Mid/high level kits.

Drumquest2

Senior Member
Which kits are considered mid level, which are considered high level? Not only in terms of price but, as important, in terms of sound.
Players' opinions, please.
 
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All depends on who you ask. One person's mid level kit is another persons high level hit.... and to some even an entry level kit.
 
Which kits are considered mid level, which are considered high level? Not only in terms of price but, as important, in terms of sound.
Players' opinions, please.

This is a very broad question to ask. Drum kits are hard to define what's a mid level kit what's high level, or even what's considered professional grade. Everyone has opinions on each drum maker but it usually breaks down into Top tier ($2500 or more) or flag ship models like Mapex Black Panther/Orion, Pearl Masterworks, DW Collector's... Etc. Then Mid-high tier ($1500-2000) kits like Mapex Saturn IV, Pearl MCX and BCX, and DW performance. Then it keeps dropping down the tiers mid level, and entry level kits being at the bottom.

It's not like car shopping and no two drum kits from different drum makers will really line up side by side perfectly.
 
I assume you're talking about the performers. I rank those pretty high. They are lower in price than the maple, but I like them better. I don't own any. I do have high end birch yammies though.
 
I would put the Starclassic Birch (aka. Performer) below the maples. Not to say Maple is better than Birch, but Tama did some minor things to make the kit a bit cheaper to build. 8 lug bass drums on Birch vs. 10 lug on the Maple. Virgin bass on the Maple and tom mount on the bass for Birch. Metal badges on the Birch vs decal under lacquer on the Maple. Its little things like this that differentiate them. So The Starclassic Birch in the intro kit to the Starclassic line. Its above the Rockstar, Swingstar and Imperialstar lines, so I would put it in the middle of Tama's overall line of drums.
 
IMO mid level kits perform every bit as well as high end kits. I consider mid level from about USD $1400 and down. That's just me though. A Stage Custom kit is what about $600 brand new? Pretty good value right there. Any kit that you can get that's between $600 and about $1400 will serve you just as well as more expensive drums IMO. I gigged mid level Pearls for about 6 years with zero equipment problems. The last few years I didn't even use cases or bags. Mid level kits of today are far more precise than top end kits from the 70's.

When the band starts up, the sonic difference, from the audiences POV, between well tuned mid level kits and well tuned high end kits is hardly noticeable.
 
When the band starts up, the sonic difference, from the audiences POV, between well tuned mid level kits and well tuned high end kits is hardly noticeable.

+1. Outside of people on boards like this, even most musicians don't even really know the difference and don't care what you play, in my experience they mainly know brands if anything.
 
I would put the Starclassic Birch (aka. Performer) below the maples. Not to say Maple is better than Birch, but Tama did some minor things to make the kit a bit cheaper to build. 8 lug bass drums on Birch vs. 10 lug on the Maple. Virgin bass on the Maple and tom mount on the bass for Birch. Metal badges on the Birch vs decal under lacquer on the Maple. Its little things like this that differentiate them. So The Starclassic Birch in the intro kit to the Starclassic line. Its above the Rockstar, Swingstar and Imperialstar lines, so I would put it in the middle of Tama's overall line of drums.

Having owned a Tama Starclassic Performer Birch (in addition to the Starclassic Bubinga and Maple kits I currently own), I agree with Tommy_D. They were fantastic kits, with the same build quality as the more expensive Maple and Bubingas, but as he said, there were a few extra things (aside from Birch being a less costly wood) that they did to bring the price down to a more intermediate price range.

I would call them a pro-level kit, with a more modest price. Plenty of Tama endorsees who preferred the sound of birch chose them as their kit, while they were available. Same with the current Performer Birch/Bubinga series. Different sound, some just like it more.
 
I would put the Starclassic Birch (aka. Performer) below the maples. Not to say Maple is better than Birch, but Tama did some minor things to make the kit a bit cheaper to build. 8 lug bass drums on Birch vs. 10 lug on the Maple. Virgin bass on the Maple and tom mount on the bass for Birch. Metal badges on the Birch vs decal under lacquer on the Maple. Its little things like this that differentiate them. So The Starclassic Birch in the intro kit to the Starclassic line. Its above the Rockstar, Swingstar and Imperialstar lines, so I would put it in the middle of Tama's overall line of drums.

Just a point or two of information .Tama hasn't made Rockstars for quite some tome now,and Swingstars have been phased out for a few years as well.,and replaced with Silverstars All starclassic bass drums 22' an above ,have 10 lugs per side,not 8.Virgin bass drums can be ordered in all starclassic lines,not just maple,not that a virgin bass drum really matters anyway.Aslo ,all starclassic drums come with various metal badges,and have for some time now.

That being said, any one of the Tama starclassic lines,are being played by many pro drummers.Some prefer the SOUND of maple,some birch,and some birch/ bubinga and some bubinga.The difference in build qualty,is simply is non existant.

At a certain price point,most mass produced drums,made by a major manufacturer,are very similar in sound and build quality.Goos bearing edges,tuning and heads make most of the difference.You can get a 60's MIJ cheapo impost kit to sound great in a studio,or live .The player also matters to a large degree.There's a a couple of vids on youtube,that clearly illustrate this.

One has Benny Greb,playing a Sponge Bob Square Pants toy drum set,and sounding great.Another is of Mike Johnston playing a cheapo import kit at a Sam Ash store,and not only does it sound good,but he was loving it.

The main differences are in better build quality,materials,QC,finish,and hardware quality like mounts,lugs rims ect.Better kits also come with top of the line heads,cheaper ones with cheaper heads,and that cost can mount up,when selling hundreds of drum sets.

Steve B
 
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At a certain price point,most mass produced drums,made by a major manufacturer,are very similar in sound and build quality.Goos bearing edges,tuning and heads make most of the difference.You can get a 60's MIJ cheapo impost kit to sound great in a studio,or live .The player also matters to a large degree.There's a a couple of vids on youtube,that clearly illustrate this.

One has Benny Greb,playing a Sponge Bob Square Pants toy drum set,and sounding great.Another is of Mike Johnston playing a cheapo import kit at a Sam Ash store,and not only does it sound good,but he was loving it.

The main differences are in better build quality,materials,QC,finish,and hardware quality like mounts,lugs rims ect.Better kits also come with top of the line heads,cheaper ones with cheaper heads,and that cost can mount up,when selling hundreds of drum sets.

Steve B

Exactly! Tuning and heads can make any mechanically good drum kit sound great.

I remember Dave Grohl talking about a cheap drum kit sounding amazing in his garage and that being the main reason they recorded Wasting Light in his garage.
 
tamadrm;1284271 At a certain price point said:
Very well put! I'd add 'that most all mid range kits sound well' For high end, it can also then be stated that it hinges on where it is made, if they are hand made, and the manufacturing process/quality at that point. There is a reason there are $1500 and $5500 4 piece shell kits. ;-)
 
I've got 3 letters for you.. PDP... at $800 for a 7 piece Maple, brand new (and in a lacquer finish, not a wrap), NOT an entry level kit and I would venture to say probably matches most of the kits in the $1500 range. Obviously there could be some other opinions about this, but I've heard nothing but good things about PDP. (That's why I bought them)
 
I'll add that just about every Mapex endorser plays Saturns and DW has endorsers playing the Performance series.... so I would consider them high end pro level kits. I would also put the Renowns in that category because of the quality you are getting.

I dont believe you can determine the level of a kit by its price. These are high quality, well built kits with attention to detail. I would bring this level from the Renowns up to and including DW Collectors.

After that is a whole other level in which Guru's, Sonor SQ2s, Yamaha Phoenix, Pearl Reference, etc.

The line between mid and high level kits is getting more blurry every day and 99 percent of it is opinion at this point.

I am sure that a lot of people consider the DW Collectors kit to be on the same level as the Sonor SQ2s... but it my mind... they arent even close
 
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I'll add that just about every Mapex endorser plays Saturns and DW has endorsers playing the Performance series.... so I would consider them high end pro level kits. I would also put the Renowns in that category because of the quality you are getting.
There's actually a number of DW guys using the PDP Concept kit as well.
 
I look at it like this. In terms of pricing categories we have
Entry Level $100-$500
Mid level $400-$1000
High end $1000 and up.
This corresponds to the other common rock instrument's pricing.
As we all know, with proper heads and tuning we can take a 100 dollar drumset and make it sound just about as good as a 1000 dollar drum set. If you can play well it doesnt matter what kit you are playing as long as it works for you. I like to get something in the entry level because then if anything catastrophic happens to it I can get another without much hassle and i'm not out an obscene amount of money. I am a bit picky about my heads and cymbal choices, but not that picky.
 
I look at it like this. In terms of pricing categories we have
Entry Level $100-$500
Mid level $400-$1000
High end $1000 and up.
This corresponds to the other common rock instrument's pricing.
That's definitely USA pricing - you lucky b&^%$*&^s!! ;) & way under most other "rock" instrument pricing. For sure, a million miles under acoustic instrument pricing.

Irrelevant though. You pay what you need/want/can afford to pay, you play what makes you happy :)
 
There are a lot of very good quality drums out there these days for under $1000. You can certainly buy a Pro-Level kit (at least a shellpack) for under $2000.
You just have to check em out...........that's the fun part.
 
The OP wasnt asking what a "pro" kit is, but what are mid level and high level kits. Low level kits are usually in the sub $1000 price range ( assuming a standard 5 piece kit). Mid level kits are in the $1000-3000 range and high level kits are $3000 and up. Can all of these drums be played by a pro? Yes. Are all of them gig worthy? Yes. Does one sound better than the other? Considering sound is in the ears of the beholder its all subjective, but I would bet 90% of drummers would agree that a $4000 kit sounds better than a $700 kit in a blind sound test.
 
I look at it like this. In terms of pricing categories we have
Entry Level $100-$500
Mid level $400-$1000
High end $1000 and up.

The OP wasnt asking what a "pro" kit is, but what are mid level and high level kits. Low level kits are usually in the sub $1000 price range ( assuming a standard 5 piece kit). Mid level kits are in the $1000-3000 range and high level kits are $3000 and up.

Going back to my first post in this thread, see everyone has a different idea.
 
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