Noob questions.

Discount Bassy said:
I realized I don't even know what sticks to choose.
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Start with 5A or 5B. Hickory. They’re 16” sticks of somewhat standard diameters. There are longer, fatter, skinnier makes & models available.

Some here prefer the Ahead aluminum/sheath sticks for their sound and impressive durability.

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Bo Eder said:
I would not just blow off your cymbal choices at this time. You can go even cheaper on the drums and hardware, but get good cymbals because you can’t make those sound “pro” later, so you just have to start there - otherwise you spend more $$$ in the long run because you’ll end up replacing anything cheap you’ve bought. So stick to Zildjian A’s, Sabian AA’s, Paiste 2002’s, or Meinl Classics if you’re gonna just pick cymbals off a rack. The A’s and 2002’s are most likely what you’ve heard on countless hit recordings, so just stay in those models and you’ll be at least covered with decent sounds. They also make nice pre-packaged sets if you’re really at a loss on what to choose.
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(And Dream cymbals)
Kind of pointless to have a kit without cymbals and kind of pointless to have cymbals that aren't good.
I've seen top notch used, classic drum kits going for just £250 ish - so your budget will cover both.
 
Yamaha Rider said:
(And Dream cymbals)
Kind of pointless to have a kit without cymbals and kind of pointless to have cymbals that aren't good.
I
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I've enjoyed playing a couple of kits without cymbals that were "house kits", but mainly did so because the crashes were absolutely awful. A cymbal is just not a go to sound for me. I like the useful splash and chick sounds of the hi-hat and a tapped ride, but the notion of kerblamming a crash does nothing for me. I've got a 20" Zildjian A that is fairly dull on the top and covered with duct tape residue on the bottom. For the sake of argument, I'm going to clean it and everything else up nice and tidy to call it a reset until the heads show up. Then swap the heads and check all of the internal drum hardware for tightness. I don't know how I feel about the hi-hat cymbals yet, but at the price point and noting the seller was willing to swap tidbits around, I am not overly concerned. The dude did have about half a dozen bags of crash cymbals and went through the trouble of setting up a stand and letting me play and pick the ride, so I feel pretty good about the chance of finding something I like if I really feel the need.
 
Discount Bassy said:
I've played with a bunch of different folks, good and bad with gear to match (not always matching good players to good gear or vice versa) and rarely have I heard a crash cymbal that I like or look to hear. I can definitely say I have a preference for hearing larger rides to smaller. The sweetest ride I can relate was a 24" Zildjian a friend picked up as an upgrade to a 21" and I really liked the sound...when tapped, not slammed. It might be something about the transient of the cymbal crash. I like the sound of cymbals played with mallets, notably swells, just not the explosive kablang business. I play a bit of guitar, but only really like the sound of my PRS baritone and not so much up in the higher end of the neck. When I play flute, I generally steer clear of the shrill side of things. Of note, I do dig Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp. To be completely honest, I prefer rims shots and de-snared snares as well.
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You "prefer rim shots"?
Do you mean 'rim clicks'? (cross-sticking - where you tap the rim with the stick laid across the drum?)
 
Discount Bassy said:
I've enjoyed playing a couple of kits without cymbals that were "house kits", but mainly did so because the crashes were absolutely awful. A cymbal is just not a go to sound for me. I like the useful splash and chick sounds of the hi-hat and a tapped ride, but the notion of kerblamming a crash does nothing for me. I've got a 20" Zildjian A that is fairly dull on the top and covered with duct tape residue on the bottom. For the sake of argument, I'm going to clean it and everything else up nice and tidy to call it a reset until the heads show up. Then swap the heads and check all of the internal drum hardware for tightness. I don't know how I feel about the hi-hat cymbals yet, but at the price point and noting the seller was willing to swap tidbits around, I am not overly concerned. The dude did have about half a dozen bags of crash cymbals and went through the trouble of setting up a stand and letting me play and pick the ride, so I feel pretty good about the chance of finding something I like if I really feel the need.
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What I meant was - cymbals are fundamental to most grooves. You'll probably be playing the ride/ hats alongside the bass and snare, and there is definitely a time and place where you'd be lost without a nice classy crash too.
 
I've been digging the sound of the Evans hydraulic red batters, at least digging the sounds I can find on Youtube and promotional material. Any suggestions for a resonant head that would pair nicely and keep in the same vein, sound-wise?
 
Good video on cleaning/maintaining hardware. This guy has several good videos of this sort.

 
BGDurham said:
Good video on cleaning/maintaining hardware. This guy has several good videos of this sort.

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Very sweet. Thank you. This is the sort of thing that I need to look at...also tuning information and the stuff from the pinned threads.
 
Discount Bassy said:
I've been digging the sound of the Evans hydraulic red batters, at least digging the sounds I can find on Youtube and promotional material. Any suggestions for a resonant head that would pair nicely and keep in the same vein, sound-wise?
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Typical reso. for a Hydraulic head, would be an Evans G1 clear (keeping in the Evans family). Or, going to Remo, you're in Pinstripe batter/Ambassador reso. territory.

For dark cymbals ..... from Zildjian ..... K's come to my mind first. Then there's the newer S Dark series. Maybe check those out.

I'm a Sabian guy ..... and on the "more affordable" side of things, the XSR Monarch series punches way above it's weight. I've got 14" hats & 18" crash, from the XSR line. And I've got the full line of HH Vanguard cymbals. 14" hats, and 16", 18", 20", 21", 22". Dark, but beautifully balanced.

Meinl Byzance seems to be really, really popular, in the dark arena right now.

And Paiste has the Dark Energy line.

Things to listen to, anyways. Tons of cymbal video's out there. I find Memphis Drum Shop/MyCymbal.com has some of the best sounding (accurate) demo's. I listen hard to those.
 
Discount Bassy said:
I've been digging the sound of the Evans hydraulic red batters, at least digging the sounds I can find on Youtube and promotional material. Any suggestions for a resonant head that would pair nicely and keep in the same vein, sound-wise?
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Something to consider:

The Pearl Forum series is made of poplar. There is nothing wrong with this. Poplar happens to be softer and a bit warmer as a drum shell. Pairing it with a hydraulic head might be overkill.

Something else to consider:

Those videos use mics. The head will sound different in person. How much, that's debatable, but drums change once a mic gets pointed at it.
 
C. Dave Run said:
Something to consider:

The Pearl Forum series is made of poplar. There is nothing wrong with this. Poplar happens to be softer and a bit warmer as a drum shell. Pairing it with a hydraulic head might be overkill.

Something else to consider:

Those videos use mics. The head will sound different in person. How much, that's debatable, but drums change once a mic gets pointed at it.
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Good information...more good information. Thank you.
 
Jeremy Crockett said:
And yet, there is something conspicuously absent from your post.


Ah! Yes! That's it.
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Sorry for the delay. The kit came into my basement at the same time my girlfriend returned from a 5 week east coast travel. I have to split my time accordingly. All the same, I'll see what I can do today to get some stuff into frame.
 
Here is the first of some photos. Bit by bit, they will be trickling in as I clean things up. The ZXT's were fairly clean and some soap, water and elbow grease did the trick. I will say that I read several threads on this forum about cymbal cleaning debates and methodologies. I opted to begin with the least aggressive and proceed from there. There is definitely a coating of sorts on the ZXT's and my goal was to remove the stuck on food/beer splats that were across the bulk of the top of the top hat. They cleaned up pretty well and inspection has not revealed any goofy micro-crack or overt damage of any sort.

The 20" A was another story. It featured a plethora of stuck on spots of food/beer that had heavily corroded the areas on the top. The underside was graced with about 20" worth of standard width duct tape adhesive that was scattered around in several areas. By the look of the adhesive, there may have been tape application from two separate generations of players. There was no evidence of a coating of any sort. If there had at one point, it was not there any longer. This cymbal is said to date from the late '70. I cannot attest to the date of the organic substances that were splattered across it. I spent about an hour with soap, water and elbow grease and didn't make much progress. The heavy gunk came off, but the shine was not revealed. I decided to try vinegar and thorough rinsing and that brought the shine up reasonably between the discolorations from the splats. More elbow grease revealed minor improvements and I am a dude with pretty greasy elbows. After a few hours more of this and marginal progress, I opted to go for Brasso, hitting it with a clean, soft bristled brush and thorough rinsing. That seemed to do the trick. It brought up the shine in most areas and removed the crud down in the lathe grooves. Perfect, they are not, but I figured they deserved some love at least initially upon joining the family. I haven't poked around much on the front of post-cleaning treatments and am inclined to leave them alone from here on out and proceed to the other cruddy bits, notably the ride stand, kick pedal and hi-hatification mochine, none of which seem overtly nasty, but all carry some degree of dusty goo conglomeration that I would like to replace with my own personal filth.
 

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Discount Bassy said:
I spent about an hour with soap, water and elbow grease and didn't make much progress. The heavy gunk came off, but the shine was not revealed. I decided to try vinegar and thorough rinsing and that brought the shine up reasonably between the discolorations from the splats. More elbow grease revealed minor improvements and I am a dude with pretty greasy elbows. After a few hours more of this and marginal progress, I opted to go for Brasso, hitting it with a clean, soft bristled brush and thorough rinsing.
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There are two different approaches to cymbal cleaning: to abrade or not to abrade. That is the question. Some feel that removing material via abrasion affects the sound of the cymbal. Some don’t.

The coating on some brand/models of cymbals (e.g., Paiste) is protective (prevents copper oxidation) and should only be cleaned with non-abrasive agents (e.g., vinegar & water).

Looking forward to more pics!
 
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