Usually I'm posting in the guitar section (I own a lot of guitars — probably too many
) since I'm primarily a guitarist, but my first instrument and first love is (are?) the drums.Close to 15 years ago I spent $$$$ on a top-of-the-line Roland kit and had to sell it soon afterward when economic reality hit. I've been wanting to get back into electronic drums since then and the marketplace is now such that all of the components can be bought third-market and there are quite a few options available. I realized I could convert a full-size acoustic kit for much less than a pre-made smaller head/rack electronic kit from Roland, etc.
My first purchase was a Pearl Roadshow 'Rock' kit. I know I could have bought used, but either the condition, wrap, configuration, hassle and/or price kept me from going that route. The reason I picked the Roadshow was that it came in the configuration I liked — 22" bass drum, 12" rack tom (with stand), two floor toms (14" & 16"), a 14" snare and a wrap I liked (aqua sparkle). It also came with a hi-hat stand, a cymbal stand, a kick pedal and a throne. It came with a crash and hi-hat cymbals which are junk, but I don't need them so no biggy. Surprisingly, the hardware is pretty decent and more than adequate for a hobbyist like me. It was also pretty inexpensive considering everything it comes with (sub $700 new).
I then bought 3-ply 'Real Feel' mesh heads from Drum-tec in Germany. They're a bit pricey, but cheaper than Roland heads and I've heard nothing but good things about them. Turns out, they're great! I also bought their 1-ply heads to use as resonator heads, since it cuts down on the noise even more.
I added rubber rims from UFO drums to cut down on noise and have a smoother surface for the drum triggers.
One thing that really pushed me into building my own kit is that there are now affordable electronic cymbal options. A Chinese company called Lemon has introduced rubber electronic cymbals that are almost as good as Roland but 1/4 the price. I've seen a bunch of videos on YouTube and they've gotten great reviews. So far I've bought one Lemon 13" crash (from Amazon) but I've also purchased a 20" ride, a 15" crash and two 12" hi-hat cymbals from Alibaba (they're cheaper if you buy them direct from Alibaba) but they've yet to arrive.
The only things I have left to do are also potentially the priciest: buying and installing the internal triggers and buying a drum module. I'm currently doing tons of research on which triggers are best and I'm probably going to buy a Roland TD-27 module, but that's tentative. The more videos I watch the more confused I get!
If anyone has any good input I would appreciate it!
Here's a few pics of what I have so far (I know it looks dorky without the cymbals, but they're coming!). I set it up in my living room temporarily for pics — it's now shoved into my office! :
