Church Drum Sets

Drumolator

Platinum Member
This is not to discuss religion at all, but many drummers play in church, and I am one of them. What set (drums and cymbals) do you play at church? Is it yours? Do you play behind a screen? Is the set miced?

Drums (all Mapex Saturn Pro, except the snare)
22x18
16x14
13x11
14x5 (Ludwig Supraphonic)

Cymbals (all Sabian, except the China)
21" AAX Raw Bell Dry Ride
14" Paragon Hats
16" AAX Dark Crash
18" AAX Studio Crash
10" SR2 Splash
16" Wuhan China

I bought all of this stuff originally, but it now belongs to the church. All four drums are miced, and there is an overhead mic for the cymbals. There is no screen. So what do you play at church?
 
Tama Imperialstar standard kit <black sparkle>

Gretch catalina club 6.5x14 wood snare w/evans st dry head
toms:Evans clear ec2's over remo clear ambassadors
kick:Emad/Fiberskyn

15" Paiste sound edge
10" Zildjian K splash
19" Zildjian A custom
20" Paiste giant beat
24" Paiste Giant Beat

the kit is mic'd and behind a plexiglass shield.

this is my kit - the church had an old sonar kit that I wasn't digging
so I brought my own
 
Mapex Pro-M 12/13/16/22/snare behind plexiglass with foam backing and the "lid". Miked inside the cage. Cymbals are:

16" A Custom
18" A Custom
20" A Medium Ride
14" AA Regular Hats

When I play, I bring a snare and a ride. I can't stand the Pro-M snare (sounds really boxy, probably due to the lack of snare beds...), and the A Zildjian Medium Ride is WAYYYYY too pingy for me. The kit is "okay", but better than hauling my own kit when I play. I LOVE the A Custom crashes and Regular Hats. If the church decides to get rid of them, the pastor knows that I have dibs...
 
Some Premier drum set with broken tom arms so I can only use one rack tom instead of two.

REALLY old Evans heads that need to be changed.
A Sonor pedal from the 80's probably.
Two A custom Crashes
Zildjian A custom dark ride
Zildjian A custom hats

I play behind a screen with hot rods
 
A standard 5 piece Pearl Forum in black wrap. REALLY bad off-brand cymbals so I always bring my Paiste PST-5's. The heads need changing and the kit is set up as a 4 piece, but that's ok. I actually like playing a 4 piece; it's more challenging coming up with new grooves.

The kit is in a plexiglass cage with walls covered in dampaning cloth and a top on it. All 4 drums are mic'd with 2 overhead mics to catch the cymbals. Oh, and a fan since it gets nice and toasty in there.
 
My home church (where I grew up/played)
Tama Rockstar - 12, 16, 22, brought my pearl export snare while i used to play there
cymbals - A custom projection crash 16", Zild A 17", brought my ride and hats while i played there - 14" Zild A Quick Beats, 20" Zild A Medium Ride.
No mics or shield on this kit. Never knew enough to care while i played in youth group but now that i visit here and there, I'm pushing for a shield and mic setup asap.

My college church has a pearl export - 12,13,16,22 and 14 snare with Paiste Signatures:
16" Crash, 14" Dark Energy Hats, 21 Symphonic Ride. They're a little old but still great. Wish they had an 18" tho. I don't play on that kit for Sundays... not yet at least :p
This kit is shielded and mic'd. sound's decent in that large echo-y sanctuary.

During the school year, I play for the college large group on fridays. They had a beat up Yamaha DP but now i bring my own setup which is:
Tama Superstars 13, 16, 22 (Evans g2 on top, Tama heads on bottoms, Evans EMAD2 on the kick)
Tama superstar snare with Remo Ambassadors or Ludwig Acrolite with Remo Controlled Sound Dot
Cymbals: 16" Sabian AA Bright Crash, 18" Sabian HH Dark Crash, 20" Zild A Custom Ping Ride, 13" Zild A Custom Mastersound Hats.
This kit is mic'd but no shield. We transport it to college campuses every friday so idk if a shield would ever be considered.
 
Haven't played in that completely sealed box in a long time.

They did have a CX kit but now have a Pearl Vision I believe. You have to bring your own pies cause the Church doesn't grow money on trees to keep replacing them due to abuse. The last time I was back there it looked like the floor of a saw mill. Wood chips everywhere. The funny thing is, the box is completely sealed. Overhead and back, everything is miced and it is a rare that you can hear the kick, snare or crashes during the services. Very sad indeed.
 
The kit is a Gretsch Renown Maple.

8", 10", 12" & 14" Toms with Remo coated emperors for the batters, Clear Ambassadors for the resos.

22" x 20" Kick with Evans EMAD batter, stock Gretsch reso.

14" x 6.5" Pork Pie Big Black Brass Snare with Remo controlled sound batter, Ambassador Hazy reso.

Various Hardware (Pearl H2000 hi hat stand, Tama Iron Cobra Jr. bass drum pedal, Pearl cymbal stands with DW tom mounts attached)

Cymbals are usually Zildjian A Custom 14" hats, 15" and 18" Crashes and a 20" Projection Ride, but sometimes I'll switch them out for my 14" K custom session hats, 16" Session Crash, 18" Dark Crash and 20" Hybrid Ride.

The kit's behind a plexi-glass shield, and all the drummers who play use regular sticks (no hot-rods.)
 
Regretfully, the words Drums and Church don't go together at my churches.

Anybody who can get behind a kit at church - God bless you. Enjoy.

I wouldn't be a big fan of the plexiglass stuff. I'd rather refine my low volume technique
than sit in a box or behind some screen. Just me.
 
I play a 5-piece Pearl kit. not sure which model, but one of the upscale ones. It belongs to a member of the church. He used to drum for them, but has pretty much donated it to the church.

Yes, there is a shield, but we are getting a full cage soon, so yes, it's mic'd.

not sure about depths on a few of the drums, but it's something like 12, 13x9, 18x16 for the toms, with a 13x6 snare(my own), and a 22x16 bass. It has some orange finish. Unfortunately the toms have stock heads, that i dampen with rings, but my snare has a coated Emperor X, and the bass has a coated ambassador. for cymbals it's 14" zildjian a mastersounds I think, then 16" traditional Zildjian crash, and a 20" zildjian ride. not too sure about the specific models. And then a pearl pedal.

it's played in a pretty good sized room, fits at least 400 ppl
 
I play my set. I play with sticks and brushes, playing the old hymns and more contemporary stuff. We're all fairly experienced musicians, so we enjoy changing the genres of the songs we play. Allot of contemporary christian music sounds great as a blues song, or funk, or reggae, etc...

We play on the balcony, and my set is miced with two overheads.

Mapex 20x18 bass drum
castoff 14x12 floor tom
14x5.5" Acrolite
21" Sabian HH Raw Bell Dry Ride
Cutdown 70's Zildjian A heavy crash bottom hat
14" UFIP Bravo top hihat
 
I play an old set of Cadence drums( probably sold by Sears?) 22,12,16,&14 steel snare. Heads are Coated Ambassador on the snare, Clear Pinstripes on the toms, stock heads on Bass Drum and resos. Yeah, they don't sound the greatest, okay at best. 14in. Zildjian ZHT hi-hats and 20 in. ride. Sabian 16in. Pro8 crash and a Zildjian 16in. Avedis thin crash. This set belongs to my Pastor and the cymbals belong to the church. I also use Promark HotRods and I play unmiked. We really need an upgrade. Thanks.
 
Look up the Sonor Safari kit. It would make an Awesome kit for church.

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind if we ever get to upgrade. Most churches in my area have nice instruments except for the drums. You either bring your own or make due with what they have already, but that's okay.
 
Just bought a new yamaha stage custom 22,10,12,16 back in December and kept the Zildjian A Custom crashes, 16" and 18", sabian crash and HH that we were using. Not mic'd and no screen
 
The church's drums when my family first started going were some old Pearls another drummer owned. She moved away and I had the opportunity to have some input on the new kit.

Tama Superstar 5 piece in some sort of blue fade laquer. 18x20, 8x10, 9x12, 13x14, 5.5x14. Assorted cymbals by Sabian, Paiste and Zildjian.

I later bought the set that now sits in its place. Tama Starclassic Bubinga 6 Piece in Natural Cordia finish. 20x22, 8x10, 8x12, 14x14, 16x16, 8x14 snare. Istanbul Agop cymbals, a few others and a Zildjian Trashformer which I really like. Kit is miked on each drum also two overheads. I play with phones and have my own monitor mix which is really nice. Unfortunately the Superstar kit just sits under the stage unused now.
 

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Some Premier drum set with broken tom arms so I can only use one rack tom instead of two.

REALLY old Evans heads that need to be changed.
A Sonor pedal from the 80's probably.
Two A custom Crashes
Zildjian A custom dark ride
Zildjian A custom hats

I play behind a screen with hot rods

Damn dude. That really sucks. I've been there, so I feel for ya.

My church has a 4-piece Maple Custom Absolute. It's in good shape, all things considered, but I think it's a bit too small and jazzy for my taste. Plus it seems that we can't keep decent heads on them for more than about a weekend, but I guess that's what happens with a communal kit.

- 10", 14" rack/floor with Evans EC2 clear heads.
- 20" kick with EMAD batter.
- some Pearl snare drum.
- various Sabian cymbals.

I can't really remember what the snare or cymbals are because every time I play usually replace them with certain elements of my own kit below.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=816736&postcount=898

I'm behind a shield and all drums are mic'd. I don't mind that I'm behind a shield because we got good sound techs and I'll give them any opportunity to let them make me sound good that I can. Also, we like it loud on some nights, so having the shield means not having to keep your own volume in check as much, which is a nice bonus.
 
I play a Sonor Force birch kit. 2005 or 2007, I don't recall which. 10/12/14/22. I usually leave the 10" tom off and play it as a 4 piece.

The cymbals are the A Zildjian pack: 20" A Medium Ride, 16" Crash, and 14" New Beat hats. I occasionally bring one of my own crash cymbals for some variety.
It's actually not a bad setup as far as church kits go.

The drums are all miked as well as two overheads, and it all sits behind that plexiglass sheild everyone loves so much. Although, I recently heard of an actual benefit to them...it deters people from jumping on the drum kit to go all "Guitar Center" on it. Evidently that used to be a problem.
 
Play every week on a Tama Swingstar 4 piece, Zildjian A Custom Box set and my Yamaha Anton Fig snare. The Tama actually performs very well as the church kit, sturdy, sounds good and is dependable.

Drums are all miked, plus two overheads. Dedicated monitor and my vocal mike.

No soundshield. We may be a little different than your average "Praise" band, Praise hymns with the congregation singing but most of our "special music" (preludes and anthems) are originals and are pretty "rock and roll". We get a lot of folks in the congregation who admittedly come to hear the music, so they tell us.
 
Man, I wish the church I went to had something like this. I might start going again.
 
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