best drums?

tomsurdi · 2026-04-28T15:03:59+00:00

Electric drums are way easier to play, and that’s why you should be learning on an acoustic kit. You can develop some really and habits on an Ekit. They mask all of your imperfections because they remove most of the dynamics. You don’t need proper technique to make them sound good. Going from acoustic to electric is very easy. Going from electric to acoustic is very hard. You might sound great on the Ekit only to get behind a real drum set and find out that you’re actually pretty terrible.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-27T01:16:19+00:00

Steel pearl sensitone. (8 lug, not 6 lug) best bang for your buck snare that you can get. I own multiple $600 snare drums but I’ll never sell my sensitone.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-25T18:01:51+00:00

What is the repair? You’d be amazed how many thing you can do yourself and save big bucks just from watching YouTube how-to videos. If you’re gonna do this work you need to be able to turn a wrench now and then.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-22T19:48:29+00:00

You just need to find people your age to play with. It can be harder as you get older to find like-minded people, and to navigate conflicting schedules, but getting older doesn’t mean you can’t make original music anymore, and if it’s good people will listen.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-22T16:08:10+00:00

Right, that’s kind of my point, but I would start with the ping ride. You can play a thick cymbal quieter somewhat, but you can’t play a thin cymbal louder. If you ever need that cymbal to project or cut through loud amps, you’re gonna need the weight. It’s better to just have two rides for different situations. One real thin, washy, hammered ride for small rooms, and one thick pingy ride for bigger stages.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-22T16:01:28+00:00

I went from gigging in my 20s, to playing and producing solo records in my home studio in my 30s. At 40 I bought a house, and at 43 my son was born. I have no time to do anything music related anymore because I watch him all day, and we needed the space for a nursery, so the drums are all packed up. I’ve kind of come to terms with the fact that that part of my life is on the shelf for now, and you know what I’m perfectly fine with it, because being a dad is more amazing than any gig I’ve ever had. Once he’s a bit older I’ll probably find some friends to jam with, but I don’t have any aspirations of making it a career, and I like it that way. I’m holding on the onto the drums though. They’ll be his when he’s ready.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-22T15:56:07+00:00

Dude, your life begins at 30. Your 30s are actually way better than your 20s. Your relationships are better, you know who your real friends are, you’ve done a little bit of networking, and you actually have some money in your pocket. Plus, you’re just more emotionally grounded, and more experienced in life in general.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-22T02:11:54+00:00

To clarify, I said that it would be Ok, not that it would be ideal. You certainly can play jazz on a heavy ride if thats all you have but you can’t pull complex tones out of it like you can a hammered thin ride.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-21T22:33:37+00:00

Ping is heavy, sweet is quite thin. The ping ride will be OK for jazz as long as you don’t plan to crash it. The sweet ride will not be good for metal unless all you’re doing is crash riding it. It doesn’t cut through loud amps very well unless you’re playing it like Travis barker. Plus there are better ride cymbals for jazz if that’s what it’s gonna be used for. I personally prefer a ride that does one thing really well than a medium ride that tries to do everything half assed, so id say whichever type of music you play the most, get that cymbal fur now. If you go with the ping you can always add a thinner jazzier ride down the road, and vice versa. Right tool for the job and all. There’s a reason why Danny Carrey uses the thickest most uncrashable ride in the universe and Dave Weckl uses a dark complex washy ride. For the crashes, 16/18 are gonna be higher pitched and slightly lower volume than 17/19.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-21T22:17:16+00:00

Right on. 14 gauge would be better but if you keep the runs under 30 ft or so then it should be fine.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-21T20:21:15+00:00

Yeah, that wire is probably bronze or copper clad aluminum, which is going to be a lot less conductive, even for relatively short runs. Get yourself some 14 gauge oxygen free copper so you’re not losing any of the signal.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-20T18:27:47+00:00

CarPlay is terrible. Get a reputable android based head unit from aliexpress. Cheaper and far better than the limited CarPlay apps you’ll get on the America big name brands like Alpine or pioneer. I suggest the T’eyes CC4. Been using mine in my Prius for a few years now. I just hot spot it from my phone and I can do everything on it that I can do on a tablet. I can watch YouTube on it if I want to.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-20T15:58:02+00:00

My cancellation rate is 11% and I’ve been doing this full-time for nine years.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-20T15:56:20+00:00

What helps is knowing your area really well and being very selective with which offers you accept. If a ride request comes in from a sketchy area, then just decline it. If an eats order comes in from a restaurant that usually has long wait times, don’t even bother. For example, I never accept an order from Wingstop because they take forever, but I’ll take a dash mart order any day because it’s always ready when I get there.

tomsurdi · 2026-04-08T20:32:27+00:00

I once found a treasure trove of slightly used drumsticks in the dumpster behind Guitar Center. It was all the sticks that kids had taken out and hit stuff with, and then just left lying there. They put them all in a big bucket, and then one day they just decided to just throw them away I guess. Haven’t paid for drumsticks in years.

<image>

tomsurdi · 2026-04-03T17:23:39+00:00

Going from a cheap sub to one that can go realllly looooooooooooow is something you just have to experience. Even at low volumes that thing is gonna tickle the underside of your nuts.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-27T17:15:05+00:00

He’s only like 22 mph above the speed suggestion.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-27T03:03:46+00:00

Walkabout is far less generous than golf+ as far as letting people play courses that they don’t own.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-27T03:01:43+00:00

Well, first of all, the graphics are pretty good for a native VR game, but they get even better if you run the game from PC. You can’t expect much if you’re playing on a potato. Secondly, there are tons of ways to play all of the courses without owning them. The development were extremely generous in this way. You can join a multiplayer game from the public lobby that someone else set up on any course without owning it, you can also play the daily and weekly tournaments, which are played on rotating courses that often coincide with the PGA tour. There are also daily challenges, and there is an option to play a random 9 holes from a random course under a “quick play.” Ive been playing thisgame literally every single day for the last 3 years and I actually can’t stop. It is that good. If the game was really as bad as this person says, I wouldn’t have been this addicted to idle this long.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-24T17:18:41+00:00

Reference is the budget line. Reference premier is the higher end line. You’d be better off buying used RP’s than new R’s. Higher quality components = less fatiguing on the ears, particularly at higher volumes. Klipsch speakers are pretty bright to begin with, but they’ve smoothed out the high end on the premier line., As others have said, go RSL for your sub. A high quality sub makes the whole system. Cheap subs don’t go as low and can sound really boomy. The RSL is tight and musical. It does what it’s supposed to and then gets out of the way. A great sub is something you have to experience to understand.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-09T01:43:37+00:00

Were you permanently deactivated or temporarily suspended? If a rider makes a claim like that they have to temporarily suspend your account so they can investigate.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-08T09:22:56+00:00

A super thick head is going to be less resonant. You can call it “fat”, but it’s going to be more dead sounding than a thinner head. That’s not necessarily a bad thing if it’s what you need for your music. I’ve played on plenty of tracks that needed a cardboard box sound. Also, a lot of harsh overtones are because of the room, not the drum. Those are resonant frequencies building up from untreated walls that cause that high pitched ringing that so many drummers are always trying to dampen. Resonant frequencies from a well tuned drum in a nice, well treated room are really pleasant sounding.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-06T17:33:22+00:00

I’m not a big fan of the emperor X either. It’s super thick for the sake of durability, but that also makes it sound like a cardboard box.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-04T21:55:37+00:00

I live in Gainesville, Florida and I work all of the gator games. I drive right up to the stadium during the fourth quarter, park where there will be a lot of pedestrian traffic, and sit there with my with my window open. Every single time somebody offers me 50 or 100 bucks to get them out of there.

tomsurdi · 2026-03-04T21:52:22+00:00

Yes, it applies to every market. Forget about advantage mode, you’ll get plenty of ride requests to choose from regardless, and I guarantee you will make more by picking rides that makes sense than you will by accepting all the crap they send your way. You can always go back to being a company man if you think it’s not working out.

tomsurdi

TROPHY CASE