Colorvision,

Not that the drums I use aren't high-end but like Dave said: "BUY USED"!
For less than you would pay for a new set, you can get a high-end, even collectible set that you might keep forever and modify or expand upon.

I personally have always liked the sound of cast hoops and so I use Gretschs with a Premier snare. Gretsch and Premier have cast hoops.

Find out what the groups you like the most are using. Pink floyd used Premier; Charlie Watts of the Stones uses Gretsch as did Jimi Hendrix's drummer, Mitch Mitchell.

Check out the snare mechanism on a Premier snare; I think its the best.

If you really want to hear the difference between a pressed metal hoop and a cast one, hold up just the hoop and hit it with the butt end of a stick — or listen to rimshots on both types.

The Premier hoops have a low profile (not as high off the head surface) compared to Gretsch and so I bought some Premier hoops to put on my Gretsch shells. . . but they wouldn't line up with my lugs -- oh well. [Linked Image]

I've always used a Ludwig Speed King pedal with a modified Japanese footplate that I put together -- size 15 feet.
the Speed King is unique in that it has compression springs inside the two columns, rather than the typical external "stretch" type spring setups.

You can pick up cymbal setups of the stars- type books so that you can find out what the band that plays the music you like most uses for cymbals. Again, I'm with Dave re. Paiste or Zildjan -- mine are all old Zildjians.

If you find some nice high hat cymbals and a ride. . . take your high hat top cymbal and that ride to a drum store, go into a back room, set yours up on two stands and try various paper-thin crashes with your own. It worked for me to get the crash that sounded like it belonged with the others. I drove the store owners nuts making up my mind. [Linked Image]

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Terry

[This message has been edited by Tall_Terry (edited 05-17-2005).]