My 10 year old son & his 12 year old brother have a “rock band”. Santa brought this for the 10 year old for Xmas. He is taking lessons & this set has been wonderful. It was easy to put together & the sound is great, especially considering the price.

Considering my house has 4 kids & a drum set is irresistable to ALL of them – the set has surived w/o mishap. It seems built to “take a licking”.

I am sure there are better sets he’ll get as he continues to improve & outgrows this set — but I am VERY pleased. More importantly – so is my son!!

Tom & Bass Construction – 3/5
Snare (chrome plated steel) Construction – 2.5/5
Heads – 1/5
Cymbals – 1/5
Stands – 3/5
Throne – 2/5

Overall – 3/5 if upgraded, 2/5 if not

I bought this set about a year ago for my son. This is a full size set, not a “junior” as some others may suggest, but it sure isn’t a set any experienced drummer would want to play unless some things were upgraded first. I realized that I would have to upgrade the cymbals and heads right away before I even bought this set, as you would want to with almost any low-priced drum set; even some of the well-known drum makers include cheap heads and cymbals unless you’re buying a high-end set. The reason I’m including so much about upgrading this set is that you’ll realize sooner or later that adding to drum sets is a reality that you must start to consider now if you’re getting a set for a new drummer. It’s just life.

Overall, the construction of these drums and the included stands are pretty good overall – for the price. To get a really good set you’ll pay at least twice the amount than what you’ll pay for this set.

The bracing is inexpensive but actually decent workmanship. It looks like birch on the inside of the toms, but I’d bet it’s actually basswood (could be wrong). Number of lugs on the bass is good but that doesn’t always mean you got a great drum. In this case the number of lugs was necessary, and the manufacturing of the shell ends came out very even, so tuning ends up pretty good, but not perfect. It’s definitely good enough for a cheap set.

The supplied heads are very cheap plastic and need to be replaced immediately. I replaced the tom heads (top) with Evans G2’s, and the resonants (bottom side) with Evans Resonant Glass. The bass heads were replaced by an Aquarian Superkick II with an Aquarian Regulator as the resonant, and the snare head was replaced with a coated Remo Ambassador and an Ambassador hazy underside.

The original cymbals that come with this set sound like trash can lids and whoever makes these things should be jailed. To upgrade the cymbals I went cheap with Zildjian ZBT Pros, which included a bonus 18″ medium crash – still much better (like a thousand times better) than the originals. I also had to add nylon sleeves to the cymbal stands so whatever cymbals were mounted wouldn’t get “keyholed”.

The throne is not adjustable-friendly, but since my son is short I haven’t needed to upgrade it yet. If you’re getting this set for someone who’s already a teenager, get a different throne.

As long as I’m talking about ugrading, top things off with adding rototoms and a cowbell (gotta have more cowbell!), and the kid has a decent set to learn on that should last him a while. Keep in mind you don’t have to add these two things for a beginning drummer at all, I personally just like to have them there.

If you are looking at a set you can upgrade by starting out with inexpensive shells and decent hardware, then go with this set. If you want to buy a set that you won’t ever have to upgrade, then look somewhere else. This set can be easily upgraded with cymbals and heads to sound like a really decent set, but by itself it’s not at all impressive.

FYI- replacing all the heads will cost you ~5 USD, cymbals ~5 (at least) USD, so either plan on that added cost for your investment or look at a better set. Shop around and consider the fact that you will eventually be adding onto/upgrading whatever you buy, especially if you’re looking at drums in this price range. There are worse sets out there than this, but there are a ton out there that are better. I don’t regret getting this set at all for the investment I’ve made to-date. My son loves them and is still on it every day annoying the heck out of us (haha).

My son is learning to play the drums at school and wanted a drum set of his own. Tried to make due with an electronic drum pad but heard that “it wasn’t the same.” So after some research and reading other reviews of this set, we decided to purchase it for his Christmas gift. The packages arrived in a timely manner, the website provided detailed instructions on putting things together, and they sound good. I think this is a great price and a good starting drum set for anyone learning to play! Thank you!