A cliche turned around?

[paul]

After my regular Tuesday gig I went to hear a friend's band at a local jazz club.  They have a really good trio playing some adventurous stuff, and the drummer kicks butt.  He has lots of chops, great speed, and generally good ideas.  He also plays a 5 piece set of Maxwins with a piccolo snare whose brand I couldn't see and some Sabian cymbals.

The Sabians sounded pretty good, but the Maxwins and snare sounded like s**t.  Sorry, dude, but your drums suck, and they severely hurt your sound.

[KEW]

Iââ,¬â,,¢m one of the bottom feeders when it comes to my drum set.  I do get compliments on the sound all the time though.  Iââ,¬â,,¢ve learned how to re-cut bearing edges and with proper head selection managed to get by.  There have been drummers who come into the jam I do who wonââ,¬â,,¢t play my kit because of the way it looks.  I know the trend is for bands to pick the drummer with the best kit over chops but right now I have to live with in my budget (or lack of one).  In some ways itââ,¬â,,¢s forced me to work harder on technique and showmanship.  I thought it funny though that on the first day I played after painting them white I got the most complements on my playing and the sound.  My playing and sound were the same but having a matched finish on the drums made people think I was better.  

[Big Yummy]

I saw a drummer at a Jazz festival whose kit looked like it had been put together from other people's garbage.  His kick was an old floor tom with no wrap - just bare wood, and a home made riser.  And the guy was dressed like a bum and playing barefoot.

The guy sounded fabulous.  Obviously, the youngster was spending all his time on drumming, not his day job.  Despite his raggedness, he appeared fresh, healthy, and focused.  He certainly didn't appear to be regretting anything.

Gotta admire people who can commit in a big way.

[KEW]

My kit actually was put together from other drummers garbage.  I've cleaned off the rust so I don't need a tetanus shot to play it now. ;D

[paul]

I'm sure your drums sound absolutely wonderful.  I think we all can name numerous examples of great drummers playing sets that can fairly be described as less than pro quality and getting great results.  It's such a common thing that it's become a cliche on drum forums, IMO.  Hence my comment in the title about a cliche turned around.

In this case the drums are cheap, badly tuned, and hurt my ears to hear.  His playing and his band deserve better, and more importantly, so does the audience.

[Brett Sheaffer]

...which is why you need to turn him on to the Cafe (after deleting this topic, of course, which insults his tuning abilities!  ;D) so he can read about how to tune the right way from Bart!

[smoggrocks]

aw, too bad, man. we need to find him a rich doctor who has no need for that $10K dw kit s/he recently purchased. ;D

for whatever reason, i still can't get my ears around piccolo snares, in any musical context. they just bother me and hurt my ears overall. i'm kinda like that with anything high-pitched. it's like my ears are too sensitive for that sound.

maybe over time...

[William Leslie]

Paul has a good point there. I've heard many drummers of the years. and I beleive the man/woman makes the drums, not the reverse. I've many scrap kits that were made to sound outstanding by the drummer behind them. Just one persons thoughts. Example: Mellencamp's drummer is d**m good, but his drums look like s**t.

[felix]

funny thread, good thread too.

usually I just see bad drummers with badly tuned drums *I'm sure I have been lumped into this category on more than one occassion*

really, if you have halfway of an inkling how to play and tune it's pretty hard to get a bad sound- they are just drums after all.

[SteveR]

I used to go see Earl Harvin play with a band called Ten Hands back in the 90's.  

Earl, who is an AMAZING drummer, used to play on these awful cymbals.  His main crash actually had a crack in it.  But I didn't care.

[Danno]

I think Maxwins are the brand of drums an acquaintance of mine plays. They're really cheap drums, REALLY cheap hardware, just crap. BUT - he has them tuned to where they sound great. The first time I sat behind them I was blown away - every time you hit them the whole set feels like it's ready to fall apart, but the sound - amazing. Now I regard him with something approaching awe.

[KEW]

One thing that makes me shake my head is when I see drummers with multiple toms and theyââ,¬â,,¢re all tuned to the same pitch. ???

[Drumodad]

. Example: Mellencamp's drummer is d**m good, but his drums look like s**t.

So true about Kenny,the guy can make a set of buckets sound great.
My first set of drums,bought used for fifty bucks in the early 70`s were from someplace like Montgomery Ward, looked like crap,but after a few hours of messing with them, they sounded pretty decent. In time I had the neighbors out front bopping away.
I have a cassette of me playing them somewhere,and a couple of pics. If I can locate them I will put them in the Lets hear you play and show us your drums threads.
What memories