After owning/playing edrums,would you go back to a's

[pluto3]

Hi all,just thought i would ask the big one.I dont think i will ever buy an accustic drum kit again,ive had them of course and a simmons kit(hexagenal) and a roland td3.If i ever sat behind a v20 i would faint i think(lol),I just love these things how about you.I know some of you have both,but you gotta love your e's?.thanks
sorry for my spelling....hehe

[pluto3]

bad subject

bad subject or has this been asked before?...sorry

[ige87]

I have both and I don't think I could make the switch to purely an E kit. I'm inexplicably drawn to a nice A kit with lovely shiny metal disks, especially when it comes to playing jazz where I feel the nuances are just a little bit lacking. Just my opinion though. I really love my E kit, I just love my A's more.

BTW, pluto, be patient! Not everyone will respond to every topic, and an hour and a half isnt exactly a long wait, especially considering we have an international membership!

[Colquhoun]

I'm an old fart with tinnitus (ringing in the ears and very sensitive to loud noise), and the only way I get to play is with an e-kit. My acoustics collected dust for years until I finally got off my butt and sold them. Plus, with my schedule, the only time I really get to play is late-night.... and my family likes to sleep at night.
Never going back.

[Fullback32]

Never had A's...so the answer is no.

[Bobvan]

Gotta have the acoustic kit the e kit makes a nice practice tool and is good for recording pre production but e kits still dont replace the real thing

[drumslinger50]

No way. I love the versitility of the E's and when I sit in on somebody's A set I get bored real quick. My band leader demands E's as a job requirement so that he can slip seemlessly between a 2 piece and 4 piece band without changing his overall settings. Also, we can get the E's into venues where the A's are too cumbersome and noisy. (see my post about TV). I was playing E's full time on stage in 1989 and the technology today is so much better it just blows my mind. I worked hard to make my E kit look good and I am proud everytime I take the stage. The black and white Roland cymbals are becoming a symbol of class in the circles I run in. My A's were used as test drums when I started converting and have long been sold off to other E drummers.

[drum head )'>]

For the kind of drumming situations that I have, and the overall ease of transporting and controlling the mix in the bars that we play in.........no.

If it were just for practicing at home----that alone would be enough reason not to ever play acoustics again. Edrums have come such a long way since I the 80's when I was learning to drum. I only wish I had the technology then, that I have now.

I can see times and situations that I will want to play my acoustics.
Electric kits have not replaced acoustics. They have for me, in were I am right now. Drumming has changed forever.

[Bobvan]

No way. I love the versitility of the E's and when I sit in on somebody's A set I get bored real quick. My band leader demands E's as a job requirement so that he can slip seemlessly between a 2 piece and 4 piece band without changing his overall settings. Also, we can get the E's into venues where the A's are too cumbersome and noisy. (see my post about TV). I was playing E's full time on stage in 1989 and the technology today is so much better it just blows my mind. I worked hard to make my E kit look good and I am proud everytime I take the stage. The black and white Roland cymbals are becoming a symbol of class in the circles I run in. My A's were used as test drums when I started converting and have long been sold off to other E drummers.

I agree with you on e kits coming a long way, I had a simmons sds 7 in the 80's. I am sure e kits will keep evolving and probably will catch up one day, that I have no doubt. I do play my on my e kit way more nowadays but still to play live I find you have to depend too much on a good monitoring system, I suppose you can buy your own, (there goes the transport advantage) technical glitches that may come up. IMO you still can detect a v-kit over the real thing in recordings.

[SuperPuss]

For my purposes, I cannot see myself ever needing to buy or use an A kit, although I have been jamming with a band and playing A's in that situation because that is what is set up in the rehearsal room.
For my music, E drums are perfect and the same for live performance of my music. A's would be far too limiting (or too costly and cumbersome to get the variation) for the style I write.

[havyck]

I still have my a's and plan to continue using them. They have their own unique feel and sound. Plus my set up will look crazy out of this world with the e's in front and a's in back. Think of the videos! Of course I would use them; a's are GLORIOUS!

[pchanning]

dont replace - combine!!!

I really love my e-kit. I will never get bored with it. It ROCKS But in terms of playing live and conveying energy, its acoustic all the way. Acoustic kits move air and are felt.

However, I am in the throes of adding ddrum triggers to my a's and using the TD20. It'll sound awesome out front, no mic'ing hassles, the band will stay tight without the hassles of additional monitoring and I get to monitor the sound via IEM's (the bass drum in particular ). Plus, a good acoustic kit looks the part.

Everyone is right though. It depends on the situation. The world of drums is certainly richer because of both.

[Hercules]

There are pros and cons to both a- and e-.......personally I wouldn't go back to a-'s just because of the noise factor, but I am still waiting for e-'s to catch up on things like the subtle variations you can get from a-cymbals.

The 2 zone cymbals sorta do the job, and I suppose the 3 zones are better but you can't get that beautiful "colour" across the cymbal that you can with a good a-cymbal with the e-kit cymbals.....

To get this I had to use my SPD-20.... and created (a set of patches to replicate a-cymbals using all 8 pads and 2 layers with differing sounds, pitches and curves spread across the pads - it is getting close to what you'd get from a big a-cymbal with the sound spreading from the bell (top right pad) across to the edge (bottom left pad).

[Stingo RAH]

I've played a's for over 30 years & e's for over twenty and I've done 100's of gigs combining the two. In the old days the e's just killed me when it came to live work, I'm a heavy player and wacking on the e's took it's toll, but maybe thats because i always played like 2 drummers These days I tend to use a's live and e's in the studio and the odd techno/trance gig. The e's are great for studio work, unlimited sounds, practicing and having fun but can end up being a worry if used constantly live. A's have the edge on feel & nuances of sound, stand up better on the road and always move BIG AIR! I just love playing both

[dschrammie]

what a great question! I like this a lot...you gotta think about all of the pros and cons, and there are certainly some on both sides. The e's present so many possibilities that you just can't get with a's...all of those have already been stated.
But if I had the space to do it and I didn't have to worry about bothering neighbors, family members, etc. I'd get a bomb set of acoustics without a second thought. There's a feeling that I had with acoustics that's almost difficult to describe...who knows maybe it's spiritual. But when you put all of your heart and soul into handpicking every cymbal and snare, and spending the time to get the toms all tuned just right, and getting that kick to have just the right amount of punch and resonance...the set becomes very very personal and I could just get lost in playing for a while. I know it sounds very cheesy and all that, but it's like really becoming part of the whole set...you feel it in your fingers as the sticks strike each piece and it rides up your arm and into your chest...and you really feel the drum. I miss that feeling when I play.
On the other hand I had one acoustic kit...whereas now I have 50 preset kits and 50 user kits...that's a lotta drums!