Today saw a trade up in the drum department - I acquired a Tama Starclassic Maple in green sparkle lacquer finish for a really good price. I've been jonesin' lately for either the Tama or a Yamaha Maple Custom kit and when this deal came up, I just couldn't pass it by - especially when we're interviewing producers to work with us on our first studio EP. I want to play the same kit in the studio that I play live and the PDP CX that I have just wasn't cutting it. It's a good beginner kit, but the studio demands more and we'd probably spend a lot of time in post-production trying to get the PDP kit to sound right.
I went to Guitar Center to take a look at a Pearl VMX kit because I had a coupon, and they had a floor model VSX kit for super-cheap. The coupon that I had would make it even cheaper, but it was a birch kit and really wasn't much of a step up from what I already have in the PDP CX series kit. There were some nice add-ons that were making it a definite consideration, though, and the price was right.
While talking to my sales guy, he heard what I really wanted and told me that he had a Tama kit that would meet my desire that was super-ultra-mega cheap in the grand scheme of things because the manager just wanted it gone due to it not selling. It is brand new, having been on the showroom floor for a while and in the studio for a session with one of the GC guys, but that was the only activity on it. He brought out the green sparkly kit, and my first impulse was a purely aesthetic one - nonplussed! Green sparkle? Blech. Then I played it and it sounded so sweet...and the price was unbelievable. They wanted half of the normal GC price for a shell pack of the same diameters (their price is already 35% off the Tama MSRP), which means that the price they were asking for the shells is roughly a third of the MSRP from Tama. I could get a $4600 shell pack for a third of the price. Interestingly, these four shells (three toms and a kick drum) would cost almost exactly the same as my entire first drum set cost, with everything included (although the cymbals have all been replaced by now). That PDP kit was my first one, and it's been a good one, but I've outgrown it.
I was having a tough time making a decision - take the great deal on a serious upgrade in shells to what I wanted, or take the cheap pricing on the kit with the extra snare and tom (although there were two tom sizes I didn't even want in that kit - I don't play 8" or 10" and I would lose a 14"). As I was deliberating, the decision was pretty much made for me - a family came in and bought the cheap kit for their church on the spot. Now it was time for me to decide if I wanted to take the deal on the "mean green beat machine" or leave and come back at a later date to shop again.
I realized that I couldn't pass this up. I might never get a shot at a Tama Starclassic with the right configuration at this cheap of a price ever again, unless I worked craigslist - and then who knows what condition it would be in. I took the deal and I'm glad I did...the guys in the band loved the sound and it will go great for recording. In fact, one of them confirmed my thoughts: "now this is a kit that I feel good about recording with...the other one, not so much." All of the GC employees that came back to the drum section were like, "are you buying the starclassic? Nice!" Once I got it to the rehearsal space, set it up, and started playing it with the rest of my setup I knew I had made the right choice. Of course, like an idiot, I forgot to take pictures; I'll do so on Saturday when we rehearse next and then post 'em up on flickr or twitpic so's y'all can see it.
And the green? It's definitely growing on me.
Green Machine!!