Mine is a shop-kit. The guy who sold it to me bought a fusion-size maple 4-piece bare shell pack, painted and rigged it up himself down to the lugs. At the time, the kit included a standard 14-inch steel snare--5 1/2 deep--and 4 Sabian B-8's, 13" Sabian hats plus a couple el-cheapo cymbals (more el-cheapo than Sabian B-8's) that I intentionally broke to create effect cymbals out of, and some OK stands.
I added a 13"x3" Pearl piccolo with a mount so that it sits in the space between my left hats, snare and 1st tom... a 14" Wuhan China, an 8" Sabian splash, another hihat setup including 14" Zildjian ZHT Mastersound hats. (A pair of hats on each side. Hehe)
Also a double-kick pedal, but not a fancy brand or anything. I don't even remember the name of them. (Kit is in storage) Bought them in Germany for a band I was in at the time. It has held out well.
I eventually skinned the toms with Evans hydraulics because they've been my favorite heads in general since the early 90's and they're good for studio application, which is most of what I do. Aquarian Impact heads on the kick, Aquarian Focus-x on the snare (with the muffling ring ripped out because I think it sounds better with some ring tone. Didn't realize the heads would deaden the snare that much... sounds great now though), the piccolo still has the factory skin.
Sticks: Brushes, 7A's 7Ajazz, & 5A's (Nylon tips, except a single pair of 5A's, which are wood)... depending on the application.
Moon gel where applicable.
I've played a lot of different drums: DW's, Pearls, Ludwig, Tama, the works... but I think the biggest thing you can do for your kit is outfit it with heads that compliment the shell size & make, tune them PROPERLY, and add what else you think would compliment the setup as a whole.
I've had some crap drums in the past, even a set of old CB percussion Pro's that only had batter heads and no lugs for resonant heads, and I guarantee that you can still make it sound good.
I just think people get a little too hung up on brands when it comes to drums sounding good. Yea, the craftsmanship is important because you don't want stuff falling apart on you, but as far as sound is concerned... You can make anything sound good if you know how, provided it's still in decent shape and your shells aren't out of round or anything, and you know what you're doing.
Personally, I think every drummer should start out with a bad sounding drum kit and spend a long time working on it until it sounds great. I think that's the only real way to experience what makes good sounding drums good sounding drums.
And it's good for a drummer's soul.
