Yamaha DP Series

I bought this kit second hand for £250 from some woman who's son used to play drums but gave up. I bought it because my peavey internation series 2 wasn't very good and i had money to upgrade. It is "sun yellow" colour which is an awesome colour and everyone I know loves the colour.

Entry level kit? I think not. My friend has a Pacific CX, my DP is better. My friend has a Pearl Session SMX. This matches it (but £750 cheaper!) The snare make a beautiful crack sound which matches top of the range snares, (especially tuned right, with an Aquarian Jack DeJohnette snare skin). The bass drum will give you a heart attack and cuts through bass guitar when played live. The toms are very warm and versatile. The tom mounting system, again, was unexpectedly sophisticated and very vesatile.

The factory heads weren't great so I replaced them with the snare skin described above, clear pinstripes for the toms and a powerstroke 4 bass drum batter head. The hardware was average but better than expected on an entry level kit. I replaced the bass pedal beater with a pearl quad beater. The cymbals (solars) weren't good either, but you can't have everything from an entry level kit. I replaced them with an a custom 17" fast crash and a 20" zxt ride. Have yet to replace the hi-hats.

After one year of ownership on my part and i play for hours every day, its still looks absolutely new! Just a totally excellent drum kit all round. Im not suprised yamaha made replaced it with the lesser rydeen.

Kicks the hell out of CB or any other entry level kit. Im gonna have this kit for years to come and wont need to upgrade.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

It's been six years now since I started using these drums and I am entirely satisfied. It suits any musical style, from jazz to metal and funk, as well as other styles. This rare find is my first drum kit and even if it's a bit hard to adjust, making it sound live is easy and the outcome pretty satisfying. I bought this kit secondhand for about 300 euros and I don't regret it at all.
To summarize, I'd say this drum set is very good to start out and develop your skills within different musical styles without any problems. The only snag is the average (or even mediocre) quality of the original drum heads.
PS: A few lines above I talk about making it sound live, which is something I know first hand, having played several gigs both indoors and outdoors with good results.