Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

William

Here is some advice from someone who has used various electronic and
accoustic kits both for practicing at home and for gigging.

In my opinion (for what it's worth) accoustics are best for gigging -
you don't get false triggers, drop outs or vibration problems and they
look much nicer. Also accoustic cymbals just cut through so much better
and you have far more dynamic control. It's more or less impossible to
get a realistic cymbal swell on an electronic kit. Accoustic kits just
feel much nicer to play.

Electric kits can't be beaten for practice and smaller venues, the
variety of sounds you can get is amazing and you don't have to bother
with tuning but they are very sensitive to vibration when gigging
especially from the stage & from loud bass speakers.

If you go the electronic route I would advise you to buy Yamaha DTXpress
as a minimum - there are cheaper kits out there but you will be
dissapointed with them and some are just toys that don't last. I have
played on cheaper electronic kits and found that they break easily and
are more or less impossible to keep adjusted correctly, also they sound
ghastly - don't waste your money. I haven't tried a DTXplorer so can't
comment but from what I've seen I think I'd rather have a 2nd hand
DTXpress for the same money. The better Roland kits are nice but V.
expensive. Roland mesh heads take a bit of getting used to as they feel
very soft and bouncy, I reckon the DTXpress rubber pads feel more like
accoustic heads.

I had a DTXpress III and upgraded to a DTXtreme IIs - although I love
the more expensive kit I would say the DTXpress was better value for
money, nearly as good unless you desperately need a sampler and was a
lot easier to cart around.

I know drum tutors who have switched from accoustics to DTXpress kits
for teaching and wouldn't go back.

Regards

Richard.