I think playing loud and powerful can be awesome as well. I did it for a while with a loud Sonor 12ply Rosewood kit and it was great. But the success of this depends on everyone else having a comparable amount of power such as great bass rigs and killer guitar sounds and loud clean powerful keyboard amplification systems. Not to mention an almighty PA of course on top of all this!  Then it's all in balance again and can sound huge and awesome.  It is just that you won't have much of your hearing left after doing it for too long!
 
Excitement in playing does not have to be associated with the amount of power you are using in your strokes though. Some of the best music I have ever heard has been at quieter volumes.  People who say the excitement cannot be created and conveyed at lower volumes just can't do it themselves, that is all. 
 
I mixed the tribute show again last night and things got very loud on stage for sure. The bass player just got a new killer rig and he was testing it full time! It was loud. It made everything else loud that the singer could not hear anything then. Loud on many levels is just so pointless.  It would have been 5 times easier for me if things had just been bit quieter on stage that is all. You can also still create a sense of power and loudness.  The PA should be doing more out front with a little less going on the stage.  That always sounds bigger and better to me.  It only takes one person on stage to be too loud and it is ruined for all.  Many bands try way too hard on stage.  When you watch many great and wonderful performances, the bands are often hardly trying at all and they are usually doing it at a decent and reasonable volume at the same time.  
 
 

Alesis makes a kit for $299.  While not up to the level of Roland V drums, these may be an answer.
 https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NitroKit--alesis-nitro-electronic-drum-set

Also might think about an acrylic drum sound shield.  I have seen these used quite 
effectively at casino gigs, where volume is often an issue.
 
https://www.sweetwater.co...g6ZEAQYASABEgJIkvD_BwE

I looked at the newest Roland kit that goes for ~$1,200. It's got the mesh heads that are supposed to feel more natural. But my drummer's an old dude, almost as old as me, and set in his ways. He thinks drum substitution is a demonic plot. I'm afraid the only electronic kit he'd like would be one of those $10k+ Yamahas. 
 
I thought about the drum shield, too. For $350 I'm tempted to take up a collection and get him a set as a Christmas gift. I don't know which would raise his eyebrows more, giving him a plastic box to sit in, or giving an unironic Christmas present to a Jew.

I think the shield would be the best choice. I played regularly on a top of the line Yamaha V-Drum kit a few years back. No matter how far they've come through the years, it still doesn't feel right to me.

Well, I delicately brought up the subject of drum shields at yesterday's rehearsal. To my surprise, he was open to the idea.
 
Unfortunately, his wife (our singer) recently suffered a serious injury and they've incurred a lot of medical bills and money's tight. I offered to buy it and let him reimburse me from gig money, but he's too proud to go along with that.
 
I might just order it anyway for myself, under the pretense that I can use it in the studio. It's a thin cover story, though, since I don't have any drums and don't play drums myself. Anyone ever use a drum shield for other purposes, e.g. speaker isolation?

A bay window for your studio???

Hmm, maybe a greenhouse for tomato starts?

Hey Bit - I just noticed the price listed is for a 3 panel shield.  The photo in the link shows maybe 5 panels.
The # of panels is selectable and the price rises with each additional panel.  Ebay has some posted too.

I don't find they do much. Maybe a couple of Db's but not much to my ears. The only ones I've heard do much is a complete isolation both. The sound just floats right up over the top, through the glass and so on. Helps but not much in my experience.