Typically on a starter set, the first piece of drum set hardware to fall apart is the bass pedal, and it is usually closely followed by the high hat stand. With a starter drum set the drums are usually decent, but the drum set hardware is rarely worth repairing when it breaks. Instead, you are better off saying "goodbye" to that starter drum set hardware, and buying brand new. So when that first piece of drum set hardware goes, consider replacing all the other pieces at the same time. Many of the drum manufactures will sell drum set hardware packs. Almost all of them will include a bass pedal, hi hat stand, a snare stand, and one or two cymbal stands. Since they are bundled together you can get them for around half the price that they would cost if you were to buy each piece individually.
For some reason, on the high end drum sets the first piece of drum set hardware to break tends to be one of the a cymbal stands. This is probably because there is a huge difference between the quality of the pedals that come with a high end drum set and what comes with a low end drum set. With cymbal stands there is not as big difference in quality between low end and high end. For this reason when I need to replace a cymbal stand I usually look for the least expensive cymbal stand that is the type I want. In some cases I may need a straight stand, but most of the time I prefer the flexibility of a boom stand. Since I haul my drums around and set them up in different venues every time I play, I need light weight drum set hardware that breaks down small. Unfortunately, I end up paying a little more for the light weight and compact drum set hardware. If you don't have to move your drums around a lot, the medium weight, double braced cymbal stands are often the best deal. Your bass drum pedal is a piece of drum set hardware where you probably want to invest more money. You don't have to get the DW-9000, which many consider to be the smoothest and best bass drum pedal on the market. It also carries a very high price tag, with an MSRP of $499.00; however, as a rule I try to stay away from single bass drum pedals that have an MSRP of less than $125.00 and double bass drum pedals with a MSRP of less than $175.00.
