Ride Recommendations?

[Linley]

Hey there, I'm a semi new drummer and was wanting to upgrade my ride. I started playing the drums a few months back with my current budget drum set, and the more I play the worse sounding it seems to me when compared to when I play the kits my friends own. First thing I want to upgrade are the cymbals, and since I just bought a pair of high hats.... Any recommendations on a good ride? I'd prefer something under $150, and I play a bunch of rock and a bit of country as well. I was looking at a 21" Z Custom, as well as a 21" Z Custom Mega Bell, but I'm not sure if they're the right choice? Any suggestions would help, thank you!

 

[Soulfinger]

Used A Medium Ride or A Custom Ride should be easy to find within your budget. Very good all purpose rides.
Personally, I´d stay away from the Z line, especially the Mega Bell. These are designed for high volume situations and will be too much for anything else.

 

[gbow]

I agree, Zildjian A would be the right move. Custom A, sweet ride, etc. there are several different ones over the years.

Over in the cymbals for sale section, there is this ad.

ALL SOLD 50s, 60s, 70s & 90s Various Zildjian Rides (Jazz, Rock & Flat Top) - Sound files

Changing the guard from old A's to buy a Noble & Cooley piccolo snare. Owned most of these for decades, ready to pass them on. Prices + actual shipping from Baltimore, MD area. Make an offer for multiple cymbals! Sound files below for these cymbals: * 1960s 22" Ride, 3,031g ($115) SOLD...

www.drumforum.org

With two vintage 60s, 22 inch rides, $115 for each, either would be a good choice. There are sound files for them. I prefer the heavier one, but you can go listen for yourself. They both look to be nice cymbals, would be a good choice, and are a steal at that price.

gabo

 

[D. B. Cooper]

I think most guys around here will tell you vintage A's. Which is an awesome choice. I understand not wanting to go used too, though. But they truely are top level, professional cymbals. I'd look to get them from the 60's and before in medium weights. It can be hard to find 70's A's in lighter weights and the heavy ones always sounded a bit clangy to me.

I also can't recommend Istanbul Agop's Xist line. They can be really beautiful pies for very little money and can easily be had cheaply new. Other Maker's budget lines usually leave me wanting more and I'd stay away from Sabian's B8s, Zildjian's ZHT, ZBT, and scimitar. Some people dig Paiste's budget offerings, but I honestly think you'd be way better off buying used pro-level cymbals for the money... More room to grow.

I would caution against Dream and other Chinese makers where the QC is a little less than par. They make some fine cymbals, but I think the percentage of dogs is a lot higher than other brands.

If you have the option to try a bunch of cymbals before you buy, definitely don't be afraid of used and follow your ear.

 

[Redbeard77]

Good advice so far (I was going to recommend Zildjian A), and good choice upgrading your cymbals first. What hats did you get?

 

[AtlantaDrumGuy]

Zildjian A. Sweet is you want a crash/ride. 20-22 Medium or 21 Rock Ride if you need some more definition. Rock ride will be the more aggressive, and a great cymbal.

 

[Linley]

Good advice so far (I was going to recommend Zildjian A), and good choice upgrading your cymbals first. What hats did you get?

Well now that I see all these posts about the A's I feel embarassed lol. I got a pair of Z Custom 14" hi hats, but I was able to get them at a pawn shop for $50. For the price I paid I thought it was worth it.

 

[gbow]

No reason to be embarrassed. Asking questions and getting good answers is what it's all about. If you're also considering hats.... new beats!

See the other thread on here about how new beats are pretty much the go to standard for hihats. Then head on over to the cymbal market place and find a good set of used new beats. They will go perfectly with the two rides I suggested

The older and vintage cymbals are not only great sounding, but they all have that cool factor!!

gabo

 

[Linley]

Alright. Those are a little out of my budget for now, so I think I'll go for the A medium ride for now. My hi hat are much better than what I started with (I bought the HCS bundle from Meinl before I knew anything) so I can deal with them for now. Then I'll probably be back here for crash recommendations lol.

 

[Linley]

I'll also probably be asking for drum ideas too. Since buying a whole new set is out of my budget for now, I'll probably buy piece by piece

 

[Tama CW]

I'll also probably be asking for drum ideas too. Since buying a whole new set is out of my budget for now, I'll probably buy piece by piece

I know that waiting is never fun. But the absolute best deals come along in complete vintage kits....and even up to early 90's They pop up often enough that you WILL run into one within a couple of months. If you have $500-$800 ready to go, you can snag one. Slingerlands probably offer the best bang for the buck. These kits often come with vintage A's and far less often with older Paistes. You'll spend half as much this way vs. piece meal.

 

[Linley]

I know that waiting is never fun. But the absolute best deals come along in complete vintage kits....and even up to early 90's They pop up often enough that you WILL run into one within a couple of months. If you have $500-$800 ready to go, you can snag one. Slingerlands probably offer the best bang for the buck. These kits often come with vintage A's and far less often with older Paistes. You'll spend half as much this way vs. piece meal.

Funny story due to your name, I'm wanting to actually build a Tama drum set. My original and first drumset was a Ludwig Accent, one of the newer aged cheap ones you can find for $100. I found a Tama Rockstar snare at a garage sale for $5 which is much better so I've replaced it. I also won an ebay auction for a Tama Superstar Classic bass drum shell for $60 online and need to buy parts for it, I'm just debating whether I want to go original parts or just go through Drum Factory Direct. I'm not worried about the wraps because I have a friend who owns a sign shop, and is good with this sort of stuff.

 

[Markkuliini]

Speaking of Z hihat, you can sometimes find an loose top cymbal of a hihat pair for a good price. Then you can also use the Z top as a bottom cymbal and the extra top (that's probably still thinner then the Z top) as a top one. Then you'll have a thinner pair for a price of one loose cymbal.

 

[D. B. Cooper]

Be careful, it can sometimes be more expensive in the long run to piece a drum together.

 

[gbow]

Yes, the piece meal kit is generally going to be more expensive. Low priced kits have been debated on here before, do some searches and you'll find some threads.

Having said that, one of the top kits for the price that always comes up in these threads are the Yamaha Stage Customs. A very good pro level kit at reasonable used prices.

Once you get your money together, things to look for in a used kit...

- Try to find one with the hardware. New kits and many used kits are sold as a "shell pack." Which is ok, but then you're left to find hardware. Many used kits that look to be the same price include hardware.

- Try to avoid the "hanging floor tom." I'm sure some people are good with them, but I much prefer a floor tom with legs and make sure the legs are included. I've seen some sold without legs, arrgh..

- Be aware of kits with toms mounted on the bass drum vs toms mounted on stands and what we refer to as a "virgin bass drum," meaning it has no holes and mounting hardware. Some people prefer one over the other, so not saying which one is best. Just be aware of it. Myself, I prefer the toms to be mounted on a stand and would pay a bit extra for that.

- Be aware of whether the kit includes a snare. Used kits go either way and it depends on what you need. I prefer to shop for snares separately, but that's just me.

- Pay attention to the details and ask questions, especially if buying online.

gabo

 

[Johnny K]

I think most guys around here will tell you vintage A's. Which is an awesome choice. I understand not wanting to go used too, though. But they truely are top level, professional cymbals. I'd look to get them from the 60's and before in medium weights. It can be hard to find 70's A's in lighter weights and the heavy ones always sounded a bit clangy to me.

They are the shiznit. I was using a 20" K Custom Dry Ride until i recently picked up a used 60's 22" Avedis ride and the K Custom stays in the bag more often than not now (no. not selling it, ever!). I paid a whopping 165.00 for it. It's a buyers market for old A's. I got lucky and found mine by chance at the music store the I always go too. But I always scour FB Marketplace, Reverb and Ebay, etc. I'm looking now for another 20" Zildjian A for a left side ride/crash.

 

[Tama CW]

Funny story due to your name, I'm wanting to actually build a Tama drum set. My original and first drumset was a Ludwig Accent, one of the newer aged cheap ones you can find for $100. I found a Tama Rockstar snare at a garage sale for $5 which is much better so I've replaced it. I also won an ebay auction for a Tama Superstar Classic bass drum shell for $60 online and need to buy parts for it, I'm just debating whether I want to go original parts or just go through Drum Factory Direct. I'm not worried about the wraps because I have a friend who owns a sign shop, and is good with this sort of stuff.

1980's well built Tama's are one of the easiest and decent quality kits to find fully complete and very affordable. Swingstars, Imperialstars, and Superstars are all out there and very affordable. The current Tama Superstars and Superstar Classics are not built as well as though drums were. Though the maple shell in the Superstar Classic is something the standard Tama 80's lines didn't have. If you have a friend who can rewrap for you on the cheap you'll probably do ok. Rewraps of common drums made in the past 20 yrs will often cost more than a drum is worth.

Last year I sold my Tama Imperialstar kit 5 pc (1980-81 with re-rings) with all original hardware, in excellent shape for $350. You can find kits like that with Zildjian A's or equivalent cymbals for $600 or less. I picked out my nephew's kit 2 yrs ago (mint 1999 Yamaha stage custom) and it came with a pile of pro level Yamaha and Tama hardware, and nice Zildjian A's and K's, and Paistes from the 80's....all for $450. Piece-mealing that kit together would have run $900-$1000. All you have to do is pay attention to CL, FB, and Ebay (local pickup in your area) for kits and you will find one soon enough.

Last fall I passed on a Craigs List 8 pc 1990's double bass drum, double floor tom Tama Rockstar kit for $500. It needed some work to replace some cracked floor tom mounts and other items. The kicker was it came with a dozen pro and intermediate cymbals worth $500 on their own. It also came with about 2 dozen pieces of hardware....essentially 3 kits worth....and 4 large vintage amps/speakers....and a nearly brand new little 4 piece SPL bop kit. I had never seen so much stuff for $500. It was a no brainer. But, I had to turn it down only for the dozens of hours it was going to take to clean everything up as all the hardware needed lots of cleaning. It would have taken me two round trips to get it all home. Cleaned up and parted out all that stuff was worth $1500 or so. And you'd have been left with a presentable 1990's Tama Rockstar kit with Zildjian A's....for free.