Unfortunately music stores usually don't have the most informed salesmen. They only know what's in their store and they'll feed you a lot of bull to get you to buy from them (they have to eat too I guess).
- That pearl kit is most likely made from Ash wood (really soft wood - hard to tune and poor durability) since they don't specify in the description.
The most common types of wood that is maple and birch.
- If guitar center tried to charge you the same price that is in that link, unfortunately you got overcharged a good bit.
There is a set that I know of (made by Gretsch) that is about the same price, but is made of birch and the hardware is much better. I think it sounds great for a lot of different styles (and so do a lot of guys I've talked to) and it's a kit you can hold on to for
a very long time.
Here's a link if you want to take a good look at it.
http://www.steveweissmusic.com/product/gretsch-catalina-club-jazz-drum-set/drum-sets - When I comes to pedals, I would have to agree Ions. Start with a single and build technique.
Honestly the type of pedal does not matter once you get to certain point in your playing. There's a DnB drummer named Jojo Mayer that can pull off stuff with one foot that a lot of hair band drummers do with two.
Hope this has helped even though it is a bit long winded and scatterbrained (Sorry ADD). If you have any questions for me, I'd be glad to answer them (hopefully more concisely than this post).
N.B. When you decided to buy again there are a few good websites I like to stick to.
General Percussion - Steveweissmusic.com - you can get the works here - Sticks/Mallets, Sheet Music & Method Books, and Hardware. They have cymbals, but I get them from another website with better prices (got a $500 + cymbal for $384 and it sounds great - I've been complimented that it's the best ride they're ever heard).
Cymbals - Cymbalsonly.com - they give you sound bytes of the cymbals before you buy which has been really helpful.