Team Radio City Freedom

The Alesis Turbo Mesh is a fantastic electronic drum kit for anyone who's looking to give the drums a go for the very first time. For the money, the build quality is pretty hard to beat, the all-mesh pads are a boon at this price and the compact footprint means it's more convenient than ever to have an e-kit in your home.

The Alesis Turbo Mesh took over from the popular DM Lite as one of the best cheap e-kits around. There's a lot to be impressed about when it comes to this kit from a beginner electronic drum set point of view it's compact, quiet, easy to set up and most importantly feels good to play. Alesis puts playability and player experience high up on their list of priorities, and that is evident when you compare the Turbo Mesh with other kits in this price bracket.

The Turbo Mesh looks pretty cool straight out of the box. The black steel frame is more solid than we'd usually expect at this price point, and was really easy for us to get to grips with - set up instructions are clear and everything is built and tightened using the supplied drum key, while pad adjustments are mostly made via wing screws. The cables that join each pad to the module are supplied as a 'cable snake', making it easy to connect everything up. Plug the correct jack into the correct pad, then the other end of the snake plugs directly into the module with one easy connection. We had our kit built and ready to play in half an hour.

Included in the box are four 8' mesh pads for snare and toms, three 10' cymbal pads and hi-hat and kick pedals, as well as a pair of drumsticks, the aforementioned drum key and the power supply everything you need to get playing quickly.