Should drummers in covers bands use electronic kits?

Electric guitars aren't designed to mimic acoustics. Different instruments with very different purposes.
Electric pianos are probably analogous though.

Yeah, even with modeling amps and such it can't be compared as it doesn't really change how you approach the instrument. It's electric, NOT electronic.

One concept does apply though and that is ease of use and logistics. Full rig in the pocket of your gig bag is alluring if you don't feel the gig and pay warrant more. Sometimes it's even asked for when other things are more important.
 
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Pass the popcorn..
I don't have a dog in this race.. just that e-kits live on stage are not for me (like many other drummers). There definitely is a place for e-drums or auxillary e-pads.. for example in the pit of musicals/theatre productions they will have a mix of all kinds of things to get the sounds they need both acoustic and electronic.
In all my years of playing and travels I've never come across a request to use an e-kit. Usually I get hired to put on a show and get the crowd dancing.. and my kit is so fined tuned for great sound that I can't imagine anyone ever complaining.. all I ever get is compliments.. like the time a guy just stood and watched me play transfixed - because he was blown away by my snare sound.
Drums can be beautiful instruments as well..
 
Sure, but the big caveat is whether it makes a difference to the musician. I always choose what's good for me, as it impacts my performance, whether the audience understand that or not. I won't play a cheap, bad (or average) sounding drum set, because 'the audience don't care'.
Of course I would play the BE$$$T DW kit I could every time if I could, but sometimes the house only has what it has and I use that, I make do with what I have available and focus on having fun which is my reason to play, I don't care about the gear much at that point, if I am having fun that usually translates to the audience having fun too. If am not having fun, there is no gear that is going to change that. I have been (very briefly on bands where the other musicians and I just didn't click, mostly because our musical tastes were very different) but since I don't have to play drums for a living, I can move on at any time from a situation that I don't need to subject myself to. I guess for me it never has been about what gear I get, it has been more about playing the gig and having fun. (Having nice gear on top of that is just bonus at that point).
 
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This is just one man's observation in a universe full of opinions as numerous as the stars in the galaxy. I saw a band called The Rumbles once at a nightclub in a hotel where the drummer was playing electronic drums. It looked and sounded as cheesy as a Kraft mac-n-cheese box lunch. They all wore Hawaiian shirts to which didn't help.
You didn't clarify if the "cheesines" came from their sound quality or the type of music they were playing (or both). Looks don't matter to me because I have seen the most unexpected people kick some serious ass on stage. ( A very average looking old Asian lady went onstage and performed some metal songs in proper English and IMO better than some of the original artists perform them live [having seem some of them do so]) So, Hawaiian shirts and electronic pads don't turn me off, they are not different to me form say Bo Eder wearing a red hat and yellow coat)..
 
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I'm glad that I don't play drums for a living. I turn down gigs that request or provide e-kits. I would never want to be forced into using one.
 
In all seriousness, there are many situations where they want everyone to go direct.

Usually not the most artistically fulfilling situations, but hey, it's a gig.

This is part of me going the route of teaching(which I enjoy) and just playing gigs I find meaningful. I'm no stranger to these types of bands, though. Got more than one t-shirt.
 
That certainly can and does happen with electronics, especially where cables are involved. But triggers can go bad as well, and then that pad is gone from the mix. It's not like a mic fail where that drum is still picked-up a little by surrounding mics. It doesn't just disappear.

Mishaps happen. You can't completely eliminate electronics on a gig. There's always a mic or a monitor or something that can fail. If 90% of your gigs are trouble-free, you're doing pretty good.
The worst that has happened to me (twice) is a bass drum pedal beater going through the head in the middle of a gig (Acoustic kits) How do you recover from that? is not like anyone carries a spare bass drum to just swap. So I had to play my best rendition of EL Estepario Siberiano and used my floor tom as a bass drum while maintaining the rest of the regular hits for the remainder of those gigs...I have yet to have issues with E-kits during gigs (knocking on wood).
 
wait. You guys have PA when you play?
wow Jazz is so different
.....; ) : )
 
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I'm glad that I don't play drums for a living. I turn down gigs that request or provide e-kits. I would never want to be forced into using one.

I played edrums for a decade out of necessity (noise). It was a love/hate relationship. I loved that they allowed me to play any time I wanted, but the desire to return to real drums was agonizing. I was almost in tears as I finally unboxed my new PDP concept maple. I couldn't even wait to set them up before playing them. I played each tom by itself and laughed and laughed and laughed like a 5 year old.

And then . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cymbals.
9hCH.gif
 
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I own two nice Signia kits and full sets of Sabian AA and XS20 BUT for pop rock cover, I simply can’t play those in some gigs we get. That’s all, and it is a heartbreak. Outdoor gig : perfect. Small restaurant or pub I need to play on the lousy Roland. I tweaked it, it doesn’t sound cheesy at all, but you need some good amps not to sound toy-like.
I heard no complaints.
 
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I always play 1 of my 2 Signia kits, but we only play a few restaurant type places. The band's PA gear is overkill for those places.
 
Should cover band drummers play electronic kits? Not necessarily. Can they? Sure, if they have a good-sounding, sturdy e-kit, a PA that can accurately deliver the kit sound, and a good comprehensive monitoring solution for the rest of the band.

I'm sure there's plenty of folks that do gig e-kits in cover bands, but there's a lot of reasons why it's not the first (or, often, second or fifth or nineteenth) choice. Cost, fragility, complexity, and reduced visual impact are just a few that spring to mind.

I feel confident that my well-tuned, good-sounding acoustic kits and cymbals can approximate most sound requirements in a cover band setting. I *do* own a Yamaha DTX Multi-12 and some outboard pads for those occasions where I find I absolutely need to trigger sounds (mostly theater gigs, not cover band gigs).
 
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