I played this one "regular" gig, where the people there were picky about the sound of instruments in the room. They mostly weren't musicians, and they weren't very knowledgeable about acoustics or whatnot, but they were a small community that was used to a whole slew of acts coming through their small venue. It was around the time I got my Ludwig Downbeat. I had been playing my DW kit there, and I decided to take out the Downbeat, and during the break and after the gig, I had about 25 different people come up to me and comment on how different those drums sounded. They said that they sounded warm and "special" (my favorite comment).

Yes, we're definitely picky about the sound of our instruments, and MOST people won't notice, I agree, but it's the same for most instruments. I'll bet people wouldn't notice if Yo Yo Ma played his $6 million cello or just a measly $10,000 one. Perhaps they'd notice a change in his performance, as the sound and nuance of our instrument changes how we approach it.

This is the sort of info I was hoping to garner. I have a standing line of banter with a guitarist I gig with regularly, about an obsession with amp tones and valve (tube) versus solid-state and how little I suspect the audience notices. It really winds him up, which is always a plus where guitarists are concerned. Let's see what others have to say before we reach any conclusions, although I have already reached mine long since.

BTW.

I've never had a non-musician say anything about drum sounds honestly. I highly doubt most audience members really notice drum tone. In fact I have had several friends look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about tuning drums. The usual response is "Wait you can tune drums? "DOH

It's usually other musicians that notice. The only time a non-player may say something is if I am drawing attention to an instrument by showing another musician.

otherwise, I've changed drum sets on steady gigs and gone from Natural wood to black, and nobody seems to notice even that, sometimes.

Is a Downbeat birch?

Ludwig Downbeat is 3 ply maple, but in a 20-12-14 configuration. The DW is newer wood, maple and probably thicker shells, and 22-13-16 sizes, so the tones will be very different.

John, actually the Dw shells are probably thinner at least mine are!. also the different glue used, bearing edges are sharper, and this crappy hormone grown wood now used by all major manufacturers! The Dw's I use as a Bic Lighter they make em ever day, they don't make old drums no more!!

Sometimes, the drums get "noticed" first and then, based upon visual impression, people have made comments like, "those are really cool drums." I'm sure that has to do with how people tend to tie what looks good to what must then sound good, too. A red sparkle drum set on a jazz gig tends to garner more comments about "sounding" good than a plain black drum set does -trust me!

My gigs aren't in big arenas and stadiums. What sounds good to me is what works in small jazz dives and lounges. That's mostly tiny "micro" bebop kits. Those small sizes allow me to play the drums forcefully enough to get a tone from them but not so loud that it dominates the small spaces in which they are played.

But, at home, I have bigger drums set up. When I am in the mood to try and pretend to be Bonham for a few minutes, I can play my Deluxe Classic and rock them! There's nothing like digging into the sound and feel of bigger drums when you have been feathering tiny bass drums on gigs! It's a release!

I guess that most every drum sound played by a good drummer sounds good to me!

I have a very early stencil kit, made by Pearl, and it is a 3 ply asian mahogany kit, within which I added a veneer of curly maple. My wife is not a drummer, not really much of a rock music fan, like many women, likes that pop music crap. However, as soon as I got them completed, tuned up and began the fine tuning, she immediately turned and said they sounded very good compared to the "drums on the radio". Of course I then explained they are not all studio'd up, mixed and eq...all that jazz, but still, to have her say that, it was a pretty good start. The neighbor across the street has a few people over from time to time and when I beat and practice, they usually will comment the next day about how great those old beaters sound. They see me drag in these old shells in poor condition all the time, so they think all the drums sound the same....broken, until I work them up...