home
Stage Design 03.jpg

2024 Kirks A400 Traps Drums Drumset

I still like to have 2 drum sets when I give lessons. I haven't given drum lessons for a while though and I wasn't playing the Gretsch Energy kit that I purchased in 2019 (5 years ago). I've learned that as soon as I sell my drum lesson drum set I end up giving drum lessons again. I decided to go with something a little unique this time around.

I sold my Gretsch Energy sparkle blue kit for $500, a good price for me and the buyer. I had upgraded the bass drum head, added a cymbal stand, a 10" tom and tom mount. He basically got an almost brand new, solid kit for a good price.

Anyway, I sold it because I was ready for something a little bit different. Back in the 80's I saw a drummer play a RIMS drum kit (by PureCussion I think). It was a shell-less kit. And, it sounded good, at least it sounded good mic'd up. I had thought about getting a kit like that back in 2019 but landed on the Gretsch Energy kit.

I have a big drumset that'll probably never leave the house. I wanted something portable. I searched all kinds of portable kits and the Traps is the only one that seemed to be super-portable and still feel like a normal drum set. Don't get me started about electronic drum kits. That was out of the question.

I wanted a 5 (or 6 piece) kit that sounded good and was portable.

So I did some YouTube research. There wasn't much out there, but this video was helpful for sound quality. This video was ok with sound quality. Here was a 3rd video that at least showed how it folds up.

I got it from Musician's Friend. They have 45-day return window (starting from the shipping date). I like it enough to keep it. I generally don't like returning things so I thought I would really have to hate it for it to go back.

I'm checking into adding an 8" tom because I prefer 6 piece kits but I've found if I get too much stuff on the kit, my drum lesson students get overwhelmed. So we'll see.

I am using my Gibraltar Throne and Zildjian K Custom Special Dry cymbal pack with it until I sell the cymbal pack. I'd like to go with a Zildjian K Sweet pack. They'll ring longer (bad for lessons) but have an amazing sound. I'm going to do something a little bit different in my equipment information below. I'll list the current price (to show how inflation is robbing us from just 5 years ago), then the selling price when I bought the gear, then what I paid for it.

Kirk's A400 Traps Drums Drumset (2024)

Instrument2024 Store Price2019 Store PricePrice Paid
A400 Traps Drums Originally included:
  • A set of 5 traps drums
  • Hi-hat stand
  • Kick pedal
  • A400-rack: An A400 rack system excluding all drums and pedals. An ideal upgrade system for mounting third-party drums correctly
  • A400-snare: A single A400 snare drum with throw-off
  • A400-tom10: A single 10" A400 tom
  • A400-tom12: A single 12" A400 tom
  • A400-tom14: A single 14" A400 tom
  • A400-kick+r: A single 20" A400 double-headed kick drum with dedicated rack mounting system. Ideal as a kick drum replacement in third-party kits
$800$608$660
Zildjian K Custom Special Dry Pack (purchased in 2019)
  • 14" Dry Hi-Hats
  • 16" Dry Crash
  • 18" Dry Crash
  • 21" Dry Ride
$1,550$1,050$892
Zildjian K Custom Special Dry 19" (used)$415$280$240
Gibraltar Hydraulic Moto Throne (Kohl's cash) (purchased in 2019)$215$130$90
Total$2,980$2,068$1,882

blogs