[chasg]

Hi All,

Both of my kids (9 and 12) are suddenly into being drummers. I'd like to get a drum kit for them. I'm hoping for recommendations.

We live in London (UK) and our flat is very small, so anything I get would have to be suitably small, and hopefully "put-away-able" (something that'll fold up and store small-ish). I don't know drums, but I'm assuming that an electronic kit is going to be far smaller and easy to deal with than a real kit. Electronic also means headphones :-)

I'm sure that there are some amazing kits out there, but this is a bit of a test. They both play other instruments, but have gotten into drums because of friends at school who "want to start a band" (jeez, does that bring back memories!). I'd be very happy to keep the budget to £300 or so.

Can anybody recommend some kit, or recommend some forums where I can ask this question? (I've found a few "pro" drum forums, but I'm sure a question like this would just get rolled eyes). A place I could go to check out what's available would be really cool (again, I'm in London).

Thanks in advance for any help!

Chas

[Doofy]

I hear good things about the Alesis stuff. Within budget too.
Typing "Alesis drum kit" into Google (UK) products should set you up.

[analogika]

Used Roland V-Drums?

[Sealobo]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Used Roland V-Drums?

i had a set when i was in college. they're good, but probably too good for kids; they might loss interest after a few weeks and turn to figure skating instead. go for something cheaper and see now it goes.

[Nodnarb]

To tell you the truth, unless you're willing to spend upwards of $4,000 for an electronic set, it will not be a good use of your money (obviously you can get those sets cheaper, but they are still gonna be around a grand at cheapest).

This may not be a feasible solution, but have you heard of the video game "Rock Band". If your kids already have a game console, this could be a good solution, because the drumming part is actually like real drumming, and one could feasibly learn drums through that game. Otherwise you can find a mediocre electronic set for the price you said (sorry, I don't have any recommendations on that) but in my experience they don't sound good at all, have lousy reaction times, and break fairly easily.

I'd go with a used real set, or seriously give Rock Band a thought.

[- - e r i k - -]

I was going to say Rock Band too

[iranfromthezoo]

Hey man...A Yamaha DTX Express kit is a pretty good deal for like $899USD brand new. If noise is not an issue I'd be happy to part with my 6 piece Tama RockStar Custom for $600 + S/H.

But seriously try going to samash.com or musiciansfriend.com....I don't know if they sell in the UK but I am pretty sure they can help if you call their 1-800 number.

Samash has always been my preferred...

[Cipher13]

Unfortunately, I've never heard any good things about electronic drumkits. Sure, they're compact, and you can use headphones... but in the end I think using an electronic kit will diminish any fun they'd get out of it.

I do understand your dilemma, just saying though... nobody I know that's used one could stand it, and most just got packed away or resold.