Side by Side Comparison of: Alesis vs Vic Firth vs Cannon vs Spectrum vs ChromaCast

my daughter loves this, its in her room and you wont be disturbed as long as she had it on her earphone, connect it to a speaker and everyone enjoys this little workhorse. Still looks good and sounds great after about a year of purchase.

It's a pretty decent drumset. The only two problems I've had with it are as follows:1. The screws on the left side don't hold up well, so I have to constantly pull the left side up since it slides down slowly after playing.2. The hi-hat had a problem for a day; I would hit it once, and it would keep playing by itself at a fast tempo. I was upset, but the problem went away as quickly as it had appeared (I blame my brother for doing something to it since I was away for a few days and he likes to play the drums hard). This problem happened 5 months ago and has not reappeared, and so I am still vey satisfied with this purchase.I got this product for $199 and I believe that is a good price. The new price I see of $299 might be stretching it since I know there are other options at that price. Nevertheless, the quality of this electric drum set is pretty adequate.

I am very surprised at how good this set works, usually you have to so spend alot more for a usable electric kit. I would consider this a practice only set, the lights on each pad would get annoying if you tried to perform. It folds up so small you can keep it anywhere, and it has many features you wouldn't expect from something like this. From opening the box to playing along with music on my phone was about 15 minutes.Seriously, buy this one

This is wonderful for a beginner, which I am. It has some flaws that I'll cover in a second, but if you've always wanted to play the drums and not upset your neighbors, then this is the kit for you.Drump pads & symbols all light up when you hit them; pedals are the only 2 things that don't light up. 10 different drum sets to choose from but some are non-traditional drum kit types (think Caribbean-style) and you can play along with a drum trainer & metronome. The kit is responsive to how hard you hit it, but at a basic level. You can't rim-shot with this, nor hit your symbols at odd areas; it's responsive to how hard you hit it.The symbols/pads are adjustable but the symbols tend to wiggle a bit from time to time. Maybe I've not figured out how to tighten some aspect of them yet, but they wiggle after hitting the hell out of it, which I suppose is to be expected, to a point. The sound of this kit isn't horrendously loud, which is somewhat bad since you need to turn your volume mostly all the way up to reliably hear yourself. Regardless you can still Aux-In and play along with your iPod and hear both comfortably; I just wouldn't mind the kit being a bit louder.As a beginner, this set is perfect. I plan on going up to the Alesis DM6 $350 model once I'm better, but it doesn't light up or teach you like this one does. Should be busy with this for awhile and pound it into oblivion.Quick note for what this comes with: Drum kit as pictured, with 2 pedals & drumsticks. The sticks actually go into the two posts on the Left and Right of the setup. That's another nice feature of this kit! Seat is not included.

i received this kit this morning. And everythin went so good, thanks for the super fast delivery too. If your aprofessional drummer I would not recommend you this kit but Its perfect for beginner with very good price. I mean you can afford more expensive kit after youve got some basics too. Bit this is just So easy to set up and tiny kit too. Very good. I would recommend you to try if youre a really beginner. An amazing drum kit.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my daughter and she absolutely loves it. Minus the drum stool, the set comes with everything including the drum sticks. And it's completely assembled. It has adjustable height setting and the pads can be moved to suite the players personal preference. It took me about 20 minutes to get it ready. Once I showed her how to operate the controls and set the different "Play-a-long" drum beats, she was off and running.For parents who worry about the noise, all you have to do is plug in a set of headphone and close the door.

These have a great balanced feel to them. They hold up to regular abuse. These are not sticks for intense drumming but for drummers who need sticks for fast action and reduced wrist fatigue. I love these and the price is more than worth it.

Perfect size. Not too large like a B and not to small like a 7a. Honestly I wish there was something between the 5a and 7a. I would give it a shot. Vic firth is wonderful. Sticks are great quality and are always weighted nicely. I bought a set of zildjian sticks recently and sent them right back due to bad match weighting. Vic Firth is quality all day, every day.

So my husband appears to be having his mid-life crisis. He (in his 40's) is requesting to have a full size drum set, mind you he has never played any instrument in his entire life!! So I spoke with my father, who is (and always has been) a drummer. He advised me to get a drum pad and recommended these sticks for him to try and see if he liked it before investing in anything huge. My husband really liked the sticks and said they felt good in his hands. He has looked at other brand sticks after getting these and can really tell the difference between this and the others. With these sticks-the weight of each stick is equal and perfectly balanced. I highly recommend the Vic Firth Drumsticks! Especially with the pricing being as fantastic as it was!Vic Firth American Classic 5A Drum Sticks

Thanks is excelent

Don't waste money on regal tips or any other type of drumsticks. These are durable, light, and they somehow give the snare a better tone. If you love yourself, your friends, that random drummer you saw playing the other day, there is no better gift then Vic Firth American Classics. If your into heavier heavy projection sticks try out the metal ones. They are as advertised.

This chair arrived as scheduled and the setup was simple. So far it has been very reliable and comfortable. Highly recommended.

Great chair for the price. Have no issues whatsoever.

Good so far... My 10 year old uses it.

Perfect for games system, nice and sturdy.

This seat is so comfortable I'm glad I purchased this..definitely worth the price!! I save 50plus bucks getting this and is just as comfortable the bigger brands..

My bson reall enjoys this throne. A great throne for the money.

4stars for the price and portability. simple but useful. Much smaller than it looks. Definitely for the beginner! Kids and maybe rockband! ez setup but it takes about an half hour to unpack, unwrap and assemble. Plug and Play.

Yes, it's an inexpensive beginner set, which is what I was looking for. My 8-year old son loves it, and I use it with headphones to practice. So far, nothing has failed but we have only had it for a month. I wanted to purchase something to see if drumming was something that my kid would be into, and for me to practice quietly. The sounds are about as realistic as you'd expect (don't expect super-realistic sounds), and the pads are relatively touch-sensitive. It's a fun way to start playing drums.

Great kit once I made a couple enhancements. First...the bass pedal is likely designed to have a soft mallet inside, but the manufacturers found it cheaper to put a plastic one with a thin foam pad. This means when you step on the pedal lightly it's just as loud as when you step firmly, which makes the bass pedal way to loud and distorted for regular playing. I opened up the pedal and put some soft foam rubber wrapped in tape over the foam pad. It took a few tries to find the correct amount, but now it both sounds AND feels better..MUCH more realistic, which makes me think this was closer to the original design. The other is the fact that the snare is off to the side. I got some 1/2" iron pipe with a 90 degree fitting. The snare screws right into the fitting, and the pipe fits in the clamp on the rack. Now the snare sits further out in a MUCH more comfortable position. The one thing I LOVE about this set is how small it folds up, so with the tweaks there isn't another drumset out there like it!If you're looking to store or transport this drumset, get yourself one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GUPZP4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00. It fits the drumset nicely without having to disassemble it. I reinforced it with pieces from the box the drumset comes in (bottom and large sides...still attached to each other).

Overall is a great drum set, i bought it for my nine years old son. Easy to set up, it includes drumsticks. It doesn't come with any headphones or internal speaker so you need to be aware of this and be prepared with something to actually hear any sound. So far so good.

My 12 years old son is learning drumming and need a set to practice at home i decided to give this a try. So far we're very happy he loves it, bassically he uses with headset and sound very nice, easy to asembly yand when not using you can make it compact. My only issue is with pedals, because would be better if were a bit heavier to stay in place, the move a bit.

I got this drum set for my son, as a stress reliever, and my granddaughter, who at age 6, seems ready. And, truth be told, myself, for much the same reasons. Setup was straight forward, with all pads working. And works great for playing along with other music fed in thru an iPod or equivalent.Totally satisfied, though here are a few things to consider with this very entry level set.1. Volume across pads is a little inconsistent, with some pads quieter than others. So when you are playing on two pads, and go to a third, it might seem a bit off.2. The base pedal is louder as noted by most reviewers, but not terribly so. Works.3. The top hat is a little quieter than other cymbals, or so it seems to me.4. The built in rhythm track is pretty nice, but definitely louder than the drums. The instruction manual, however, indicates that you can adjust the sound volume on each track set set up or down, so I'm thinking that should handle once I take a moment.5. My son is an experienced drummer, but definitely takes it easy when playing this set as he's concerned whether they can take any all out punishment for long. He plays more often than the rest of us, though, and seems to have fun doing so.So mission accomplished.I paired up with the Behringer MS16 Active Personal Monitor System also sold through Amazon. I was initially concerned when I unboxed the speakers, that they would handle the job, but they work fine, and can be heard throughout the house all the same.And remember speaker cables.Update July 12, 2014 - With just occasional moderate use, one foot pedal has come apart and we are probably looking at super glue to try to return to working order. Have also just had a cymbal break off at the top of it's post. It appears to be brittle metal at best. So I am going to need to look into replacement parts if available. Else I'll need to try to drill out and reaffix. Changing my rating from 5 to 4.

I have no idea how they work as drumsticks, I bought them for a dog costume.

Pretty decent sticks and fairly well balanced.But, i had to sand them off a little as the neck and shoulders were a little rough. I play an electric and if I didn't sand them, they would leave marks for sure.

Good basic sticks. Took one star off because will probably look for less expensive options in the future. My 13 yr old loses drum sticks constantly so will go the economical route next time.

This is coming from a beginner drummer, but the sticks are perfect for rock/heavier stuff due to the loud but rounded sound it gives, but for me personally, the weight and thickness made it a bit uncomfortable for me.So I chose to stick with the 7A primarily but will still use and try get used to these 5A.ALSO BUYER BEWARE.Maybe I just got unlucky but when I got these sticks, I took off the cardboard square used to hold the sticks but once I put that cardboard down a SILVERFISH almost1 inch long darted out.I was absolutely disgusted because it was very big (1inch is about their max size) and it was lucky I caught it, else it might have gone into my box of comic books that was nearby.So, CHECK FOR BUGS FIRST before you just toss anything away. You don't want something like silverfish to eat away at any of your books and stuff.

I'd been using Novas (Vic Firth's budget version or "seconds" of these) and needed some more sticks quick so I opted to get some of these next day shipping.I'm a heavy hitter & break sticks regularly - no matter what brand. That being said I did notice that the real deal (over the Nova version) had a little better longevity - I'd say about 25%. The American Classics tended to break "better" chipping out at first before fracturing, thus being playable longer. The Novas tend to just fracture and get tossed.Keep in mind some batches of sticks of the same brand are better/worse than others. I'm guessing this mainly has to do with variance in the supply of wood - every tree is different & trees from different areas (possibly even countries) will differ in grain, density, etc.The AC's were also better matched in pairs. Whereas the Nova's tend to have noticeable weight differences - doesn't really bother me - price considered.Conclusion: American Classics are better but cost about twice as much (Personally I'd rather buy some Vaters at that price) but I think the economical choice if you break a lot sticks is to go with Novas. If your not heavy handed & you're picky about your sticks balancing as a pair and don't mind the price, go with the Classics.

These were good drumsticks. I used Vic Firth sticks for a long time, and they were always good. These particular sticks performed very well. They were 5A's, so they were lightweight, easy to grip, and were very easy to move around. When you play drums fast, it helps to have a stick that is not too heavy to use. These also had a lacquer coating, so they had a good grip. My only problem with these were that they had wooden tips. I learned that wooden tips seem to come apart and shred after a while, but only if you're hitting cymbals, not if you're just hitting drums. If you decide to buy these sticks, buy the kind with a nylon tip, they will last longer.

This holds up pretty good but not really Heavy Duty. This will work for playing an electric drumset at home and the 2 hour jam session somewhere once in a while. It is not what you want for playing out weekends, but for the price is a good practice set throne. The black coating looks really good with an electric kit too.

It's comfortable enough, thick padding and stable legs. Simple design. If you think you need to change heights often, say if you play rock band with friends and switch drummers of varying statures often, then another stool might be for you.

Exactly what it says it is. I am just over 300 lbs and feel comfortable on this throne. The bolt style provides a greater sense of assurance that the seat will not move at all between playing and transportation. The screw-wheel for the seat itself is a little annoying but that seems to be standard on all thrones. There could be a bit more padding but overall this purchase was a good value.

Could be better, but it's not bad. If it would spin I'd be over the moon, but it's a basic stool. The seat isn't that tough since it flattens out easily, though still provides some padded comfort. It's not uncomfortable, just basic level. That's not to even say that it's low quality or a poor product b/c it is perfect as a stool for a drummer, but this is an entry-level product.

Sturdy for sure. However does not come with good assembly instructions, very vague. I got it together but hope when a hefty person sits on it that the pole doesn't go right through it. The cushion is very firm also, and compared to my keyboard seat it's just not as comfortable so not to sure how long someone could sit on it. I would have given this 3.5 starts but not an option. It is of good quality though so 4 stars just may be deserving.

Good for the price but not the best. If you are looking to buy for a younger player before you know they will be serious, then this is a great choice. If my son becomes serious about his playing, we'll need to upscale to a sturdier, more comfortable model.

Not the best electric drum set out there, but for the money it good. I bought this for my son for his birthday and it doesn't hold up the best. The lights lasted only a month maybe and the overall quality leaves something to be desired

Bought this for my husband. He really liked it. However one of the foot pedals quit working within 3 months.

Was surprised it sounded so much like drums. Only drawback is the snare is way too low in volume and you have to hit it hard to get the sound. My husband is frustrated with that. I wish there was a fix for it.

I had to replace the piezo element in the kick drum pedal twice within the first 6 months. Also, one cymbal clamp broke within 6 months. Not a bad little set otherwise, but it would be nice if parts were readily available.

It's a decent drum set, the pads are very loud when struck and you cannot roll very effectively on the pads. I had the drum set for 3 weeks but the bass pedal broke at the bottom and cracked in half so I will be returning it. It would be a good practice and beginner drum set for someone younger and newer to playing the drums.

This is probably my first review on Amazon. I'm writing this review because of how helpful it would have been when I was browsing for my first electronic drum and how helpful reviews are.When I first got this drum set I was very excited after assembling (which is very easy). I hooked it up to my stereo and was really enjoying learning how to drum. The coach feature is very helpful in teaching you very basic beats and in no time I was getting better and better keeping beat with the metronome. Unfortunately after a little over a week the bass pedal wasn't working properly. I would have to push down harder to hear the bass. Maybe it was defective, but I decided to refund this item and purchase a more expensive one.

The quality is good, but it is really stiff. I don't know what kind material it made. It caused my wrist not feel good and sometimes felt sour second day after my drum practice.

Look nice and well balanced but broke two pairs fairly quickly due to my playing style. Purchased a value pack separately which have held up much better.

I must admit I really enjoyed the sticks. They feel natural and well-balanced. They're smaller than the 5B and my grip tends to naturally lean toward the 5A.My downside is that they are pretty weak under moderate to heavy usage. You can buy a new set of sticks and within one practice session have them start cracking down the middle. Playing at church regularly, I've gone through three sticks in a weekend. It's not exactly like I'm beating the crap out of them but I am using them pretty bluntly in order for the dynamics to come across. The tips will regularly chip-off leaving you with one side shipt and in doing so the tip will have rough edges which could damage your drum heads.

I always break these.. buy Vaters

Decent, but expensive. I don't notice anything better over the cheaper ones.

The tips keep coming apart in the wood grain. Once the tips are degraded, it doesn't sound the same. I had the same issue with the Jazz Classic sticks by Vic Firth--those broke in a day practicing jazz ride cymbal at a moderate volume. At least these lasted a week or two. I like the feel and balance of these 5A's but I can't spend so much replacing them when they don't hold up. I plan on trying Vaters next bc I've heard they're rugged. Or I might try a pair of Vic Firth with nylon tips.

Kinda flimsy for a big guy using it, but you get what you pay for. I didn't want to pay $100 for a chair to use for Rock Band.

This is my first drum throne so I have nothing to compare.The padding is okay, get's somewhat uncomfortable after sitting for a while.Also, the assembly creaks A LOT when playing, had to WD-40 between the components several times to quiet it down.Does the job.

I purchased this for my son, who is new to drumming. It works well for him, but I would not say that this is rated for their max load. When I'm sitting on this thing, and jamming for about an hour, I'm sitting on the wooden base. I only weigh 180. While this won't break, I would say it's not very comfortable from an adult's perspective. If you're getting it for your kid, then it's a great throne!

Its not super great but it gets the job done, i recommend that if you are a person of a larger build that you should look into other options... it broke after 5 months of heavy use from my bands drummer who is 6'2" and 275lbs

Decent drum throne for a beginner and the price. It's fairly sturdy. Padding definitely leaves something to be desired. I'm barely 150LB and in about an hour I start to get uncomfortable sitting on this throne.

I am annoyed that they call this heavy-duty. It's fine. But any heavy-duty fellow (say someone weighing 185lbs or more) would sit on this and feel the plywood under the cushion right away. There's very little padding and what is there is soft. You can squeeze it down to the hard surface just by pressing your finger. If it were a light-duty seat for kids and smaller drummers, yeah. The thing is great. It's well worth the money. I can't imagine that the sum of the sum of the parts alone would cost less than $30. But it's just misnamed. It should not be called heavy duty.The steel is fine, the hardware's fine. It's all fine. Just not very heavy-duty.

this thing sucks. it will do what you want if you are a beginner. but programming anything to MIDI is impossible. save yourself the trouble and make a drumset out of 5 gallon buckets and your grandpa's ribcage like I did. \m/

Updating my review after 1 year. My review at 4 months is still below.The quality on this is terrible. In the course of 1 year we have had 6 drum pads and 4 cymbal pads replaced. The bass pedal has died as well. Customer service has improved over the past review - but it's still not great.I don;t recommend this set. While he enjoys it still - the amount of time spent missing pieces while we wait for paperwork to process, ship dead items in then wait on the arrival of working ones is not worth it.Look for something else.--------------------------------------------I bought this set for my teenager for Christmas. He is a beginning drummer and I didn't want to have to listen to drums from his room all the time. He loves it. It was easy to set up, and is easy to use. He changes the settings as he needs creating different sounds. He plugs his iPod into the set and plays along with all his favorite music. My wife has since offered to buy him a "real" drum set but he likes this and would rather keep using it. I like that all I hear is the sounds of tapping. He was always using his drum pad and this is no different.Now the bad stuff - one of the cymbals stopped working and 3 of the brackets wobble and cannot be tightened anymore. I contacted support via their website. I didn't get a response for over a week. I have now swapped a few other emails with support saying they are "processing" my report but still nothing. It's now been a month and I still have a non-working cymbal and wobbly brackets.Nice initial use on the product - but terrible customer service. Be warned. If the service was good - the rating would be higher.

It's a great price for an e-drum kit (especially as a Lightning Deal), and for the most part, the sounds and responsiveness are quite good. The problem, however (at least on the one I received), is that hitting the snare and the hi-hat pads at the same time (which you tend to do quite often playing drums) caused one or the other pads (sometimes both) to not respond or to respond with a different sound. This was pretty much a deal breaker, so I ended up returning it.

I purchased this kit for my 5 year old who has been taking lessons on a small table top drum kit for a few months. It works well and very adjustable for different sizes. The only issue and it is a big one is that the kick drum pedal is not working. It sounds about 20% of the time. This is very annoying and I have to reach out to Alesis for a replacement part. I hope they send me one that works soon.

Like another reviewer had mentioned this kit arrived with one of the symbol arms broken which I was willing to make work. However, after two weeks of use the bass pedal had went fully functioning to partially functioning and then quickly to completely non-functioning. I did like this set a lot for practicing in quiet at home unfortunately it did not meet my expectations.

First time reviewer on Amazon but I felt like I had to write this review, given all the positive feedback for this kit. The problem for me is that the volume is all out of whack. In general, the whole kit is too quiet. I've cranked everything up to the max (pad volume, kit volume, master volume) but it's still way too quiet compared to the amount of noise coming out of the thing.Even in the simplest configuration with nothing but headphones, I can barely hear the snare. I almost feel like something's wrong with the electronics on my unit, given that nobody else has reported issues.I'm really wishing I could return it, but unfortunately I threw out the box before I knew what I was getting into.I guess I will just use it as a midi controller.-Matt

Purchased these exact same drumsticks in January. This newly purchased pair was used tonight and one stick broke immediately. The weight seemed off. These 2 pairs of sticks were 3 oz less than the pair bought in January. If you are a drummer you know this is significant. The wood looked different and the feel was different. The pairs bought in January still have not broken. But this pair broke after one song. Disappointing. Weights shouldn't change...Vic Firth needs to work on quality control. Disappointing.

Not sanded smooth. They are rough/splinters.

Too long ....wanted ahorter one.

Best balanced, and most versatile stick ever made. Unfortunately the tip will snap off on the ride cymbal if you're a medium to heavy hitter. I wish Vic Firth would fix this Achilles heel because the sticks are too pricey to have to wonder if the tips will make it through a song.

These are probably ok for someone who is a talented established drummer. These are not great for me. If you tend to go all Muppet Show on your set, I might recommend Shira Kashi Oak…less likely to split and fall apart.

They seem like a knock off to me. All of the Vic Firth 5A sticks I've bought in stores were way more solid than these. I could immediately feel the differance. The taper at the end is slightly different too. I just wonder if they changed the design or if these aren't the real deal.

I might use this as an extra thing to sit on when people visit, maybe.. if they don't mind wobbling whenever they move. Admittedly I bought this because it was cheap and looked nice, plus my trusty long time throne had started wobbling at the base of the padded seat. I'm 155lbs and it's already wobbling 2 weeks in with minimal use. The problem is all the plastic in the hardware, but oh well. Lesson learned!

This product is pretty aweful. Makes an unbelievably annoying squea sound and isn't comfortable. I gave it 2 stars only because I should have known better buying such a cheap stool. Spend the money. I just bought a roc-n-soc (whopping $160) but its AMAZING!! If you need something really cheap for the interim then this one will do the job but be prepared for lots of squeaking while playing the drums.

It's basically just a seat, not a real drum throne. Doesn't rotate well and just feels cheap. Go ahead and spend the extra 40 to 50 dollars and get a good one.

You get what you pay for... the bottom leg clasp will not hold 190lbs even after firmly tightening and the it wobbles. Decided to go to a very popular guitar store and buy a sturdier throne.

doesn't swivel

Heavy Duty is a bit of an exaggeration. It was inexpensive and I believe we received what we paid for. If you want a better chair, pay a little more for one. The drummer that uses this stool said it's already bent a bit during use.

I got the this last month and some of the drums work and the snare and tom 2 doesn't work!! I called and they sent me out another drum snake LDK11 and the two main one's doesn't work again! The snare and tom 2!!!! I need this for church and I paid for something that doesn't work!!!!

Horrible product. The bass drum and the high-hat stopped working shortly after the 30-day return policy expired. Can't believe that companies like this remain in business selling sub-standard equipment. However, KUDOS to Amazon; they helped us handle a return to the manufacturer and completely satisfied our needs! This is exactly why we shop at Amazon.com

I wanted to like this drum set, I really did. I was very excited to order this set, as it was a graduation gift for myself. I haven't played the set in years. I first time I put together the set, the hi-hat cymbal would not work. I tried unplugging it, plugging it back in, and making sure there was no dust on it. It never worked properly. Amazon was excellent in sending a replacement set. When I put this set together, the hi-hat functioned, but the bass drum pedal was defective. I returned both sets because I never had the opportunity to play with every component properly working. Purchase with caution. Kudos to Amazon for its excellent customer service.

i bought this drum set and was so excited cause it was my first drum set i started playing and had a good beat going after a week i had played it at least 4 times for like 30 minutes i was very gental with it and the kick pedal stopped working whenever i tried to use it it did'nt work so i called in and told them about it and they said to send it back and i could either 1. get my money back or 2. get a replacement and it was my first set of drums and i loved to play so i got a replacement thinking what are the odds it would do it a second time well the second set did the same thing only got to play that one around 3 times so i returned it and got my money back i would not recommend this product they seriously need to fix the problems with the kick pedal and after reading some of these reviews just now i'm not the only one whose had this problem

the sound is good all the pads work but when i received this item the rack was warped and did not stand up straight. i contacted alesis and they would not return my calls so i had to contact amazon and they were able to get me a new one.

EDIT: I'm leaving my original review below but have to note that I ended up returning this kit. The hi-hat pad went bad within two weeks of light use (I'm a adult just doing beginner level exercises on it 20 minutes a day at most). Although I originally praised the build quality, after very light wear other problems arose. The build quality here is actually quite horrible. There are drum kit game controllers for Rock Band that supersede this quality. I think Alesis should be ashamed of this product. I've written them about the Mac OS compatibility and they responded saying they could not reproduce the problem. The hi-hat going out was the last straw.Amazon has been very good about the return but boxing this thing up is a utter nightmare, it comes in a very very small box for it's size. Do not waste your time or money on this kit unless you're buying it for a five year old to learn on. It is not worthy of an adult. I would not buy this kit for my child either. I've communicated with others in the Alesis forums on the vendors website that are reporting quality problems with the DM6 and DM10 kits also. I'm not seeing this type of negative reports for Rolands products. You generally get what you pay for but in this case I believe we have a very high defect rate on an entire line of products that aren't well built and a vendor who truly does not care. That has been my personal experience. I suggest going to the Alesis forums and doing some research for yourself there to decide if it's worth the risk. With all the pain its caused me, I would say the DM Lite is one of the worst purchases I've made in the last ten years. If you intend to really use it as a musician for MIDI purposes, band rehearsal, etc.. please take my advise on look elsewhere for the sake of your music and your band I would avoid the Alesis branded e-drum products... My original review is below...After much debate I decided to give the DM Lite a try over the Roland TD4KP. My objective is to have a high quality, portable drum kit for home studio use that could also be taken to coffee houses. From all demos I knew the TD4KP was a better designed product in terms of sound quality and portability (it just folds up) however the DM Lite cost less than half of the TD4KP and I was only seeing positive reviews, so I gave it a shot.With the Alesis DM Lite, Alesis has provided a picture of this unit nicely folded on the products home page as if to say "me too" but the comparisons really stop there. The DM Lite does not fold up in the same way. In fact there was no design effort put into this kit having a fold up feature as the Roland kit does (Roland hold a patent on this feature) so Alesis is sort for falsely marketing this. I say "sort of" because they never claim the kit folds up they just show pictures of what it looks like out of the box on their site. To get it back to that state from being playable takes about 20 minutes. The sound module on the Roland unit is vastly superior to what Alesis delivers. Allow me to state the problems: First the quality of the kits themselves. The snare and toms sound ok. The kick is way too loud and regardless what speaker you put it through it distorts. The high hat and crash on the most natural sounding kit in the module is immediately recognizable to novice ears as fake. The samples are overall weak. The sound modules built in trainer and other beginner features combined with the quality of the kits mark this as a beginners product and that's unfortunate because the Roland kit I assumed it was a counterpart to is pro grade in every possible way. Designed to be portable for beginners intermediate and pros. That being said this kit is hard to beat at the price point for a beginner. Alesis sound module may not be up to Roland (it also cost half the price of the Roland kit), but it beats Simmons and D-Drums products in this price range. If you run the kit into a good PA with decent EQ options and add a reverb or digital delay between the kit and PA you can make the internal sounds workable for a live setting. As much as I love the MIDI option here, you do notice the kits built into the module are a bit more responsive than what I've been able to do with MIDI (that may be my software I've just tried EZ Drummer and GarageBand 11's built in drum kit software instruments).The overall build quality of the pads and the content delivered here is a good. Not fantastic, but impressive for the price. The foot pedals seem cheap and should have better grips on the bottom but mine are still working so no gripes.Since I despise the sound quality of the included module I knew as I was unboxing that I would not be using the built in tones. I knew from the youtube samples I listened to of this kit vs the mentioned Roland. They are just night and day different, but fortunately this module as MIDI out. So a big part of the missing two stars from my review of this otherwise almost outstanding little budget kit is the MIDI feature. Connect this thing to Mac OS X Mountain Lion and Garage Band 11 and select the Rock Kit, apply the Room reverb and select the Drum Punchy compression option and you're in rock drum heaven with this thing. Play around with some of Garage Band's other kits and combine the EQ and reverb options and you have a pro sounding synth on your hands with a very responsive DM Lite kit! Yea! Well, almost Yea.... This is why I bought it, however this is not working flawless.Here are the issues I'm having:1.) The drum module is not compatible with Mac OS X Mavericks. Doesn't work with Logic Pro X, Garage Band 11 or X or Ableton Live. It's just incompatible with the latest Mac OS X as Alesis has no ETA on the fix... I'm very unhappy about that. Alesis support is working with me to try and solve this. They have told me that the product has no known issues with Mavericks and that they can't reproduce in their lab.2.) Works great on Mac OS X Mountain Lion and Garage Band 11 when you try to record/track though MIDI. The module locked up on my a few times (when using the MIDI out option) but hasn't in a last few days. It sounds great and opens the door to great drum synths out there from Garage Band to EZ Drummer or whatever software based kit you'd like.I will provide an update on how well Alesis support helped me resolve the MIDI issue with OS X Mavericks.

Very small to gears2 classic dont waste your money

Did not include the sticks.

The tip broke within the first hour I played with them.

We only had this 1 week and one of the sticks shattered. ??? !!!!! Hmmm did they change how they made them based on all the good reviews I wonder why/how this happened. ?

My hands always smell strongly of varnish after I use these sticks.

One of the sticks broke in just a few days, and I don't even hit that hard!

great tripod base..great stem ..adjustable...and the seat, not worth ten cents. six graders could make a better seat in art class

This was the least expensive drum throne on Amazon. The quality is low, parts do no fit well, the padded seat was not fitted properly. I don't think it could hold a 150lb person although it states weight up to 250lbs. Not recommended for purchase.

I received a broken cheir

This is the worst product I have ever purchased from Amazon. It advertise as a heavy duty throne and maximum weight is 250 lbs. the stool would be lucky to hold 25 lbs. this is not worth the fantastic box it comes in, oh yeah, the box holds more weight than the stool, oh by the way, the throne arrived today, I put it together really quick sat on for one half hour and fell over when it bent, and I hit my head when I fell off the darn thing.oh by the way, I did keep the thing, I took off the pad and installed a small self and use it as an accessories table

I rather seat on the toilet without the seat cover, much softer

UPDATE: Received the replacement for this dud. Check Amazon for "Pacific Drums and Percussion 700 Series Drum Throne" Spend the extra $24 and get it instead. It's great. This Spectrum isn't. Original review follows:This is the loudest, squeakiest throne I've ever heard. Using it for my Roland kit, can hear it squeaking away even while wearing headphones. When I'm drumming, the squeaky throne is the only think my wife hears two rooms away.I weigh 160 lbs and the padding isn't quite enough for my (apparently) fat butt. I can also feel the hard stuff under the non-cushion, on my butt bone.Is it sturdy? Aside from above (LOUD, not enough padding) I'll say, I guess so?The price is right, but the features (quiet and comfortable) aren't there. Going to try to find the box and return this dud.Replacing it with something better either way.If you're looking for a throne for somebody who weighs 100 lb or less, this might be quiet and padded enough, but I wouldn't count on it.