A high dollar rod is usually expensive for a reason, better materials, more expensive manufacturing and in some cases extensive input on design.
A high dollar rod is like a high maintenance woman, if you can afford one. Why not drive a Porsche instead of a Yugo. I remember giving serious cash money to high dollar strippers even though I could not really afford them either. Spent all my rod money in my Younger Days on Trixie and Delilah and Honey rather than Daiwa or Century or Fenwick.
Not sure if the Saltiga Ballistic mentioned by original poster is a 30 a 35 or a 40 as I do not have this rod. It is a decent rod. If the rod seems to be collapsing under the cast, nip off a couple inches and it will stiffen up.
RedHead prefers the Saltiga ballistic 40 over a CTS 1305 for Drum Fishing, CTS is about $150 more with similar guides and a not too elaborate butt wrap. If you put your ballistic in the hands of an experienced surf caster the rod will do its part. First time I saw a Ballistic was on Little Island Pier in 2007 and Lumm was flat out bombing it out there. This was before CTS became the preferred clone of the 1509. but the Ballistic certainly was not too far behind the All Star 1509 the standard Drum rod of that time period
I personally would move the reel seat to 31" Center of Real Seat any less and you are reducing your leverage with 4" shorter fulcrum point. A lot of factory rods were designed for midgets or for Spinning reels in the short reel seats they leave the factory with.
The reel is just as important as the rod for getting distance, if you have a crap rod or a crap reel the results will be the same.
if you looked at the reels of the top 10 DrumPro's they are either Seiglers or Penn Fathoms and one SLOSH20 and one uses old 700 series Calcuttas by Shimano. The Seigler is $400 and the Penn Fathom is $160. Is the Seigler three times as good as the Fathom, short answer is no, but it is better for distance if it is tuned. One young DrumPro who I was speaking with just yesterday fishes exclusively with Seiglers, he has never bought one, he has won every one of them in a Drum Tournament. Now this young man can outcast me and normally I would get perturbed (by being outfished and outcast) but this young man is not arrogant or egotistical unlike some of the DrumPros of today and yesterday. Hopefully this young man will win a new set of waders in his next tournament as it was probably (Definitely) chilly yesterday in the rain at the secret spot on the OBX
DrumPro's are by and large mentally challenged in a lot of ways, who else would fish all night to catch a fish they have to turn loose and not eat, but if a reel comes along that will get them a guaranteed 20 feet further, they will find a way to pay for it. Mostly the DrumPros do it the old fashioned way they earn it by toil and practice and being out there night after night, day after day.
Point being made is up to a certain level you can get a short cut to distance just by spending $700-$1300 on a Drum rod.
Come to think of it I need a couple new $$$$ sticks