The 5 Best Drum Brands in 2023
Shopping for today's best drum brands, I'll tell you my personal favorites & why.

As with any other instrument, choosing a good quality drum kit is one of the most important things to consider if you are thinking of buying one. From my own experience, I can assure you that it is better to save money until you can afford a professional drum set. All the instruments are investments for the musicians, as they will have the opportunity to improve their performance.

Even though drum kits are simple pieces of wood, some have better quality than others, and you must be careful when choosing what type of wood you want your drums to be. For this, several brands are responsible for offering several varieties of drum kits which are constructed in different ways. For this reason, in this article, you will learn about the best 5 drum brands in 2023.

Before starting, you need to know that many other brands will not be mentioned in this article that are also of excellent quality, but because it is a Top 5, the main idea is to talk about the ones with more experience and trajectory.

Ludwig

And talking about trajectory, Ludwig is one of the most important drum brands in the world. If you know Ringo Starr (drummer of The Beatles), you probably remember his drum set as it was very iconic. Well, it was Ludwig! And even though he used different models throughout his career, they were always of the same brand.

The first Ludwig brand products manufactured were bass drum pedals around 1911, but as the years went by they started to make drums. In the 1960's the production was massive and renowned drummers from all over the world wanted to have a Ludwig drum set among their belongings, as it was the highest range you could find.

Not only was the design eye-catching, but they also sounded amazing! And it was probably attributed to the fact that they used up to four layers of maple wood in each of the drums, something that not many brands did at the time. In other words, Ludwig has been the quintessential brand in the big recording studios, as they bring a unique sound that no other drum kit has been able to duplicate. For this reason, it deserves to be in the top 1!

In case you are interested, these are one of the most popular Ludwig models over the years:

• Black Beauty
• Vistalite
• Legacy Mahogany
• Classic Maple
• Breakbeats

Gretsch

Gretsch is one of those brands that have been efficient since its beginnings in 1883. You may know them for making guitars, but Friedrich Gretsch, the founder, also sold tambourines and drums in the first years of the company.

By the 1950s, Gretsch was already a recognized brand that manufactured guitars and drums extensively. Among the drummers who used Gretsch drums, you can find Charlie Watts, Taylor Hawkins, and Phil Collins.

If you are interested in buying a Gretsch drum set, here are the best models you can find:

• Gretsch Broadkaster
• Brooklyn Series
• Catalina Maple Series
• Catalina Club Series
• Energy Series

DW (Drum Workshop)

DW drum pedals are some of the best products you can get on the market. However, this brand is also well known for the high-end drum kits they manufacture, some reaching up to $5,000. But don't worry, not all of them are that expensive. Compared to the other brands, DW is a relatively young company, it was founded in 1972.

Nowadays, DW manufactures one of the most characteristic drums for two reasons: they have a modern sound compared to (for example) Ludwig drum kits, and they also have different woods, colors, and sizes that you can choose freely.

Some of the most popular models are:

• DW Collector’s Series
• DW Performance Series
• DW Classics Series
• DW Jazz Series

Pearl

Just like Ludwig and Gretsch, the Pearl company had an incredible trajectory manufacturing drum sets for decades. Pearl is a Japanese company founded in 1946. Currently has several production factories in various parts of the world, some of them in Thailand, Brazil, and China.

Something curious is that they also manufacture electronic drum sets, so if you are interested in buying one, take a look at the catalog on their website. Anyway, they also have a great variety of high-end acoustic drums. For example, these are some models:

• Export EXL
• President Series Phenolic
• President Series Deluxe
• Midtown Series
• Crystal Beat
• Masters Maple Complete

Tama

Finally, the Tama company was Ludwig's great competitor for many years since they manufactured drum kits of almost the same quality at affordable prices. All this happened due to two specific models:

• ImperialStar
• RoyalStar

And even though Tama was intended to attract the attention of beginners, it became the brand that all professional drummers wanted to be part of. Some of them were great exponents of progressive rock as well as other genres. For example Lars Ulrich, Carl Palmer, Mike Portnoy, Simon Phillips, Shannon Lucas, Neil Peart, Dave Grohl, Tim Alexander, Abe Cunningham, and Dave Mackintosh.

On different websites, you can get these drum kits at affordable prices!

Now that you know the best drum brands, it's also important to learn a little bit about cymbals.

As you may already know, cymbals are another fundamental part of playing drums. Indeed, having a good set of cymbals is just as important as having a good drum set. For that reason, I made a small list of cymbal brands in case you are interested in buying some:

1. Meinl
2. Zildjian
3. Sabian
4. Istanbul Agop
5. Turkish

Cymbals have different sizes that can affect their sound. So make sure you know exactly which one you want before buying it!

If you liked this article, please share it with other drummers or friends who are interested in buying their next drum kit! Although all the brands mentioned in this article are of excellent quality, try to choose the one you like the most, and the one you feel more identified with. The most important thing is that you have a good time playing the drums!