Updated: August 4th, 2022
You want a beginner drum set for you or your child and you don’t want to spend a lot of money?
Then you’ll find ample offers – that’s the good news.
But many of those kits will be virtually useless if you’re planning to really learn drumming. Many will sound bad, they will be fragile and they won’t be compatible with your learning because of their setup.
Yet, there are two Gammon drum sets – one full size and one junior – which are actually useful for you or your child: the Gammon junior drum set (for drummers up to 5ft tall), and the Gammon adult drum set.
And they are among the cheapest useful drum sets on the market.
So in this Gammon drum set review you’ll discover why I’m saying so and what you should look for when buying a beginner drum set.
Gammon Drum Set Review At One Glance
Gammon Full Size Drum Set (for someone taller than 5ft)
I’m giving it to you plain and simple: in its original form, this drum set is made for you to practice on.
If you’re planning to play on stage a lot, you’d better check out the Pearl Roadshow in this review.
It’s not that you can’t take the Gammon on stage. But I’d only do so after having exchanged the heads and cymbals, and this will cost you money and time. So you’re better off going for a more expensive set in the first place.
But you’re just starting out and want to have some fun grooving away at home? Then the Gammon drum set should do two things for you:
1.) It should sound good, so you don’t loose motivation.
2.) It should be sturdy enough to take your blows for a few years.
Sounds Good?
I can’t judge for you. So see yourself how the individual drums sound:
And check out the Gammon five piece drum set @ groove:
To my mind, only the bass drum requires some tuning. Snare and toms do actually sound quite good (even more so in reality).
As for the drums, I honestly think you can’t get a better sound in this price segment.
Plus: when you’re starting it’s probably more about having fun hitting those drums than about the perfect sound. At least, that’s what my students tell me.
And even if you’re not please with the Gammon kit’s sound: any drum set can be made to sound good, no matter the price:
Just get to grips with tuning (this is the shortest and best tutorial), and start playing around with your Gammon drums. (You can get good new heads when the inital ones are done in order to further improve the sound.)
And yes, the cymbals aren’t great. This is because drum manufacturers don’t normally produce cymbals. So much that higher-end drum sets come without cymbals whatsoever. Gammon only was so nice as to provide a set that can be played right out of the box.
The good news is though: the hi-hat sounds better than the crash cymbal and you’ll use the hi-hat 95% of time.
(In case you want to upgrade, you could go for one of the really cheap cymbal packs out there. But then you’d only go from bad to mediocre. To achieve a good cymbal sound that will last a decade, check out my best budget cymbal pack review.)
Sturdy Enough?
Whether a set manages to hold up for a year or even a few is up to its hardware. Your heads should wear out after a few months (otherwise you’re probably not practicing enough), but your hardware shouldn’t.
I know some people on Amazon complain about the snare stand and the stool of this kit. But I guess they must have been sitting on the stand or done physical exercises on the stool.
One of my students has been practicing on this kit for more than three years without damaged hardware. Don’t you think this stand looks sturdy?
My Verdict
The Gammon five piece drum set has one unbeatable advantage: its price. At 249$, it costs only 10$ more than its only real competitor by Mendini.
For that price, you cannot expect a high-end drum set with all the bells and whistles. But the Gammon drum set is a solid practice kit that can be tuned to sound fairly good.
The cymbals don’t, but the hi-hat is slightly better (or less worse) than the other cymbal – and will be used most of the time.
The hardware won’t allow constant dis- and reassembling, but it will accompany you for years if you don’t do acrobatics on the kit.
Now, I’ve mentioned that many of my students like this kit. You can or can’t believe this.
What you cannot deny are the numbers on Amazon: this set sells close to 7 times per day and has been the #1 best selling drum set for months.
That doesn’t mean I’m giving it all 100% ratings. After all, I also consider much higher-end kits in my rating.
For the price though, I fully recommend the Gammon drum set.
(Oh, and if you don’t know how to assemble that drum set, see below)
Gammon Junior Drum Set (for Kids up to 5ft)
You’re looking for a drum set for your child (below 5ft)? Then you have plenty “potential” options on Amazon.
Your real options are much smaller though. Because 80% of the kits shown there are actually toys. Even this one by Gammon themselves:
Compared to a regular adult drum set, this lacks at least a hi-hat, so you’re child would fail to pick up many of the basic motions of drumming (one stick on hi-hat, the other on the snare). And I just don’t want your child to have to unlearn motions later on. I know this sucks.
So better get a junior drum set that’s set up like an adult kit in the first place. Your child won’t mind having more cymbals and drums anyway.
This leaves you with mainly two options. The Mendini junior drum set (see my review here) or the one by Gammon.
How Good is the Gammon Junior Drum Set?
There’s one crucial objective your child’s first drum set should fulfill: enable him/her to experience how much fun playing the drums really is.
Sturdiness?
In order for your child to have fun, his/her kit shouldn’t crumble into pieces. And the Gammon junior drum set won’t.
I realize there are a few reviews on Amazon (even positive ones) saying that the hadware isn’t good. But I can’t confirm this.
If your child should sit on the snare drum or climb onto the stool, they might break. But so will many other snare stands.
For all other regular uses of the hardware, your child will be able to bang the heads for years. One of my students has had this set for three years and not replaced a single screw.
Visual Appeal?
For your child to have fun playing those drums, they should also look nice – big time!
With my students, color accounts for a lot – to the point that one girl suddenly started practicing at home when her parents exchanged her blue for a pink Gammon kit.
So it’s fortunate that the Gammon junior drum set comes in four color finishes (black, blue, pink, red). I recommend you let your little drummer have a say when choosing!
Sounding Good?
Finally, your child will want to have a kit that doesn’t sound like crap. Make up your mind before I tell you what I think:
So? Sounds good to you?
I at least am quite impressed by the drums!
Whether yours would sound as good as these is up to how well you tune the drums after assembling them. Fortunately you can learn the basics of tuning in 2 minutes:
As for the cymbals: there’s no denying that they do not sound very good. But you wouldn’t get better ones with any other kit. That’s not cool, but it is a reality. At least my younger students seem to care about making noise more than producing quality sound.
Of course, you can buy a pack of very good cymbals any time later. The really good budget options do cost somthing compared to this set, but they can last for a decade and more.
Gammon Junior Drum Set Review at One Glance
Please keep in mind that your child will have outgrown this kit in a couple of years at the latest (the threshold is around 5ft).
From that perspective the Gammon junior drum set is an amazing option: very little money for as much quality as you can get on the junior drum set market.
Since at this point it’s all about building motivation and enthusiasm, the Gammon drum set will give your child anything he/she needs for that: a kit that can take years of hard blows, a nice color and a decent sound.
[P_REVIEW post_id=261 visual=’full’]Gammon Junior Deals
In best Cyber Monday manner, you can get the Gammon junior kit in both black and blue (great for boys) for a good bit less $ as an Amazon Warehouse deal.
The Gammon drum set assembly tutorial
You’re finally not sure about how to assemble this kit? Right out of the box, the many parts may seem daunting. But actually, it’s not difficult at all. You’ll see…
(Even though this tutorial is shot with a junior drum set, the procedure is the same for the Gammon adult kit.)
PS
I hope this Gammon drum set review was helpful to you. If so and if you should decide to buy a Gammon drum set, please consider doing so via one of the links or buttons on this page. It won’t cost you a cent more, but I’d receive a commission and you’d reward me for the care and efforts I invest into each of the reviews on this site. If you want to know why I don’t make products appear any better than they really are, please refer to my affiliate disclosure.