Best Drum Brands

There are a lot of drum brands out there, and everyone seems to have an opinion about which drum brands are the best.  I guess drums are kind of like cars.  If I were to say I have a Mercedes, then the assumption is I have a nice car.  The same would be if I said I had a Porsche.  When it comes to drum brands, the general consensus is that Drummers Workshop (DW) makes great drums.  There are even a lot of drummers that will tell you that DW drums are the best of all the drum brands.  There are also a lot of drummers who will argue that drum brands such as Ludwig, Gretsch, Pearl, and Yamaha are the best.

When it comes to drum brands, the best brand is really a matter of what is best for you.  For instance, even though DW drums are great drums, in my 35 years playing drums I have not owned anything made by DW, and I probably won’t own DW.  This is because I am not rich, and I like the sound of Yamaha drums better.  So, I think Yamaha is the best of all of the drum brands.  That is just my opinion though.   

Just for kicks, I did a google search on “drum brands” and found a top ten list which looked like this:

1. Ludwig

2. Pearl

3. DW

4. Gretsch

5. Premier

6. Mapex

7. Slingerland

8. Sonor

9. Tama

10. Yamaha 

Below the list there were all sorts of comments where drummers re-arranged the order of the drum brands, but most agreed on those ten drum brands.  Maybe those are the best drum brands, but if you are on a budget you can get drums made by PDP, Crush, and ddrum that sound great, the hardware is good and they cost less.

Here is my list of the top five drum brands for drummers on a budget.

1. PDP – Drums are actually made by DW they are just their low end drums.
2. ddrum – I have never played them but a lot of people like them and they come in cool designs
3. Crush – These are great sounding drums for the price!
4. Sound Percussion – Good for beginner to intermediate players.  Less expensive than the previous 3 drum brands.
5. Gammon Percussion – Can’t beat the price.

Electronic Drum Sets

Every once in a while I will run into parents or friends who have gotten their kids electronic drum sets.  For kids and non-professionals this can be a very good decision.  This is because electronic drum sets do have their advantages.  First of all, electronic drum sets don't take up as much space.  If you look at the features that are on even the cheap electronic drum sets they usually include things like a headphone jack for silent practice, dozens of drum sounds, built in cymbals, and built in metronomes.  For these reasons electronic drum sets can be a good investment.

For gigging drummers electronic drum sets have a few drawbacks; especially the cheap electronic drum sets.  The biggest drawback is that electronic drum sets wear out.  Electronic drum sets are made of drum pads that have electronic sensors in them which transfer signals to the “brain” when the pads are hit.  The electronic sensors in the pads are typically made from small, thin sheets of metal or plastic, which have wires soldered to them.  Since these drum pads are being constantly hit, the sensors tend to weaken, and the solder points break.  A couple of the other draw backs to electronic drum sets are that on the cheaper ones the bass drum pads are so small the move around too easily.  Also, if you don’t want to play through headphones then you need an amplifier for them.

For those of you who are still considering electronic drum sets, Roland and Yamaha electronic drums sets are generally considered to be the best choice if you want to use them for gigs because they will last.  An adequate electronic drum set will start at about $1000 dollars.  If you are looking at electronic drum sets as to serve as a practice drum set then there are alternatives for between $500 and $1000.  Alesis, Yamaha, and Simmons are making some decent electronic drum sets that are in the 500 to 800 dollar range.  Anything that regularly sells for less than $500 is probably  not even going to last very long and it will be difficult to position the pads correctly.  

Electronic drum sets have come a long way since they were first used in the mid 1970’s, but the technology is still more expensive than acoustic drums.  For drummers who are limited in space, and need silent practice electronic drums are good solution; however if your budget is less than $500 you might consider getting a practice pad drum set.