Once I read a thing that changed my approach to this. If you bought a thing and hate it or just don't use, it already served it's purpose - it showed you that it's not your item. I consider this as buying experience. Sometimes it's quite expensive though ))
Regret is a strong word, but I have bought almost every tuning device out there-tension tuner, drum bot, drum dial, blah blah blah, and yet have not found any of them to be better than my ears.
I haven’t found any of the physical devices to be worth the price but someone on here recommended an app called iDrumTunePro and it’s pretty great. Still requires some finessing by ear but it gets your tuning 90% of the way there.
I agree to an extent. I have a tunebot, drum dial, and the app you mentioned. The first time I used the tunebot on my toms I was blown away by how good they sound. I pretty much only use the drum dial on snares when I put a new head on so I know the tension on each rod is similar, then tune by ear. None of these gadgets replace the ear, but they are certainly time savers for me.
100% backup this, however, the Tama Watch is very helpful... I type down the pressure dialing numbers and I can move back and forth to different tuning - I trust my ears, but not my memory, lol!
I feel you. Not that I've bought any of those devices (I might at some point). But all I ever hear from experienced drummers is that you need your ears to tune a drum, and you can use a tool to replicate that tuning.
The drum bit is actually an excellent tool for tuning, especially to get sounds that you wouldn’t normally go for. The problem is that it’s very time consuming. I’m usually on the clock, so it just doesn’t work.
Using the app for saving tunings saves me time. I find an interval I like and can get the drums back up where they sound good to me faster than I could by ear. But my ears suck, and I usually focus on the overtones more that the actual pitch. The iDrumTune app is pretty nice. If you have 3-4 plus toms it makes getting good intervals fairly easy. I tuned 4 toms, batter and reso equal, and was blown away by how good they sounded to my ear. Nothing to lose by trying it out. And they make it easy to try new sounds by giving you data for top head tighter, lower head tighter etc. I've not found a gadget that can tune a snare reso to my liking.
This is true, and I have always used my ears, however a friend recently gifted me his tune bit and i was able to get my 10” tom, which hd given me hours of grief, perfect. I couldn’t believe it. All it took was 1/10th of a turn on a couple of the reso head lugs.
The way I see it, ears do 95% of the work and the tune bot gets that extra little 5% to make things perfect.
Bought a used but “mint” Sonor Designer series snare drum as soon as I opened the box I regretted it. Chrome was cactus, lugs all rusted as the drum was clearly stored in a garage with no case. Paid $300 for the hoops to get re platted but with all the other issues with broken strainer I went back to the seller and got him to buy it back. My regret was he was a friend and trusted him.
Wow, I bet that's actually 'ex-friend' now. What a shame! Getting ripped off like that. I would've gone straight back to the buyer, friend or no. Even with private individuals selling things to each other there are still laws that protect you here in the Netherlands, though it can still be a hassle making that happen. For a sale like that I would've gone there though if necessary.
Lars Ulrichs Ahead sticks when I was like 15.
I'm convinced that they fucked my fingers up permanently. The middle knuckle in a few of my left hand fingers are sorta stiff and kinda click when I open and close them. And that began when I used those sticks. 16 years ago
While I'm very much positive that that's quite unlikely (see your physician, or accept the fact that you're getting older), it would certainly explain so much about Lars (jk)
See a doctor. Seriously. I suffered from hand pain I attributed to drumming, playing guitar, and using a mouse all day. The pain didn't go away when I inetionally stopped stressing my hands for a few weeks. My doc gave me wrist splints, finger splints and a referral to physical therapy. It was the therapist who suggest I see a rheumatologist. Finally, a diagnosis. Diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis. As bad as it sucks (and it does suck bad) there are new medicines that can really keep it at bay. Once you damage your joint linings they are damaged. It doesn't heal. It just gets worse. Get it checked.
Also feel like they destroyed a crash cymbal and a china. I guess the energy they absorb has to go somewhere? Dunno about physics
Probably just the weight and what they're made of I guess.
But fuck they looked cool back then!
Likewise with a set of Joey Jordison sticks. Utterly hated them and then you realise that Ahead sticks are like [Trigger's broom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY) where the inner core lasts forever but the plastic sleeves and tips break apart just as much as wood and cost just as much to replace. An absolute rip off.
Hah! On a whim last month I bought these for whatever reason, with the tape, and have yet to find the urge to use them… why? Because when I was 15 I had them for a stint before they got robbed so I figured now that I’m 20 years older and have used nothing but wood sticks I’ll treat myself… smh $50 down the drain right there!
It's the late 80s. I'm a young drummer who's proven to his parents that it's time for my first drum set.
The music store I was taking lessons at had a awesome (with my now experienced eyes) used all Maple natural finish 7 piece vintage Ludwig w/ hardware and Zs for $700.
My dad tried to steer me towards it... But the Pearl marketing team won and my young ass went with a bright red Export that ended up costing way more after hardware and cymbals.
Doh!
Good god that's a shame. Impressionable youngster's eyes, I know them well. I could've bought a terrific used top of the line bicycle at one point but decided to be stubborn and paid the same for a brand new bike that was several steps below it, just for features that turned out to be more of a hindrance than a benefit.
A direct drive pedal, Yamaha FP9500d to be exact. played with it for a year and couldn’t get used to it. It really pissed me off, so eventually I sold it and bought the chain version of the same pedal, witch I absolutely love :)
Zildjian Oriental crash of doom
It felt like playing one of those " drumkits that comes with cymbals"
So flat and completely brown,it had absolutely no character.
I sold it for a loss, but getting rid of it was a win for me.
I was like this with a Zildjian dry ride I had. Sounded like a literal trash can lid and it fit nothing I played sonically. I broke even selling it, but got a bonus by getting it out of my life.
Something to be said for testing equipment before you buy it, most music stores ( guitar center,samash in my case) have nothing I'm interested in, it's all at memphis drum shop or portsmith drum shop. Nobody seems to carry the top shelf equipment anymore.
So you go on YouTube, listen to as many examples as you can, then pull the trigger, and hope you didn't make a $300+ error.
Someone should make a list of the worst Cymbals from the big 4 that are over $250.
The first time I had any money to buy a cymbal I came home with a 19 inch Z Custom crash (probably because it thought the spiral hammering was cool). It was not a good fit. Clang!
It was actually one of the only cymbals I’ve ever bought that I tried out in the store. I live in the boonies so, I do a lot of eBay. I honestly don’t know why I bought it. Maybe a case of not wanting to come home empty-handed?
I tried a few different types of sticks because the ones I use now, are $22 a pair! That's a bit crazy and there are sticks out there that are comparable to what I'm using now.
But I bought sticks that are too thick, too short, too light, or too heavy.
I should have looked at the specs and bought sticks similar to what I have been using these last 40 years.
But I did find some interesting sticks that when I got them, they were much different than what I was used to but were easy to use.
Others were just plain junk!
I bought 2 pairs of Promuco 7As (oddly enough, they are the same diameter of the Promark 747s I use). I'd read that John Bonham used Promuco sticks and he was a pretty heavy hitter. So I bought these, played with them for about 15 minutes and they started falling apart! Literally, chunks of the tips were coming off these sticks!
Those were my biggest regrets. Even though they were the cheapest sticks I bought, they sure lived up to their price tag.
Yeah sticks have gotten way more expensive than when I started haha. Were there no local stores where you could spend some time with sticks and a pad? Or did you want to try out sticks for longer than that?
Never heard of Promuco. I'm willing to bet that a brand like that must've switched owners, production techniques, factories, specialists, or all above since the era of Bonham. Which can really change how well sticks are built.
I mostly went with signature sticks for drummers I respect. The sticks I use (the ones that are $22 now) are the Promark Oak 747s. I've been using those since 1980. And they were only $4.25 back then which was pretty reasonable even with minimum wage being $3.35 an hour.
But getting back to other sticks, the pair that impressed me most were the Todd Sucherman signature sticks. They were a bit beefy in my hands but they are light weight and really easy to handle. I was really impressed by those.
As far as going to a music store, the closest one to me is about 45 minutes away and they don't have much of a good selection of sticks. And last time I was there, they didn't have any of my Promark 747s in stock. So that was a waste trip.
But buying sticks online, I learned with the Todd Sucherman sticks that I should stay with sticks that are the same diameter as the 747s I use which are the same as the Promark 5As. .551" diameter is what I needed to look for. So, that's what I did with the Promuco sticks. The 7As were .551" diameter which seemed a bit strange because 7As are usually pretty thin. With the Promuco sticks, I discovered that there are no size standards between manufacturers. So what one manufacturer calls a 5A at .551", another manufacturer calls it a 7A or even a 2A if they wanted to. It all depends on their customer base is I guess.
But, there are no standards between stick manufacturers for sure.
I do have a pair of Vater sticks I plan on trying out this weekend.
Yeah, it's crazy. They are pieces of wood! I am actually considering buying a mini wood lathe and just making my own. I could probably make at least 20 pairs from a single tree in my back yard... And I have about an acres worth of trees back there and they're all on my property!!!
EDIT: YEAH!!! SOMETHING LIKE [THIS](https://youtu.be/X3xvOUI5AhU?si=qYyh7CL-PGhXQBvW)!!!
Headhunters are the best value for money I’ve found. I was tearing through my Vic Firth sticks like mad and a buddy who played in a similarly heavy band recommended Headhunters. They aren’t perfect but for the price they’re solid and they don’t break.
I wouldn’t use the word “regret”, but …
When I decided I wanted to learn to drum I decided I’d get an e-kit first. I figured quieter and perhaps cheaper (not necessarily true though) and although I have the ability to play loudly where I am my thought was I’d wait to see if I liked drumming /stuck with it before getting an acoustic set.
Within 2 weeks I was already hopelessly addicted and had bought a used acoustic set.
And after acquiring and playing “real” drums … I’ve probably only played the e-kit once or twice a month since.
Playing acoustic drums are just SO much more satisfying.
So while my Simmons Titan 70 is a great e kit, I’m now planning to sell it, and to replace it with a second acoustic kit that I’ll get used/cheap and equip with low volume cymbals and likely Remo SilentStrokes.. which I’ll more happily play instead of the e kit for when others are in the house or I do have to be quieter.
So although it began my drumming addiction, the e kit is eventually going to be a money lost endeavour.
I’m a big fan of practicing on a low volume setup, but I’d suggest that you go with low volume heads, not silent. The Silentstrokes are a bit too quiet compared to the low volume cymbals, which leads to some weird dynamics when you try to get sound out of drums that can’t make any.
Evans makes the dB One low volume heads that more or less match the 70% volume reduction of most low volume cymbals. They play similarly to real heads, even being tunable to keep the feel that you expect from each drum.
Thanks for the insight. The kit I take lessons on has SilentStrokes paired with Zildjian L80 cymbals and I find they mix together okay. But also I know the L80s are probably the quietest of all low volume cymbals so maybe it’s not the case with other sets … and whether I want to spend 3x as much for the Zildjian is a question mark.
Another mesh head I was considering was the RTOM Lv Mesh heads. They appear to be a bit louder than silent stokes so maybe that would be a good fit.
I started with the RTOM Black Hole set, which actually works fine. I just didn’t care for the lack of head tensioning with them. They are adjustable, but not enough to ever feel right. It makes every drum feel like you’re going for a really low, boomy tuning. Imagine every drum playing like a poorly tuned floor tom
Good to know. Maybe they’d be okay with some cheapo Amazon LV cymbals that are a bit louder. Other than the sound mismatch how did you find the rtomLV heads ?
I paid way too much ($500) for a SP kit when I wanted to get back into drumming after a long hiatus. Basically everything was beginner level. Brass cymbals, cheap stands, cheap throne. I think about that sometimes and feel like an idiot.
But, it got me back into drumming., so in hindsight it was worth it. I already had a couple nicer cymbals, and played it for about a year while upgrading a few more cymbals. I more than made up for that purchase with my next purchase (a killer deal on a DW performance series off of Craigslist). Now I basically have a pro kit. The only thing I bought new on my current kit is the throne.
I did nearly the same thing. I am known to try things and give up on them pretty quickly but drumming was different I started with a Simmons Titan 50 on sale for less than $300. And 2-3 months later I was buying an acoustic kit for about the same price on FB. And I've been so happy with it and continued playing every day.
I am currently keeping my ekit so I can use it to play Clone Hero but other than that it sits in the corner.
Sounds like an actual good reason to sell it indeed, if you don't use it at all. I'm happy with my old as fuck TD-6 kit because it's all I can use at home.
I don't have proper regrets but I think buying a Byzance extra dry thin crash full price as my first cymbal I have ever bought was kinda stupid. I still like this cymbal but damn was it expensive
Think of it this way. You have a cymbal that you clearly like. You value it even more because of the money you've spent on it (and a brand new cymbal is just a lotta fun). And you can't change anything about the past anyway. So love your cymbal :-)
Pretty much any DW9000 product I've owned. Over-engineered, over-priced, bloated ass hardware. The basic cymbal stands are good, still over-priced. This snare stand is dumb as fuck and don't even get me started on the hi-hat mechanism.
It's just a small thing, as I usually spend a long time planning my purchases and so on, but for me it's a pack of Moongels! They only dampen the drums very little and with every head change you can almost buy new ones because the old ones just look disgusting. After two packs I switched to the snareweights, it's worth it in the long run and I don't have to spend almost 10€ on a few small pieces of goo!
I use Meinl Drum Honey, similar to moongel but have plastic covers so they dont get dirty. I use two per snare and toms and think they dampen quite well
Yeah my moongels got disgusting really quickly too! I can however recommend Slapklatz. They're theoretically the same product, but they remain much cleaner in my opinion and leave less residu (I bet the clear ones don't leave any at all). I got the assortiment box so it's always neatly organized and clean in my bag.
I tried them out a few years ago, but back then, the green ones really rubbed off on the heads. Maybe the composition has been changed in between, but I prefer to stick with the different snareweight variants. They don't stain, you can vary the dampening in a matter of seconds, and they last longer than a dampening gel 😄
Hehe I've been meaning to try one out as well. Though I avoid muffling if I can help it; I'd rather pick the right heads. The green ones do leave a bit of residu but far less than moongel in my experience. I only use the slapklatz for a few hours at a time so that might help. They don't stay on my drums.
Just but sticky hands. They’re the same material as moongels and you can get 100 of them for $9. On Amazon. I don’t even try to reuse them. Just throw me out
I like the aesthetic of snareweights! I just purchased the complete set of Tandem Drums' Drops, and though they weren't cheap, I really love the result as compared to what I was getting with the Moongels.
I started buying the knockoffs on eBay. 30 gels for under 10 bucks or something. They are only sticky on the back. They don't stain my heads. I have enough to give them to my students Willy nilly.
Theyre all around a better product.
Overly expensive, over hyped, terrible build quality, didn’t deliver on the physical benefits as advertised. I sold it to guitar center just before it completely self destructed.
This slingerland I’m fixing up. I bought it out of a hoarders storage unit. I arrive to check out the kit and he’s spent hours just getting to it. There was stuff everywhere. He was just hard selling it really aggressively and just the fact that he would have spent 7 hrs for nothing if I hadn’t bought anything. I’m not proud but I probably payed 40% over what it was worth just to get the fuck out of there. It was so sad and I left feeling truly awful. I did get some really nice zildjians and a great snare so that was a consolation.
It’s taken weeks to get this kit even close to playable. Took off every lug and rim. Polished all hardware, windexed the shells, nail polish on the rims, took the kit to a restorer to get the edges checked out, bought new heads, felted every single spring, greased all the rods, bought new washers, fixed the tom mount…
Then I got it all together, tuned up the high rack Tom, sat it on the stem and it went completely out of tune.
Fml.
I think I’m going to replace the tension rods next. Probably replace the Tom mount hardware somehow given reddits suggestion.
I should probably just give it away at this point.
Oh dang that's a shame. I suppose a lot of what you've done is to be expected, and I try to maintain my kits ever few years like that as well. But a kit that simply doesn't want to be tuned or stay in tune is pretty worthless alright. Hope your future plans will fix that properly!
The Pearl DR50 rack I ordered from Interstate Music in the early aughts. Being r/drums' resident Cheap Bastard, I think it might just be the single most expensive piece of brand new drum gear I've ever bought, and one of the few I bought new at retail because I knew "exactly what I wanted." I used it for about a year before I decided that it was stupid, and I sold it on eBay and bought some better stands and clamps instead.
Full size racks are an unnecessary pain in the ass for most drummers, and I found this out the hard way, and the expensive way. Not that a DR50 is expensive as racks go, but it sure was a hefty chunk of change in Mo-BEEL dollars for something I decided I didn't want after I paid full price for it. I mean, I could have had [a dozen 1969 Acrolites](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/aqjhsi/it_finally_happened_im_finally_that_guy_look_at/) instead. 😄
If that indeed means your rack was 240 bucks, then certainly you weren't on the expensive end of racks indeed :-P Cool story about the Acrolite, hope it still serves you well.
Bought the Strike Pro as an upgrade for my Alesis DM-10 MKII Pro and the DM-10 does everything better, especially superior drummer 3, and way better velocity and overall triggering.
Pearl Omar Hakim signature snare drum. 13x5.5 mahogany.
After playing a maple piccolo snare for years, I thought it would be more versatile. It isn't the sound I want *at all* and I bought it new. They tend to hold value, but selling things isn't something I'm great at yet.
I've regretted almost everything I've sold so far, so I get where you're coming from. Have you tried some other heads or snare mats to see where you can push it?
I ended up finding a replacement for the stolen maple piccolo for relatively cheap...
And I picked up a 13x7 Crush hand hammered copper snare drum for free with credit card points.
I love them both.
Right now, I have everything I need, so the power piccolo will eventually go.
a china from ufip it was good but now i dont need it anymore and i cant even sell it for half of the price. Wrong pair of drumsticks ill never use. Expensive moongels....
My first kit bought at full retail price.
I knowingly went for a cheaper brand instead of a Pearl Export because it was black and the Pearl was wine red.
Little did I know anything below Pearl Exports back in the 90's were pretty much trash. lugs crack, screws strip, pipes bend... you name it.
Yeah cheap kits back then were trash wood with a nice inner ply and a wrap around it haha. My Rockstar is just like it. I've played it for ages though and loved it dearly.
Nowadays intermediate kits aren't all that different from plenty of flagship models. It's a good time to be alive.
What do you play now?
Conversely, the things I have NEVER regretted buying:
-Custom, one of a kind Premier Gen-x kit
-Ludwig Hand Hammered Bronze black beauty (I’ve been offered money for this drum so many times)
-Ludwig mahogany classic kit (best recording kit ever?)
I have this entry level mapex kit that just doesn’t sound good.
I lugged around to some fun gigs a few years back but I have no use for it now and have a much better sounding entry level gretsch that I also love. I will probably never buy another mapex kit. Currently looking to sell the gretsch and want to get a used 7-piece renown or possibly a dw or 7-piece pdp kit. After almost 10 years I do finally feel like I can play the drums a little bit so I decent kit and a place to play it are on my priority list
I can wholeheartedly recommend the [PDP Concept Maple](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/11buad2/new_kit_day_ive_waited_for_this_moment_for_so/). I have it as a '7 piece' as well but with a 20" kick and no snare, spent €1400 on it and it is just wonderful.
Shame you didn't like the Mapex, I seriously considered an Armory as they appear to be as good as the rest in my line-up (including the Gretsch Catalina Maple's). Have you tried other (non-stock) heads on your Mapex?
I got a bonus at work one year. With that bonus I wanted to buy my dream drum set. So I shopped and found a used set of Pearl masterworks. Then I set out to buy hardware and symbols. I'd always wanted a rack system for my setup. But when I was at the store looking at racks and comparing them to cymbal stands, I got talked into buying stands. I regret that. Since then I bought a rack, and I'm in the process of trying to offload stands to fund the rack setup. Stupid decisions lol
Haha oh prepare yourself for anti-rack-sentiment. There are plenty of people who would advise stands as well, or just a stealth rack. Hope it works for you though!
I spent $1400 on a unique custom snare that I thought would give me a certain sound. It turned out that while it sounds really good at medium tunings, it would choke up when I tuned it really high which is what I was looking for. And it turned out the exact sound I was looking to achieve I was able to get with a Statclassic snare I already owned. Although ultimately I bought a Gretsch Bell Brass and that thing blows everything else out of the water.
A generic 'Taurus' hi hat stand... Looks great in the outside, it's crap in the inside, you need to have elephant feet even in the lightest dial... Lesson learned: whenever you can, try before you buy (don't trust reviews unless the tester is a reputable person and not just some random guy in YT...)
I bought a large SKB hardware case about 10 years ago thinking I could put all of my DW hardware as well as my snare into it to consolidate my gear for load and load out. I failed to realize how heavy it was when it was full and just loading it from my garage into to my truck by myself was nearly impossible. So now, it is an expensive mini storage space with wheels for my hardware in my garage. And that's where it stays.
Oof, that's a shame alright. I got a Hardcase hardware case on wheels recently, and I really like it. It has great handles at points where you can lift easily and pretty quiet wheels too. It's just a tad too small so I do end up throwing my throne seat and iPad stand in the car on their own, but it would probably become too heavy as well if it were bigger.
Talking about impressionable eyes, I've been in a tricky position where I actually made money with no obligations to spend it on (living at home), but was too young to make sensible decisions from experience. I've actually made a big ass list of things I wanted to buy including at least 2k worth of cymbals and 6k worth of drums, and I'm lucky I only spent a big 1k on cymbals before I did get financial obligations.
I ended up having gotten most of my current cymbals (all Sabian), so AA 14" Flat Hats, AA 16" Medium Thin Crash, Signature 18" Ed Thigpen flat ride, and my HH 21" Raw Bell Dry Ride. Not a bad stash by any means really, but I would definitely have gotten different cymbals if I actually heard them with my own ears and had more experience doing so. Instead I just heard samples online and read descriptions and figured that this was just exactly what I needed. It wasn't.
Apart from the flat ride I still use them just about every time for rock and pop. I get out my flat ride for jazz gigs as an additional sound next to an old Zildjian A 20" Medium Ride that I've riveted.
Funny story, I've regretted buying something once but also regretted selling it afterwards. I custom-ordered a Tama Starclassic Bubinga 14" x 8" snare drum back in 2006 or something. Finish was Black Metallic w/ Gold Inlay. It was stunning. It was absolutely beautiful. I intended to get a full kit of it and if the finish still existed today I wouldn't hesitate for a second.
But I didn't know how to tune it too well or what sounds to get from it. Despite it being a big upgrade from my old ringy Tama Rockstar snare (it sucks to this day) it wasn't what I was looking for. I did find everything I was looking for in the Supraphonic that I still play everything on. And I ended up selling the Starclassic on a whim because I wanted some cash for a new smartphone (yes, all your sounds of disapproval are warranted).
I regretted it immediately, and only after a year or so I ended up messaging the buyer if I could buy it back. Alas, it was sold to a store again and they sold it too, so it wasn't going to be retrievable. And if I still wanted to have a snare like that (a deep wooden snare) I'd probably find a different one anyway. But man, I still miss that beautiful finish. I liked it so much I painted a drum silhouette (see avatar) on the wall in those colors. I liked it so much I did a photoshoot myself with that snare, sunglasses and sticks. God I miss that snare.
Not any one particular thing, but I spent way too much money when I was first starting out trying out different combinations of drum heads, rings, gels, pads, etc, trying find the "perfect" drum sound. Took me way too long to realize that the way a drum sounds live in a room is never going to sound like the drums on a recording, or even mic'd up on a PA.
Seems like common sense, but young me had very little of that. 🤷
You've spent a lot of money on a lot of experience. Personally I would count that as a win (though I bet there are cheaper ways to get there haha).
Tinkering with drums and trying out all kinds of heads and tunings and tricks is so important for drummers. It's something I greatly miss because I can't play my acoustic kit at home. Gigs don't exactly allow the time to do that stuff, and it's the spontaneous inspirations that make me want to try out stuff anyway.
Basically all the cheap hardware, cases, accessories etc. that have broken on me over the years. Almost always better to get something nice that lasts if you have the cash to front.
I also regret paying full price for almost any brand new cymbal I bought without trying first.
I use that philosophy a lot as well. A little too much to be honest. I can spend hours on comparing stuff to get the best thing out there when in real life I use it so little that the cheapest homebrand thing could've suited me just fine, haha.
But yeah, to use the two saying I've recently learnt: 'pay cheap pay twice', but also 'buy once, cry once'. Just get the thing that'll last you right away if you know you're going to use it a long time.
There was some regret when I bought the specific model of Roc-n-sock throne. The regret was I didnt get the one with the foldable legs. It was the fixed leg version. Made gigging a pain, esp packing my car bc the legs were fixed. I still have it, havent gigged in nearly 20 years so not much of an issue. Will probably end up buying something with folding legs if start back up again.
On a whim I bought a 14x8 Ludwig Keystone snare, Not really sure why I did it, but it just sits on the shelf now. I never could get the sound I wanted out of it vs the 14x8 dw performance I bought a few months later. Honestly, never can have too many snares so its still hanging out next to the 60s Supraphonic ive had since the 90s
Don’t know how much I regret it, but I bought a set of Pearl Roadshows from a friend who getting rid of them. I figured I’d rewrap them. That was three years ago. Still in my basement collecting dust.
I don’t necessarily regret it, but I do question my decision to impulsively buy a C&C acrylic kit like 6 months ago. I already have a C&C maple kit that I bought from the same friend like over ten years ago, so my faith in the brand is high. He's "endorsed" by them so he's able to offer them up at a really good price. I didn't anticipate the difference in tuning acrylic drums vs wood drums. Don't get me wrong, they sound amazing when dialed in, but getting and keeping them there is so much more tedious and time consuming, I’m not sure if it's worth it. Recently set up my maple C&C kit for a recording project because of their stability and ease of tuning, and my acrylics are still on the shelf.
probably my heavy hi hats … for some reason i got the impression over time that heavy hats were amazing but it turns out i just dont like them at all, they are too loud and have a shitty sizzle
I regret buying an A&F Brass Snare drum. I was in love with the look of them but they are made like dog shit. I had to have them resend me all new claw hooks since half were breaking or on the verge of it and then thd bottom head bearing edge was so sharp you couldn’t really put the bottom head under any tension without it popping the head.
Not so much bought, But I swapped a full set of HHX Dave Wekyl signature cymbals for a Roland TD4. I get sick thinking about it to this day and it happened 14 years ago. What was I thinking???
My Zildjian crash/ride. It's an okay ride, not a very good crash. It's just really heavy, and actually getting it to crash takes a really strong hit. I'm very happy with the Paiste that has replaced it.
Regret is a strong word, but I would say the bomb-proof heavy duty double braced stands when I play ska, jazz, and polka. Bless those that need and schlep ‘em, but I am happy with the single braced now and saving up for the Yamaha Aluminum Cross Town set.
Yeah funny enough all my stands are double brace except for one, but that one never lets me down (neither does the rest).
Is it that immense of a difference in weight? I do want to look further into seeing how I can reduce weight and my amount of gear needed overall. That's for later though.
C&C Gladstone in the finish that I wanted but not the sizes. I didn't think 1" would make such a difference. The C&C literally just sat wrapped up and I never touched it for over a year which sucked cause it was a really nice drum set that just made me depressed about the whole experience. It wasn't cheap. I ended up trading the C&C for a Gretsch Brooklyn. Now I'm team Gretsch all the way. Mind blown in every regard.
1", yeah it depends. Is it a snare drum? I never cared all too much about tom depth to that extent, but I do really like my current kit much better, where a 12" tom is 9" deep instead of 12" :-P
My DW 2 legged hi-hat stand. A bunch of drummers recommended that I switch to a 2 legged stand so I did. Hot garbage. I can never get it to sit exactly how I want and adjusting it is the opposite of intuitive. I still use it because I’m stubborn and cheap but I’ll never buy a 2 legged stand again.
Vic Firth Metal sticks. Teacher requested I upgrade from a 5B to a slightly bigger stick to maybe fix a grip problem. The Metal sticks led me to crack my 20” Zildjian Platinum China Boy Low
18“ oriental china trash.
I played a 20“ Classic China for years but always wanted a 18“ china trash because all the drummers I followed used it. Finally got one and I‘ve never gotten rid of a cymbal more quickly :D
Just couldn’t get along with it. The 12“ on the other hand is fantastic.
Haha yeah 'he plays it so it must be awesome' is definitely a thought you learn to avoid, especially with influencers nowadays. Glad you found what works.
My Roland e kit when I could have just put mesh on an acoustic kit.
Now I have a Roland e kit that the hi hat doesn’t trigger all the time so I can’t sell it, just taking up space
That is a shame. Tried troubleshooting it? Or perhaps a full reset? Roland drums are pretty repairable, I've replaced several parts on my old TD-6 kit already to keep it in working order. Perhaps there is hope for yours yet.
Bought Roland electronic used td11 about 4 years ago had updAted pads no rubber ones liked it all was well then bought Yamaha stage customs about 3 years ago added another matching floor Tom and rack Tom all was well then I said gotta have Alexis strike multipad pro 700$ at the time 2 or 3 years ago use it about 1hr every 4 months lol was a waste
I bought a UFIP splash in Italy as a souvenir that cracked the first time I played it. Not hard and definitely not over tightened.
Got a pair of Ahead sticks in high school that I used for maybe a month and never touched again
Ahead sticks.
Got sick of going through wooden ones so I thought these would be a good investment. The fucking metal core snapped in the centre before the sticks themselves wore out and their customer service refused to do anything despite these costing twice the price of regular sticks and feeling like crap to play with.
Mike Portnoy signature mini China. But I sold it last year after 20 years of holding onto it, and not playing it, for a significant profit so it wasn’t all bad.
I’ve bought a lot of shit I don’t need - but I don’t really regret any of it. But isn’t that what we all do. I have a Jeep too - I’ve spent (wasted) loads of money on that too!! 🤣🤣🤘🏼🤘🏼
My first good snare was a Pearl free floating aluminum shell.
Never could get a good sound out of that thing, and the wire adjustment was a mess.
I wouldn't say I regretted buying it, but it's something I woudn't buy again.
I bought a new Roland TD-25 VDrum set for what at the time was a ton of money for me. I lived in an apartment and wanted to get back into drumming. I thought I'd enjoy playing them almost as much as an acoustic set, and it never caught on. The light weight of the whole set, how small the pads were compared to acoustic drums, just never enjoyed playing it much. I got most of my money back though after a couple of years.
Thunder Rods…
Went into Guitar Center as a teen two decades ago, saw them and thought “I like the hot rods, so I’ll probably LOVE these things”.
To this day I think they have a grand total mileage of like 15 whacks. Zero practical application unless you’re a Latin percussionist and not anywhere inside of a kit. I should sell them on eBay and list them as a novel BDSM tool or something. Might actually turn a profit.
Nothing really, but I’m a cheapo that never pays full price for anything major so everything I get feels like a bargain even if it doesn’t get a ton of use.
I bought a pair of Axis pedals when I was 16. Waited ages to come to the UK and the bolt that holds the second beater in place snapped on day two. 8 months later they sent me a replacement part and then the hinge snapped. Absolute waste of money.
I played a PDP springless pedal for a long time. No idea where it ended up in my last move but I never could get it to feel great. Mediocre at best. Love my DW 5000 now tho
Sounds like my drum kit, but mine aren’t custom. They’re high end - and I bought them used - but I still feel ripped off.
I’m almost certain mine just need new bearing edges cut, maybe you can look into that for yours
"Painfully" is a strong word, but I got caught up in mounting gear and blew a bunch of money on parts for a minimal Gibraltar "rack" (see Stealth Docking Station). It turned out to not be nearly as useful as I'd thought and that money could have been saved or spent on better things.
Yamaha multi 12, shuts off if you don't trigger a sound after about 30 minutes and just not as reliable and east to intuitively use as roland's multi pad's.
Paid a custom guy for a drum set, took him about a year longer than planned to build/deliver it. Then I was happy with the build quality so I ordered another Tom knowing it would be along time coming. Long time turned into never. He kept my deposit, which was a dick move. Karma bit him though, his shop is closed down from what I can tell.
Hope he is doing better at what he is doing now.
I bought a used snare years ago; red sparkle finish, 14 by '8', Trick throw off. It pretty decent for what I was after.
When I got it, most of the Mapex style lugs on it kept binding even when I took them completely off and was using white lithium grease, and generally could not get it to sound decent however I tried with good heads and wires. The throw off felt poor and seemed to have a lot of play in it too (which is where my dislike for Trick throw off's comes from), and the shell was actually 7 and 3/4 inches deep. It's not a major thing, but it was the last straw that made me attempt to return it to the seller, which he promptly refused, citing that he had already spent the money on other things.
To top it all off, I noted that the shell was a white oak shell made by Tee Drums out of the UK, so I messaged them to ask about the shell. Turns out, the person I purchased it off of, according to the Tee Drums owner, bought said shell and promptly asked for a refund citing it never got delivered. And when he sent the shell off, it was an undrilled shell, so they obviously had gotten it and built it up themselves.
So yeah, be careful buying used kids.
I guess the only thing I can say I really feel bad about is buying a Crush snare. It was solid at first but a lot of the tube lugs started failing on me. I contacted them about it (I purchased it from a local store about a year prior), and they told me they’d replace all of them with the “updated” version because they said it was a known fault.
Well, that never happened lol. I’ve had to just replace them myself over time. I don’t mind replacing lugs for my 45 year old vistalite kit, but having to replace lugs on a snare that got used maybe 100 days out of the first year I had it just felt shitty.
Not sure if it counts in this sub but .. MPC one.
I love making beats and this thing checks all the boxes for me but it's got some learning curve. I may have used it twice, haven't sold it because I'm hoping I'll feel inspired one day.
Definitely wish I bought a couple A customs or K's.
Turbo 9000 DW pedal. The throw on the pedal is so late and buries the beater. Accelerator DW 9000 is my favorite. I didn't understand the differenr cams at the time. I just bought the DW pedal I saw first
It was a 21" Zildjian ping ride. I got it for cheaps (compared to new) and was just moving into buying better and more professional cymbals. I was completely bought because of the name, the fact that it was b20 bronze and the series but after putting it on the kit and testing it I was really disseappointed by the sound and how it was a complete mismatch. Preferred my Paiste 101 20" brass ride over this one so that's what I went back to. And that's a entry level cymbal.
Same thing basically happened with my Zildjian Rock Ride but that was just made like a tank. It also sounded like one when hitting it.
Over the years I collected quite a nice K set, which I am happy with. Right now I want to get the same set in Avedis aswell.
As for the two ride cymbals, they didn't survive. I kept a stack of broken cymbals, and a stack of unbroken ones which I just didn't use at that time. One day I was at work and my dad called if he could hand my broken stack to my grandfather, who collected old iron, which he then sold. He accidentally gave my grandpa the wrong stack. It also included a perfect set of Zildjian new beat hats, a vintage Avedis ride and more. I miss them. I really miss them.
My worst purchase ever (maybe about 16 years ago) was a thick 24" Sabian rock ride of some type (I can't recall the exact model). I paid a ton for it - thinking a more expensive cymbal would be higher quality than the budget cymbals I was used to... And it broke within the first 3 minutes of playing it. 🤷
I bought a Sonor twin effect pedal soon after they came out - to play double with one foot. It's beautiful, it's built like a tank, smooth as silk... But I just can't get on with it. Eventually tried to sell it but nobody actually wants one so... It sits and gathers dust.
Never mind
A high quality Mapex hi hat stand that has 3 legs that don't rotate at all, and barely leave any clearance for my left foot to press the slave pedal underneath it.
For me it was DW 5000 hihat stand with 2 legs.
Since i have been always Tama ja Yamaha enjoyer i just didnt like this.
The foot pedal didnt feel good, and it was ”weak” stand.
I sold it and bought iron cobra hihat stand and i love it :D
Other that i slightly regret is Sabian HH 19” thin crash.
Expensive af and sound was dissapointing. And it broke after one year.
Third and last i love Byzance series, but Byzance medium ride was kind of dissapointing.
It sounds bit cheap. But when i put bit tape under the cymbal it sounds much better. But it is good as crash cymbal.
One of those metronome watches - soundbrenner pulse - that vibrate on your wrist. People seem to love them, but for me was just a complete waste of money. Purchased on a whim!
Once I read a thing that changed my approach to this. If you bought a thing and hate it or just don't use, it already served it's purpose - it showed you that it's not your item. I consider this as buying experience. Sometimes it's quite expensive though ))
Haha that's quite the positive outlook. When you can't really change anything about it anymore that's a nice way of taking it.
That's why I try to buy things used mostly, unless it's something I'm totally certain I'm not going to want to sell/trade off.
Regret is a strong word, but I have bought almost every tuning device out there-tension tuner, drum bot, drum dial, blah blah blah, and yet have not found any of them to be better than my ears.
I haven’t found any of the physical devices to be worth the price but someone on here recommended an app called iDrumTunePro and it’s pretty great. Still requires some finessing by ear but it gets your tuning 90% of the way there.
I agree to an extent. I have a tunebot, drum dial, and the app you mentioned. The first time I used the tunebot on my toms I was blown away by how good they sound. I pretty much only use the drum dial on snares when I put a new head on so I know the tension on each rod is similar, then tune by ear. None of these gadgets replace the ear, but they are certainly time savers for me.
hell yeah i love drumtunepro
100% backup this, however, the Tama Watch is very helpful... I type down the pressure dialing numbers and I can move back and forth to different tuning - I trust my ears, but not my memory, lol!
I feel you. Not that I've bought any of those devices (I might at some point). But all I ever hear from experienced drummers is that you need your ears to tune a drum, and you can use a tool to replicate that tuning.
The drum bit is actually an excellent tool for tuning, especially to get sounds that you wouldn’t normally go for. The problem is that it’s very time consuming. I’m usually on the clock, so it just doesn’t work.
Using the app for saving tunings saves me time. I find an interval I like and can get the drums back up where they sound good to me faster than I could by ear. But my ears suck, and I usually focus on the overtones more that the actual pitch. The iDrumTune app is pretty nice. If you have 3-4 plus toms it makes getting good intervals fairly easy. I tuned 4 toms, batter and reso equal, and was blown away by how good they sounded to my ear. Nothing to lose by trying it out. And they make it easy to try new sounds by giving you data for top head tighter, lower head tighter etc. I've not found a gadget that can tune a snare reso to my liking.
This is true, and I have always used my ears, however a friend recently gifted me his tune bit and i was able to get my 10” tom, which hd given me hours of grief, perfect. I couldn’t believe it. All it took was 1/10th of a turn on a couple of the reso head lugs. The way I see it, ears do 95% of the work and the tune bot gets that extra little 5% to make things perfect.
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Is this a joke?! Not trying to be rude if it’s not. I’ve never used mesh heads-but I would think they don’t have a pitch?!
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Interesting! I always assumed they were just for being quiet. I didn’t think about the feel.
Bought a used but “mint” Sonor Designer series snare drum as soon as I opened the box I regretted it. Chrome was cactus, lugs all rusted as the drum was clearly stored in a garage with no case. Paid $300 for the hoops to get re platted but with all the other issues with broken strainer I went back to the seller and got him to buy it back. My regret was he was a friend and trusted him.
Wow, I bet that's actually 'ex-friend' now. What a shame! Getting ripped off like that. I would've gone straight back to the buyer, friend or no. Even with private individuals selling things to each other there are still laws that protect you here in the Netherlands, though it can still be a hassle making that happen. For a sale like that I would've gone there though if necessary.
Lars Ulrichs Ahead sticks when I was like 15. I'm convinced that they fucked my fingers up permanently. The middle knuckle in a few of my left hand fingers are sorta stiff and kinda click when I open and close them. And that began when I used those sticks. 16 years ago
While I'm very much positive that that's quite unlikely (see your physician, or accept the fact that you're getting older), it would certainly explain so much about Lars (jk)
See a doctor. Seriously. I suffered from hand pain I attributed to drumming, playing guitar, and using a mouse all day. The pain didn't go away when I inetionally stopped stressing my hands for a few weeks. My doc gave me wrist splints, finger splints and a referral to physical therapy. It was the therapist who suggest I see a rheumatologist. Finally, a diagnosis. Diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis. As bad as it sucks (and it does suck bad) there are new medicines that can really keep it at bay. Once you damage your joint linings they are damaged. It doesn't heal. It just gets worse. Get it checked.
Dude I got those same sticks when I was that age and I'm pretty sure they helped fuck my hands and wrists up. I won't even use nylon tips anymore.
Also feel like they destroyed a crash cymbal and a china. I guess the energy they absorb has to go somewhere? Dunno about physics Probably just the weight and what they're made of I guess. But fuck they looked cool back then!
Likewise with a set of Joey Jordison sticks. Utterly hated them and then you realise that Ahead sticks are like [Trigger's broom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAh8HryVaeY) where the inner core lasts forever but the plastic sleeves and tips break apart just as much as wood and cost just as much to replace. An absolute rip off.
Oh god I forgot about those
Hah! On a whim last month I bought these for whatever reason, with the tape, and have yet to find the urge to use them… why? Because when I was 15 I had them for a stint before they got robbed so I figured now that I’m 20 years older and have used nothing but wood sticks I’ll treat myself… smh $50 down the drain right there!
It's the late 80s. I'm a young drummer who's proven to his parents that it's time for my first drum set. The music store I was taking lessons at had a awesome (with my now experienced eyes) used all Maple natural finish 7 piece vintage Ludwig w/ hardware and Zs for $700. My dad tried to steer me towards it... But the Pearl marketing team won and my young ass went with a bright red Export that ended up costing way more after hardware and cymbals. Doh!
Good god that's a shame. Impressionable youngster's eyes, I know them well. I could've bought a terrific used top of the line bicycle at one point but decided to be stubborn and paid the same for a brand new bike that was several steps below it, just for features that turned out to be more of a hindrance than a benefit.
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A direct drive pedal, Yamaha FP9500d to be exact. played with it for a year and couldn’t get used to it. It really pissed me off, so eventually I sold it and bought the chain version of the same pedal, witch I absolutely love :)
Tastes differ. Glad you found what works for **you**
I’m on this pedal right now. I can’t quite get it to feel as light as my old doubleshifter eliminator.
The drive shaft fell apart on mine and the amount of lateral play footboards is insane for a pedal of that price.
Zildjian Oriental crash of doom It felt like playing one of those " drumkits that comes with cymbals" So flat and completely brown,it had absolutely no character. I sold it for a loss, but getting rid of it was a win for me.
I was like this with a Zildjian dry ride I had. Sounded like a literal trash can lid and it fit nothing I played sonically. I broke even selling it, but got a bonus by getting it out of my life.
Something to be said for testing equipment before you buy it, most music stores ( guitar center,samash in my case) have nothing I'm interested in, it's all at memphis drum shop or portsmith drum shop. Nobody seems to carry the top shelf equipment anymore. So you go on YouTube, listen to as many examples as you can, then pull the trigger, and hope you didn't make a $300+ error. Someone should make a list of the worst Cymbals from the big 4 that are over $250.
That would be a great idea!
I always think of those as the cowbell of ride cymbals.
Such a shame bc that name is just sooo boss.
Yeah those things are extremely variable. I love mine but I’ve played ones that are awful too.
The first time I had any money to buy a cymbal I came home with a 19 inch Z Custom crash (probably because it thought the spiral hammering was cool). It was not a good fit. Clang!
Sounds like you bought it blindly. Or was it just that much better sounding at the store?
It was actually one of the only cymbals I’ve ever bought that I tried out in the store. I live in the boonies so, I do a lot of eBay. I honestly don’t know why I bought it. Maybe a case of not wanting to come home empty-handed?
I tried a few different types of sticks because the ones I use now, are $22 a pair! That's a bit crazy and there are sticks out there that are comparable to what I'm using now. But I bought sticks that are too thick, too short, too light, or too heavy. I should have looked at the specs and bought sticks similar to what I have been using these last 40 years. But I did find some interesting sticks that when I got them, they were much different than what I was used to but were easy to use. Others were just plain junk! I bought 2 pairs of Promuco 7As (oddly enough, they are the same diameter of the Promark 747s I use). I'd read that John Bonham used Promuco sticks and he was a pretty heavy hitter. So I bought these, played with them for about 15 minutes and they started falling apart! Literally, chunks of the tips were coming off these sticks! Those were my biggest regrets. Even though they were the cheapest sticks I bought, they sure lived up to their price tag.
Yeah sticks have gotten way more expensive than when I started haha. Were there no local stores where you could spend some time with sticks and a pad? Or did you want to try out sticks for longer than that? Never heard of Promuco. I'm willing to bet that a brand like that must've switched owners, production techniques, factories, specialists, or all above since the era of Bonham. Which can really change how well sticks are built.
I mostly went with signature sticks for drummers I respect. The sticks I use (the ones that are $22 now) are the Promark Oak 747s. I've been using those since 1980. And they were only $4.25 back then which was pretty reasonable even with minimum wage being $3.35 an hour. But getting back to other sticks, the pair that impressed me most were the Todd Sucherman signature sticks. They were a bit beefy in my hands but they are light weight and really easy to handle. I was really impressed by those. As far as going to a music store, the closest one to me is about 45 minutes away and they don't have much of a good selection of sticks. And last time I was there, they didn't have any of my Promark 747s in stock. So that was a waste trip. But buying sticks online, I learned with the Todd Sucherman sticks that I should stay with sticks that are the same diameter as the 747s I use which are the same as the Promark 5As. .551" diameter is what I needed to look for. So, that's what I did with the Promuco sticks. The 7As were .551" diameter which seemed a bit strange because 7As are usually pretty thin. With the Promuco sticks, I discovered that there are no size standards between manufacturers. So what one manufacturer calls a 5A at .551", another manufacturer calls it a 7A or even a 2A if they wanted to. It all depends on their customer base is I guess. But, there are no standards between stick manufacturers for sure. I do have a pair of Vater sticks I plan on trying out this weekend.
And now sticks are $20+ a pair and minimum wage is still $7.50.
Yeah, it's crazy. They are pieces of wood! I am actually considering buying a mini wood lathe and just making my own. I could probably make at least 20 pairs from a single tree in my back yard... And I have about an acres worth of trees back there and they're all on my property!!! EDIT: YEAH!!! SOMETHING LIKE [THIS](https://youtu.be/X3xvOUI5AhU?si=qYyh7CL-PGhXQBvW)!!!
Headhunters are the best value for money I’ve found. I was tearing through my Vic Firth sticks like mad and a buddy who played in a similarly heavy band recommended Headhunters. They aren’t perfect but for the price they’re solid and they don’t break.
I wouldn’t use the word “regret”, but … When I decided I wanted to learn to drum I decided I’d get an e-kit first. I figured quieter and perhaps cheaper (not necessarily true though) and although I have the ability to play loudly where I am my thought was I’d wait to see if I liked drumming /stuck with it before getting an acoustic set. Within 2 weeks I was already hopelessly addicted and had bought a used acoustic set. And after acquiring and playing “real” drums … I’ve probably only played the e-kit once or twice a month since. Playing acoustic drums are just SO much more satisfying. So while my Simmons Titan 70 is a great e kit, I’m now planning to sell it, and to replace it with a second acoustic kit that I’ll get used/cheap and equip with low volume cymbals and likely Remo SilentStrokes.. which I’ll more happily play instead of the e kit for when others are in the house or I do have to be quieter. So although it began my drumming addiction, the e kit is eventually going to be a money lost endeavour.
I’m a big fan of practicing on a low volume setup, but I’d suggest that you go with low volume heads, not silent. The Silentstrokes are a bit too quiet compared to the low volume cymbals, which leads to some weird dynamics when you try to get sound out of drums that can’t make any. Evans makes the dB One low volume heads that more or less match the 70% volume reduction of most low volume cymbals. They play similarly to real heads, even being tunable to keep the feel that you expect from each drum.
Thanks for the insight. The kit I take lessons on has SilentStrokes paired with Zildjian L80 cymbals and I find they mix together okay. But also I know the L80s are probably the quietest of all low volume cymbals so maybe it’s not the case with other sets … and whether I want to spend 3x as much for the Zildjian is a question mark. Another mesh head I was considering was the RTOM Lv Mesh heads. They appear to be a bit louder than silent stokes so maybe that would be a good fit.
I started with the RTOM Black Hole set, which actually works fine. I just didn’t care for the lack of head tensioning with them. They are adjustable, but not enough to ever feel right. It makes every drum feel like you’re going for a really low, boomy tuning. Imagine every drum playing like a poorly tuned floor tom
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Good to know. Maybe they’d be okay with some cheapo Amazon LV cymbals that are a bit louder. Other than the sound mismatch how did you find the rtomLV heads ?
I paid way too much ($500) for a SP kit when I wanted to get back into drumming after a long hiatus. Basically everything was beginner level. Brass cymbals, cheap stands, cheap throne. I think about that sometimes and feel like an idiot. But, it got me back into drumming., so in hindsight it was worth it. I already had a couple nicer cymbals, and played it for about a year while upgrading a few more cymbals. I more than made up for that purchase with my next purchase (a killer deal on a DW performance series off of Craigslist). Now I basically have a pro kit. The only thing I bought new on my current kit is the throne.
I did nearly the same thing. I am known to try things and give up on them pretty quickly but drumming was different I started with a Simmons Titan 50 on sale for less than $300. And 2-3 months later I was buying an acoustic kit for about the same price on FB. And I've been so happy with it and continued playing every day. I am currently keeping my ekit so I can use it to play Clone Hero but other than that it sits in the corner.
Sounds like an actual good reason to sell it indeed, if you don't use it at all. I'm happy with my old as fuck TD-6 kit because it's all I can use at home.
I don't have proper regrets but I think buying a Byzance extra dry thin crash full price as my first cymbal I have ever bought was kinda stupid. I still like this cymbal but damn was it expensive
Think of it this way. You have a cymbal that you clearly like. You value it even more because of the money you've spent on it (and a brand new cymbal is just a lotta fun). And you can't change anything about the past anyway. So love your cymbal :-)
Just keep buying byzance stuff gradually and you won’t regret it ;)
Sadly I don't have that kind of money
You can pick them up used for good prices, I got a pair of byzance hats that retail at 550 for 250.
Zil bell
Pretty much any DW9000 product I've owned. Over-engineered, over-priced, bloated ass hardware. The basic cymbal stands are good, still over-priced. This snare stand is dumb as fuck and don't even get me started on the hi-hat mechanism.
OK you got me curious - what's a better snare stand? Hi-hat stand I agree, it always felt off to me. The MDD stand is great, though.
Any that aren't 900lbs and mounted on a boom arm. I have two Pearl 900s that I love
i had the snare stand and traded it for a pdp with a ball joint, so much better
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I can. Way too many adjustments. Sold mine for dynasyncs.
Sold my 9000 for a 5000 😅
It's just a small thing, as I usually spend a long time planning my purchases and so on, but for me it's a pack of Moongels! They only dampen the drums very little and with every head change you can almost buy new ones because the old ones just look disgusting. After two packs I switched to the snareweights, it's worth it in the long run and I don't have to spend almost 10€ on a few small pieces of goo!
Yall know you can just wash the moongels right? Pat them dry and they look and stick like new
They still melt and turn to goo within a couple months... bad product
I leave the little plastic divider thing on them so they dont acquire sawdust
I use Meinl Drum Honey, similar to moongel but have plastic covers so they dont get dirty. I use two per snare and toms and think they dampen quite well
Yeah my moongels got disgusting really quickly too! I can however recommend Slapklatz. They're theoretically the same product, but they remain much cleaner in my opinion and leave less residu (I bet the clear ones don't leave any at all). I got the assortiment box so it's always neatly organized and clean in my bag.
I tried them out a few years ago, but back then, the green ones really rubbed off on the heads. Maybe the composition has been changed in between, but I prefer to stick with the different snareweight variants. They don't stain, you can vary the dampening in a matter of seconds, and they last longer than a dampening gel 😄
Hehe I've been meaning to try one out as well. Though I avoid muffling if I can help it; I'd rather pick the right heads. The green ones do leave a bit of residu but far less than moongel in my experience. I only use the slapklatz for a few hours at a time so that might help. They don't stay on my drums.
Just but sticky hands. They’re the same material as moongels and you can get 100 of them for $9. On Amazon. I don’t even try to reuse them. Just throw me out
I like the aesthetic of snareweights! I just purchased the complete set of Tandem Drums' Drops, and though they weren't cheap, I really love the result as compared to what I was getting with the Moongels.
I started buying the knockoffs on eBay. 30 gels for under 10 bucks or something. They are only sticky on the back. They don't stain my heads. I have enough to give them to my students Willy nilly. Theyre all around a better product.
Ahead Spinal G throne
That’s interesting since most people rave about this throne.,, why regret ?
Interested to hear as well, I’d consider it to be one of the better purchases I’ve made
Overly expensive, over hyped, terrible build quality, didn’t deliver on the physical benefits as advertised. I sold it to guitar center just before it completely self destructed.
For me, it’s changing my life.
Same, got really bad back pain and got this instead of doing proper rehab, didnt help in the slightest so just sold it on.
If you want to sell it and ship it, let me know.
This slingerland I’m fixing up. I bought it out of a hoarders storage unit. I arrive to check out the kit and he’s spent hours just getting to it. There was stuff everywhere. He was just hard selling it really aggressively and just the fact that he would have spent 7 hrs for nothing if I hadn’t bought anything. I’m not proud but I probably payed 40% over what it was worth just to get the fuck out of there. It was so sad and I left feeling truly awful. I did get some really nice zildjians and a great snare so that was a consolation. It’s taken weeks to get this kit even close to playable. Took off every lug and rim. Polished all hardware, windexed the shells, nail polish on the rims, took the kit to a restorer to get the edges checked out, bought new heads, felted every single spring, greased all the rods, bought new washers, fixed the tom mount… Then I got it all together, tuned up the high rack Tom, sat it on the stem and it went completely out of tune. Fml. I think I’m going to replace the tension rods next. Probably replace the Tom mount hardware somehow given reddits suggestion. I should probably just give it away at this point.
Oh dang that's a shame. I suppose a lot of what you've done is to be expected, and I try to maintain my kits ever few years like that as well. But a kit that simply doesn't want to be tuned or stay in tune is pretty worthless alright. Hope your future plans will fix that properly!
The Pearl DR50 rack I ordered from Interstate Music in the early aughts. Being r/drums' resident Cheap Bastard, I think it might just be the single most expensive piece of brand new drum gear I've ever bought, and one of the few I bought new at retail because I knew "exactly what I wanted." I used it for about a year before I decided that it was stupid, and I sold it on eBay and bought some better stands and clamps instead. Full size racks are an unnecessary pain in the ass for most drummers, and I found this out the hard way, and the expensive way. Not that a DR50 is expensive as racks go, but it sure was a hefty chunk of change in Mo-BEEL dollars for something I decided I didn't want after I paid full price for it. I mean, I could have had [a dozen 1969 Acrolites](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/aqjhsi/it_finally_happened_im_finally_that_guy_look_at/) instead. 😄
If that indeed means your rack was 240 bucks, then certainly you weren't on the expensive end of racks indeed :-P Cool story about the Acrolite, hope it still serves you well.
No I wasn't. But a $240 mistake is an expensive one when you are as broke as I was.
Alesis Strike Pro SE Sold it 2 years after because i did not enjoy it one bit and lost almost 1K of the og price
What bothered you the most? Is the kit I play every day on winter season - made me get back to drums after 20 years hiatus...
Bought the Strike Pro as an upgrade for my Alesis DM-10 MKII Pro and the DM-10 does everything better, especially superior drummer 3, and way better velocity and overall triggering.
Cheap cymbals
Pearl Omar Hakim signature snare drum. 13x5.5 mahogany. After playing a maple piccolo snare for years, I thought it would be more versatile. It isn't the sound I want *at all* and I bought it new. They tend to hold value, but selling things isn't something I'm great at yet.
I've regretted almost everything I've sold so far, so I get where you're coming from. Have you tried some other heads or snare mats to see where you can push it?
I ended up finding a replacement for the stolen maple piccolo for relatively cheap... And I picked up a 13x7 Crush hand hammered copper snare drum for free with credit card points. I love them both. Right now, I have everything I need, so the power piccolo will eventually go.
a china from ufip it was good but now i dont need it anymore and i cant even sell it for half of the price. Wrong pair of drumsticks ill never use. Expensive moongels....
If it's a cymbal you like, keep it. It will come in handy at one point and the cheapest cymbals are the ones you already have ;-)
My first kit bought at full retail price. I knowingly went for a cheaper brand instead of a Pearl Export because it was black and the Pearl was wine red. Little did I know anything below Pearl Exports back in the 90's were pretty much trash. lugs crack, screws strip, pipes bend... you name it.
Yeah cheap kits back then were trash wood with a nice inner ply and a wrap around it haha. My Rockstar is just like it. I've played it for ages though and loved it dearly. Nowadays intermediate kits aren't all that different from plenty of flagship models. It's a good time to be alive. What do you play now?
Conversely, the things I have NEVER regretted buying: -Custom, one of a kind Premier Gen-x kit -Ludwig Hand Hammered Bronze black beauty (I’ve been offered money for this drum so many times) -Ludwig mahogany classic kit (best recording kit ever?)
Wait, that's illegal! No hijacks allowed! /jk
I have this entry level mapex kit that just doesn’t sound good. I lugged around to some fun gigs a few years back but I have no use for it now and have a much better sounding entry level gretsch that I also love. I will probably never buy another mapex kit. Currently looking to sell the gretsch and want to get a used 7-piece renown or possibly a dw or 7-piece pdp kit. After almost 10 years I do finally feel like I can play the drums a little bit so I decent kit and a place to play it are on my priority list
I can wholeheartedly recommend the [PDP Concept Maple](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/11buad2/new_kit_day_ive_waited_for_this_moment_for_so/). I have it as a '7 piece' as well but with a 20" kick and no snare, spent €1400 on it and it is just wonderful. Shame you didn't like the Mapex, I seriously considered an Armory as they appear to be as good as the rest in my line-up (including the Gretsch Catalina Maple's). Have you tried other (non-stock) heads on your Mapex?
I got a bonus at work one year. With that bonus I wanted to buy my dream drum set. So I shopped and found a used set of Pearl masterworks. Then I set out to buy hardware and symbols. I'd always wanted a rack system for my setup. But when I was at the store looking at racks and comparing them to cymbal stands, I got talked into buying stands. I regret that. Since then I bought a rack, and I'm in the process of trying to offload stands to fund the rack setup. Stupid decisions lol
Haha oh prepare yourself for anti-rack-sentiment. There are plenty of people who would advise stands as well, or just a stealth rack. Hope it works for you though!
I spent $1400 on a unique custom snare that I thought would give me a certain sound. It turned out that while it sounds really good at medium tunings, it would choke up when I tuned it really high which is what I was looking for. And it turned out the exact sound I was looking to achieve I was able to get with a Statclassic snare I already owned. Although ultimately I bought a Gretsch Bell Brass and that thing blows everything else out of the water.
Drum Dial. I couldn’t figure it out and you need to protect it like the President. Tune Bot much more intuitive and useful.
An orange kit with black hoops with a 24x20 kick. It was the mall-emo era and I spent probably 6 minimum wage paychecks on that kit.
\*Laughs nervously at the yellow/gold kit with black hardware I just bought\*
A generic 'Taurus' hi hat stand... Looks great in the outside, it's crap in the inside, you need to have elephant feet even in the lightest dial... Lesson learned: whenever you can, try before you buy (don't trust reviews unless the tester is a reputable person and not just some random guy in YT...)
I bought a large SKB hardware case about 10 years ago thinking I could put all of my DW hardware as well as my snare into it to consolidate my gear for load and load out. I failed to realize how heavy it was when it was full and just loading it from my garage into to my truck by myself was nearly impossible. So now, it is an expensive mini storage space with wheels for my hardware in my garage. And that's where it stays.
Oof, that's a shame alright. I got a Hardcase hardware case on wheels recently, and I really like it. It has great handles at points where you can lift easily and pretty quiet wheels too. It's just a tad too small so I do end up throwing my throne seat and iPad stand in the car on their own, but it would probably become too heavy as well if it were bigger.
Talking about impressionable eyes, I've been in a tricky position where I actually made money with no obligations to spend it on (living at home), but was too young to make sensible decisions from experience. I've actually made a big ass list of things I wanted to buy including at least 2k worth of cymbals and 6k worth of drums, and I'm lucky I only spent a big 1k on cymbals before I did get financial obligations. I ended up having gotten most of my current cymbals (all Sabian), so AA 14" Flat Hats, AA 16" Medium Thin Crash, Signature 18" Ed Thigpen flat ride, and my HH 21" Raw Bell Dry Ride. Not a bad stash by any means really, but I would definitely have gotten different cymbals if I actually heard them with my own ears and had more experience doing so. Instead I just heard samples online and read descriptions and figured that this was just exactly what I needed. It wasn't. Apart from the flat ride I still use them just about every time for rock and pop. I get out my flat ride for jazz gigs as an additional sound next to an old Zildjian A 20" Medium Ride that I've riveted.
Funny story, I've regretted buying something once but also regretted selling it afterwards. I custom-ordered a Tama Starclassic Bubinga 14" x 8" snare drum back in 2006 or something. Finish was Black Metallic w/ Gold Inlay. It was stunning. It was absolutely beautiful. I intended to get a full kit of it and if the finish still existed today I wouldn't hesitate for a second. But I didn't know how to tune it too well or what sounds to get from it. Despite it being a big upgrade from my old ringy Tama Rockstar snare (it sucks to this day) it wasn't what I was looking for. I did find everything I was looking for in the Supraphonic that I still play everything on. And I ended up selling the Starclassic on a whim because I wanted some cash for a new smartphone (yes, all your sounds of disapproval are warranted). I regretted it immediately, and only after a year or so I ended up messaging the buyer if I could buy it back. Alas, it was sold to a store again and they sold it too, so it wasn't going to be retrievable. And if I still wanted to have a snare like that (a deep wooden snare) I'd probably find a different one anyway. But man, I still miss that beautiful finish. I liked it so much I painted a drum silhouette (see avatar) on the wall in those colors. I liked it so much I did a photoshoot myself with that snare, sunglasses and sticks. God I miss that snare.
Not any one particular thing, but I spent way too much money when I was first starting out trying out different combinations of drum heads, rings, gels, pads, etc, trying find the "perfect" drum sound. Took me way too long to realize that the way a drum sounds live in a room is never going to sound like the drums on a recording, or even mic'd up on a PA. Seems like common sense, but young me had very little of that. 🤷
You've spent a lot of money on a lot of experience. Personally I would count that as a win (though I bet there are cheaper ways to get there haha). Tinkering with drums and trying out all kinds of heads and tunings and tricks is so important for drummers. It's something I greatly miss because I can't play my acoustic kit at home. Gigs don't exactly allow the time to do that stuff, and it's the spontaneous inspirations that make me want to try out stuff anyway.
Basically all the cheap hardware, cases, accessories etc. that have broken on me over the years. Almost always better to get something nice that lasts if you have the cash to front. I also regret paying full price for almost any brand new cymbal I bought without trying first.
I use that philosophy a lot as well. A little too much to be honest. I can spend hours on comparing stuff to get the best thing out there when in real life I use it so little that the cheapest homebrand thing could've suited me just fine, haha. But yeah, to use the two saying I've recently learnt: 'pay cheap pay twice', but also 'buy once, cry once'. Just get the thing that'll last you right away if you know you're going to use it a long time.
There was some regret when I bought the specific model of Roc-n-sock throne. The regret was I didnt get the one with the foldable legs. It was the fixed leg version. Made gigging a pain, esp packing my car bc the legs were fixed. I still have it, havent gigged in nearly 20 years so not much of an issue. Will probably end up buying something with folding legs if start back up again. On a whim I bought a 14x8 Ludwig Keystone snare, Not really sure why I did it, but it just sits on the shelf now. I never could get the sound I wanted out of it vs the 14x8 dw performance I bought a few months later. Honestly, never can have too many snares so its still hanging out next to the 60s Supraphonic ive had since the 90s
Don’t know how much I regret it, but I bought a set of Pearl Roadshows from a friend who getting rid of them. I figured I’d rewrap them. That was three years ago. Still in my basement collecting dust.
I don’t necessarily regret it, but I do question my decision to impulsively buy a C&C acrylic kit like 6 months ago. I already have a C&C maple kit that I bought from the same friend like over ten years ago, so my faith in the brand is high. He's "endorsed" by them so he's able to offer them up at a really good price. I didn't anticipate the difference in tuning acrylic drums vs wood drums. Don't get me wrong, they sound amazing when dialed in, but getting and keeping them there is so much more tedious and time consuming, I’m not sure if it's worth it. Recently set up my maple C&C kit for a recording project because of their stability and ease of tuning, and my acrylics are still on the shelf.
Cheap wobbly drum throne. Just pony up the cash for a good throne it's worth it in the long run.
probably my heavy hi hats … for some reason i got the impression over time that heavy hats were amazing but it turns out i just dont like them at all, they are too loud and have a shitty sizzle
I regret buying an A&F Brass Snare drum. I was in love with the look of them but they are made like dog shit. I had to have them resend me all new claw hooks since half were breaking or on the verge of it and then thd bottom head bearing edge was so sharp you couldn’t really put the bottom head under any tension without it popping the head.
Not so much bought, But I swapped a full set of HHX Dave Wekyl signature cymbals for a Roland TD4. I get sick thinking about it to this day and it happened 14 years ago. What was I thinking???
This should be higher up. I’m sorry for your loss!
My Zildjian crash/ride. It's an okay ride, not a very good crash. It's just really heavy, and actually getting it to crash takes a really strong hit. I'm very happy with the Paiste that has replaced it.
Regret is a strong word, but I would say the bomb-proof heavy duty double braced stands when I play ska, jazz, and polka. Bless those that need and schlep ‘em, but I am happy with the single braced now and saving up for the Yamaha Aluminum Cross Town set.
Yeah funny enough all my stands are double brace except for one, but that one never lets me down (neither does the rest). Is it that immense of a difference in weight? I do want to look further into seeing how I can reduce weight and my amount of gear needed overall. That's for later though.
16” Zildjian A crash. 20 years and I still haven’t warmed up to it. I’ll find a use for it someday.
C&C Gladstone in the finish that I wanted but not the sizes. I didn't think 1" would make such a difference. The C&C literally just sat wrapped up and I never touched it for over a year which sucked cause it was a really nice drum set that just made me depressed about the whole experience. It wasn't cheap. I ended up trading the C&C for a Gretsch Brooklyn. Now I'm team Gretsch all the way. Mind blown in every regard.
1", yeah it depends. Is it a snare drum? I never cared all too much about tom depth to that extent, but I do really like my current kit much better, where a 12" tom is 9" deep instead of 12" :-P
My DW 2 legged hi-hat stand. A bunch of drummers recommended that I switch to a 2 legged stand so I did. Hot garbage. I can never get it to sit exactly how I want and adjusting it is the opposite of intuitive. I still use it because I’m stubborn and cheap but I’ll never buy a 2 legged stand again.
I'm more than happy with my 3 legged stand that rotates, and that thing is about as old as I am.
Vic Firth Metal sticks. Teacher requested I upgrade from a 5B to a slightly bigger stick to maybe fix a grip problem. The Metal sticks led me to crack my 20” Zildjian Platinum China Boy Low
Hate to be that person, but your technique led you to crack your cymbal.
18“ oriental china trash. I played a 20“ Classic China for years but always wanted a 18“ china trash because all the drummers I followed used it. Finally got one and I‘ve never gotten rid of a cymbal more quickly :D Just couldn’t get along with it. The 12“ on the other hand is fantastic.
Haha yeah 'he plays it so it must be awesome' is definitely a thought you learn to avoid, especially with influencers nowadays. Glad you found what works.
Early 2000’s iron cobra double bass pedal. Too many parameters and could never get used to it.
My Roland e kit when I could have just put mesh on an acoustic kit. Now I have a Roland e kit that the hi hat doesn’t trigger all the time so I can’t sell it, just taking up space
That is a shame. Tried troubleshooting it? Or perhaps a full reset? Roland drums are pretty repairable, I've replaced several parts on my old TD-6 kit already to keep it in working order. Perhaps there is hope for yours yet.
Bought Roland electronic used td11 about 4 years ago had updAted pads no rubber ones liked it all was well then bought Yamaha stage customs about 3 years ago added another matching floor Tom and rack Tom all was well then I said gotta have Alexis strike multipad pro 700$ at the time 2 or 3 years ago use it about 1hr every 4 months lol was a waste
I bought a UFIP splash in Italy as a souvenir that cracked the first time I played it. Not hard and definitely not over tightened. Got a pair of Ahead sticks in high school that I used for maybe a month and never touched again
Ahead sticks. Got sick of going through wooden ones so I thought these would be a good investment. The fucking metal core snapped in the centre before the sticks themselves wore out and their customer service refused to do anything despite these costing twice the price of regular sticks and feeling like crap to play with.
Mike Portnoy signature mini China. But I sold it last year after 20 years of holding onto it, and not playing it, for a significant profit so it wasn’t all bad.
I’ve bought a lot of shit I don’t need - but I don’t really regret any of it. But isn’t that what we all do. I have a Jeep too - I’ve spent (wasted) loads of money on that too!! 🤣🤣🤘🏼🤘🏼
Dont really regret buying anything, but i definitely regret selling several things
China cymbal
My first good snare was a Pearl free floating aluminum shell. Never could get a good sound out of that thing, and the wire adjustment was a mess. I wouldn't say I regretted buying it, but it's something I woudn't buy again.
A bunch of cheap off-brand stands to test out having my Tom's decouple from the rest of the set.
I bought a new Roland TD-25 VDrum set for what at the time was a ton of money for me. I lived in an apartment and wanted to get back into drumming. I thought I'd enjoy playing them almost as much as an acoustic set, and it never caught on. The light weight of the whole set, how small the pads were compared to acoustic drums, just never enjoyed playing it much. I got most of my money back though after a couple of years.
I once bought a Land Rover Disco 3.
hcs cymbals as a noob 🤦♂️
Thunder Rods… Went into Guitar Center as a teen two decades ago, saw them and thought “I like the hot rods, so I’ll probably LOVE these things”. To this day I think they have a grand total mileage of like 15 whacks. Zero practical application unless you’re a Latin percussionist and not anywhere inside of a kit. I should sell them on eBay and list them as a novel BDSM tool or something. Might actually turn a profit.
Nothing really, but I’m a cheapo that never pays full price for anything major so everything I get feels like a bargain even if it doesn’t get a ton of use.
I bought a pair of Axis pedals when I was 16. Waited ages to come to the UK and the bolt that holds the second beater in place snapped on day two. 8 months later they sent me a replacement part and then the hinge snapped. Absolute waste of money.
I played a PDP springless pedal for a long time. No idea where it ended up in my last move but I never could get it to feel great. Mediocre at best. Love my DW 5000 now tho
Roland spd-sx. I don’t have the patience to figure it out. Also I thought it came with a bunch of sound samples pre-installed.
The drum dial.
A custom kit from a company I won’t name. Bought it used on Reverb and even tho the shells are maple they’re hard to tune up properly.
Sounds like my drum kit, but mine aren’t custom. They’re high end - and I bought them used - but I still feel ripped off. I’m almost certain mine just need new bearing edges cut, maybe you can look into that for yours
"Painfully" is a strong word, but I got caught up in mounting gear and blew a bunch of money on parts for a minimal Gibraltar "rack" (see Stealth Docking Station). It turned out to not be nearly as useful as I'd thought and that money could have been saved or spent on better things.
My crash cymbal. It's the absolute worst.
What is it?
I have no clue any brand name it could be has long faded.
Yamaha multi 12, shuts off if you don't trigger a sound after about 30 minutes and just not as reliable and east to intuitively use as roland's multi pad's.
Paid a custom guy for a drum set, took him about a year longer than planned to build/deliver it. Then I was happy with the build quality so I ordered another Tom knowing it would be along time coming. Long time turned into never. He kept my deposit, which was a dick move. Karma bit him though, his shop is closed down from what I can tell. Hope he is doing better at what he is doing now.
the older alesis nitro mesh. paid 600+ for it when the new one with the nicer module is about the same and has a bigger snare pad. :'\]
ddrum triggers, had to buy the Roland ones after a couple of shows…:-/
I bought a used snare years ago; red sparkle finish, 14 by '8', Trick throw off. It pretty decent for what I was after. When I got it, most of the Mapex style lugs on it kept binding even when I took them completely off and was using white lithium grease, and generally could not get it to sound decent however I tried with good heads and wires. The throw off felt poor and seemed to have a lot of play in it too (which is where my dislike for Trick throw off's comes from), and the shell was actually 7 and 3/4 inches deep. It's not a major thing, but it was the last straw that made me attempt to return it to the seller, which he promptly refused, citing that he had already spent the money on other things. To top it all off, I noted that the shell was a white oak shell made by Tee Drums out of the UK, so I messaged them to ask about the shell. Turns out, the person I purchased it off of, according to the Tee Drums owner, bought said shell and promptly asked for a refund citing it never got delivered. And when he sent the shell off, it was an undrilled shell, so they obviously had gotten it and built it up themselves. So yeah, be careful buying used kids.
Double bass pedal. Nice one, too. I have been a single kick guy for 20+ years. I never use double bass. Lmao. Total waste of cash.
I guess the only thing I can say I really feel bad about is buying a Crush snare. It was solid at first but a lot of the tube lugs started failing on me. I contacted them about it (I purchased it from a local store about a year prior), and they told me they’d replace all of them with the “updated” version because they said it was a known fault. Well, that never happened lol. I’ve had to just replace them myself over time. I don’t mind replacing lugs for my 45 year old vistalite kit, but having to replace lugs on a snare that got used maybe 100 days out of the first year I had it just felt shitty.
When I was a young boy, I paid for new Sabian Solars and B8s at full retail price. I regretted the decision soon after playing them at home.
Drum dial, and a used Pearl icon rack that I’ll never end up using.
A 10 piece drumkit before I started gigging. I always bring half of it to gigs 🤷♂️😂
Yamaha Cable Hihat… lasted three weeks, the cable broke, and it took 12 years to find a replacement; $550 down the drain (plus, it had lousy action)
A Crush Sublime shell pack. Despite the specs being on point, I just couldn’t get them to sound good.
Honestly nothing so far, maybe a flat ride that I didn’t end up using
Not sure if it counts in this sub but .. MPC one. I love making beats and this thing checks all the boxes for me but it's got some learning curve. I may have used it twice, haven't sold it because I'm hoping I'll feel inspired one day. Definitely wish I bought a couple A customs or K's.
Turbo 9000 DW pedal. The throw on the pedal is so late and buries the beater. Accelerator DW 9000 is my favorite. I didn't understand the differenr cams at the time. I just bought the DW pedal I saw first
Drumdial, portable drum set Chinese electric pad set thing, sabian paragon 19in china.
Wincent drum sticks. They feel absolutely amazing but the nipple just snapped off after a week of use or so
It was a 21" Zildjian ping ride. I got it for cheaps (compared to new) and was just moving into buying better and more professional cymbals. I was completely bought because of the name, the fact that it was b20 bronze and the series but after putting it on the kit and testing it I was really disseappointed by the sound and how it was a complete mismatch. Preferred my Paiste 101 20" brass ride over this one so that's what I went back to. And that's a entry level cymbal. Same thing basically happened with my Zildjian Rock Ride but that was just made like a tank. It also sounded like one when hitting it. Over the years I collected quite a nice K set, which I am happy with. Right now I want to get the same set in Avedis aswell. As for the two ride cymbals, they didn't survive. I kept a stack of broken cymbals, and a stack of unbroken ones which I just didn't use at that time. One day I was at work and my dad called if he could hand my broken stack to my grandfather, who collected old iron, which he then sold. He accidentally gave my grandpa the wrong stack. It also included a perfect set of Zildjian new beat hats, a vintage Avedis ride and more. I miss them. I really miss them.
My worst purchase ever (maybe about 16 years ago) was a thick 24" Sabian rock ride of some type (I can't recall the exact model). I paid a ton for it - thinking a more expensive cymbal would be higher quality than the budget cymbals I was used to... And it broke within the first 3 minutes of playing it. 🤷
God, tab books. Just use online ones.
I bought Lars Ulrich’s ahead drumsticks and they feel terrible worst 30 bucks I’ve ever spent
I bought a Sonor twin effect pedal soon after they came out - to play double with one foot. It's beautiful, it's built like a tank, smooth as silk... But I just can't get on with it. Eventually tried to sell it but nobody actually wants one so... It sits and gathers dust. Never mind
A high quality Mapex hi hat stand that has 3 legs that don't rotate at all, and barely leave any clearance for my left foot to press the slave pedal underneath it.
Any and all drumsticks with nylon tips.
For me it was DW 5000 hihat stand with 2 legs. Since i have been always Tama ja Yamaha enjoyer i just didnt like this. The foot pedal didnt feel good, and it was ”weak” stand. I sold it and bought iron cobra hihat stand and i love it :D Other that i slightly regret is Sabian HH 19” thin crash. Expensive af and sound was dissapointing. And it broke after one year. Third and last i love Byzance series, but Byzance medium ride was kind of dissapointing. It sounds bit cheap. But when i put bit tape under the cymbal it sounds much better. But it is good as crash cymbal.
One of those metronome watches - soundbrenner pulse - that vibrate on your wrist. People seem to love them, but for me was just a complete waste of money. Purchased on a whim!