Best Electronic Drum Amp to Practice at Home and Stay Friends With the Neighbors

Acoustic instruments need no amplification as their volume depends on how you play them. However, if you don’t intensify electric ones, you just hear nothing. The amplifier is a piece of equipment that boosts an electric current. In short, a transistor accepts the signal, called the input, and increases it many times before feeding it into a speaker. Thus you hear an intensified version of the original sounds, the output.

Each instrument requires amplifiers with particular characteristics. In this article, I take a close look at the DDA 20, which I consider the best electronic drum amp for home sessions. This small amp never disturbs neighbors, and as it is also portable, you can take it to chamber jam sessions.

Top 5 Electric Drum Amps

Here is the list of electric drum amps with different properties that I consider the best for particular purposes and locations. These amps vary from home ones to the ones you might use for performances so you can choose the equipment that fits your needs.

1. Donner Mini Electric Drum Amp: Best electric drum amp for home sessions

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Donner Mini Electric Drum Amp is fully designed both for home sessions and for small quiet jam sessions. The most critical parameter of any amp is its output wattage, which is 20 watts which means DDA can be truly quiet and never disturb your neighbors. Frequency response ranges from 20 to 20KHZ, which comprises precisely the spectrum we can hear.

The body is equipped with a 6.5″ woofer and a 2.0″ tweeter, providing sufficient volume with adequate transient response and bass response. DDA 20 is easy to carry around as it is 11.6 inches long and weighs slightly more than 10 pounds. It is also safe to transport because the edges are surrounded by hard material that defends the amp from kicking. Rubber pads make it stable in their turn.

DDA 20’s primary purpose is to replace the headphones. It is not loud, so you may use it in your flat. It is the best option for those who have only started learning to play, and their only listener is the tutor. I’d name equalizer as a flaw, which might be challenging to read on the first try.

2. LyxPro 40 Watt Electric Guitar Amplifier: A drum amplifier with clear sound at any volume level

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Compared to DDA 20, LyxPro is two times more powerful – it has 40 watts. That means you can still use it at home without disturbing your neighbors, but it also fits for playing in bigger rooms and outdoors. On the other hand, higher wattage usually means bigger weight, and LyxPro is not an exception – it weighs a little bit more than 16 pounds. However, LyxPro is heavier than DDA 20, it still belongs to the amplifiers that are relatively easy to transport due to its dimensions that are only 17” x 8.5” x 13.5”.

This amp gives a clear sound at any volume and frequency. I always test amplifiers on the maximum volumes, it is one of the easiest ways to check their quality, and LyxPro does give a staticky sound with no pops or hissing even at maximum volume. Yet, sound on low volumes could be better, so if you want to practice but stay quiet, it is better to use headphones. The distortion also works well, and the reverb effect is easy to use. Given that, LyxPro is considered beginner’s equipment, it also belongs to the medium-price segment.

3. The Coolmusic Electric Drum Amp: A professional electric drum amp

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The Coolmusic Electric Drum Amp belongs to a professional rank. It has 100 watts of output wattage, which makes it suitable for a broader range of locations. You can use it at home, yet, it demands more attention to the volume lever since it is able to disturb neighbors. Among all the amplifiers I mention here, the Coolmusic suits not only for rehearsals, but you can also use it for performances since 100 watts is enough power to play outdoors or in big spaces. This amp is equipped with a 10-inch woofer and a 1-inch tweeter. A woofer makes low frequencies sound even more profound, and a tweeter is responsible for the clear sound of high frequencies, so the Coolmusic amp sounds clear at any frequency and volume.

The Coolmusic Electric Drum Amp is much heavier than the others I mention, it weighs more than 30 pounds, and its dimensions are 16.14 x 14.17 x 13.39 inches. This amp is harder to transport, but it concerns almost every high-wattage amplifier. One more useful feature for ones who want to play professionally is the USB function, which offers a direct recording.

4. DDA 80: Perfect edrum amp for rehearsals

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DDA 80 is priceless for those who need to integrate the drum sound into the band. It stands out due to its limit switch, which suppresses the overload signal in the drum set, and appropriately increases the loudness of the overall drum. DDA 80 has 80 watts capacity, which makes me think that is a sort of middle ground between DDA 20 and Coolmusic Electric Drum Amp. It is more powerful than DDA 20, which is intended to replace headphones. Yet it is not professional enough to be used for performances since it doesn’t reproduce low frequencies clear enough. I believe DDA 80 fits different locations, but the best way to use it is through closed rehearsals and alone practice in an isolated room.

The other reason I name DDA 80 the best option for rehearsals is its weight. This amp weighs 20 pounds, and its dimensions are 17.2 x 10.98 x 9.76 inches. As I said, it gives a decent sound for practicing, but it’s not worth carrying around.

5. Coolmusic DM20: A decent drum amplifier for its price

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The Coolmusic DM20’s characteristics are similar to the DDA 20. The main feature that describes any amplifier is its wattage, and both of these models are 20 watts. That means it is quite enough to fit home practice, yet, it can’t be used for full performance. Such amplifiers are recommended only for small chamber sessions; such a wattage is too low to play in the big rooms. However, the wattage is the same, DM 20 is two pounds heavier than DDA20. Coolmusic DM20 is equipped with a 6.5-inch woofer and a 2-inch tweeter that give decent sound for its price. Unlike DDA 20, it has a USB interface and differs in design.

Quick Guide on Drum Speakers

Do I need an electronic drum amp?

Acoustic drums don’t need to be amplified; the volume depends on how you beat them. Rubber cymbals and mesh heads work another way, as there is a sound module on an electronic drum kit that enables them to make sounds. You should use headphones or amplifiers to hear what you are playing.

One of the essential characteristics of the amps is frequency range. So, when you choose an amp, this parameter must correspond to the instrument’s frequency range you need to amplify. Thus, both drums and keyboards have a similar spectrum, so you can use one amp for these two instruments. Yet the most common type is a guitar amplifier, but you can’t use it for drums as its frequency range is much narrower.

How to choose the best electronic drum amp for you

Drum sets have one of the broadest spectra of frequencies, that is why you can use a drum amplifier for other instruments, but you can’t do vice-versa: not all amps fit the drums. Here is the list of other questions you should consider before buying an amplifier.

• Power, calculated in watts, determines the sound volume and quality. The more watts amp has, the louder it is. How big are the premisses where you are going to play?
• Consider the amp’s size and weight. Does portability matter for you?
• Calculate the number of inputs. Do you plan to plug in more than one instrument?

FAQ about any drum amplifier

What amp should I use for electronic drums?

Choosing the right amplifier for electronic drums depends on how you will use it. To understand which parameters the amp must have, I think you should ask yourself:

• Where are you going to play the drums?
• Is it a room or an open-air location?
• Are you going to carry this amp around?

If you don’t have the answers yet, look for something basic like DDA 20. It is portable, durable, and has a full range of frequencies.

Can you use any amp for electronic drums?

In fact, you can try to use any amplifier for electronic drums. There is no such a thing as a standard drum set, as you can always add or replace any drum you need considering your purposes. That is why drum amplifiers are designed so that they are able to reproduce a broad spectrum of sounds, from low-end thumping bass drum notes to ultra-high frequencies from crashing cymbals. But another type of amp, like a guitar amp, will hardly excel at these frequencies without damaging the speakers.

How do you hook up an amp to electric drums?

The first thing to do is to turn the drum amp off. Then connect a 1/4″ cable from the drum module’s audio output to the drum amp’s audio input. If your drum module has two outputs, choose the left one since it sends a mono signal from your drum module to the amplifier. Now you can turn on the drum amp and try the volume.

Choosing the best amp for electronic drums

An amplifier is an essential part of any electric instrument in case you want someone else to hear what you play and quit using only headphones. There is no best amplifier for all possible conditions at once, some drum speakers are intended to be used for big concerts, and some serve only for home sessions. Keep in mind the conditions you will play in, then choose the edrum amp that fits them best. I was looking for a drum amplifier suitable for the flat and would pick up DDA 20 as the model that gets along with the neighbors better than others.

Please, share what matters the most for you when choosing speakers for electronic drums? Which are your main requirements for the best drum amplifier?