Pulse 3-Piece Kid/Junior Drum Set  

We got these for our 2 1/2 year old grand daughter who LOVES to bang on things.

I read reviews complaining about the poor assembly instructions.  I don't understand these complaints, because we got NO assembly instructions.  Fortunately, we're intelligent enough to figure it out quickly anyway.

Additionally we got the Rogue Dreadnought guitar/Mandolin set and the Schoenhut upright piano.  All excellent instruments.  Our 3 grand kids will just have to form their own little band some day I guess!!

The quality of these drums is really good!  The sound is excellent, the  drums are sturdy, the hardware is all chromed heavy metal of some sort,  but sturdy!  The cymbal is kinda lame sounding but still a cymbal.

I feel it was money well spent! 

No regrets!

so i was looking for an affordable kit to play small venues with i bougt a cajon drum and though it's awesome it really beats your hand up if played for more then 45 mins, i then tried the electronic drum setup and was disappointed by anything in my price range, and the pearl rhythm traveler was a little salty for my budget. then while returning an item to musicians friend i stumbled across this kit it was on sale and they had a returned one so i picked the kit up for a great price. when it came in i was blown away it was actually a real drumset just shrunk down in size decent hardware and the cymbal mount on the bass drum holds a standard top piece of a cymbal stand so you can switch to a boom one if you want, the cymbal is crap and so is the pedal but it's the small shell pack i wanted, so i put evans heads on mine and added some of my drum stuff from my other kit and i must say it sounds really good the 8x4 tom sounds good if tuned right with a good head, and you can get a decent thump out of the bass drum if muffed and tuned well, so now i have some smaller gigs coming up that i could've never pulled off with my other kit, so if your an adult looking for a small club style kit get this you won't be dissappointed, and ya it's defintley a great first kit for kids as well.

10

Great Little set of real drums! not like the toys you find in other stores. No instructions but simple to figure out. good quality shells. perfect size for my 3 year old daughter. What better gift to give a child but the gift of music! good quality hardware. and did I mention really loud so be prepaired! lol

If you child wants a set of drums this is the set to buy!

This review is gonna be different since I bought it for a different reason it was intended for. This kit is meant to be used as a starter kit for kids. As that type of kit, I think it does the job pretty well (specifically the really young kids). For kids a bit older (my son is 8), this is pretty small and does not sound good enough. We have a full size kit so he knows the difference and will not touch this.

Why 5 stars then? For my intended purpose, I needed a small kit that I could use on our small house studio/music room. I also intend to use it when playing a small gigs (just parties and jams - no, I'm not a pro drummer). The full size drum was just too big and heavy (Yamaha Stage Customs). So I was looking for something really small and portable and will not dominate a small studio (specially when playing rock music).

I basically bought this for the bass drum, being 12x16, the size is perfect. I was also shopping for a cheap 10" snare so this package really fits the bill. When it came, I assembled it, tuned it and it was not gonna work. It just did not sound good enough for me (or even my son). However, prior to the purchase, I knew I was gonna change the heads anyway and upgrade some of the hardware. So here's my review on the drum components and the upgrades I did:

1) Shells - Before making the purchase, found out shells were poplar. That's a good start. Quality was pretty good, round and the bearing edges were good. I was able to properly tune the stock heads with no problem (just wasn't the sound I wanted). The wrap looks good too (black). Hardware is pretty cheap but does what it is suppose to do without issues.

2) Kick pedal - I already gave it away to a friend who's has one of those First Act kit. Just does not work for me. I bought the Mapex Raptor pedal. Now that is a really good smooth pedal.

3) Cymbal - Threw it away...  =)

4) Bass Drum - Replaced batter head with "Aquarian Drumheads SKII16 Super-Kick II Double Ply 16-inch Bass Drum Head". Replaced resonant head with "Aquarian Drumheads RSM16WH Regulator White 16-inch Bass Drum Head, gloss white". This came with a port hole (needed for micing). Replaced spurs with "Gibraltar SC-BS4 Professional Bass Drum Spurs With Bracket" in combination with a drum lift "Gibraltar SC-BDPM Bass Drum Platform Fits 18 Inch/20 Inch". This lifts the bass drum off the floor and now allows me to use a regular pedal (Mapex Raptor), striking the batter head at dead center (important!!!). Lot's of upgrades but well worth it. It now looks and sounds phenomenal. Being a small kick drum, you get more a jazz kit sound. Lot's of punch. Since we play mostly rock and pop, I was able to tune it for more resonance and a good thud (small pillow helps). Volume ofcourse is low (which is what I wanted) but that is easily resolved through micing when you want more volume. After figuring out difference settings through my mixer, I can basically control the volume and how much boom or thud I want. My bandmates could not believe the sound. After all these upgrades, no one can tell this was pulse junior bass drum. Did not look or sound like it. Looks more like a SONOR safari kit. The white front head also look very vintage and classy.

5) 8" Tom - Never played a tom this small before. Sounded like timbale to my ears with the stock heads. Replaced batter with "Evans G2 Coated Drum Head, 8 Inch" and reso head with "Evans EC Resonant Drum Head, 8 Inch". Tuned pretty easily and it sounded good. I actually tuned it low to my liking.

6) 10" Snare - Practically no upgrade yet. Hardware is pretty cheap but works. Only thing I added was rubber band to keep the snare locked in place. The sound though after some dampening to kill off some ringing/overtones was really good. Not sure what the stock head is made of (feels soft to the touch) but it feels right (stick bounce) and sounds nice to me (I prefer dryer snare sounds).

I also bought a hi-hat stand and hi-hat cymbal (Meinl 13" HCS - cheap but sounds good). Rest of my cymbals are 18" El Sabor Picante (Crash/Ride). 14" Wuhan Crash. 10" Zildjian A Custom splash. 12" Zildjian Oriental China. To complete my set, I'm waiting on a used 13" rack tom bought for cheap. I will use that as my floor tom.

Like I said, I bought this for a different reason. To me it was the foundation of what I intended to build. The result was well beyond what I expected. It looks good and sounds great. Not sure if this review will help anyone... But just wanted to share...

The quality of this kit is far superior to the first act kits. Its still a junior drum set, but you can't beat the price. Perfect for a starting drummer!