The ddrum d2 Review: A Good Starter Kit For the Money.

The d2 is a solid quality drum set for under $400 ($350 in some places), and with a little tweaking it could be even better.  I just got one of these sets and I’m impressed by the quality for the price.  If you’re looking for a cheap drum set this could be for you.  This isn’t some cheap kids set, it’s a good starter set and with some add-ons could be made even better.  Lets break this down into components:

• Shells
• Hardware
• Heads
• Cymbals

It’s a good set to grow into.  Because the shells and hardware are good quality you can replace cymbals and heads as needed.

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The drum shells:

The ddrum d2 comes with a 22 in. bass drum,  8×10 and 9×12 in. mounted toms with a 14×16 in. floor tom.  and a 5.5×14 in. snare.  The bass drum sounds surprisingly tight on my set. The shells are 9 ply mahogany and they’re pretty solid, they don’t feel flimsy and they’re thick enough that the hardware can be mounted solidly to them.  The toms are a little smaller than the “standard” 5 piece drum set (if their is such a thing) because they’re designed for smaller players.  Don’t worry, it’s not a kids set, but your typical 5 piece has 12×10 and 13×12 toms.  The smaller toms help keep the price down I don’t think anybody but a serious drummer would care.  You can always add larger toms and put the smaller ones on a stand to keep in your kit.

The Hardware:

The hardware is surprisingly good for a cheap drum set, it’s not your beefy Yamaha cymbal stands or Pearl hi-hat, but it’s double braced, solid and more than adequate.  The pedals are chain drive for both the bass drum and hi-hat, and the locking knobs are metal, as are all the lugs on the toms and bass drum.  Their aren’t any plastic parts on this drum.  The tom mounts are double adjustable for both height and angle.  The rims are not super finished but they’re not cheap looking either.  It doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall apart when you play it.

The Drum Heads:

Like most cheap drum sets, the heads are nothing spectacular, but they’re decent enough and the bass drum has double heads.  This is one of the upgrades I talked about most drummers change their heads immediately after purchasing a new drum set, even on a lot of the more expensive ones, so this isn’t a problem that’s unique to cheap drum sets.

The cymbals:

Let’s face it - they’re junk.  Cymbals can easily be the most expensive part of a set and there’s no way to keep the price on the d2 as low as it is any other way.  I heard the ddrum rep call them “cymbal shaped objects”.  He said they’re looking to include Paiste cymbals in their kits.  Cymbal making is a specialized thing, and it’s hard for anyone to compete with Zildjian, Sabian, or Paiste.  So, like most cheap drum sets you’ll probably want to replace these as soon as possible.

Wrap up:

The d2 is a real drum set, it’s not a toy.  It’s primarily aimed at people just starting out playing drums or maybe for a parent that is looking for a cheap drum set for their kid to play.  For a practice set or for a kid the cymbals work as placeholder cymbals until you can upgrade.  It’s a good set to grow into.  Because the shells and hardware are good quality you can replace cymbals and heads as needed.  In the future you could also replace the snare and bass drum pedal and have a decent gigging set.