Fender Starcaster TT-1 Electronic Table-Top Drum Kit

This is really strange, because I bought this unit on sale from another vendor ($129) and like other reviewers state it turns off at higher volumes but I kept it anyways and here's why.

As a beginner drum student, I wasn't ready to invest in a drum set so I went with this tabletop model at a rock bottom price, comparing it to 5 other brands. My hope was that if I could get the knack of playing it after a few months, then I would consider upgrading to a full kit and hopefully sell it at an online auction for a fair price.

The first time I played along with one of the learning songs, I turned up the volume and the entire unit shut off! After some investigating, it turns out that if I turn the bass OFF, I can use it beyond a 4 volume, maybe up to a 6 on a good day. But with that bass on, the entire unit will always shut down whenever it reaches a 3 or 4 depending on how hard I am hitting the pads.

In the end, because of storage considerations and the fact that it does have a student mode, metronome and other features I have elected to keep it, deal with its defect and play it at low volume. I also took into account that just one snare practice pad runs around $20 or so, and a metronome another $25.

With all those reasons combined, I figured that it's still a good value for practice reasons, because returning it and finding another model for the same price or even a little more was not an option at the time of purchase.

In reading these reviews it seems that its a common defect, so buyer beware. I would still take my chance again and see if you end up with one that doesn't have this problem because it is a fabulous value.

Thanks for taking the time to read my review.

Received this as a Christmas gift last year. It seemed pretty solid but then I tried to play it. First thing I noticed was that one of the drum pads wasn't attached properly, kind of flopping around. I took the palm of my hand and pressed it into place. Plugged it in and started to play. THE SOUND WAS GREAT! Much better sounding than Casio or even Yahama kits I've tried.

Then I realized I didn't have the pedals plugged in. Plugged them up, tapped the kick bass pedal twice and the whole thing shut itself off. I turned it back on, started to play, tapped the pedal........every time the same, turns itself off. Customer support for this product from Fender is pretty much non-existent.

This is a real shame. Fender lent their good name to this product. And it sounds great. And it's junk.

A great drum set for a good price. Only problem I have is that the touch sensitive is almost too sensitive. It would be nice if there was an option for turning it off. I bought the drum kit for the Fender name and I'm not disappointed with it at all. Sounds really good through the head phones and probably really good through an amp which I don't have as yet. Only reason not a 5 star is because of the sensitivity which some people may like.

This Drumkit works really well if you don't have room for a full drumset or can't play one in your apartment or dorm. I wouldn't suggest this thing for playing gigs because it sounds inferior to a real drumset. If you don't plan on really doing anything with it other than playing along with your mp3 collection or adding recording tracks to mixes, it will probably work for you.

I'm giving it 4 stars because besides the pedals not always being responsive for me, It it exactly what I wanted; a drumset to play in my apartment.

I'm an experienced drummer and was looking for a cheap alternative to a full electronic set for my studio. I chose this one because it was very cheap comparatively, and built very similarly to a Yamaha DD50 I have played before. No issues with power at all volumes, as appeared to previously be an issue. The kit is very sturdy and the pads well built in my opinion. I could bang away with no issues or fear that I might break something. The sounds are great, and has a fair amount of capabilities built in (midi, karaoke mode, 20 kits, 79 sounds, etc.) The reason for the 4 stars instead of 5 is that I'm not all the thrilled about the pedals. The High Hat pedal is not real time, and lags behind my foot action. The bass pedal plays pretty good, but adds a beat sometimes when I don't want one. These could be just a matter of working with them over time. Great buy at $95 (free ship).

The product is just as the manufacturer labels it: easy to use and fun to play. This product teaches you step-by-step how to play the drums while also giving the option to play at your own will. With an extremely large selection of drum sets to choose from and an easy-to-understand digital display, I'd recommend this to anyone wanting to learn how to play the drums without having to deal with the noise that an actual drum set will make. Great for beginners and intermediates.

I would describe myself as a weak intermediate drummer. I purchased the unit a couple of months ago and must say that I am very happy with it. Although it is a bit more expensive than one of the video game kits, it is definitely a step up from them and a better value than the kits in the $300 and $400 range. It really fills a niche. The unit is nice and compact and only takes a minute to hook everything up or take it apart.

1) There is no bass pedal volume problem. I believe that I read somewhere else that Fender took care of this problem a while back. There are no issues with the volume whatsoever. I haven't played on a wide variety of kits, but the pads are as touch sensitive as any that I've played on in the past.

2) There are 20 different drum kits and 99 songs that you can select. You can also create a custom kit. I haven't done this yet though. The songs cover a wide musical range with everything from warm up "beats" to Jazz and Blues and Latin and Rock. Really you could say there are 100 songs if you count the demo which is pretty incredible -- I dream of some day being able to play it!!! You can adjust the tempo and song volume (separate from the drum volume) and turn on/off the different instruments. The "Learning" mode will flash a light on a pad when you're supposed to strike it. It is a bit harder to learn a song using this method compared to the video games or using a computer; however, it does force you to memorize the song.

3) The drum pedals are nice. They might not be as precise as a regular pedals; however, both of them are much smaller than a single regular pedal which makes storing them up easy. They're much better than any of the pedals on the video game drum kits (ie they don't wander all over the floor, you don't have to put them on a bar in an uncomfortable position, they don't make annoying clacking sounds, etc).

4) There are midi in and out ports on the unit. I haven't had an opportunity to try this, so all I can really say is they are there.

5) The manual covers everything you need to operate the unit. It is thin and concise (if not a bit terse).

6) The unit comes with sticks.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. It is a nice, compact, practice unit. I would have given the review 5 stars if there were a few more perks like an intro to drumming DVD or something else to really push it over the top. I'll update this review after I get the midi hooked up.

If you are someone who learned to play drums acoustically (on a regular/real drum-set), then this Fender set will annoy the p*ss out of you. Its response and sensitivity is so bad that you will become quickly bothered and will want to toss this machine out the window (second story!).

Also, the machine that I received had a defective power supply, so whenever I hit the bass pedal, the machine completely shut off. Nice.

I wouldn't waste your dollars. Look for another brand (maybe Yamaha?), or try a Midi trigger type device that you can hook up to your computer.

The sound is awful - we tried to connect it to a speaker system to raise the volume and it sounded like you're hitting a hollow can. Once of the pads also did not work and the foot pedal comes up delayed and totally misses the beat.

I had high hopes when I bought this unit. Mostly because of the midi capabilities. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Here are the problems:
The sounds are only OK.
The pedals are just switches, there is no velocity control, nor any individual volume control so the bass drum and hi hat (or what ever instruments you assign to the foot switches) are always too loud.
There is almost no midi functionality. Very limited note and kit assignment.
Pads are too loud when struck; the whole point of an electronic drum is to avoid disturbing roommates and neighbors. While obviously much less noisy than a real kit, the thwacking sounds will definitely become annoying. (I am talking of course about the physical striking of the pads not the sound generator.)
Not very solidly built.
So its a cute toy. As such it is a bit too expensive. With improved the midi it would be worth it.