Tough Call.

The Rogers are not only easy on the eyes, but will unleash

a most righteous Boom due to the larger sizes.

6-ply maple no rings or Poplar / Mahogany / Poplar with rings.

Talk about apples and kiwis...

My choice would be the more compact Slingerland

kit with the retro-lounge white satin.

[SIZE="1"]"I used to be indecisive, now I'm just not sure..."

-Rod Morgenstein[/SIZE]

Step up to the plate and get both of them.

I have a 58 slingerleedy kit and a cleveland/dayton rogers bitser. No comparison sonicly and with regard to hardware. The rogers kills the slinger leedy. I dont know enough about the changes to build quality from those build periods to the 65 and 70s period items you are describing.

One other issue is what type of music you will use them for? Big kick and big floor tom imply some aggressive rock. I personally like smaller drums but that's your call. Hope this helps.

Rogers drums are structurally made much better. However, that '60s / '70s sound is the 3 ply shells that Slingerland and Ludwig used. Rogers drums are brighter sounding. I've had many Rogers and Slingerland sets, and never kept any of the Rogers. Those 18" floor toms can be hard to schlep and tame...

The two sets you're looking at are almost opposites.

My first kit was a Rogers Silver Sparkle Buddy Rich model.

And it sounded great. But Buddy played Slingerland before Rogers, and later Fibes. They all sounded great. It?s really a matter of how you tune them.

Some people are good drummers, but need a drum tech to tune their kit for them. No joke. :)

I lived in NYC at a Jazz Club, where I was both manager and house drummer.

We had a small Slingerland Jazz kit there, and it kicked butt. Really sounded great.

For the price you mentioned, I would buy both, because it?s almost nothing, and you?ll get your money back and more, should you ever want to sell them.

My Dad had an old Blue Flame Jazz kit. Elvin Jones model. After he died, my Mom sold it, and got a decent price of $900. for them. I would have tried to sell them for more, but I?m over here in Berlin, Germany. His cymbals were worth more than $900.

I have a deal with Sonor, which I think sound great.

I?ve got like 7 snares in all different sizes, from maple to brass, which I use for whatever the job calls for live or in the studio. .

Anyway, a lot of the major studio drummers I know use old Leedy, Leedy & Ludwig, or Slingerland snares with custom rims and snare throw offs.

There must be a reason for it?!

Peace,

DICARLO

Where do you get kits this cheap, I am desperately looking for one.

REOTHER4:

The gentleman who was offering the kits lives in the Downriver Area of Michigan. Due to unforseen circumstances there's a chance that I won't end up with either kit. Should that end up being the case (and I'll know for sure by Thursday), the owner might make the kits available for $100.00 over the price he was offering them to me. I was getting a "special discount" since I had purchased a significant amount of other drum equipment from him in the past. If you're interested let me know and maybe something can be worked out.