Any drummers here?

[hullabelew]

Electronic drum kit question. A coworker is looking for a set of electronic drums for his kid to take to his college apt. Doesn't want the kid taking his full, big $$$$$ set to school so the kid has requested an electronic set to practice on.

He wants to stay as inexpensive as possible, without buying a complete POS. So far, he has looked at Yamaha ($700), Simmons ($600) and something called Alesis($450), with prices from Guitar Center's web site.

Any suggestions on brands to stick with? Avoid? Please spare me the "electronic drums are teh suck" speech. They are for practice in a college apartment. Speaking from experience, I know how a landlord feels when you have a set full set of double-kick Pearls set up in the spare bedroom.

 

[ACuriae]

Dude...electronic drum kits are teh suck.

...but are necessary if you don't want your neighbors calling the cops every time you play.

I had one of the Alesis beginner kits a few years ago. My biggest complaint was that it wasn't very accurate. Some people complain about the response time, but response time was adjustable. It just didn't catch everything all the time. Maybe my set had something wrong with it. Anyway, I switched to a Yamaha DTXplorer set for a few hundred dollars more and have had few complaints (though it sometimes still misses fast notes/rolls).

My advice would be to skip the Alesis unless the kid is a Beginner beginner. The DTXplorer isn't much more (it's in that $600-$800 price range depending upon where you go) and is significantly better IMO.

Also, I suggest Zymox Deadbeats for practice sticks. They lessen the "tick" sound of wooden sticks hitting rubber drum pads (which can get really, really annoying for other people who are around).

 

[hullabelew]

He found a set of Simmons on closeout. $250, down from $500. Thanks for the tip on the Zymox Deadbeats. I will pass it along.