Best Drum Kit Under $1000 | Buyers Guide

Best Drum Kit Under $1000 | Buyers Guide

1 Questlove Ludwig Breakbeats Drumset Review

Questlove Ludwig Breakbeats Drumset Review

It’s portable and stackable- thats what makes it brilliant. This drumset is convenient for ...

8.9
2 Tama Club Jam Flyer Drumset Review

Tama Club Jam Flyer Drumset Review

Tama drums are durable, making this a great investment.

9.4
3 Tama Club Jam Drumset Review

Tama Club Jam Drumset Review

Tama shells are high-quality with great sound.

9.5
4 Sonor AQ2 Martini Drumset Review

Sonor AQ2 Martini Drumset Review

Great kit for acoustic combos or jazz trios!

9.5
5 Ludwig LC175 Accent Drive Drumset Review

Ludwig LC175 Accent Drive Drumset Review

It’s marketed towards beginners to intermediate players, but it’s really a quality kit for any se...

7.2

REVIEWED BY JOHN KIMOCK, DRUMMER FOR MIKE GORDON BAND

For the best acoustic drums under 1000 we tapped John Kimock, son of the famed guitarist John Kimock and full time drummer for Phish bass player Mike Gordon.  John frequently collaborates with the best musicians in the world and has made a name for himself as one of the top drummers in the world, so we’re grateful he helped us to review the best drums & percussion.

HOW DO WE PICK OUR TOP CHOICES FOR DRUMSETS?

LOOK

SOUND

FEEL

DURABILITY

COST

DOES THE LOOK OF MY DRUMSET MATTER?

We want you to love your drums.  There is something about our instruments that reflects who we are.  It’s important to have a great sounding drumset and almost just as important to have a good looking drumset.  

With a variety of wood types and finishes, drumsets can look anywhere from drop dead gorgeous to looking like a cheap piece of junk.  If you don’t care what your drumset looks like you want to put your stock in the sound and feel and match that to your budget.

If you do want a great looking drumset, we are putting stock into that.  Many of the drummers at Music Minds are professional touring musicians and as a drummer you are surrounded by your drums.  Your drumset from the audience perspective accounts for the majority of what they see.  Just a bunch of drums with a head sticking out.  

With that in mind, you also want to consider what style of music you are into.  We rank the look on the quality of finish and construct.  Something can technically look great but not be appropriate for your style.  There are some beautiful jazz drum sets that would not look right on stage with a death metal band. 

HOW DO I FIND THE BEST SOUNDING DRUMSET?

Every drumset sounds different than the next.  Sometimes those differences are hard to hear to the untrained ear and sometimes it’s painfully obvious.  With our team of professional touring drummers, we’ve collected first hand takes on the tonal quality of each drumset.  

With our buyers guide ranking system we give the sound quality a rating between 1-10.  While we are giving our rating based on the professionality of quality of the tone, it is important to consider what style of music you want to play.  In our individual drumset reviews and in our best drumsets under $1000 we will let you know which style of music each drumset is best for to help you find the best drumkit for you.

WHICH DRUMSET WILL FEEL THE BEST TO PLAY?

There are a variety of drumsets with a variety of feels.  When we consider the feel of the drumset we are not referring to what the drums feel like when you touch them with your fingers. The feel of drums and especially of cymbals can vary greatly from one drum kit to the next.  The feel refers to how the drumsticks rebound from the drums.  

Some of the feel can be adjusted with the choice of drum head and drumsticks and technically every drummer should practice on a variety of surfaces so that you can be prepared in case you become a touring drummer that is forced to use house drum kits and the backline of other bands.  Even if you practice on a variety of surfaces, you want to have a drumset at home that you love to play on.  For that feel is everything.

CAN I BE SURE THIS IS A DURABLE DRUMSET?

For touring drummers especially, durability is a very important factor.  The wear and tear of the road can reveal the shortcomings of a drumsets as the drums bouncing around in the car on the drives from town to town can lead to loosening drumhead, detached lugs and bolts and other smaller issues.  

The hardware specifically is referred to as “breakables” as well as sticks and pedals and the like.  Obviously the reason for that is that they eventually break.  Unless you rarely play your drums, which hopefully won’t be the case after you use the Music Minds buying guide to find the perfect drumset for you, you want to make sure you are getting a solid set of drums.  

There are few things more frustrating than spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on drums and hardware, just to have them fall apart.  While there is no avoiding some wear and tear and occasional hardware issues, we added the durability ranking to get you the best choices available.

WHATS THE BEST VALUE FOR A QUALITY DRUMSET?

Drumsets come in a variety of price ranges and the price doesn’t always reflect the quality of the drumset.  Our cost analysis of our drumsets holds the cost of a drumset against the quality of the drums.  Whether the drumset cost a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, we’ll rank the costs to show you if the drumset is worth the cost.

Featured Drumsets Under $1000


Tama Club Jam Flyer

PROS
CONS

Tama Club Jam

PROS
CONS

Sonor AQ2 Martini

9.5/10 Read review
95 %
Last Amazon price update was: January 26, 2024 8:24 pm
× Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com (Amazon.in, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc) at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
9.5 Expert Score

This kit is great for jazz trios- sound engineers often compliment the sound of it in small auditoriums!

Look
9.5
Sound
9.7
Feel
9.7
Durability
9.4
Value
9.6
PROS
  • Steel snare is crisp and dry
  • Powerful tom toms for the size
CONS
  • The kick drum is high pitched, but can be remedied

Questlove’s Ludwig Breakbeats

8.9/10 Read review
89 %
Last Amazon price update was: March 28, 2024 5:41 pm
× Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com (Amazon.in, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc) at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
8.9 Expert Score

This is the best kit for beginners needing somewhere to start.

Look
9
Sound
8.8
Feel
9.2
Durability
8.9
Value
9
PROS
  • Comes as shell pack only for drummers that already have cymbals, hardware etc.
CONS
  • For a true beginner there are some more affordable kits

Ludwig LC175 Accent Drive

7.2/10 Read review
72 %
Last Amazon price update was: March 26, 2024 10:40 am
× Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com (Amazon.in, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc) at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
7.2 Expert Score

It is selling for a really decent price for a Ludwig full kit.

Look
8.9
Sound
8.8
Feel
8.7
Durability
9.8
Value
9.2
PROS
  • Full drumset bundle includes everything you need to get up and drumming, right out of the box. Solid hardware
CONS
  • The cymbals are not the best, but rarely the bundle cymbals are great.

When you are buying a drumset under $1000, there are alot of great options.  If you are in the market for a drumset with all the hardware and cymbals included, there are some great drumsets in this price range.  If you are a professional drummer and you already have all of your cymbals and hardware and you only need drum shells, there are very good value options in this price range. 

In our buyers guide for Best Drumsets Under $1000, we’ve included both shell packs and full all-in drumset bundles.  

The great things about shopping for drumsets under 1000 is that this is the price range where the wood quality and craftsmanship really starts to improve.  The cheapest drumsets are made out of poplar wood.  When you get towards this price range, maple and birch become available options.  At higher price ranges, more rare and exotic woods enter the picture.  

Music Minds Staff
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