Look for low to mid line Pearl or Yamaha. Maybe 22 inch kick with 12 and/or 13 rack and 16 floor. It should be reliable and easy to tune. Hardware will work too. Cymbals are another thing and you'd need to shop around if money is limited.

Hold a fundraiser and double your working capital... get a real drum set. With a congregation that large, the church deserves to be served by professional quality equipment.

I played drums in church for 30 years. It was always MY set. I have been to a lot of churches over the years that had a house set, and mostly, they were as bad as any of the backline horror stories I have read about barroom venues. The visual focal point of every church is the stage, what is on it should be professional.

True, you could maybe raise funds for a higher end kit. Plenty of nice options available if the funds are there. Otherwise, you'll need to shop around the used market for a deal or go with a budget line kit. Either way, it's an improvement over an electric kit. (I've been playing churches for 20 years now, and still going at it with a relatively large church).

Personally, I'd rather spend the coin on a decent snare and nice cymbals. You'd be surprised how good a "not so top of the line" kit (from several top companies) can sound with good heads and proper tuning and muffling. In terms of priority, that would be my priority if funds are limited.

Thanks for the info everyone. We are definitely going used; I knew that from the start. I have a feeling getting them to spend more money will be hard. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes. Ideally, I'd like to see them get a set pretty similar to what I'm loaning them, but I don't know if we'll be able to find all that at this price range.

I bought a lot of that together as a package and got a pretty good deal.

-Jon

What about looking into a newer Ludwig Club Date re-isssue? Yeah...they are made overseas, but they are affordable and have a modern take on vintage hardware. You can probably pick up some used hardware and cymbals all at your budget. Just my :2Cents:

Check craigslist near your town, and search the musical instruments section. There is probably a lot of stuff at reasonable prices.

Some of the new A Zildjian cymbal packs are pretty nice. The A390 has a 20" med ride, 18 and 16" med thin crashes and 14" new beat hats. That retails about $679 most places. There's also a A391 pack that replaces the 20" with a 21" Sweet ride with everything esle the same. Not much more at $699. Sweet rides are.... well.....sweet! I have seen some nice closeout specials on the Gretsch Catalina maple in the big box stores. Sam Ash here had a nice one with bass, 3 mounted toms, floor and snare for less than $600 in a burst finish. I thought that was a pretty nice deal. If you really have your heart set on vintage keep a eye out here, DFO and CL for a nice used kit. Some very affordable deals can be found. Good luck!!

I have one of these and have played out with it, and it does sound fantastic (even with me playing it) :-)

Also if they want new, have you looked at the Signet 105 kits? They are not too expensive I hear (although I have never seen one. They are not available in Australia yet).

Check this one out. Beautiful kit and great price. He's also in PA which might work out for you~!

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=44036