Which cocktail kit is right for me?

[Bigbrain]

Hello,

What an excellent site and forum here...thanks to all who put this together. I'm a kit drummer and about to switch to a standing cocktail setup for a rockabilly act. I've read through many posts and there is a weatlh of information here. I'm still unsure on what to do so I'll hope someone else has already been down this road and is willing to share their widsom. Also, I've already played standing on a kick and snare set...I know how it feels and I'm comfortable (ok...semi-comfortable) on it.

My major considerations are:

1) I need a pro quality kit in terms of durability, sound, hardware, pedal, adjustability, etc.

2) I don't want to customize it...no bending of hardware or drilling holes. Change the heads, tune it, adjust the snares, minimal dampening is fine and I would expect to experiment with these.

3) I'll be playing only the cocktail drum as a bass and snare. No additional drums will be used.

4) I am 5'5" and unsure of how versatile the different vendors' kits are in terms of height adjustment, etc.

The way I see it now I have two main options: Club Jordan from Yamaha or custom order from Phattie. Problem is I can't play or really hear either as far as I can tell. No music store has cocktail sets on display--always order.

So, I'm open to anyone's suggestions. I'm willing to pay for quality. What do you think the best kit is for me?

Thanks in advance!!

[jmettam]

Hey Brian,

Welcome to the Forum!

You also have another choice, buy a vintage cocktail drum!

Since you will be using only the main drum for kick and snare you can find this configuration fairly often on ebay or vintage drum shops. The only potential problem is if the drum does not have hardware for cymbals you will need to use something like and LP Claw. This is fine unless you plan on using fairly large cymbals (the arms do not extend very far out from the drum). But even this can can probably be overcome with a little hardware experimentation!

As far as hearing cocktail drums... well, that's a tough one. Tell us where you live and maybe someone on the forum has a kit and will be doing a gig in your area that you can check out.

Also, Dinkus put up a few mp3s of his kit:

http://www.angelfire.com/music/dinkus/c ... ounds.html

There are a lot of different ways to set up and tune a cocktail drum so you can get other sounds but he has gotten a really nice sounding kit together!

- John

[palacki808]

John's right. You can find some real gems looking for a vintage cocktail drum. The first cocktail drum I played was a 14X24 slingerland. Just a bass/snare drum with a cymbal. It sounds great. A friend of mine owns it, bought it for next to nothing about ten years ago. He gigs with it on a regular basis too.

I'm 5'7" and I have no problem with a 24" deep drum. It's very comfortable for me. Try calling around. Some drum shops still have club jordan kits from when they were first released. You'd be surprised, there are a few more out there than you think. The fact is almost no one takes them to gigs. If you can find a club jordan at a drum shop, that would give you a chance to try one. You'll have a much better idea of what its like when you play one for the first time.

-Joe

[mangorockfish]

One BIG thing to remember if you do get to check one out in a drum shop is it is not going to sound ANYTHING like what you can get it to sound like after you get it home and work on it a little. They can be difficult little critters sometimes, but ya gotta love 'em. Good luck.

All of us here will help in any way we can.
Check out the Kit site. Mine and Joe's are Phattie kits, John's is older Slingerland, and Dinkus' is a Jordan, to give you a look at all of the styles. Peace Manhattans and owner-built kits are also represented, so you have a lot to choose from

Mangorockfish

[Bigbrain]

Thanks a lot...I'm going to start a new thread on some additional topics.