I'm planning to buy Beatles: Rock Band (due to my incredible obsession with the Beatles and my desire to join the rhythm fad), but the whole Beatles bundle costs as much as a Wii ($250). Now, since I'm not insane, there's no way I will ever pay for it. However, I did realize that I could buy a combination of instruments from another game in either series for cheaper, and then buy the Beatles game seperately. Still, I don't want to get the worst instruments.

With the cost of the $60 game added on, what would be the best set of instruments for me to buy (I'm looking for the full set)? I wanted to buy the original Rock Band instruments, but a lot of people say they aren't that good compared to more recent offerings. The factors, of course, being price and quality.

You can find an original Rock Band set for around $90 still, some places are clearancing them out. But I find the guitar to be pretty shoddy. The drumset is great, but everything is wired. You do want to have a good quality axe though, and I find the guitar hero world tour one to be the best. I am a complete nerd about this BTW, if you need any other rhythm game info, hit me up.

Thanks for the help. Are the guitars and other instruments for all the games compatible with each other?

I believe Amazon was selling the Rock Band 2 sets for $100 a day or two ago (was not gold box or deal of the day); I'm not sure if they still are, but that is a good deal for the game and the set of instruments.

If you have a local Fry's; some have the RB2 set for sale for $99 right now as well.

The guitar hero world tour bundles should be on sale at Gamestop for $100. So, you can just pick up either set for the same price. I like the Rock Band set more; the guitar seems to be better quality, but they both function pretty much the same.

Edit: This is for the US; I'm not up to date with deals in other countries.  Also, the instruments in the RB2 and GH:WT sets are compatiable with the other games.

If you're willing to, your best bet is to actually go to Craigslist and buy used. Rock Band and Guitar Hero games and peripherals swamp the gaming section there. You can probably walk off with everything for $60-80 bucks.

Regarding the best instruments, I'm going to agree with the other poster that the World Tour guitar is probably the best. Get two of those if possible. I've never heard any complaints about any of the mics, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. As far as the drum set goes, I don't know if the GH drum set works on Rock Band since GH uses five color inputs and RB only uses four. I would go for the Rock Band 2 drum set.

Amazon is selling a Frontman wireless guitar for $29,00. I have it and it's pretty good so far. They have drums for a similar price, so you can jump in for more or less $50. I can't vouch for the drums quality, though. PS3, BTW.

On the Xbox the Rockband controllers are compatible with Guitar Hero. If that helps

on walmart.com they have the entire band kit for 99$

Thanks for all the help people, it seems I will be entering the fad after all.