TAMALJK28S-GXS Club-JAM Mini Kit, Galaxy Silver

Likely, a literal life saver. I bought these for smaller stages and easier load in/out (as I age and my health catches up with me). I'd planned to use just the kick but the snare sounds really good too. With factory heads; the kick is surprisingly deep, though may lack a little projection. My pedal worked well with no riser, the beater hits above center but sounds great. The snare sounds really cool with the top head kinda low and bottom head pretty tight. Snare throw off is a little cheap but does its job.The first gig: I was jamming at home and got a call to sub "get here asap!"It was so easy and quick to throw in the car. I also bought the bags and cymbal arm separately. Rug, throne, cymbal arm, snare and hihat stand in a rolling case. One cymbal and hihats in my backpack case, and the 2 drums together in their case. One trip.I was at the venue, in the next town over, in 30 minutes. Set up in another 5. The guys loved the kick. The snare did its job but after a couple songs with rim shots the lugs detuned a bit so I had to retune once or twice (most cheap snares have this problem).One sub gig paid for the kit.Next gig, I used an additional cymbal attachment mounted to the snare. Snare has a mount like a tom but I prefer a real snare stand.The little kick saved the day in an orchestra pit for a musical I played. REALLY tight set up, packed in like sardines. A full kick would not have worked.I am very pleased with the sound, feel, look and portability. My only wishes are that I had some memory clamps for the cymbal arm and bass drum legs (though, everything stays put, even with the cymbal arm angled, tried w 16 and 17 inch crash/ride types, might not try a heavy 22" lol). It would be really nice if they had some sort of "tune-safe" feature to hold the tuning when playing hard. The shallow depth lacks protection but the tone is great, with a mic it's just as good as a full kick.My kits have gotten smaller over the years mainly for ease of transport. I have vintage Ludwig and Rogers kits and a newer Sonor kit, I'm very glad I got this little Tama. No regrets.Get the bags and cymbal arm too. There are toms that match also if you want them.

I purchased this mainly for the bass drum because I play in a lot of assisted living facilities where I am usually limited to a pair of hihats and a snare drum.With stock heads the bass drum is better suited for lower volume heads. I swapped out the reso head for a circa 2004 custom printed bass drum head that I had on an old Tama StageStar kit and that did not appreciably change the sound characteristics. However, when I gigged with the kit in a larger room that had hard floors and lots of glass the bass drum became boomy and projected more. I swapped the stock batter head with a Remo coated Ambassador and it became even more boomy and louder. I resolved that with piggy-backing Gibraltar felt strips, which tamed down the bass drum and also gave it a wider tuning range.Out of the box the snare drum needed nothing more than a good tuning. The coated batter head was perfect for brushwork, and under sticks the drum has a nice crack and projects well. Perhaps a little too well. For such a cheap drum the throw off and snare wires struck me as high quality. Especially the throw off, which I typically engage and disengage five or more times per hour.Note that this does NOT come with a riser. I don't use risers for 18 inch and larger drums anyway, but some drummers insist on them for drums under 20 or 22 inches. You will also have to assemble the bass drum, while the snare drum arrives fully assembled.Interestingly, both the bass drum and snare drum are equipped with mounting clamps. The one on the bass drum allows you to use a shell mounted cymbal holder, and the one on the snare drum allows you to mount that drum off of a cymbal stand.I was initially 'challenged' by the gull-wing style spurs, and my first attempts at setting up and leveling the bass drum where frustrated. However, I took the time to experiment and when I got it right I marked the positions of the spurs. I can set it up now in practically no time.Overall I am very pleased with the little kit and it passed my most critical test: a gig, which I took it to two days after it arrived. I had been considering having a shallow bass drum custom made, but it would have cost me nearly twice what this kit did. And now that I have the bass drum dialed in I don't think that I could have done much better at any price.

Works good for the money

Great little 2 piece set up, good for low volume and small room gigs.

Portable DRUMS! perfect for small places.