

IMO buying decent dampening pads for your acoustic is a much better way to go.

Yaayuh! · 9 Oct 2012 at 10:59

As said, you'll not get anything great for the price. The best you can get for £400 without going second hand is the Yamaha DTX400K.

jaybee · 9 Oct 2012 at 11:04

ShortWarning said:
£400 definitely will not get you anything decent. Nothing that feels anything like a real drum kit at least. I had an £800 Roland (can't remember the model) and it was absolute rubbish to play compared to a real drum kit.

As far as noise is concerned; obviously it's a lot quieter than an acoustic kit but I live in a semi detached and I'd still have the neighbours banging on the door complaining after 20 minutes. So it's quieter but it's still not quiet by any stretch.

IMO buying decent dampening pads for your acoustic is a much better way to go.

Can you explain? I have never played the drums but would love to and thought about electric kit. Why are they still noisy? I mean obviously there is still a slight noise, but...surely about 10% the noise of an actual drum as it is just a stick hitting a plastic pad? No? I do not understand how you could possibly hear someone playing an electric kit outside/nextdoor to a house?
Like I say, never played/seen a set being played so sorry if this is a noob question.

mrthingyx · 9 Oct 2012 at 11:11

jaybee said:
Can you explain? I have never played the drums but would love to and thought about electric kit. Why are they still noisy? I mean obviously there is still a slight noise, but...surely about 10% the noise of an actual drum as it is just a stick hitting a plastic pad? No? I do not understand how you could possibly hear someone playing an electric kit outside/nextdoor to a house?
Like I say, never played/seen a set being played so sorry if this is a noob question.

Stick on pad contact still makes a noise...

I find the kick pedal on the bass drum pad makes the biggest "thunk" which can be the most disturbing.

ShortWarning · 9 Oct 2012 at 11:33

jaybee said:
Can you explain? I have never played the drums but would love to and thought about electric kit. Why are they still noisy? I mean obviously there is still a slight noise, but...surely about 10% the noise of an actual drum as it is just a stick hitting a plastic pad? No? I do not understand how you could possibly hear someone playing an electric kit outside/nextdoor to a house?
Like I say, never played/seen a set being played so sorry if this is a noob question.

You're right, it is a hell of a lot quieter than an acoustic kit but you're probably underestimating how loud a drum kit actually is.

You will be hitting hard rubber with wood/plastic. Your kick drum beater head will be doing the same thing. It's a lot quieter but is still pretty loud.

Perhaps I have overly sensitive neighbours but your best bet is probably to go to a music shop and try some out for yourself then you can gauge weather or not they may be too loud for your home.

ianh · 9 Oct 2012 at 19:05

Had a few over the years and I've never had one that was quiet. Even the £1000+ ones which have mesh heads on the bass/snare/toms sound fairly quiet until you hit the cymbals which you can hear through a wall easily.

RetiredGreyFox · 9 Oct 2012 at 21:37

This is what you want - http://www.jobekydrums.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=264
He only lives in Stafford also.

ianh · 9 Oct 2012 at 22:24

Dimple - Thats just a shell pack matey with no cymbals, Brain or hardware. The actual full kit is nearly £2000 so a little outta the OP's price range but you're right, Jobeky's probably the best electronic drum maker in the UK right now. I've got an older version of his stuff that's about 5 years old and it's still excellent!

Tom - There's Rolands absolute basic HD1 kit for £275 on eBay which is very small as it's designed for young teens. It's OK if you fancy a quick bash as a beginner but the cheapest proper entry level kit (which you'd be after seen as you can already play) is the TD-3 (£400 on eBay) and then the older "lower mid-range" TD-6 (£400 on eBay) both of which are much better and might be found on there for a decent price. There are newer kits but not within your price range sadly!

I started on with a TD-3, then the modding bug hit me! Soon I had extra Roland 8" cymbals, then changed the brain to a TD-6 brain, then added even more 12" Roland cymbals, then replaced the rubber pads with Roland Mesh versions, then changed the brain again to a TD-12 brain and replaced most of the original cymbals with better/bigger Roland cymbals and then finally replaced all the drums with Jobeky Shells except the bass drum (due to lack of space for a real sized one). Haven't changed anything in over 5 years now so it must be good! although I'm looking at swapping the shells & rack for these ones from Jobeky next year!

RetiredGreyFox · 10 Oct 2012 at 07:43

ianh said:
Dimple - Thats just a shell pack matey with no cymbals, Brain or hardware. The actual full kit is nearly £2000 so a little outta the OP's price range but you're right, Jobeky's probably the best electronic drum maker in the UK right now. I've got an older version of his stuff that's about 5 years old and it's still excellent!

I just new the name and linked from the site so thanks.
At the Jobeky Drum Fair at Stafford Bingley Hall earlier this year my 11 year old nephew bought this for £300.

Dave · 10 Oct 2012 at 08:20

Your nephew is a lefty! You should get him to set it up right-handed and then play open-handed - I find it's much better for freeing up your arms. I play cross-handed so that my arms aren't crossed when playing the hi-hat, which (I find) allows for much better control and speed during fills.

Mesh-style heads is a good thing - the lower-range Rolands will have the hard pads which, whilst OK, are not too authentic. I've only ever played a TD-12 in a recording studio which I thought was very nice, but felt almost too easy to play - I think this is probably because the heads were a little over-tightened in comparison to my acoustic kit. I suppose having smaller sized "toms" also makes a difference when it comes to the bounce of the stick, but then you're increasing your chances for mis-hits! ("mis-hits" as one word is censored . . .)

RetiredGreyFox · 10 Oct 2012 at 17:46

Dave said:
Your nephew is a lefty! You should get him to set it up right-handed and then play open-handed - I find it's much better for freeing up your arms. I play cross-handed so that my arms aren't crossed when playing the hi-hat, which (I find) allows for much better control and speed during fills.

He started at 4 and got his grade 8 at 9 years old and he's now 11.
He now has lessons with 'named' drummers which costs his parents a lot of money and he can make his way through a lot of Rush songs and other intricate stuff.
His last tutor tried to get him to swap but it failed miserably because he is so good as a leftie.
The good thing he plays guitar and bass right handed and has no problems with the piano either.

This is him earlier this year.
There are obviously timing issues on this but he's OK when music is blasting through.
He's also reading from sheet music.