Pearl Roadshow Drum Set 5-Piece Kit RS525SC/C33

If you are looking for a beginner drum kit for descent pricing and good quality with extra features perfect sounding, then this is the best. The poster included is amazing. Sticks × 2 pairs included with carry bag for sticks.

My main criteria before buying the pearl roadshow jazz kit, was the amount of space it takes up, the sound quality, and Most importantly the value. Amazingly, it checks out fine in every one of them.

You can put this thing anywhere. I have it tucked in the corner of my room, where It takes up roughly 25 sq feet of space (5’x5′), enough for someone who stands at 5’7 to groove comfortably in.

This kit is a perfect example of showing the importance of tuning, versus the kind of shells or drum heads you have. While the shells are relatively cheap compared to most drums, and the stock drum heads are okay, with the right tuning methods, you can get these drums to sound amazing. If I can get these shells to sound great with the stock heads, I can only imagine how great they’ll sound with better drum heads. The cymbals are complete trash but I still use em 😅. The toms are bright. The kick drum isn’t as big sounding as a normal sized kick drum, but it’s pretty punchy. The snare drum sounds good but lacks in the deep tones…I’m sure that’s nothing a better drum head can fix. Overall it sounds great.

You cannot beat the price! The quality of the hardware is good. Bass pedal is solid and smooth. The drum throne does its job. It comes with a neat stick bag and a couple pairs of sticks. My only wish is that the floor tom legs were a bit longer. In my opinion, you get just a little more than what you pay for with this kit.

It’s a cool little kit for anyone at any skill level. Perfect for anyone starting out, and anyone wanting a cheap kit they can upgrade with better heads and cymbals. Sounds great and TOTALLY worth the price!

You can’t beat Pearl for the combo of quality and price. I wanted a smaller kit for portability, and noticed many local drummers playing these 4-pc “bop”/jazz/jungle kits, with great sound. I didn’t want the hassle of a shell kit (drums only, no stands/pedals) even though I have some spare hardware. And I own another Pearl kit (have owned others over the years), so I know the quality is there.

The kit comes complete: drums, stands, cymbals, pedals, even sticks. And it’s packed in an AMAZINGLY small box. Some comments on the components:

You can make cheap drums sound really good if the shells are solid and the edges are flat and smooth, good angle (for contact with the heads). Pearl has solid, high-quality shells. They’re poplar, not maple or birch or mahogany, but the wood type matters less wrt sound than good construction and heads. The hoops and clamps are nicely chromed and solid.

One big upgrade for any low-end kit is the heads. The included ones look ok, but I replaced the tom and snare heads with Remo and Evans heads, keeping the bottom reso heads and the ones on the bass drum. I haven’t tuned them yet, but the sound is pretty solid on all drums, good bass, tight snare that needs a bit of damping.

Hardware is double-braced and solid. I really like the bass pedal, even though I have others And the hi-hat stand is responsive. The cymbal boom where a 2nd tom would be is a nice touch. I added a 2nd boom with a crash that is clamped to the tom mount, nice and compact. There are lock collars on the tom/cymbal mounts to make teardown/setup easy on the go.

The drum sizes are great for a portable kit with great sound. the 18″ shallow bass has good punch but is much smaller than a typical deeper 22″ one. The 10″ tom and 14″ floor tom give a good sound range, and the 13″ thin snare has good impact when tuned (using a moongel on it, Evans reverse dot head). Always tune the drums properly and the sound will be great on these. And they’re much easier to transport than my full-sized kits.

OK, the #2 big upgrade for low-end kits is the cymbals. The included brass ones are, well, usable. But you generally need bronze cymbals for good sound (B8 alloy or the higher-end B20, for example). I’m using a mix of Wuhan, Sabian, Zildjian cymbals. You might get lucky with a good-sounding brass cymbal, but go bronze (buy used, to save $$$).

The throne is a bit small and not super sturdy, but it’s surprising they even included one. I’m using one I already had.

I didn’t comment on the looks because that’s secondary for me, but it is a nice-looking kit. I have the gloss black, nice defect free finish on the shells, and the chromed hardware is shiny

Overall, you can’t get a good-sounding quality compact kit for anywhere near this price. Upgrading the top (batter) drum heads and getting good cymbals makes this a nice-sounding kit at a budget price.

Very nice beginner set, or for someone who understands some upgrades will be needed. The cymbals that come with this kit are garbage, as are the drum heads, but I figured this would be the case going in. Shells and hardware seem very solid, finish on the kit I purchased was beautiful (burnt orange sparkle). So if you are new to drumming and looking for something cheap you can’t go wrong.

I’m 73 years old and have been playing drums for 60 years. This is a smaller footprint, lighter to carry set that I’m using for small venues. It’s a good looking, good sounding set. Cymbals are not bad but I’ll use my Zildjens. Hardware and stands are excellent. Better than my stands from my ‘68 Ludwig set! Can’t beat it for the price!