My parents bought me a Rockwood by Hohner kit as my introduction into the drum world. I was 11... and I played that thing until I was 22 and realized I had the money to upgrade to a known brand. It was only then that I started learning about how drums made the way these guys are are typically considered low quality. I always loved my guy! Let's go on a journey, shall we?From 11-13, I played it using everything it came with. The Pearl cymbals, the stock heads, the snare, the hardware. I was perfectly motivated.The snare wires broke when I was 13 and, as someone who didn't realize there was an easy fix to that, I got a new snare. I totally just went off of how the new snare looked -- it was lost in a move, so I can't speak to its brand or material. I think the head was Remo? Anyway, no difference.At 16, I was a little annoyed that my toms didn't sound like the toms on songs I heard... because I was a silly goose who didn't realize that toms get absolutely perfected! I thought that meant mine were out of tune. My drum teacher, who had a bit of a crush on my mom, came over to tune them and... told me that they were actually better than some of the most professional kits he had ever played! He barely had to tune them at all... again, I was just a silly goose.At 18, my hi-hat pedal gave way. I got a new one. End of story.At 19, I did a lot of cymbal and drum head research and finally replaced those. I do have to say, even though I didn't really realize how low quality the cymbals were… read more until I actually started looking around, it did motivate me more. As for the heads? Yeah, those too, and I had learned how to tune *decently* by then, but the difference wasn't quite as stark in my heart as the cymbals.At 21, my kick pedal was starting to really annoy me. I got a new one. End of story.At 22, I thought "well... if I'm upgrading anything anyway, might as well upgrade EVERYTHING!" and invested in a new set of shells + new snare entirely. I took a note from my favorite drummer (at the time)'s book and invested in an SJC Tour series. I put my Rockwood in storage, end of story.If both my Tour series and my Rockwood were sitting in front of me, tuned the same way, same heads, same cymbals, same hardware, which would I be more inclined to go play? Man, it's 50/50!All of this to say that you see a lot of folks saying you should buy used so you're motivated to practice, and, while I don't disagree that that's probably the best route to go, my little buddy never deterred me from wanting to practice. Sounded great, held up for years and years. The cymbals and kick/stand that came with them had room for improvement, but I truly didn't even realize it until I played something else.If you want a new kit and you're working on a thin budget... go for it. It'll last you!

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