I heard that many times, that white the proper heads and mostly a¨fine tuning¨ almost every drums can sound good,and i think it's true, most of the time... but if he (the sound man or the drum tech) can make a CB-700 sound reeeally good, can you imagine what he can do whit an old American 3 ply shell drums, who's got those ¨magic tones ¨ that we all dream about?...Mind Blowi

To my ears, it's usually that a drum can sound horrible live and good through a good system or PA, if treated properly. Live it's still is a dog.

Yep! sometimes , soundmans can do miracles... but personnally i think that a drum kit have to sound good (with the band) right on the stage, fIRST.

I've owned some drums in the past that were VERY hard to get a good sound from. That said, a good player can still work magic from crappy drums and cymbals.

Of course, great drums will always sound great when tuned properly.

When parents of potential drummers ask me for purchasing hints, I tell them they can make up for not-so-great drums with good heads and careful tuning. But I always recommend spending as much on cymbals as they can afford. A bad drum can sound good, but a bad cymbal will always sound bad ... and will drive them crazy after a few months of hearing their kid practice.

When we go to the music store, I A-B high-end Zildjians, Sabians, and Paistes with their respective student models and even non-musicians can tell the difference.

I got a friend who is a drum hoarder. He pick ups any shell,any can,any tube and transform them in to drums (oil containers, Carboard containers, paint cans, etc,etc) . There is no replacements for drum parts in Chile. No store carries lugs,hoops,or rods down there, Sometimes is hard to find heads!

Well, he fabricates wood hoops, wood lugs and sometimes wood stands for himself...he use the rope principle a lot (so he doesnt need actual lugs...)

You guys should hear how his drum sound...he put special effort on the bearing edges and snare beds...He builts snares made of fishing lines! Once he manage it to add sand beach to a head! He is AMAZING!!!! His name? Ismael Troncoso

I am a believer that any drum set in good hands can sound good. In fact, even a drum sound that is deemed "bad" by today's standards still sounds "good" to my ear. Example is Steve Gadd and his Yamaha Recording Custom kit with Evans Hydrolic heads! But STEVE! What can you say?

All kinds of examples of cool drum beats being played on what amounted to cardboard boxes.

I'll put it like this: I have heard drummers playing some of the most outrageously expensive drums on the market and yet they can't make them sound good because they are limited in their understanding of playing. And then, conversely, I have seen some of the most horrible drums ever sound great when applied to the music properly.

I have seen jam sessions where several drummers will alternately play the same drum set and none of them get the same sound. Weird, huh?

The thing about "good" and "bad" is that those terms change for each person -much the same way that "beautiful" and "ugly" take on different perspectives.

We all have gone into the drum shop and walked past a kit on the floor and given it the finger tap on the floor tom to see how long it sustains....right? Somehow, if the floor tom sustains forever and a day, we think, "Wow! That's a good-sounding floor tom!" But, then in application with a band, those drums get moon gel, tape, special drumheads, etc.

everyone is searching for that "best" sound and yet nobody knows just exactly what that sound is!:Santa:

Here is one of my favorite drummers (Jon Falt) and check out his cymbals, stands and drums!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfvB4QW73lo&feature=related[/ame]

Wow I really like this trio, the drums and cymbals sound great, interesting and unique, what's the name of that tune, or better yet which album would you recommend I begin with in accumulating some of their music.

I went to Itunes and found albums from 1998 - 2005.

Any suggestions?

YES! I love that trio, too! I recommend you get the one called "Serenity" -except the drummer is Jon Christensen on that one. Jon Falt (the drummer in the video) is on Stenson's latest called "Cantando" -which I haven't heard yet. I have only learned about Jon Falt's drumming via YouTube. But, if you like this kind of vibe, you can't go wrong with any of Bobo Stenson's stuff. Also check out a piano player from England named John Taylor. I'll post a video in the video section of the forum so that you can check it out.