There are several manufacturers that make good quality drum sets.  Work very hard not to get biased about any one manufacturer.

This may seem obvious at first, but, the best way to pick a drum set is to really go and play everything you can.  If you are self-conscious about that, do not think you have to sit down at every store and do a solo that must stop everyone dead in his or her tracks.  A very logical approach is all you need. The idea is to go look with an open mind and LISTEN and LOOK above all else.  A simple 1 or 2 hits on a drum tells a lot. And I believe you should start with the hitting aspect, not the visual one where you migrate to finish and name badges.

Once a drum is hit, your brain takes over and responds by saying, “I like it or I don’t”. This may be or may not be valid information. Believe it or not, there is much more to be considered and a little knowledge can explain a lot.

Step 1 - The Surroundings: If the store has tile floors and multiple glass windows, the sound from all sets will be more harsh and open.  If the store has a carpeted floor, the sound will go more dead or focused with less reverberant effect. If there are multiple drums stored nearby, they too will get excited by the sound of the hit and as such; accentuate the resonance or more often, the low end response.  So you need to focus on the drum you are playing.  The brain needs direction and you have to provide it.

Step 2 - The sound: As you move from drum to drum throughout the store, consider what you are really hearing through by applying visual identification. If the drum is in a corner, it will accentuate the sound from the resonant heads and the sound will be reinforced in the lower midrange and bass sections.  If the drum is out in the open, it will likely be the reverse effect and go more accentuated in the upper midrange and sound thinner or lacking in bass.  Look at the heads, are they the same as the previous drum, are they coated, are the muffled, are they 2-ply, been used, dented, etc.  Heads and surrounding have a huge impact on the sound. Tuning is number one.  Way too often shops let the sound of their sets go out of tune because the drum room is a prime target to create a weekend child care center.  Heads stay on a long time but they are usually not destroyed.  So tune them.  I find the sound of a typical 12” tom and the kick drum define the timbre of the set, so I suggest you focus on those 2 drums until you find a few sets that you like and then finesse the rest.  Snare drums are really a separate issue but one quick thing to do there is understand very high tunings sell drums.  So often you’ll find everyone of them tuned way too high.  Turn off the strainer on surrounding drums and pull any snare you want to try out and away from everything else, even the drum set you’re playing.  Play it at YOUR normal height, while sitting at YOUR normal height with YOUR sticks you thoughtfully brought along.

Step 3 - Moving About:  Now that these acoustic issues are implanted in your brain, do not spend much time at any one given drum set banging out a solo and try to refrain from hitting cymbals.  Your ear gets tired and over a very few minutes, you’ll begin to stop hearing subtle differences. A few hits on one set, go to the next and trust your instincts.  As a human (its an assumption) you’ve had several million years to hone these, they know more than you do! Trust them!  As you move about, make mental notes on what you liked or didn’t about the sound of one drum vs. another.

Step 4 - Forget about price, manufacturer, wood, construction and finish.  I cannot emphasize this enough. And yes, forget about your budget.  We’ll get through that issue in the end and address the issue of how you can afford the drums and get something within your budget.

Step 5 – Serve Notice:  Tell the shop you’re here to consider purchasing a new drum set.  A good well trained sales guy, and even the ones that aren’t, will ask all sorts of questions.  Be courteous and answer the best you can but find a tactful way of telling them right up front you do not need any help right now. Tell them you really just want to approach this in as unbiased manner as possible and while you don’t disagree with them, you just want to nose around a bit. Ask them for their card or name, and tell them you’ll be sure to check back later as you narrow things down or have questions. Explain you want to just see what’s out in the market these days, your in the market for a set, and would like to spend sometime methodically trying out a few things.  Because of what I’m going to explain below, they will not see you as a self-indulgent egotistical drum junky looking for self-gratification hoping to impress everyone that walks by.  Further, they really won’t know your skill level at all, and to me, that’s the fun part.  Moreover, because you understood what you were doing up front, you thoughtfully brought your own sticks and a drum key.  So you’re displaying a professional attitude rather than an impulsive one. If for that odd reason there’s one of those sets around that has a weird tuning lug, just ask the shop guys for that key when and if you need it.

Step 6 – Read the Drum Tuning Bible:  It will explain how to tune a drum and details about drum construction for you to consider.  This way, you won’t destroy heads on sets on display, and you’ll be armed with important information to stimulate the brain and point you towards the right choice. You might also read about the Drum Woods.

Step 7 - Bringing it all together:  It’s excruciatingly hard to get all factors even and do direct apples to apples comparisons. A larger drum, different heads, less than identical locations are all a few of the many factors that we’ve discussed and they all (collectively) influence the sound.  If you read the Drum Tuning Bible, you know that several factors must be playing their individual part in shaping the sound. You should consider these and ask yourself first and foremost, if you changed the heads, would you get something more to your liking or not?  You do have some things immediately at your disposal to help even the playing field.  Did I mention tuning?  You can also take the 12” mounted tom from the 2 or 3 or 4 drum sets in question and bring them together in the same spot so they are close to the one drum you are beginning to hone in on.  Try to tune them all the same focusing on both heads.  Hold them at the same level.  Ask you sales guy to get involved, he or she is curious now anyway.  Ask them to play the drum while you go across the room and stand in various places. This levels the field and brings all factors together.  Seem silly?  It shouldn’t!  You are going to play for an audience and not too many can sit there with you on your almighty throne.  So it’s very important to know what they will hear.

Repeat all this with the kick drum and snare drum and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your brain kicks in and says, I like it or I don’t.

Step 8 – Hardware - Now tie it together by putting the toms back on their respective mounts and see if the sound changes.  See if moving the drum in closer or out further on the arm impacts the sound of these few drums you’ve narrowed things down to.  Pay close attention to how you might setup the kit.  Ergonomics are huge in how they influence your play.  Refrain from setting the set like another drummer might, set it so your reach works to allow a consistent hit in the center of each drum, without the stick angle to the being too severe.  Too steep of an angle and you get a thin sound and destroy heads.  Too shallow of an angle and you may always hit the rim, not such a good thing on toms, but it can be great on snare. 

The bass pedal should be comfortable.  Adjustment could be a whole separate article but for now, make sure the beater is the same profile, material, and set to impact the drum in the center.  Did I mention tuning?  Does it have a hole in the head?  Are they muffled?  Do not trust the sound of a kick drum hit by hand, it just isn’t the same.  Even if you hold the beater in your hand and hit it, it’s not the same.

The stands.  Well I’m not going to focus on these too much other than to say, if they position to where you like, and you perceive them to be good, make a mental note of them for now, because you can always mix any stand with any set.  Sacrilegious you say! Nope!  It’s a reality; it’s legal to do that.  There are no “stand police”.  But there is “quality” police.  Even some of the most touted sets have inferior quality to the snare throw-off mechanics, lug and shell finish.  You have to decide what you can live with. 

Step 9 – Budget.  Now that you’ve sorted it all out, because you did not focus on budget, and you did not let a brand influence you, and you did not allow color to influence you, and forgot about the woods, and I know you followed all the rest of my advice (?), you now have close to what is an ideal drum set implanted in your brain. So now the real work begins.  Your job is to go back and try to match as many factors as you can possibly match to a set within your budget to your ideal kit.  Because you now know the value of the factors involved that influence your sound, you can begin the process of collecting, tuning and adjusting and you will find out, very quickly whether, to your ear, the woods, heads, construction, etc. make a difference to you or not. And therein is the most important factor.  You see all these discussions about wood and manufacturers.  But can you hear it?

Step 10 – The Purchase. As I see it, affordable means making use of something within your budget that in the end doesn’t cost too much to own.  Consider buying fewer drums for now if cost is a factor.  This isn’t so bad, you can develop great fills with fewer drums.  It forces you to become more creative.  Less cases, smaller vehicle, there are lots of advantages to buying fewer and build upon that.  If you agree, consider a better quality drum shell pack in lieu of buying top of the line hardware.  Consider financing but I would pay very close attention to the interest rate. Saving is a better option here! This is not a course in financial planning but as I see it, your better off waiting to buy something you like than you are to buy something to make do. Trade-ins are for convenience, not for a good return on your investment.  Capitalize on this unfortunate beating another guy took.  Ask about used sets like the ones you like, search the papers and the internet.  Post the question on a bulletin board.

In the end, I have found this procedure to be very educational and I routinely go out in the market every few years and follow it.  It will enlighten you as to just how good the sets that are not “top-of-the-line” are and how inferior even some of the most expensive drums are for sound, even if the construction and marketing are great.  This is not to say expensive sets are inferior.  To the contrary, many are worth the money when you combine all these factors together.  But the reality is, some just are not worth the money when compared equally.  In the end, you’ll know that.