Thanks all.
The Pearls are probably not going to get looked at because after sending an email request for specific details about their condition, he mentioned a small "currently not effecting sound" crack on the splash symbol. While his statement may be true, at least for now, I asked if he could email me a picture of the crack and intended to run it by an experienced drummer friend. At this point, he is not responding by email. He might just be away from his email for a bit but it makes my spidey senses tingle.
On the plus side, now that my wife has recognized that I am actually very serious about finally making a purchase, she has decided that it might now be better if we up the budget a bit to buy electronic drums to ensure her sanity and/or preserve our marriage. While I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of electronic sets, it is a very good idea for my beginner phase as the noise reduction will result in much more available practice time.
This is still not a big budget increase. $800 target and $1000 max. After weeding out the realllly bottom of the line kits, I am hopeful for this
Yamaha DTXpress IV set Note: when I called a local music store here to check his used price verses new, the version IVs are 'on sale' cough, for 1899
The only other set within reach is a less featured Yamaha DTXplorer. It is listed for 850 but only has single zone pads and looks even more ugly with it's pie slice cymbals and just another pad for a high hat.
I also found an entry level Roland set but was surprised to find a lot of poor reviews on this model so it didn't make the short list.
Further comments are welcome. I won't be pulling the trigger until I return from Ottawa on Tuesday so lots of time for a sanity check if you feel I need one.
