Collapsable Drum Kit?
 

So my drummer will be off to college soon. She takes her music seriously but will not be a music major. The last school she checked out has a lot of performance spaces available so finding a place to play shouldn't be a problem, but she'll still be in a dorm with limited space. What options are out there for packable kits? Which ones play more naturally, how well do they pack down and travel, do they sound decent? She is into ska, punk, rock, and anything Dave Grohl so she will want some punch.

Poking around on the net, I see a lot of electronic kits, a shell-less kit, and Questlove's Breakbeat. Questlove's is probably going to have too big a foot print...

Any thoughts?

Pete reminds me that she could practice anywhere with headphones/electronic drums...

I'm not a drummer but I hear good things about Flatt kits.

Sent by thought transference

The headphones/electronic drums set up would mean not having to traipse off to a performance space to keep her chops sharp.
They would be handy to have in her room for a let-off-steam/de-stress on an immediate basis, too.

Three of your best options, here:
 

Pearl makes something called the Rhythm Traveler, $499.99 --a mini-kit which includes mesh heads as a silent practice option (it comes with regular heads too--can't vouch for how much punch you can get, but I have some tuning and muffling tips which might prevent them from sounding weak).

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums...FQvznAod-G0AyA

Or, for $169.99, the DW Go Anywhere Practice Set. I am actually considering one of these, as I have taken a Monday-Thursday "road warrior" contract gig will be staying in an apartment half of the week. Essentially silent (people living directly beneath you might hear you stomping the bass pedal); and you will note, smaller footprint than even a "mini" kit.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums...e-practice-set

For electronic drums, the first kit I would recommend (when sorting by price, low to high) would be the Roland V-Drums TD-4-KP-S Portable Electronic Drum Set, $799. Small-ish footprint; designed to fold up; the best option for silent practice (which will actually sound incredible through headphones); and the most expensive of the three options--of course.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums...ronic-drum-set

Of course. :) Roland was on our short list. What do you lose below the TD-4-KP-S? I think we'd go $800 if it makes sense. Thanks guys!

Below $800: Simmons famously made the octagonal electronic drums in the 1980s--they are not "Simmons" anymore, someone recently bought the name and started putting out cheap-quality kits; ddrum is a maker of acoustic drum triggers--electronic pads and sound modules are not something they do well; the Yamaha kits might be okay, but not as "portable" as the $799 Roland. And frankly I am biased towards Roland products, and think that their V-Drums (and V-anything) series are the best of their kind. This is not a flagship kit, but I would trust Roland based on their name, and my experience with their products. The thing folds up and transports in a carrying case with a shoulder strap.

The only other electronic drums option I would conisder would be a Roland Octapad ($699) but you are not paracticing whole-body coordination unless you add some foot pedals. The Octapad would be more for adding off to the side of an existing acoustic kit.

Thanks flint! Good info, we'll have her go play them.

Now if you're just looking for a portable, acoustic kit, there are several options. They have the Hip Gig, the Jungle Kit, the Go Kit (Yamaha, Sonor, and Taye, respectively, I believe)--I have never played an off-the-shelf mini-kit, but I have built one:

Early-80's Tama 18" floor tom with Remo Emperor heads and a Rem-O muffler, on top of a Pearl floor-tom-to-bass-drum conversion kit (which requires a Pearl tom mount also); and with the right tuning this little bad boy is my favorite bass drum. An early-80's Tama "power" depth 12" tom makes a fine floor tom sound (on a suspension mount). The snare and cymbals don't need to be mini--although you could go with 13" hats and an 18" crash/ride and cover your basics. This would be bass, snare, and hats; with one tom and one cymbal--the basics. For portablility, you could get (at a garage sale, etc.) an airline travel case for a set of golf clubs. You can put all of your hardware inside.

I've played gigs with the 18" bass, 12" tom in the rack position and a matching 16" floor tom; 13" hats, an 18" crash, and an 18" ride. It's a pretty cool sounding kit for playing groove-oriented music, but it's not "mini" sounding--as long as you get the right heads, tuning, and muffling on the bass drum.

Don't all of them collapse if you work hard enough?