The 7 Best Electronic Drum Amps and Monitors (2024)

Electronic drum sets are a lot more fun when you have a good drum amplifier. Amplifiers are used as speakers for practicing or for smaller gigs. They can also be used as personal drum monitors while gigging.

A good amplifier or monitor should be able to amplify both low-frequency and high-pitched sounds while keeping the music clear and crisp.

Monitors also save your ears from being constantly exposed to headphones and earphones. It’s very easy to unintentionally turn up the volume too much while listening on headphones.

Note: keyboard amps are also generally well-suited for electronic drum sets.

My top recommended drum amp is the Roland PM100. This is a pretty neat amp for home practice with enough power. 

My second recommended drum amp is the Coolmusic 100W Drum Amp. This is a high-quality yet affordable option.

The 7 Best Electronic Drum Amps and Monitors (2024)

1. Roland PM100
Top Pick - Compact but great-quality drum amp for home practice sessions.
2. Coolmusic DM100 Drum Amp
Budget Pick - High-quality drum amp at a very affordable price.
3. Alesis Strike 8
A powerhouse 2000W drum amp from Alesis.
4. Roland PM-200
Premium drum amp choice with great sound and volume.
5. KAT Percussion KA1
Nice, quality drum amp for practice sessions.
6. Ddrum DDA50
Very compact but good-sounding drum amp with good volume levels.
7. Alesis Strike 12
Powerful 2000W drum amp on a 12” woofer.

Let’s compare these in more detail.

1. Roland PM100

Top Pick
Compact but great-quality drum amp for home practice sessions.
View Price at SweetwaterView Price at Amazon

The Roland PM-100 is a premium 80W drum amp that is perfect for roland drums, as well as other e-drums. This amp has effectively the same features as the Roland PM-200 but doesn’t have as much volume.

Pros

  • Nice set of features
  • Great for home practice and smaller gigs
  • Great angled design for sound projection

Cons

  • Lacks the volume of more powerful amps

This is great for home practicing, as your drum amp for small gigs, or as your monitor for larger gigs. If you’re planning to play larger gigs, either look for a drum amp with a higher volume like the PM-200 version, or route the audio output of your electronic drum set through the PA.

Number of Channels 2
Total power 80W
Inputs1
Outputs2
EQGlobal
Mounting OptionsNA

All in all, the Roland PM 100 is one of the best electronic drum amplifiers out there in the market. It comes at a price, but it is certainly worth it.

2. Coolmusic DM100 Drum Amp

Budget Pick
High-quality drum amp at a very affordable price.
View Price at Amazon

Coolmusic may be a niche brand, but the DM100 drum amp speaks for itself with its brilliant performance and amateur price. This is a multi-function speaker that can be paired very well with your electronic drum, guitar, or keyboard. With 100W of power, it can be used for home practice, rehearsals, and even smaller gigs. 

Pros

  • Total value for money
  • Is quite versatile
  • Good for practice and smaller venues

Cons

  • Could handle lower frequencies better

It offers nice tone and gain controls with its 3-band EQ. This brings out the sound of your whole kit quite nicely. It allows you to connect an external MP3 and earphones, so you can jam to your favorite music. The amp has a wedge design and a carrying handle, making it easier to carry around. 

Number of Channels2
Total Power100W
Inputs2
Outputs1
EQ3-band
Mounting OptionsNA

If you’re looking for a quality amp for your e-kit, don’t always go for the name value. The Coolmusic DM100 is a great option, especially if you’re on a budget. 

3. Alesis Strike 8

Powerful
A powerhouse 2000W drum amp from Alesis.
View Price at SweetwaterView Price at Amazon

The Alesis Strike 8 is a powerful, bi-amplified power active speaker that is bound to make your room thud every time you hit a note on your e-kit. This is a portable speaker with a high-performance transducer that produces loud, yet clear sounds regardless of the environment you’re in. 

Pros

  • Powerful 2000W amp
  • Picks up all aspects of an e-kit well
  • Can be used as a stage monitor

Cons

  • The controls are located on the back

It is great for everything from your home practice to small gigs. It works very well, especially if you own an Alesis electronic drum kit. Its low-frequency pick is quite good, giving your bass drum a nice sound. While its high-frequency drive covers your snare and cymbals. 

This amp can be used horizontally as a speaker or vertically as your stage monitor. Which means they are useful in bigger gigs as well.

Number of Channels2
Total Power2000W
Inputs 2
Outputs2
EQContour
Mounting OptionsNA

The Alesis Strike 8 amp is a dynamic and loaded drum amp that will take your electronic drums to the next level. It is also priced quite modestly for its size, making it an amp worth having.

4. Roland PM-200

Professional
Premium drum amp choice with great sound and volume.
View Price at SweetwaterView Price at Amazon

The Roland PM-200 is perfectly compatible with any V-drum kit, as well as practically any other brand of electronic drums. Also, with the 180-Watt power output, this monitor will deliver a great sound performance. The sound produced by this device is enhanced by its horn tweeter and the 12’’ speaker.

Pros

  • Brilliant 180W output
  • Great sonic coverage
  • Quite versatile

Cons

  • Pricey

The front part of this monitor is placed at a good angle for proper sound feedback. You can place the Roland PM-200 at any spot around your drum set, to get the right feel of your current playing and the sound quality you’re producing.

There are 1/8’’ and 1/4’’ inputs that allow you to connect electronic pads, a music player, or your mobile to this Roland monitor. Plus, there’s one separate input for V-drums, so you can combine this monitor with a wide range of Roland’s V-kits.

Number of Channels1
Total Power180W
Inputs3
Outputs2
EQGlobal
Mounting OptionsNA

The monitor allows you to do some basic mixing with Volume between these inputs and bass/treble EQ controls on the front. Also, it comes with two direct XLR outputs, which you can use to connect the Roland to a recording machine or a large-scale sound mixer when gigging.

5. KAT Percussion KA1

Budget-friendly
Nice, quality drum amp for practice sessions.
View Price at SweetwaterView Price at Amazon

The KAT Percussion KA1 is a drummer’s amplifier. It is a heavy-duty, 50W amp that sounds great in rehearsal and at home. It has a 10” woofer with a 0.25” tweeter continuously delivering clean drum sounds with each hit. It is a good fit for all kinds of electronic drums.

Pros

  • Great value drum amp
  • Suited to all electronic drums
  • Wide 3-band EQ
  • Durable construction

Cons

  • Not loud enough for gigs
  • Requires some fiddling for optimal sound

Its 3-band EQ lets you get accustomed to the whole spectrum of frequencies excellently. So, you hear the lows of the kick drum and toms, the highs of the snare and cymbals, and the mids of everything in between. 

The amp allows you to connect your music player or metronome so you can practice as you like. It can be used for other instruments and works equally well. 

Number of ChannelsNA
Total power50W
Inputs4
Outputs1
EQ3-band
Mounting Options Floor Wedge

The KAT Percussion KA1 is an ideal choice for drummers who are rehearsing regularly and need a good amp to boost their drums. 

6. Ddrum DDA50

Compact
Very compact but good-sounding drum amp with good volume levels.
View Price at SweetwaterView Price at Amazon

The Ddrum DDA50 is a great option to consider. It provides high-quality sound at an affordable price. Being remarkably realistic in sound, it provides a finely polished and clean output of the music. It lets you adjust many aspects of your music with the help of a standard set of controls. Frequency, bass, and tone are just a few of the options available.

Pros

  • High-quality and affordable
  • Handles electronic drums very well
  • Clean, realistic output

Cons

  • A bit weak for the price

The Ddrum DDA50 comes with a 10-inch subwoofer and an adjacent 2.5-inch tweeter. 3 stereo ¼” inputs and a ¼” stereo output. MP3 and Headphone jacks are the other modes of input and output respectively, in the drum and can be used to play music silently.

The amp is particularly great for handling the highly transient nature of electronic drums with relative ease while making sure the sound quality stays the same. The three-band equalizer can be used to adjust treble, mid, and bass.

Number of Channels1
Total power50W
Inputs4
Outputs2
EQ3-band
Mounting OptionsNA

A versatile model, the Ddrum DDA50 is moderately heavy. Transportation is made easy with its handy design, while a metal grille protects the speakers. Overall, the Ddrum DDA50 is one of the best electronic drum amplifiers on the market. It comes at a great price and is perfect for both amateurs and pros.

7. Alesis Strike 12

High-quality
Powerful 2000W drum amp on a 12” woofer.
View Price at SweetwaterView Price at Amazon

Much like the Alesis Strike 8, the Strike 12 is also an incredibly powerful amp. Except you’re hearing a 2000W output on a 12” woofer. As expected, the Strike 12 is a loud, thudding amp. But as powerful as it is, it produces clear sounds that do your electronic drums justice. 

Pros

  • Ridiculously powerful
  • Great response across the complete frequency range
  • Nice Contour EQ with noise rejection

Cons

  • A bit too much for simple home practice sessions
  • The controls are on the back

The Strike 12 reproduces the lows of the kick drum and the highs of the snare and cymbals much better than the Strike 8. You can also customize the sound to your preference thanks to its Contour EQ. It has a Ground-Lift switch that eliminates unwanted noise and the amp prevents distortion as well. 

Number of ChannelsNA
Total Power2000W
Inputs3
Outputs2
EQContour
Mounting OptionsPole

As expected of a 2000W drum amp, the Alesis Strike 12 is a window-shattering amplifier. It is a pretty good buy given its price.

What is an Electronic Drum Amp?

An electronic drum amp is an amplifier specifically designed so that you can hear the output from an electronic drum set.

Electronic drum amplifiers are not the only way that you can monitor your electronic drum set. You can also alternatively use electronic drum headphones.

If you don’t have an amplifier or headphones then you will not be able to hear anything coming out of the electronic drum set. Other than this, there will not be any noise out of it apart from tapping sounds when hitting the pads!

Do you need an Electronic Drum Amp for your electronic drums?

An amplifier is the best way you can monitor your electronic drum set, provided that you are in a situation where the noise level is acceptable. 

It can also be better to use an amplifier in comparison to headphones because you’re hearing might not get as fatigued as quickly.

Can you use any type of Amp for an electronic drum kit?

Keyboard amps tend to work well as an alternative for powering electronic drum sets, however, not all amps work well with them.

Also, many different types of PA speakers will tend to work quite well with electronic drum kits. A wide range of amplifiers will technically work with electronic drum sets, however, you may not get a desirable sound quality from them. Also, if you hook up an electronic drum set to a very low-powered speaker you may cause damage to it if you overpower it.  

You need an amplifier that has a pretty dynamic range and one that will be able to output a reasonably wide range of frequencies. For example, low-end frequencies will be important for outputting sounds such as the bass drum and floor tom, whereas the high-end frequencies will be more important for at least a portion of the sounds coming from hi-hats, snare drums, and cymbals.

How much power do you need in an Electronic Drum Amp?

A 50-watt drum amp is enough for home practice. However, if you want a drum monitor for band practice or on stage then I would highly recommend it to be above this.

It’s best to get the most amount of watts that you can afford because it gives you a lot more headroom, and you can always just turn the sound down when necessary. If you have a higher-powered amplifier, then you’re less likely to push it to its limit.

How portable do you need your Electronic Drum Amp to be?

If you are the kind of person who enjoys taking your electronic drum set on the road for gigging or band practice then I would recommend that you get a relatively portable amp because transporting them can sometimes be a bit awkward if they are too large.

However, it’s often a trade-off because you do not want to get an amplifier that is too underpowered and therefore will not suit its purpose.

What other features do you need in an Electronic Drum Amp?

Electronic drum amps tend to not require many additional features apart from simply just outputting quality sound. Many electronic drum modules will have a reasonable amount of sound-sculpting options should you require them.

Do you need an Electronic Drum Amplifier to record your electronic drum set?

You do not need an amplifier to record electronic drums. You can simply record the sound coming out of your drum module directly via an audio interface on your computer, or you can use a USB connection to record the audio if your drum module already supports this. 

I’ve read a few articles online over the last few years that state you need an amplifier to record electronic drums and that is completely untrue. Whoever wrote this has likely never even attempted to record an e-drum set!

Verdict

Electronic drum headphones are decent alternatives to amplifiers so it’s also worth considering those particularly if you can only make a relatively limited amount of noise in your living situation. However, if you’re tired of wearing headphones all the time, a drum amp or monitor is a great solution.

My top pick is the Roland PM100, a pretty decent amp for home practice with enough power. 

My budget pick is the Coolmusic 100W Drum Amp, a high-quality yet affordable option for those on a budget.

Mike O'Connor
Mike O'Connor

I've been playing drums for over 18 years. I work as both a session drummer and a drum teacher, and I love to share my knowledge and tips on this site. You can also find me on the Electronic Drum Advisor YouTube channel.

2 Comments
  1. I own an alesis crimson 2 electronic drum kit. Will I be able to use it with the roland pm 200 drum monitor. Will it give me a clear punchy sound as I’m a rock drummer? Thanks. Andy.

    • Hi Andy, yes this will work nicely. For connecting, just connect the L/R outputs on the crimson module to the inputs on the Roland amp using standard 1/4 inch instrument cables. It’s a great electronic drum amp… You can tweak the sound a bit with the basic EQ knobs, e.g. increasing the Bass for bigger punch.

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