ok, so a few months ago I recommended this kit to a friend who was buying her first kit. I had been playing drums for 6 years at the time and had enough knowledge on the topic to know that the shells don't effect your sound that much if you're dampening them with gels and rings anyway. she got a set of lovely zultan cymbals, some Gibraltar snare wires and some gels and rings and ended up with quite a nice little setup after throwing a couple of pillows into the bass drum. I finally scraped together enough money myself a few weeks ago to buy a nicer kit (I was playing an ancient pearl Maxwin kit that was literally falling apart at the time). I went for this kit after my friends success with it and bought some paiste pst3 cymbals, a ride stand (the kit doesn't provide a ride, let alone a stand), some remo ambassador heads (I didn't get reso heads for the toms), some Gibraltar snare wires and some gels and rings. it sounds and plays well. if you are getting this kit, go ahead, it's exceptionally good value, but note the following:
1. you NEED to replace the cymbals. the ones that this kit comes with are about as musical as sheets of tin, probably because they're made out of something not far off. get some cheap brand name cymbals or buy some nicer ones second hand, just don't play these.
2. get a ride stand. millennium do some decent ones for cheap
3. get damping gels and rings. put a pillow inside your bass drum and tune your drums.
4. optionally, you can make a small investment into some brand name drumheads (you can't really go wrong with anything made by evans or remo) and some snare wires to bring your sound and playing experience up a notch. my friend who got this kit broke the stock heads within 4 months of owning it.
overall it's a cheap kit that when modded out sounds really great.
