Roland V-Drums Buyer’s Tips

So you’re all set on picking up some Roland electronic drums, nice! In my eyes Roland is the top brand for electronic drums. I’ve used them for years from their top of the line TD-50 to their entry level TD-01. Their gear is robust, holds up over time and holds it’s value quite well. They’re not quite perfect though, but this buyers guide is to guide you through what you might be looking for at the beginner and intermediate level. If you’re looking for a pro level kit, you’ll know exactly what you need!

Emulating Acoustic Drums

This is really what electronic drums set out to do. They aim to be as close to a “real” acoustic drum kit as possible, with the added benefits of electronic drums like being able to play quietly and changing sounds instantly. In my experience as a player and an educator I’ve decided there’s a few key factors that are essential in making sure the electronic drums play like acoustic.

Here are my requirements, some of which go beyond what Roland list as features.

1. Mesh Heads

2. Solid Bass Pedal

3. Ride Bell

4. Cross Stick

5. Tom Rims

1. Mesh Heads

This one is pretty straightforward. Mesh heads are far superior for playing on than rubber. Some kits come with all rubber heads, some just the snare is mesh but make sure you go for al mesh heads, trust me. You can adjust the tension of the mesh to make the drums feel more like acoustic. For example the high tom can be tensioned higher and the floor tom tensioned lower, so even if the pads are the same size, they feel much different and more true to an acoustic drum kit.

Mesh or Rubber?

Here is the rock solid TD-17 kit, but an earlier model with rubber toms 👎🏼

2. Solid Bass Pedal

Getting the bass drum pedal technique correct can be a game changer to your playing. So having the right pedal is going to make the difference. There are 2 camps of pedals here to choose from; beater pedals and beaterless pedals. Beater pedals are the ones you would find on an acoustic drum kit. These work with most Roland drum kits.

Roland KT-1 Pedal

Don’t get stuck with this guy. It’s not too bad as a hi hat pedal, but it’s no good as a bass drum pedal!

Pro Tip: if you have a mesh bass drum pad and use an acoustic pedal, spin the beater around 180 degrees so the plastic side strikes the mesh and not the felt. This saves it from wearing out over time.

3. Ride Bell

With Roland to be able to play the bell of the ride you need 2 things, a triple zone ride cymbal pad and a module that supports a triple zone pad. Now what’s important here is you don’t need to purchase the whole set together. You could purchase a “basic” edition of the kit with a dual zone ride and add in a triple zone ride cymbal, often being able to change your previous dual zone ride to a 2nd crash! This is especially important if you’re buying used because Roland always sell various models of the same drum kit at different price points with different features. If a basic version of the kit you want appears for sale to be hesitant to buy it if the price is right, but make sure you’ve got enough for the extra ride cymbal too! You don’t even need to use Roland cymbals exclusively, check out some third party ones like Lemon.

Triple Zone Goodness

As well as having 3 playable zones (bow, edge & bell) these cymbals are always larger and more realistic feeling

4. Cross Stick

This may seem kind of obvious but you really do want a dual zone mesh snare that is large enough to play a cross stick. An 8” mesh snare just doesn’t quite cut it, but a 12” absolutely does. Roland’s new-ish PDX-12 snare pad is definitely the one to have if you can get it, but anything around 10”, 12” or even 14” makes all the difference when playing cross stick and rim shots. And again, these drum kits are essentially modular so you could easily swap out an 8” snare for a 12” one and it will just plug and play.

Roland PDX-12 Snare Pad

Just look at the size of that 12” snare pad compared to the 8” toms!

5. Tom Rims

Now this is last on my list because it’s probably the least important. Kit’s like the TD-02 and TD-07 come with single zone tom pads. This means that even though the pads have a rim you can hit, there’s no extra sensor there so you only get the one sound. Kits like the TD-17 and up have dual zone toms meaning you can assign sounds to the rim of the toms.

Why might you want to do this? Well if you’re working through the Trinity Rock & Pop drum books and exams (which a lot of my students do) there’s a song at Grade 2 level called Song 2 by Blur - you might have heard of it? This song makes use of the floor tom rim, and if your kit doesn’t have that feature you simply can’t get that sound. Not the end of the world, but a little frustrating if it’s not offered.

Multicore Madness

The wiring loom is becoming increasingly popular even on midrange drum kits. Check your cables to see if they’re mono or stereo.

Pro Tip: If you’re unsure if your kit has single or dual zone toms check the wiring loom (cables coming out of the brain). If there’s 2 rings on the jack of the tom cables it means your module handles dual zone and if there’s only 1 ring it means sadly, they are single zone.

Current Roland TD Lineup

As you can see from the chart above, in the currently line up the TD-17 is where you get the most value. It’s not cheap but you get a lot of features with it, ticking all of my boxes above. The TD-27 and TD-50 are the absolute powerhouses and you’ll know if you need one of those without this guide. The TD-02 is one to avoid, it might do you for a year or so but it’s not really upgradable in meaningful ways. The TD-07 is actually pretty capable, and has a workaround for playing a 3 zone ride which is nice.

My Recommendations

If you have the budget for it go for the TD-17. The module is very capable and it ticks all of the boxes for the 5 points I raised.

If your budget is a bit lower go for the TD-07. Again, this ticks all the boxes except dual zone toms (can’t play the rim). There’s a basic model TD-07 DMK which is currently selling for £569. In my eyes this is the best bargain on the market, and the kit should hold its value. If you’re looking at the TD-07KVX, consider the TD-17 instead.

Thanks for reading, and any questions fire them in the comments below!