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.