First Act MD-700 4-piece student drum kit
First Act MD-700 4-piece student drum kit
Sunday, July 1, 2012
My friend and keyboardist Justin spent some time in hospital in 2006, and although things turned out fine, it motivated us both to get back into creating and performing music again. I helped him set up a small practice room / recording studio in his home, and purchased a Hohner HW-600 acoustic guitar to keep at his place so I wouldn’t have to bring one along all the time. But to make much headway in our newfound passion for recording, we’d need a drummer. That, it was decided, would be me -- trouble was, I had no tubs.
In the process of moving back to Des Moines from Atlantic, I was staying at Justin’s place a couple nights a week to save about 300 miles on my car each week. I was making some decent money but didn’t have a lot to throw around on even an inexpensive drum kit. I needed to think cheap -- very cheap. As it turned out, our local Walmart had a First Act MD-700 student drum kit on clearance for $169. Knowing it wouldn’t be a top of the line kit, I went ahead and bought it, figuring I could always put fresh heads on the drums, and eventually change out the cymbals.
In fairness, I was actually rather impressed with the drums themselves, even with the original heads. They seemed sturdy enough for a light player like myself, and with a bit of tuning, even the cheap, thin drum heads could be brought to a decent pitch. By replacing the top (batter) heads on the 10” and 13” tom-toms with thicker Aquarian Super-2 heads, I was able to get better consistency and more sustain at lower tension and pitch. I added Remo Studio Rings to keep the ringing under control. By replacing the kick drum batter head with an Aquarian Super Kick 2, I got a nice round tone without having to muffle it with a pillow or towel.
The snare drum was another issue entirely. It was very small -- just 12” diameter compared to a standard 14” snare. Even with a new head I wasn’t able to get pitch, tone or power out of the snare even up to my standards. I wound up replacing it with my trusty 14” Ludwig Vistalite snare (with a Remo Ambassador drum head and a Remo Studio Ring), and that made all the difference. Compared to the First Act snare, the Ludwig sounds like a cannon.
Then came the cymbals. The MD-700 ships with a pair of 12” hi-hats and a 14” crash cymbal. Although they did okay until I could afford to replace them, they were paper thin and easily bent out of shape, even with my moderately light playing style. I replaced the cymbals with a set of Sabian B8s: 13” hi-hats, 15” and 17” crashes, and a 20” ride. When it comes to cymbals, you really do get better response from a well-made instrument, and you do, to a large degree, get what you pay for.
Lastly, there was the hardware. I obviously had to add cymbal stands for the ride and the second crash, but the First Act cymbal stand simply was not designed to hold a professional grade 15” crash cymbal. There were times I was afraid I’d knock the cymbal and stand over. I wound up getting an extension arm to hold the ride cymbal off the stage-right stand with the 17” crash, and repurposed the second stand for the 15” stage-left crash.
Since then, I’ve added two Sabian B8 splash cymbals, an 8” and a 10”, on riser arms over the crashes. I may add a 12” splash over the ride cymbal at some point. Meanwhile, I’ve mounted a tambourine assembly over the hi-hat, and a cowbell over the ride. Just a few more sonic options to play with, and by using my existing stands, I’ve not needed to increase my footprint onstage.
The drum throne truly was not designed for an adult. I was only barely able to adjust it high enough that my knees were at 90°, and that made the throne so unstable as not to feel safe. I replaced it with a Gibraltar throne for a while, then eventually got the Roc-N-Soc throne I really wanted (worth every penny I paid for it, too). I also wound up replacing the hi-hat stand (Dixon) and kick drum pedal (Ludwig).
Final analysis: The MD-700 kit is built for a young beginning drum student, not an adult player in his 40s (even a small guy like me). The throne and cymbal stands simply will not hold up to the weight and force of an adult. The snare is fine for a beginner too, but will be outgrown quickly. And the cymbals are practically useless: I replaced them as soon as I could afford to.
But the drum shells themselves actually do just fine for me and my playing style. With professional-grade drum heads, and by keeping them well maintained and tuned, I’m able to get a good tone and response from these drums. Although I will be replacing them eventually with a larger, more professional kit, the First Act MD-700 serves quite nicely as an inexpensive starter or practice kit.
Photo by Donna Jo Wallace