I read this post several times, and I think you have answered your own Q.

Slingerlands are "Keepers" .. am I biased ? .. Yep

Cheers

SLINGERLAND!

'nuff said'

In my opinion there will be (actually already are)alot of mid to high end modern drums available for reasonable money.Vintage drums-a different story.The Slingys may or may not be replaceable at a later date.

My opinion of modern drums isn't much-I bought a set of Catalinas a few years ago and sold them for what I paid before they got scratched up.The fundamental note was too high on the toms,and the bass was as you described your Ddrums. I vote vintage....

I guess I am a little lost, what is more important, sound or monetary value of the drums? I think it goes without saying that the Slingerlands are going to have a warm round tone and the ddrums are going to be more punchy. Personally I have not heard an early mij kit that sounded good to my ear. Sell the mij and ddrum kits and keep the Slingys, probably about the same price wise.

I agree with longjohn, sounds like you already answered your question. I'll give my opinion, but first let me give you some backstory. I bought a tan interior Slingerland 20/12/14 kit in March, then I traded a maple DW kit - that I was never totally satisfied with, especially the 18x22 BD - for a '67 Ludwig kit in April. I'm still using the heads that came on the Slingerland toms - which aren't my first pick - because it's my practice kit that I'm keeping at my guitarists house for now. They sound OK as they are, though. The BD heads that were on it were shot, so I put an Aquarian Super Kick II and a white Classic Clear on the 20" BD - with a folded cup towel barely touching the resonant head - and it sounds amazing, WAY better than the DW. I know we're not talking about Ludwig kits, but it blows the DWs away, in my opinion. Toms are low and punchy and the BD is low and boomy with a little punch on the attack. I took the heads I was using off the DW BD and put the originals back on prior to trading. I put the heads I had taken off the DW on the Ludwig BD, and it sounds so much better than the DW to me.

So, my opinion is sell the ddrum kit that you already said you don't really like the sound of - and it will never be worth what the 60s Slingerland kit is/will be - and keep the Slingerlands that you already said sounded good to you.

Lynn

You will find that the Slingerland kit will sound warmer. You will probably also note that the DDrum kit is louder though I suppose it depends on what you had done to the bearing edges.

Mid 80's I was gigging in a Country Rock Band with my then 8 year old Slingerlands. The shop that I was teaching at was closing down and the owner offered me a deal that I could not refuse on a name brand MIJ kit. (I will not mention the brand as it may offend some here). I put the Slingerlands up for sale and had some buyer interest in them. After 4 or 5 gigs with the MIJ kit I was getting some negative thoughts about the MIJ's and a bit of feedback from the guys in the band that they had preferred the sound of the Slingo's.

I had a guy with the cash actually on the way to check out the Slingo's, when I made the "last minute" decision to keep them. When he arrived I apologised and explained my change of heart. He was cool though and he bought the 2 week old MIJ's for a real good price.. and I have kicked myself many times for nearly having sold the Slingerlands..

Cheers

Ok - GREAT responses - thank you SO much. Without responding to specifics here, what I am getting is that the Slinger will be warmer and the kick will even have more punch than the deep ddrum (20 inches deep!). Also, the value in the long term is a no-brainer.

As most of you picked up on - I was not so much asking advice on what to do (which to choose) just more so wanting to know what to expect in terms of their sound. This is because I have had limited hands-on with the Slinger and only with heads that I probably would not use myself.

Actually this can also be summed up as a head check for me - am I loosing my mind to think that these ddrum can not sound great? Am I losing my ability to tune or is something wrong with these heads....just not making sense because these heads bring out a sound that I am just not getting with these ddrums. Then again - I have never actually owned a 100% maple kit until now (now that I think about it).

A related note....is that I have been and am running clear ambassadors top and bottom on these toms (pretty much all my kits with the exception of this Slinger) and along with Studio Rings. Well - what I am getting is a bit more slap/attack than I would prefer....much more than my Dixie (MIJ). Fact is, I don't want all this slap at all! Am I a great candidate for drums with round-over edges? Should I change the heads I use (Aquarians with the built in muffling?, CS Blackdots again?, other??)

Thanks for the good discussion......testimonies still very much welcome.

John

I won't make a recommendation one way or the other because all drums have a place. Some are better suited to one environment than another.

But, I will point out a few things.

First off, you are comparing very differently sized drums, with particular emphasis on the bass drums in my opinion.

A shallow 20" is going to have a lot more control and articulation than a cavernously deep 22" drum. These are totally different animals! You would be swapping heads and tuning until the cow's came home trying to make those two drums sound in any way like each other. It's just not a comparison that you can make.

Although nice, Maple is what I define as a rather "narrow band" wood for drums. It can, and does, sound excellent when tuning ranges and drum sizes are in sync with each other. However, I may want to run higher or lower tuning than the 'sweet spot' on all maple drums, and due to this, I prefer Birch drums to maple.

The combination of differing woods (once a cost control measure) has now come to light as a way to extract the best possible sound from a drum shell. The new PHX line is a case in point. I have not heard them in person myself to make that determination (who the heck can afford to stock them??) but based on my guitar making days I can say even the thickness of the finish (even on a solid body electric) can affect the sound of the final instrument.

Newer drums tend to have finer, sharper bearing edges and that can have a dramatic affect on the sound of a drum- arguably more influence than the shell wood itself! Your Ddrum kit is a modern, sharp edge drum, and the Slingerlands (and MIJ kit I presume) are more rounded.

In your example you are comparing apples to oranges and might have a better chance if the drums were at least the same sizes for direct comparison...