Considering electronic drumkit..any tips?

Hi all, my first thread...

I am an experienced drummer of 15 years, gigging with band and am considering selling the acoustic drum kit and buying an electronic kit. Anyone out there with some feedback on their experience with elec. vs acoustic kits? I will be buying fairly high end Roland or Yamaha if I do...

HARTE electric drums are very good drums.

you could keep acoustic and get triggers too.

or the roland v-20 kit is very nice. the toms get bigger. unlike the other kits were the toms are like 8 inches and if you waanna do somthing fast you somtimes miss.

so i would recommend the roland v-20 kit.

or, yamaha electric drums are ok.

Thanks for that....I know what you mean about the small pads. Played a Roland 6 and missed a few on the first run, but got used to it shortly afterwards.

I love my Yammies. Most of the kit is eight years old, the brain, snare, and four of the cymbal triggers are six years old. I've never had any problems with the kit itself, but have had to replace a few cables. I have never regretted buy them, although I do miss my acoustic kit which burned up in a storage fire.

As you can see, I pack a lot of triggers close together. I dont really see the need for larger triggers; even on my acoustic I tried to accurately place each stroke in the sweet spot, no need for a larger "target". Other drummers who have played it had problems but I think its easy enough to get used to. Two of the drummers who played it wound up buying a yammy kit for themselves.

If money and space weren't problems though, I would go for a Roland td-20 with a hart trigger setup.

I've gone down that road.

Bought a Roland kit in 1998, and used it so much that I sold my Gretsch kit. Then in 2004, I ended up buying an acoustic kit again. I still have the Roland kit, and use it for practice at home or recording work, but I use my acoustic kits exclusively for live performances.

Today's electric drums have come a long way since I bought mine, but there's still some things they simply cannot do. The dynamic range is very limiting - only about 40 - 50% of what you can do with an acoustic kit. Mistriggering can be very frustrating also.

Also, if you play out a lot, you'll need to buy some high powered amp or your band needs to have a killer PA, like good quality 15" cabs with horns powered by at least 500 watts per side, in order to get anywhere near the volume level of a moderately played acoustic kit.

Another thing - I've found that most sound guys have no clue when dealing with an electric kit. (If you don't do many gigs where sound is provided by a third party, then this won't be an issue) I can't count how many times I've had to tell the sound guy that I need to hear the drums in the monitors because they make no sound on their own. Or how many times the sound guy uses gates on my signal "because I don't want them to feedback." IDIOT! ELECTRIC DRUMS CANNOT CAUSE FEEDBACK!! They just can't seem to get their heads wrapped around the fact that an electric kit is virtually the same as a keyboard. Keyboards don't cause feedback. Neither will electric drums.

Anyway, I strongly suggest that you keep your acoustic kit if you are planning on getting an electric one.

Chalk it up to 'been there, done that'.

Originally posted by the DW I Anyway, I strongly suggest that you keep your acoustic kit if you are planning on getting an electric one.

good advice.

makes me think of the folks who cancelled their home phone service as soon as they got a mobile phone back in the mid 90s...

There is so much to consider to make a change like that. Remember that if you were to make the conversion you limit yourself in the sense that you will not be able to create so many different natural effects. I gig with my acoustic kit, but i have encountered the Roland V-stage through various session work, fill-in gigs, and jammage. At first i loved it. but the more i played the more i became irriated with the sensitivity of the triggers, the rebound of the mesh heads, and the lack of effects. Dynamics are also a huge issue to me. Acoustically dynamics are limitless. I am one who puts alot of emphasis in natural earthy sounds, that cannot be made with electronics. think of the differences between an acoustic guitar, and electric guitar. That more than anything will help you decide. I also know that when you do buy but more thought into the module, because that not the pads or triggers is where you get your sound.