4 Best Electronic Drum Sets Under
$1000 [2019 Update]
There's nothing like a great electronic drum kit to work on without making a racket, or just to use for recording, syncing, and making some great music!
Wondering just how much you should be spending?
If you are practicing for professional reasons, set your budget somewhere between $500 and $1,000 for a product with superior features.
Well, we've taken the time to review these kits so that you don't have to! Check out our best electronic drum sets under $1000:
4 Best Electronic Drum Sets Under $1000 - 2022
1
This is definitely one of the best electronic drum sets under $1000 that come with a number of accessories.
It has a 11 inch dual zone snare, three single zone toms, kick pad tower, a brass drum pedal, three 10 inch ride, hi-hat, and crash with chock cymbals, and a Forget Drum Module.
The module has 70 kits, 50 for which are factory preset. Users can set up 20 kits that will produce over 600 sounds.
The set up may also take a while. The instructions are not really clear. The set comes with serviceable drumsticks.
The drums have rubber pads. Rubber pads are a bit controversial. Some drummers don’t like them and think they are too rigid.
Others think the sound quality rubber pads produce is really fine. The real advantage is that rubber pads are more comfortable to strike.
If you are a beginner or buying this for a child, rubber pads are a good choice.
However, these pads are limited in the number of sounds they can produce. So, we think this drum set is more than adequate for practicing, but not for pros.
+Pros:
- A good number of accessories
- Serviceable drum pads
- Decent sound and a number of programmable kits
- Comfortable pads
-Cons:
- Drums have rubber pads that may not produce certain sounds
2
This is quite an affordable an interesting set of digital drums. The additionally includes single bass drum pedals and a pair of headphones.
The kit includes a 550 studio grade drum, a cymbal, EFX, DJ, percussion sound equipment, and a user kit. There are 70 parts in the kit in total.
It comes with 45 preset digital sounds and 25 additional ones for user customization. There are 100 built in tracks for playing along for practice.
The set has inputs for handheld devices like tablets, smartphones, or a compatible mp3 player.
We recommend this set for beginners or intermediate players who need a lot of practice. Pros may find some sounds lacking.
The kit is very easy to set up. The drum pads are close to the real things as possible. We found them to be really responsive.
Kat pads in general are really reliable. The set has a ride cymbal that is dual triggered. Some of our testing showed that the bell with the cymbal is not always triggered.
Also, the set can be hard to modify. Other than these issues, this drum set worked perfectly.
+Pros:
- Highly responsive drum pads
- Easy set up
- Great accessories and play-along tracks for beginners
-Cons:
- Mods not possible
- Cymbal bell is not always triggered
3
This is a ten-piece electronic drum set that comes with Mylar drum pads.
It has a 12” snare and 10” and 12” inch toms, a four piece cymbal set with 12” Hi-Hats, 14” crashes, and 16” three-zone rides.
The set comes with branded quick-release clamps and a sturdy, chrome-plated steel rack. Overall, the kit feels good.
This set has larger than average cymbals compared to most other drum sets in the price range. Also, it features one snare and two tom drum pads.
If you have used older Alesis DM models, the DM10 improves upon most of the previous features.
The drum pads are more rigid than before but produce a feel close to a natural skin drum. The pads are also thinner.
For some sounds, they can feel a bit too rigid. If you need a really deep bass, we recommend the Roland set described below.
On the plus side, the brand has fixed the crosstalk between triggers. That is no longer an issue.
The cymbals are genuine and everything in combination produces sound as good as it can get for an electronic set.
If you are a pro drummer, you can fine tune the set for better sound, but be aware that it may require mod customization as well.
+Pros:
- Sounds close to a real drum set
- No crosstalk between triggers
- Genuine cymbals
-Cons:
- Drum pads can get be bit too stiff for some sounds
4
We confidently rank this as the best electronic drum sets under $1000. It’s reasonably priced and the quality is truly remarkable.
This drum set comes with a TD 11 sound module, a mesh head V pad with a snare, a compact Hi Hat combination, a stand for V compact V drums, and a kick pad that is ergonomically designed.
The drum set is about 2 ‘5” in length, 1’2” in the middle and is about 2’5” in height. So it’s not too big or too small.
It comes highly recommended for practice at homes, especially apartments with space issues.
As for the sound, it was truly impressive. The set comes with a number of preprogrammed sounds. Sounds can be fine tuned per personal preference too.
However, the programming can be a bit difficult. Overall, the controls are intuitive, so it shouldn’t be difficult for even a beginner to get a hold of it with some use.
The sound is as close to professional as it can get considering the price. It’s great for practice, recording, and even playing at small venues.
The cons are minimal for this unit. The cymbals lacked diversity when it comes to acoustic sounds. Digital sounds are really good however.
Also, getting loud acoustic noises requires hard strikes. Pro players who want crescendo, decrescendo, or fortissimo won’t be able to get them as intended.
We think these cons are minor compared to the overall product, which we highly recommend for learners and pro practitioners.
+Pros:
- Compact
- Excellent digital sound
- Well designed kick pad
- Programmable sounds
-Cons:
- Acoustic sounds lack diversity
- Some acoustic sounds are not achievable
Tips for Buying a Good Electronic Drum Set Under $1000
Here are some things to keep in mind when buying a digital drum set with a $1000 budget:
A digital drum set can never reproduce the sounds of a genuine acoustic drum set exactly. It’s not possible even with the best brand or the most expensive set.
So adjust your expectations accordingly. Buy the set that comes closest to sounding like the real thing, but don’t expect sounds to be the same.
When buying, always look for these essentials: drum throne, kick pedal, drumsticks and hi-hat stand. These parts can be bought separately but can be very costly.
Also, it’s best if all the parts come with the set, because you might have to shop around a lot to find fitting parts.
It’s worthy to invest in an electronic drum set that comes with its own headphones. You can buy headphones separately, but the inputs may not work that well with the kit.
Do check out the measurements of the kit. It has to fit in the space available at your home or studio. Also, the height should match your sitting position.
If you are large or heavyset, not all drum sets might feel comfortable to play with.
Volume of electronic drum pads can be quite loud just like with acoustic sets.
If you live in an apartment or an urban area, it won’t be possible to practice on a loud drum set without annoying the neighbors.
If that’s the case, you can buy a set with quiet pads like the Yamaha mentioned above. On the other hand if you are playing for an audience, you might want to avoid buying a quiet pad set.
