$4,000 Drum Set with Cheap Heads VS $400 Drum Set with Nice Heads
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- Опубліковано 18 бер 2022
- Drum Only Version: • Cheap Drum Set with Ni...
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Eastar EDS-485B 22-Inch 5-Piece Drum Set: shrsl.com/3jvvp
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Other Gear Used:
DW Collectors Maple Drum Set:
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Remo Emperor Clears:
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Remo Ambassador Clears:
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Remo Powerstoke 3:
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20" Zildjian Crash of Doom:
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21" Zildjian K Custom Special Dry Ride:
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Earthworks DK7 Drum Mic Kit:
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Vic Firth Freestyle 5b:
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Vic Firth VKB5 Beater:
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Roc n’ Soc Drum Throne:
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Tama Road Pro/ Iron Cobra Hardware:
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Theres been an age old debate regarding what makes a drum set sound good. Some argue that it's the shells, other say it's the bearing edges, some say it's the heads, and the list goes on. I would say that most of sound comes from the heads just because its whats actually resonating and producing the sound. Another thing you'll hear a lot is that with nice heads you can make even the cheapest drum set sound good. Which I totally agree with! Typically the stock heads on a cheap drum set don't sound the best, plus they don't last very long and get dented pretty quick. Put on a fresh set of Remo or Evans drum heads and the cheap drum set now sounds worlds better! Okay, but what happens when you put a set of cheap heads on a nice drum set? Do they all of a sudden sound like a cheap drum set? Or do the nice shells, bearing edges, etc. save the sound? Thats exactly what I wanted to find out in this comparison! The $4,000 drum kit in this test is a DW Collectors Maple with a Ludwig Classic snare and the cheap drum kit is a $400 drum set you can find on Amazon made by Eastar. The cheap heads from the Eastar were used on the DW and a set of Remos were put onto the Easter.
$4,000 Drum Set with Cheap Heads VS $400 Drum Set with Nice Heads
Which kit are you playing?
Drum Only Version: ua-cam.com/video/bqezq-Uoz5s/v-deo.html
Edit: To anyone who says this is fake or its impossible for a DW to sound bad or that im just trying to sell that POS drum set, *please show me an example of high end kit with heads as garbage as these that sound good*
Hi
I actually play a lot of Kits because i am a Drum-Collector😁😁🤘
8 piece Sonor SQ2 beech with the early 90’s Yamaha Dave Weckl signature snare. Coated Ambassadors on higher toms. Coated Vintage Emperors on lower toms. My lowest floor has Evans G2 clear - tuned low and punchy I find more stick definition from that. Bass drums have Evans G1 coated batters (touch more beater attack than Ambassadors in my experience). Ported stock fiberskyn on the 20” bass drum reso. Stock fiberskyn with leather punched vent holes along the perimeter of the 18” bass drum reso (that’s also the only drum with “vintage” rounded bearing edges). Overall, this gives me a rock, “thump” kick and a “bop” kick. I’ve cut out the tone control rings built into the reso heads on the stock bass heads so I can get longer decay when I want it by removing muffling. Mostly Zildjian K cymbals with two old sets of A hats (new beat and quick beat - one on a Pearl remote pedal under my ride) and some garbage cymbals from Amazon for stacks and effects inspired by this channel and Rob “beatdown” Brown’s thoughts on the topic.
I set up using Mr. “Dude!” Miree’s suggestion for primary kick on the left with a left-footed double pedal. Secondary (18) kick goes where the primary usually goes offset one pedal width to my right. This allows me to get toms lower in front of me over the smaller bass drum without my kit looking super odd.
Pearl Session Studio Select
I have 2 Ludwig Accent Drive Series in Wine Red and Sparkling Silver with Evans Heads. They have been my favorite kits I ever had. Can you do a video on Ludwig Accents? Thank you!
The majority of the drums sound comes from the logo badge obviously
Yes of course.
Lol, especially the circular ones... Gretsch... DW. You see the technology to manufacture a circle is much more costly..... never mind the brand name drumheads and heavier drum hoops. Also the cost of maple or oak versus poplar, we're talking thousands of dollars. Those cardboard thick drumshells require a vast amount of synthetic compressed lumber.
I thought it was the plastic bag the drums come in?!
True
I thought the tone came from the type of sunglasses you wear on stage
Before watching: The cheap kit with good heads will sound better.
After watching: The cheap kit with good heads sounded better.
Conclusion: It's all about getting good head.
good head is great!
😏
I see what you did there
HURRR HURRR ITS FUNNY BECAUSE PENIS HURRR HURRR HURRR HURRRR
🤭
The last kit I put together was an old unbranded kit I got at a thrift shop for $40. I put all my money into heads and cymbals and all my effort into careful tuning, and I pissed off a lot of other local drummer friends who had $2000 kits, because that kit sounded deadly.
F yeah! I play an old Royce professionally and other drummers comment how good they sound. Cheap, thin lugs break often but I keep spares. Less lug mass, more shell tone imo
@@duskintheforest584 My first set was a 5 piece Royce set. I badly wanted a name brand kit, but couldn't afford them. I swapped heads on them until I found the right sound. I didn't have the room for keeping a second set of drums when I got some Tama's a few years later. But I wish I still had those drums.
I also had two Abex cymbals that I actually really liked with that kit. There was an 18" and a 20" and I think they were both crash rides. They had an awesome sound and took a beating.
👍🏽
@@duskintheforest584true!
Got a CB Drums ST series kit for free around 7 years ago now, and when I got it the stock heads were still on it (I'm still using the stock heads on around half the kit, they're still good, as they are Remo UX clears, and I just don't have the money to spend on a full kit replacement, I only swapped it out on a Tom because it broke, and I'm about to swap the heads on the snare to try and get it to sound better.), and it had no cymbals (it had the cymbal stands though, it was weird). I have fully set it up with Meinl HCS cymbals (except for the secondary crash, my dad tried to buy me a ride cymbal a few years ago on Amazon and he just ended up getting this thin cymbal that sounded more like a crash, so I've been using it as such). All in all, when it's in tune, the kit sounds really good, and unlike most beginer kits, the Toms are actually in a usable position. It also helps that CB was made by Pearl.
It was a smart move by Eastar to sponsor this episode, as their kit with good heads sounded noticeably better. I didn’t hate how the the DW sounded, but I’m surprised how big a difference swapping out the heads made.
Been tempted to get an Eastar kit, and they are made in FL🤘home kit advantage.
Que yo me compro exactamente lo mismo y ahorro mucho dinero.
So.. Eastar needs to tease an upgrade for a better skin package.
Uh, then why not supply some decent heads then?
@@brionhannan1204 They are warehoused in FL. Are they MADE in Florida? I doubt it.
In my opinion, heads are the soul of a drum, they change dramatically the sound of a drum. Then the wood just enhances that sound. In this case, I’d say the cheap one sounded better lol
Everyone is completely disregarding durability as if sound is the only thing at all that matters. These 400 dollar drums don't last even a full year of setup and takedown on the road for anyone that really travels with their gear.
@@derpderpin1568 You are probably right! But new DW drums are extreemly expensive, so if you buy a middle priced set with quality heads, both your sound, durability and your economy will be optimized. Or if you prefer DW, you can buy a second hand kit. I gues the lesson is, buy quality heads. 😁
@@derpderpin1568 as someone who has toured with a Frankenstein cb700 / Tama Rockstar.... You are dead wrong.
@@badguacamole3709 those Rockstar kits are damn near unbreakable
@@pumpdumpster THIS!!!
The conclusion I came to is that it almost doesn't matter WHAT you use. If you can tune well, you can make any set sound good! Nice job, sir!
As long as it's round and flat, it will tune and sound good with good heads, just look at wade playing sketchy Jin baos in the garbage stream
Can we just appreciate the time and effort put in this video.
ur not getting likes
its not like he did it for free.
8:16 that groove is so sick!!!
this is my groove now!
You got me at the .. playing on a empty head shell xD
Tuning is the key for everything. You may have a high end kit with high end heads but if it's not well tuned it won't sound good. I have a mid range kit with high end heads (Evans G2's) and sounds pretty good.
Is there any tool out there to make tuning easier that's recommended?
@@CoryLunaDrums theres the drum dial, I've never tried it but some people swear by it
@@CoryLunaDrums watch tutorial videos, use your ears, and ultimately you'll get better by doing it often
I read this as "the tuning key is everything" and laughed
Yea drumbot get one
Fun fact from a machinist: you max out the amount of torque a bolt can resist when loosening at around 1.5 times the thickness of the bolt itself. So basically a #12-24 screw only needs to go in 21/64ths of an inch to maintain torque. You might as well just get hardware that is long enough enough to fit into the tensioners by about a half an inch. Any more is just unnecessary.
"21/64ths of an inch"
Ffs, PLEASE americans, adopt the metric system i beg you
@@ShoryYTP 8.3mm
An inch is an inch lol. Its not a weird unit of measurement
1) metric system.
2) measurement system that went to the moon.
My drum teacher always said that the skins and tuning was 90% of a drums tone, only 10% was the shells!
Yes man!
You do the shit we are all thinking. And do it well ! Thanks for taking one for the team. This is also one of the few drumming channels wifey will watch with me. Think she’s crushing on you.
Just listening on my iPhone 8…clearly heads make the most difference, provided the shells are true enough and bearing edges are ok.
I play stage custom’s sound as good as any of the “better” kits I’ve owned.
You rock rdavidr!!!
I learned this last year, I got a Tama W/B starclassic and it sounded fine with the stock heads, but then I got a beginner Ludwig kit for my nephew and threw some unused Remos on it and it sounded insane
The first thing I did with my bb starclassic was put new heads (batter and reso) on every single drum, kick included.
@@GuitarGodgt I mean obviously I changed them almost immediately but I wanted to play and the record the kit first and foremost.
Tbf the Starclassics do come with USA made Evans heads, so I'd think those heads should definitely sound decent. Not all stock heads are bad!
Did this with my friend's Lugwig Accent. The kit sounded absolutely biblical with new heads on it. I was in such disbelief.
@@robinjohnson6301for sure! The resos are a little iffy but the batter aren’t bad
It’s clearly the box the drums came in that makes it sound good
I had my eyes closed and grooving along without a care until 8:54; the sound change and quality is noticeable and dramatic. I could even hear the top tom begin to fail right at 9:32 (confirmed at 11:06). The Remo heads made the Eastar shells sound like a well-made kit. It totally came down to how good the sound of and how well-made the skins are.
1:08 Great that you tested it without the heads. Didn’t believe you for a second 😂
To me, it isn't about the price. It's about the sound you're looking for.
True, but is the sound you're looking for the way these cheap heads sound?
@@perpetualgrimace Not all heads in this cheap price range sound identical. Testing one sample from cheap and one from expensive is just a bad test. Also nobody is factoring in durability. 400 dollar drums break so fast on the road.
@@perpetualgrimace Yep. I liked the cheap heads with the dw drums better.
And the tuning
The Eastar kit won me over, hands down.
I'm a firm believer of making cheap kits sound better with good heads.
I dare to put Evans heads on a Spongebob kit and rock out with it!
The DW kit is nice, but by the time
I manage it's doublethreaded
tension rods I will have died of
old age... right now at almost 57yo
Time is more precious! lol
Outstanding video, as always;
great production! 🤘🤘👍👍
You can definitely tell a difference between the toms and bass. Snare was pretty solid on both.
Well, a clear example of what a good tuning, nice mics, nice room and nice playing can do... incredible...
Agreed... I would have loked to hear the comparison in Naked Conditions.... No Drum Mics, or EQs in a decent room to really hear the differences. i only for recreation in retirement at 71 yo, but do not record or use Drum Mics, just Play the drums. That one factor contributes to my frustration when I am trying to achieve the sounds I hear on YT. I have found as well, it is the Drum Heads & Tuning that maxes out the sound. This also villifies and kinda strikes down the whoopla of getting very expensive Drum Kits - at least for my purposes.
Tuning #1, heads #2, weight of rims #3, bearing edge # 4...... and the rest as far as sound of a drum is 100% subject to one's opinion.
Yes, for absolute measurements. For relative measurements this is perfectly valid and insightful; all drums had the same conditions and therefore the same baseline offset…
i think everything sounded decent except for the dw floor tom with the cheap heads but was definitely an experiment worth doing since you right, havent really heard of someone doing good kit with cheap heads as opposed to the standard of cheap kit good heads
I also agree, if you are comfortable with a drill you'll be fine. Just start each lug by hand several threads deep so you know they're started straight and square and make sure you stop before they actually reach the hoop. If you do that you'll never have an issue. It's when you start trying to start the lugs WITH the drill that you run in to problems. Fun fact: If you don't have a drum key drill attachment, you can use a 1/4inch ratchet extension and put it in the drill backwards, that's what I've been doing for years at this point.
honestly this might be due to other factors or different tuning or something, but they both sound good in different ways to me? the cheap kit has a nice beefy attack but sounds really shallow after that, whereas the dw has a kinda thin crappy sounding attack but the resonance is much deeper and clearer
You're not wrong.
i kinda thought the same thing lol
Well dw is definitely louder shells
Yes sir. Good ears
I think the same. I do think (I'm probably really wrong) but I think the cheaper drum has more EQ and suppression or compression than the DW kit. To me the DW sounded more like a real life drum would sound while the cheaper drum sounded like a drum you hear in a metal song. A lot of attack not a lot of definition or resonance.
Cheap set with the better heads ftw! Great video!
That's why i'm still rocking my ddrum defiant 7 piece kit. Throw on pinstripes with a controlled sound reversed dot on just about anything and do a good job tuning and it'll be fine.
I would say that Tuning has alot to do with the sound as well as i have had to help other people tune their equipment as they would always have ringing and weird overtones. the wood and other items are just icing on the cake. I do love my ludwig Acrolite snare from the 70's though. Definitely can get a night tight crack with it.
always sharing results of experiments that I can only think about and never have the time or budget for. you rock rdavidr!!!!
I could hear the cheap kit sounding better with better heads and the cheap heads hampering the DW sound. Cheap kit FTW
What I've been saying for 30 + years, drum heads and tuning make up 90% of the sound. The cheap kit with better heads sounds better. Thanks for this video.
RDR, thank you, thank you, thank you. I love the way you present anything you publish. You make experimentation so much fun, and you style of delivery is so entertaining.
Appreciate the amount of time you put into this. What I took from it is the incredible amount of mid-range kits ($750-1250) that would be the best of both worlds. Although they weren't represented here, The Gretsch Catalina series, Yamaha Stage Custom, Pearl Export, etc..., which would be far superior to the Eastar, would be a perfect middle ground, especially in live situations. Good heads on a solid mid-range quality kit would give you EVERYTHING you need. Spend your cash on good cymbals and hardware and still save a few grand. Compared to the 70s and 80s, the gap between high end kits and mid range kits is far less noticeable.
To be clear, I absolutely appreciate the quality craftsmanship put into super high end drums, but I ain't droppin' 3-4K on shells that I would be afraid to take outside of my home.
Of course, if I get a sponsorship, I'm all in...haha
I love the fact that even if you dont have a ton of money, you can still sound incredible and very very recordable if you just invest into a good pack of heads. Id like to see this taken to an even further extreme. An almost toy level kit with some great sounding heads. probably 6" and 8" with a 14" bass.
I'd say that the biggest issue is more so resonance of the floor toms. To my ears, the Eastar floor tom sounded choked while the DW would still ring. But the actual tone of the Eastar kit with nice heads was much better, than the DW with cheap heads.
I've noticed this too. I had a cheap Tama beginner kit, and I could never get the floor tom to sound like anything but BLLarrrwaalll. It's also easier to tune nice heads on a nice kit, than nice heads on a cheap kit. But, with nice heads, you can make anything sound passable.
Great vid as usual and your drumming keeps getting better! I like the cheap kit with nice heads better, but the DW with cheap heads doesn't sound bad either. IMHO, the head seems to matter most in close mics, but when listening to room mics, the shells really make a difference.
I’m a guitarist but I love to tune drums. I find it so relaxing and soothing.
Said no one ever lol
As a guitarist, I've watched for years as "tonewood" was discussed, and have come to the conclusion that the wood your guitar is made of has very little impact on the sound of the guitar (electric - acoustic is very different) - it's all in the pickups and pickup wiring. So I was curious how this experiment would play out, and yes, I liked the cheap set better.
The tonewood debate is the dumbest thing ever. Will the wood of an electric guitar affect the sound? Yes, absolutely. It's basic physics...but when you factor in your string choice, pickups, pedals and amp, will it affect it enough to notice? Nope.
It's basically like arguing whether putting a half pound weight in the trunk of your car will affect it's performance. Yes it will, but not enough for you to notice.
I dunno man, most 50+ year olds playing DW kits in bar bands will absolutely swear that their super mega amazing special 1700 year old dry aged bourbon barrel Australian river zebrabubinga sounds infinitely nicer than another company because they paid more for it.
I've watched a couple videos about this a couple months ago and it was pretty clear that tone in ELECTRIC guitars mostly comes from the pickups, the distance between the pickups and the strings and the positioning of the pickups relative to the scale lenght
@@bubblebeep1592 but, but .. "Swamp Ash"!!😜
Tonewood is a goofy gimmick. I have 5 different guitars. An ESP Horizon wTOM, ESP Eclipse wTOM, Ibanez RG450 wEdge trem, 1980 Ibanez Destroyer wGibraltar bridge, and Charvel custom shop Soloist with a Schaller trem. All different, price points, woods, bridges and shapes. They all sound exactly the same because they all have the same bridge pickup and the same guy playing them.
I bought an OSP 7 piece about 16 years ago when all the stuff coming in from China had started making huge leaps in quality just a few years prior. It was $400 and sounded phenomenal, and the OEM cymbals were at least useable, but I had always wanted to upgrade them. I upgraded some of the heads which actually sounded great, but they were batter
Then, I bought an OSP electronic drum set which was also spectacular, and a few years later, it showed up with Alesis stamped on it right down to the exact same drum brain module lol.
Love seeing your video ideas. I'd like to see you try some cursed drum creations, like ride cymbal hi-hats, cowbell rivets, or even a bass drum w/ snares.
i never thought i would have a crush on remo more in my life
Great video! In all honesty, I think the cheap drums with the nice heads sound BETTER than the DW drums with the crappy heads! The DWs were noticably flatter and less resonant than the Eastar drums.
You pretty much reinforced what I've believed for a long time... that the WAY you play is more important than what you play. I played mediocre DC 1000 Remo drums in my band days. I listen to old recordings, and they still sound decent.
Now, if I were a big name professional player with alot of money, I would STILL opt for a more expensive set of DWs, Pork Pies, or Sonors. There isn't a HUGE difference between them and cheaper drums, BUT every little bit counts if you're serious about playing.... 💯
The Ludwig snare with the cheap head still sounded better than the cheap snare with the Remo head. But in every other way, the cheap kit sounded better with proper heads.
Totally. I wouldn’t let the cheap snare ring out if I had to play on it.
naaah. it produced a very nasty resonance which no muffling would ever fix.
I appreciate all of the time and effort it took to make this video. I would’ve loved to also hear takes of the cheap drums with cheap heads and the expensive ones with expensive heads to be able to cross compare all 4!
Dude, I had a drum kit for a few years, replaced heads and all, but then never again. Seeing you going through all of this and doing it well, you gotta really like this type of activity.
7:35 Good drumming!
The tonal quality comes from the head and the bearing edge. Those are arguably more important for a "good" sound. The shell materials and shapes are definitely important for tonal character, but don't necessarily make a "better" or "worse" sound; just a different sound.
My old westbury kit sounded awful no matter what heads or tuning I used, but it likely had terrible bearing edges as well.
My new Mapex kit has 45-degree rounded bearing edges, and sounds amazing with minimal tuning.
TL;DR: Get a kit that has good quality parts and good quality control, and suits your taste. It doesn't have to be the most expensive to be the best. I personally love mid-range kits, like my Mapex Armory kit.
The drummer is the key
God this youtube channel just gives me all warm cozy feels.
Thanks D brother
Great video. ive been a drummer for 30 years and always used Remo heads. you can defo hear the quality difference.
Having great heads makes a huge difference. Also knowing how to tune is a plus. I’m a DW player and this cheap kit with the good heads put the dubs to shame
This only confirmed my uneducated position of heads from when I was a kid with crappy drumset heads. It’s very possible to make all the heads sound good with a combo of muffling and decent tuning. The one MAJOR difference is in the bass drum, and there’s not a lot of getting around it. You either have a good bass sound with a good head or you don’t, which really sucks
When ever one of your videos pops on my feed it makes me want to learn to play drums.
This was a great experiment-thanks for posting!
The cheaper heads deffinately didnt have the sound of the expensive ones. They didnt sound crap though, if anything made the kite sound more like an electric kit.
Would deffinately rather go the more pricey head route (especially when 2nd hand drums aren't bad).
Love the grooves, some solid playing as always.
I liked the cheap snare head tuning WAY more, especially for the fusion-y backing track he was playing to. But the cheap tom heads definitely were not the best.
To my ears, they both sounded good. The DWs with the crappy heads sounded more musical and obviously projected better but had a very thin and boing-y attack that wasn't the most pleasant. The cheap kit with the good heads sounded more controlled and better in context, but had a very boxy and one-dimensional sound that is indicative of a cheap poplar kit.
This is the differentiated opinion I was hoping to hear from the youtuber. Maybe you should make a channel :D
I concur, well stated.
Great content! Thanks for going through the work of making the video!
I've been an audio engineer for over 35 years and I've been saying this for a long time after a drummer used a DW kit with crap heads, and another band was using a cheap kit with good heads. You just put better control into the situation while I had to deal with whatever the band put up on that concert stage. Your results were along the same lines as what I experienced.
Interesting experiment, but outside of the heads that ship with cheap kits, are there actually any real cheaper head options on the market outside of your standard Remo & Evans offerings?
Aquarian heads are way cheaper and sound good like remo and evans
You can buy unbranded heads from Drum Factory Direct for less than Remo, Evans, or Aquarian. I believe they’re intended for small custom drum builders that don’t want another company’s logo on the heads (for the sake of pictures) and also help keep costs down for the drum builders.
the cheap drum set sounded so good, the tuning and mixing was on point. that DW sounded like shit after that.
3:26 is comedic genius, David!!!!!
Well if you get super thick shells vs regular thin shells it'll make a significant difference in volume and tone. But I can definitely confirm from owning a Pulse and a custom DW that heads are the only thing that matters. And then if you really want to get technical, the thing that matters most is velocity and mixing.
Eastar with better heads sounded GREAT. deep and full, loved it. a snare had some annoying ring to it but it's manageable with a bit of Moongel.
DW with worse heads sounded ok-ish. heads really matter, turns out. although partially saved by the quality of a crazy expensive kit, it still sounded flat to me.
conclusion: you may save on the kit but never on the heads.
thank you for your effort man. that was both entertaining and educative. science, bitch!
Toms and bass drum on the cheap kit sounded very good. Especially the bass drum which I actually prefer to the DW one, even when it had the good heads! I think one of the reasons for that is the shorter depth - 22x16" just has more punch which I like better. The DW with the cheap heads imo flat out sucked which is to be expected, considering how thin those heads are!
Heads are the speakers..
Shells are the speaker cabs..
I noticed years ago, cheap drums with good heads tuned properly sound good.
Drum wood......marketing.
Thanks for a awesome comparrison!
Bro second video I’ve watched of you. Great style, great playing. The way you tune the Easter and those cymbals sound epic. I’d ask you to play drums on material if I could ever get back on the studio. Hopefully you could tune drums exactly like that again! 👍👌
Eastar heads sounded “boingy” to me and the Remo didn’t. I prefer the cheap drums to the DW. I always thought that would be the case. I’ve gotten tons of compliments on my low intermediate level drum kit, even when I play shows with other bands whose drummers are playing DW, or Tama Starclassic, or some other high end rig. The price of the kit doesn’t matter to the average audience member. Just the sound. It’s not like hearing my kit next to a fancier one made mine sound worse. I just use standard remo pinstripes and tune semi correctly.
nice heads on a cheap drumset for suuure sounds better
Guitarist here, stumbled across this channel - funny to hear the "tonewood" argument is thriving here too!!
I was told by a friend at a drum shop to buy the lower line of a great drum brand, and use better heads! Over the years, my drums have always sounded better than most top line sets! (A. because I use good heads, and B. I know how to tune) Great video!
Wow. I'm honestly surprised at how good DW kit sounds with cheap heads. Having said that, there's a reason why heads are generally the first thing you replace on any kit. And, there's also a reason why just about everyone upgrades to at least a mid-tier kit if they play for any length of time. Cheap kits still don't make the cut with quality heads.
1:08 I don't know what you're talking about man those are just ghost notes
best comment
My main takeaway from this video is that your smooth yet funky drumming is ace. A good drummer will get along with most any gear. Well played.
For a drum of identical dimensions without obvious shape or hardware issues (round, true, no buzzy bits, reasonable vent hole design): Intuition tells me heads first. After that, bearing edge shape. Hmm. Then probably the density / elasticity of the shell material. Mostly, I’d guess it pretty quickly comes down to how hitting the batter translates to reso head response. So, head material consistency and shape, then surface area and consistency of head to shell, then transmission of vibration from batter to reso.
That said, emotionally … expensive drums sound better in subtle ways, probably because they’re expensive if I’m honest with myself.
Tuning is of course key, but I say that at least 40% of the kits sound depends on the cymbals.
A good set with cheap cymbals will sounds bad as hell compared to a „bad“ kit with really good cymbals.
the sound is absolutely all about the rug you have under the kit.
Man your playing has gotten SMOOTH. Amazing job!
The sound of a drum comes first and foremost from the drummers tone & technique (or lack thereof), and secondly from the room acoustics & tuning of the heads (they are forever intertwined).
Expensive cymbals will help, and maybe that $3,000 kit will make you feel good... but if your tone isn't already translating from kit to kit, room to room, you should put an emphasis on your own technique and how that impacts the sound of the drums. Obviously don't use drums that are out of tune, but play around with the source (you) before analyzing the hell outta shell materials, types of heads, plies, bearing edges, blah blah. You'll go broke.. and at the end of the day, there'll still be a plenty of drummers that sound "better" or have "the tone" that you're chasing. And.. they can probably do it on your exact rig without much of a fuss.
I think that it is a combination of the shell and the heads. And being able to tune the drums is a big plus too.
Finding the "right" heads is critical for max sound. Lots of designs, weights, and choices out there...
I'm old-school, choosing coated C.S. Dots, or Emperors first...
And, love your videos ideas!
My drummer can barely fix his drums but can make absolutely any drum set sound good. He doesn’t even care if it’s a mini drum set but will not play a digital drum set no matter the price.
Great show, I learned a lot👍🏽
Best drum product video ever!!!
Brilliant and thank you!!
This guy has ended all arguments!
Heads all the way!
I got some cheap 87 Rockers with power toms as a club beater kit and put CS dots all around with clear ambs on the reso. I was shocked at how good they sound. Got compliments from front of house with a $250 kit. Tuning helps.
That continuing of your talk while cutting between the kits was really entertaining, but i guess it was also a bit of work to continue previously recorded footage on the other kit so smooth. You did it well though and i really liked it
I like both. I definitely hear a clear difference but wouldn't define it as bad or good. In the end as always its the drummer that can make it sound good or bad. And there are always tricks to get the sound you want afterwards
I did not expect that result, great comparison too
Solid video! Great idea and result
Good content putting these to the test. I always skimped on shell's but never wasted money with cheap heads. Once I spent top dollar on a good kit, I didn't even trust the stock heads and upgraded lol
it’s incredible what good heads and mechanics can do
Crazy, didn't expected that much Difference!
Damn that Eastar sounded so much better with those nice heads. Going into this though I always expected it to sound better as the make and style of the heads makes the biggest difference apart from shell size. This makes me want to get one of their kits though if I ever replace my Ddrum kit.
Really enjoyed the Tom and bass drum sound on the Eastar with good heads. Cheap snare still sounded tubby.
DW all sounded thin and flappy. Even that snare.
Heads make a huge difference.
Thanks for this video. We are firms my belief that cheaper in moderate priced kits with great heads sound just as good if not better than the high priced ones. I have a PDP kit with some great Evans heads and I love it
Definitely the heads. Great job tuning the cheap heads to make them sound as best as they could.
Fascinating. Enjoyed this comparison. 🥁😎🤘🎶
Proper heads, good bearing edges and proper tuning a less expensive drum kit can sound great. My best sounding drum kit is a Ddrum 'SE Flyer'; considered a 'budget/entry level' kit but they tune up well, hold their tuning and always sound good. I put an Evans '56 Calftone batter head on the snare and it woke it up very pleasant tone for the venue I play that kit in: a church worship band.
Great playing and song selection for this video.
In accordance with most other comments, the cheap kit sounded great! Found the same thing using a 2005 Tama Rockstar with tuning and emperor vintage coated heads!
Holy shit this is content I wish i was watching years ago ! Great video I'm subscribed looking forward to more videos! I'm digging the chops man
This is just about optimizing potential. It's like pouring mud over both a diamond & a piece of glass, then polishing ONLY the glass, to see which one is shinier. The diamond sparkles way more but you've got that mud on there still!
I pegged it from the beginning. My first kit was a Mark II from Sam's Club that my parents bought me when I was 16. I swapped the heads for some Remo's and had people offering to buy the kit from me.
It's all in the heads and the player.
Great video concept comparison!