First Upgrade from a starter pack drum kit- HiHat stand content

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MyKids-a-Drummer

New Member
First off- I am not a drummer. I play bass and my 13 year old son is the drummer. I'll do my level best to steer clear of drummer jokes here.

Background:
My son is 13 and got the SPL a starter set from GC 2 yrs ago.

Last summer he really began taking it seriously, showing way more interest, and in general started sounding pretty decent. He is developing an ear and interest. Frankly, I'm thrilled.

Santa let him try out a bunch of kits for a month and then brought him a Yamaha stage custom for xmas. He picked it, it sounds great and looks stunning. Maple? I dont know. Anyway, this blew the budget out the window, so cymbal upgrades have come in the form of trips to the used racks, which have been very fruitful. He has a sound in his head, which as a bass player I can really relate to. He tried out a crash, a ride, and hihats, all on different trips. He ended up with 3 different brands (budget models from meinl, sabian, zildjian) and seems very pleased. I bought him a splash because I know how much my former drummer loved to nail it on certain accents. it was on sale/used as well and to my ear sounded lot better than all of the others regardless of price.

Gibraltar cymbal stands saved us some $ in an area that seemed not critical to pay more.

We donated the old kit and hardware to the local middle school.

(He plays a bunch of classic rock, but I also hear him messing around playing pseudo jazzy stuff, which is cool.
From my frame of reference playing bass for 30 yrs, he doesnt seem to be a really heavy hitter.)

The last 2 items that will be upgraded ...

He said his kick drum pedal is actually not too bad. He played a friends kit that has a DW5000 and said he liked it better but his is fine for now.

The hihat stand is trash. Its junk. Its almost as bad as the SPL hihats were.

I dont mind paying about $125 for a hihat stand, but i'd rather not if i dont have to. $150 would be my upper limit, but I dont want to spend it if its really diminishing returns. $75ish would make me smile more.


My question for you guys:
Is one of these hihat stands in the list below clearly a better choice & would one of them be a mistake?
Should I go up an entire price level? (which would necessitate my searching for used?)

I am looking at the following based purely from online reviews and articles etc.
Pearl H930 (I am leaning this way. I forgot why).
Yamaha HS740
gibraltar 5707 (saves me some money)
DW 3500 (drummer in my band told me to save and get the 5500)

Oh, and THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! This percussion stuff is cool, but pretty far out of my wheel house.
 
The Gibraltar...the pedal doesn't swivel. That's why it's cheap. You want your pedal to swivel.

I'd take the Pearl and call it a day.

If you want to save some more clams, I can personally vouch for this hi hat stand as it's my gig HH and has been for a few years now. It's only 85 shekels and the pedal swivels. It's light and I never even think about it, I just play it.

 
Excellent. Thanks guys.

"The Gibraltar...the pedal doesn't swivel. That's why it's cheap. You want your pedal to swivel." - the sort of advice I was hoping to find.

Following up on the CL ad. We'll see.

If its a no go I'll do the H830 or H930

Great site. fast response. Its like the TalkBass of percussion. Sweet.
 
MyKids-a-Drummer said:
Excellent. Thanks guys.

"The Gibraltar...the pedal doesn't swivel. That's why it's cheap. You want your pedal to swivel." - the sort of advice I was hoping to find.

Following up on the CL ad. We'll see.

If its a no go I'll do the H830 or H930

Great site. fast response. Its like the TalkBass of percussion. Sweet.
Click to expand...

If it matters, I don't think the Pearl stand on CL swivels. It really only matters if you have a double pedal or tripod mess, but it's still nice to have.
 
This morning grabbed the CL stuff that the CrazyPollack linked above. Thanks for the heads up!

Everything looks like nice condition. Son #1 has it all set up now. He's waling away at KISS love gun and "in The Air Tonight and ... maybe Funky Music?

Anyway, We'll be keeping the hihat stand and mapex cymbal stand. The lighter weight cymbal stand will be traded in or given away. He asked if we could trade the top of his stand in for a boom style for his ride (seems like a good idea) and a boom attachment thing that clamps onto the existing crash stand for the splash (as opposed to keeping the 3r non-boom stand for the splash.

He spoke of placement, positioning, height, too close too far... .it was like he was speaking in tongues, which I guess means he is figuring this drum thing out.

OH, you were correct, no swivel legs on the Pearl. Son wont have a double bass pedal while he lives under my roof, so I think it'll be a non-issue.
 
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I have two Gibraltar hi hat stands, and I gig with them, and I find them great.

Same with Gibraltar snare stands.

For low end hardware that is fine and affordable, look at Gibraltar and PDP.
 
MyKids-a-Drummer said:
He spoke of placement, positioning, height, too close too far... .it was like he was speaking in tongues, which I guess means he is figuring this drum thing out.
Click to expand...

That's great. That means the drums and cymbals are no longer just targets and he is thinking ergonomically, i.e. how can I make this easier to hit. Drummers deal with X, Y, and Z axis, as well as tilt. The more he starts to pay attention to these things and makes adjustments accordingly, the easier playing becomes. We don't have the luxury of an already laid out instrument, or a manual of what is correct. There is no correct, only correct for you, as long as it's set up so you aren't hurting yourself. It's sort of done on the fly, as you become more comfortable you adjust the things that aren't.
 
I tend to go with Yamaha when on a budget and DW for everything 5000 level and above.

I’ve had great experiences with Yamaha gear and it makes up a lot of my gigging rig because it’s lightweight, works/feels nice and lasts.

I own the HS740 and like it just fine. Bottom does swivel which helps for positioning with or without a double bass pedal.
 
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