You get the very best deal by working the mail order companies against
one another. If price is your only consideration (as it was for me when
I bought my last kit) I would call Midwest Percussion, Thoroughbred, and
Atlanta Pro and get quotes from each, working your way downward with each
call. Atlanta Pro does not like to play this game. They want you to
call everyone else first and give them the last shot at beating all other
deals. Because of this, they lost my business last time. Midwest beat
Atlanta Pro's final price, and I grew tired of the game (It lasted all
day on a Saturday). A good place to start is with Midwest Percussion's
catalog. These items are very competivly priced. Use this as your
start, and work the other mail order companies prior to calling Midwest
back. You can get all the telephone numbers from the 1800-555-1212
directory service. Best of luck to you, and let us know how well you do
in your negotiations. I personally saved about $900 on my Premier XPK
kit with Sabian cymbals.
On 2 Jan 1996, Tim Ackley wrote:
> Does anyone know of a number or contact to deal directly with
> the mfgr. without being a dealer yourself?(for sonor or premier)
> I am presently playing an eight piece Pearl BLX kit, that I have
> been using for about five years now.
> although I am happy with the kit after this ammount of time, and
> have done many recordings including the release of our first cd
> in feb. of this year. I have discovered through playing this kit
> and experimenting with sonor and premier,that my ultimate end all
> kit is going to be either one of the afore mentioned depending
> on configuration and sound.
> After a little more testing,I willknow EXACTLY what to order.
> What I don't want is to pay inflated prices.
> I'm not a tightwad,as I have invested over five grand in my
> present kit (including cymbals ,mics,etc.)
> I just want to get the best deal possible.(no contract yet !)
> Any leads or help would be greatly appreciated!
> Tim Ackley
> tack...@epix.net
