Best Drum Sets Under $1500 | A Complete Buyer's Guide

There are a TON of options when it comes to selecting a new drum set. We'll help you narrow it down, while keeping your budget under $1,500!

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
02:01 - PDP Concept Maple
07:21 - Pearl Decade Maple
12:04 - Yamaha Tour Custom
16:54 - DCP Gretsch Catalina Maple
22:22 - DCP Mapex Armory

Buy The Drums Here:
Mapex Armory Series 6pc Studioease Drum Set Black Burst - DCP Exclusive!

Gretsch Catalina Maple 7pc Rock Drum Set Gloss Natural - DCP Exclusive!

Yamaha Tour Custom Maple Drum Sets

PDP Concept Maple Drum Sets

Pearl Decade Maple Drum Sets

Evans American Upgrade Pack

Cymbals Used:
Zildjian A Sweet Set Cymbal Pack 15/18/20/23 - DCP Exclusive!

Microphones used to capture the drums:

Bass Drum:

Snare Drum:

Toms:

Overheads:

Room Mics:

Follow us on:

[dancalabrese]

If I was in the market for a kit in this price range, I'd go with the Yamaha because I'm so confident in their quality. But all the kits sounded and looked great. Lots of bang for the buck here (especially from Gretsch)!

[alessandrorossini]

Armory, best sound, best value, hands down. IMHO.

[davidsuprenant]

Pdp concept maple, love the true pitch tunning, and the Tom mounts.

[ericburd]

I have had that Yamaha kit now for about 5 yrs as my main gigging kit...its a beast, easy to tune, and has NEVER let me down. 10, 12, 14, 20 are the sizes i have

[josephpezza]

Is it just me or Shane is flowing around the kit pretty awesomely in this demo video. Nice chops bro!

[tb]

Surprisingly, the Mapex killed it. That snare looked and sounded great and the Tom’s had warmth and the most depth of sound. Mapex?
The Gretsch was next.

[carlupthegrove]

I'm a Yamaha guy and I heard nothing to convince me otherwise... Mapex was a big surprise as they sounded better than I expected. And, you can't miss with PDP... lots of good stuff here. Drummers starting out and on budget have really got it good these days. Great sounding drums at a great price. Thx

[lbudt]

The Mapex sound great, good projection with the shallow toms, nice clean thud from the bass. Over all clean projecting, deep sound. Very nice.

[thumperpaul]

The Mapex finish looks bad ass, and they sound great! Good call Shane, and nice chops!

[therealbrentrolland]

Awesome video—thank you DCP! I appreciate how thorough you are on the kits. Happy Thanksgiving!

[justinreynolds]

Armory by far sounds the best. I would think the Yamaha kit would be the clear winner. Good heads. Great Yamaha build. But they sounded thin and not together. Kinda surprises. That armory kit man. Mapex has become a big contender.

[bennorrell]

Picked up a Mapex Armory for gigging several years ago; that kit punches above its weight.

[hedusoto]

The Tama Superstar Classic deserved to be in the list. 7 piece shell pack under 1.3K, 6.5 deep snare, pure maple kit, terrific looks (specially with those sweet t shape badges).
The Armory is exactly what you said, an overlooked kit. In person, that kit looks incredible, and with the Tomahawk snare, is a truly killer deal, one of the best in the semipro tier.

[earlhayes]

Im gonna go with Pearl Decade Maple Love the Sound by far DCP is definitely the Best Drum Store ever I only been there once and it was definitely worth the two hour ride the place is amazing

[CatDaddy]

The Mapex kit has the best "sound" to my ears. The toms just sing out. Changing heads will make a difference, but the kit has wonderful tone with the stock heads. If this was a festival kit that every drummer had to use, I would be happy. And I also love the snare.

[timothyeldred]

They are all great sets for the money. But my heart and ears belong to Gretch. I love that set you showed. I use to play on the Monster Kit back in the 70's . Great kit and this reminds me of it 👍

[craigtoots]

Mapex Armory.
Unbelievable value. Superb drums that punch above their weight class.

[remander]

Got my Gretsch Catalina Maple kit from DCP (as well as most of the rest of my kit, lol!). Started with the 5-piece in deep cherry burst, then expanded to the 7-piece because I wanted more voices on the kit. I also have the same set of Zildjian As, along with a K splash on the third mounting arm off the kick. Currently, I'm rocking Evans EC2 tom heads, EC2 reverse dot snare heads, and EMAD2 kick heads. I absolutely love this kit! Also love DCP! 😎🥁

[MarkMonolithOfficial]

Another great video and demonstration. I prefer the Gretsch in this video, but the Mapex is sweet too. The Yamaha was my least favorite, but they are all great value.

[philphilison]

26:50 call back to the walk through wednesdays; wouldn’t mind seeing you all bringing those back. All the maple kits are amazing. I have seen the pdp 7 piece on some pretty big stages along with the gretsch (the catalina has the best silver sparkle bar none). Great video once again. Thank you for uploading the goods.