Well,I'm going to have to agree with you on this one.I was offered a 2008 "Gretsch"Catalina Maple set at a ridiculous low price w/all hardware (Mapex).After 6 months-all gone.Why do they think 10,12,14 is 12,13,16.10 is not 12,14 is not 16.Tune them down and flabby-floppy.Had to sell them before they got a scratch on them,thereby making them WORTHLESS.NO SNARE BED.What is up with that?Mapex hardware-very medium.I think the drums would have sounded the same without the suspension mounts,where the 10 had to go in a 12 case.Blah blah blah.Hours and hours of tuning and nothing even remotely close to the sound on a certain south-central music stores highly praiseful website.

I will say one thing,though.I wish I'd been able to keep the rims.They were the heaviest steel rims I have ever seen.Very close to cast in weight.

Yeah- the Gretsch in name only (GINO) drums are highly disappointing. It makes you want to find the CEO of the company and shake them. The OCDP in name only (OINO) is even more disappointing. After all, how many times can you sucker some kid into buying "what Travis Barker plays"? I bought them thinking it may take head changes (like I had to do with Pearl Forum drums- very underrated, in my opinion) to get them where I want them.

The thing is, I have played some nice OCDP kits. All this does is water down their name. Same with Gretsch.

I am just irritated with the fact that something new and not stratospherically expensive is crap.

Everyone-I repeat-EVERYONE is doing this.Watering down the brand name with Sinodrums to bring in the almighty dollar.Watch and see how long it takes China to realize they don't need the washed-up brand names any more.2 or 3 high profile endorsements is all it will take.Just like the Tama/Pearl takeover in the 70's/80's.

Some Chinese drum manufacturers have made tentative probes in the American market,on their own.Wuhan has made progress in the student market with full lines of cymbals at least as good as the American/Canadian ones.If you saw a Chinese branded drum set that looked as good or better than it's "Brand Stamped"counterpart-and cost $200 LESS-would you consider it?You may not,but Mr. and Mrs. student's parents will.

A while ago I posted a query regarding the Pacific/PDP drum name,and if they were different drums.Pacific denotes Asia-PDP denotes........nothing.Good trick.

What surprises me is that they haven't done it already. But for some reason, the Chinese don't want to hire American marketers. The ad would still read much like this: "Look here. Drums very shiny. Very pretty. Cheaper than lousy Amelican counterparts. Very, very shiny."

At least the Japanese were smart and hired Americans to market products to Americans. The difference is that the Japanese benchmarked stuff and aspired to make it the best, improved example of Japanese workmanship. In China, they just want to make it very shiny, very pretty. This observation of mine has been confirmed by a few people I know who either have had items manufactured in CHina or oversaw manufacturing.

OK, you really need a lesson in current music industry economics. This is called "building down the line", and is a very necessary function to keep MI companies alive and well nowadays.

Flagship musical instruments are great, but nowadays, they are not the cash-cow. DW needs PDP. Gibson needs Epiphone, Fender needs Squier, all to pay the bills.

Some companies build the line down as a spinoff brand. Others keep it in the same fold, but move production to a cheaper venue. Yamaha excels at this, and manages to make a quality product in Japan, Taiwan, China and Indonesia, all at the same time, all with the Yamaha name.

It's not the country of origin that decides the final quality, it's the company selling the product that determines this, depending on what profit margins they are looking for, and how much they want to "babysit" the offshore vendors.

In the old days, companies like Ludwig built the line down by watering-down their flagship line a bit, which is how we got Ludwig Standards and Rocker USA drums. Their approach was the design of a new lug that required less labor (the Rocker lugs could be machine-polished automatically), cheaper hardware (still made in the USA) and limited options.

Rogers was probably the first US company to go offshore with the Yamaha made R-360/380 lines.

Citing the aforementioned Gretsch (which is now under the Fender brand), it makes perfect sense to have their lower lines produced offshore, when you consider that they are directly tied to the Gibraltar/Dixon brands and factories. I've reviewed their stuff, and thought it was pretty happening!

The trend we see now, especially with Ludwig and DW, is to offer less pricey USA-made drums, with the Keystone and Performance series, respectively. This is now accomplished by offering kits in limited finishes, configurations and options that are pre-stocked and ready to ship. The elimination of custom options and finishes, together with the reduction of SKU's, makes for a less labor-intensive sales effort. Therefore, a high-quality product can still be offered at a reduced price. Having reviewed BOTH of these lines, I can tell you that there is NOTHING budget about them, even though they are substantially lower in price than their flagship brethren.

Here's a bit of news that might come as a shock: the entire MI business is ALL about the Almighty Dollar! No one stays in business if they cannot pay their bills, and every opportunity to make money will usually be employed. Just the way it is.

Having said all THAT, I think that the QUALITY of imported budget instruments is at an all-time high. Gone are the days of splintery Asian Firewood shells (which, to my ears, actually sound pretty good!), and we have companies like Pearl, Yamaha and Tama (all of the SAME companies who once actually MADE all of the old, splintery crap) to thank for it. They raised the bar for drum manufacturers around the world. And all three of them proved that you CAN make great drums out of lauan plywood when you upgrade the processes. Vintage Tama Imperialstars are probably the best example of this.

I have made many MIC drums sound good with a head change. I thought that since these drums were probably made in the same factory as many other budget lines, these could be a good kit. I don't want to gig with my vintage stuff, you know? I am just frustrated that the OCDP drums that I bought in particular just plain suck. They're so far away from the quality of their domestic drums. But, you can't even buy a domestic OCDP snare drum for the cost of the MIC shell packs!!! That should be an indicator...

Yes, the quality is there most of the time. It is a fantastic time to buy drums as far as low prices are concerned. Maybe I just have a dud.

Yamaha Chinese-made drums are pretty darned nice. But, they must micromanage their manufacturer to the hilt. I guess I am having quite a bit of buyer's remorse, and probably should have gone for the Yamaha offering in my price range.

And there's nothing wrong with trying to make some money. After all, we don't work for fun.

I second for Yamaha's "budget lines" I bought a Stage Custom Standard about ten years ago and I still use it to this day for local gigs. Its a very reliable, good sounding kit and that's what I'm looking for in a kit I gig with. Now that being said, does it hold a candle to the tone of my 60's Rogers kit? No way but when you get to a gig to sound check and the sound guy slaps a mic in the general direction of you snare and tosses a mic in your bass drum how much of your sweet tone is being sacrificed at that point? These kits have their place for sure but its important to follow your ears when you buy ANY kit when I bought the Stage Custom I went to Guitar Center for a Tama Rockstar in mind but after a side by side the Yammies killed the RockStars in tone, features, and the price was right. But you won't catch me in the studio with them in close mic situations that's when the short comings come through and I've never been a fan of sound replacment, so I'm not selling those Rogers anytime soon..

I shoulda played these when I was at Banjo Center. However, there's a HUGE problem- I play a left-handed kit, and I really don't like to sit down and play drums at Banjo Center. I can barely hear myself think in that store, let alone hear the subtle tones. Like I had said earlier- I have made many a Chinese drum kits sound GREAT. Maybe if I would round down the bearing edges a bit (they are pretty freakin' sharp- more like the snare drum edges I prefer), I would get a more shell-based sound rather than annoying ring. To me, sustain is different than just plain old annoying ring.

But frankly, I shouldn't have to do that. Using Evans Hydraulic heads pretty well says that the drums are crap. They went from being ringy to being dead.

There wasn't a Yamaha low-end kit that was in a configuration I like (one up, one or two down with 16" and 18" floor toms). And the OCDP drums are purdy. But I think I am re-wrapping a mongrel kit.