NDKD! (New Drum Kit Day)

DiMarco

DiMarco

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Since I don't like half-assed stuff and spent a lot of money, time and effort in getting my bass tone bloody well near perfect I decided to buy a "big rock sound" drum kit for my current band (where my sister is the drummer and has no decent kit). I want the rhythm section to sound great not just the bass guitar!

Where does one start when looking for a drum kit without knowing too much about it? Lots of places. Youtube was a good source, so was google. Checking what some of my favourite drummers are using... Dave Grohl plays on a Ludwig kit I will not want to afford but the sizes of stuff is what matters a lot. Here I decided a 24" bassdrum, 13 + 14" toms and two floor toms (16 and 18") are also required for the sound I am after. Once I was this far on the journey the hunt could begin!

So I open up the local dutch marketplace website which is kinda like craigslist and notice this 1972 Pearl professional series "Wood-Fiberglass" kit that has the exact sizes I was looking for.... 2km from my own place. Is it luck?

It came with a 14" Istanbul hi hat which sounds really crap and a 22" "Krut" ride. Krut turns out to have been an entry level brand in the 50's and 60's and so this ride is also a bit of a disappointment. But... The shells man! the shells! This drumkit is LOUD and explosive! I still need to get everything tweaked and in tune but I'm already loving the way it sounds!

The snare drum is a 14x5" Yamaha MX series, also from way back. I have used my old man's expertise (he's been a drummer for a long time and nowadays is a producer) to get that in tune and it fits well with this XL size sounding kit.

The cymbals however are crap. So I bought a 1979 2002 16" crash which sounds really great and on their way to me are an 18" Zildjian zbt rock crash, 14" Paiste Alpha bright hi hat and a 20" Sabian AA rock ride.

Never thought I'd own a drum kit but man this together with the growly Pro1 tone will cause some serious butt shaking! I'm talking John Bonham style battering. I named the kit Bonzo.

Here's two cellphone photos of the yet incomplete kit.
 
Looking great, Marco! Your sister being your drummer? And your minor relative I suppose :-)))

How cool is that?
 
Neh not a minor relative, I brought her along to test the drumkit before buying it as my technical knowledge about drums is inferior. We started this band together and the mission is clear. Long hair music with loud ♣♣♣♣ing drums hahaha. This kit fits right in.
 
Yeah!!

Nice kit, Le Marco. Would love to hear some clips of some hard rock drumming + Lolphin. 8:
 
New hi hats and Zildjian 18" ZBT rock crash (heavy and with a large bell so it kinda has ride qualities as well) arrived today along with a bunch of evans rings and vic firth drumsticks so I drove down to the studio and set it all up. I stuck the old hi hats on two cymbal stands where they now act as splashes.

The Evans rings do a great job at muffling the ringing sounds of snare and toms, making the whole kit sound more staccato and thus adding more contrast to the whole mix (cymbals should ring out, toms should not do that too much imho).

Tomorrow a new Paiste Alpha 20" Ride cymbal will arrive and replace the old Krut ride which will be disposed of. On sunday one of the old hi hat discs will be replaced with a large china which will complete the lot.

Also, I have learned that my 1979 Paiste 2003 16" crash with black print is a pretty much sought after cymbal. Lucky me. It does sound REALLY good I must say.

Here's a pic of the current situation:
 
Is it an optical illusion, or the cymbals are too angled? I am not a drummer, just messed with some, I would keep them as horizontal as possible :-)
 
That depends on how high or low the drummer sits and how low or high the cymbal stands are set up.
This is different for every drummer. What you need is to be able to play any part without thinking (which drummers are really good at hahahaha), including the bells of cymbals. If you have to strain your arms or wrists to be able to play those properly you have set up your kit wrong.

This kit has a 24" base drum instead of 20 or 22" and also larger toms so the toms and cymbals are sitting somewhat higher then on regular kits. For this reason everything is at a different angle then on those small kits. The china will be mounted almost completely vertical.

Update: Arriving next week is a set of Pearl Eliminator double bass pedals.

Edit: Also, cymbals are usually at an angle sir Flo.
 
I know I'm probably boring the crap out of most bass players with this but we're having such a blast piecing together this kit I just HAVE to share the joy...

Complete kit with the new cymbals added:





Paiste Alpha Medium Brilliant Hi Hats 14"



Paiste 2002 Black Label Crash 16" (1979)



Zildjian ZBT Rock Crash 18" - this thing is incredibly loud and has ride qualities.



Paiste Alpha Full Ride 20"



Wu Han China 24"



The brand and type of this great kit



The grand total of money spent on this complete kit is under 1100 euros. I think I'm doing a fairly decent job here but then I'm no expert of course...
 
I haz no clue bout drum kitz but thiz one lookz kewl imho Marco ... 8 :
 
Being serious about this current band... Tuesday arriving: 2x Solton MF300 L with stands, two more will be on their way later if needed (for stage monitoring). These are 300w RMS full range (600w peak, 55hz - 18khz range at +/-3dB) 12 inch monitors. 99dB at 1 watt 1m, max SPL 127dB. These are LOUD little ♣♣♣♣ers.



Plus a 2x450w class D powered mixer with compressors oon chan 1-4, feedback detection and 24bit dsp for effects (reverb). Separate mix for stage monitors and mains, exactly what we need for small venues where there's no P.A.
 
That's a cool looking kit you have there!

By the way +1 for 'long hair music with loud f-ing drums!' ;-)
 
Nice! Be careful, you are on a dangerous path, haha!
One of my former bands, we started to buy little things...
well, we ended with:
Martin Audio Line array
Midas Verona console
Klarktechnic EQ, and compressors.very expensive high end tube preamp/ compressor for vocals, etc etc,
50 m - multicore
full backline - including full stack for me, and a huge guitar rig, with large rack, large pedalboard, and a huge case with 3 caninets inside already miked, drumset, PVC panels for drums, etc
In ear monitoring for everybody, each one have it's rack with separate 30 bands EQ, compressor, and the transmitter. for fine tuning :-)
6/8 stage, lights,

and of course 5 techs permanently hired, with work contract, sound engineer, lights technician, two trucks, two SUV's...

...
It was a nightmare to manage this, a totally different job, and we were actually having gigs to pay for our stuff, haha!


and as I said, everything started like this - we need something small for clubs, hahaha!
 
LOL! I'm not gonna go that far (I think) tehehehe. Although I do have in-ear monitoring stuff already.... OHNOES!!!!
 
Added a Roland TD-4 KP portable electronic drumkit for practicing and recording rough ideas on the go.
Looks like a toy but it is a great little tool to get things done quick. Multi zone chokeable cymbals woohoo!
Midi out goes into the laptop where BFD2 handles the sounds. Using the internal TD4 sounds when practicing or working on new material. This makes digitally tracking drums a lot easier then through the Yamaha digital piano or Korg PadKontrol.

[video=youtube;ZpvXpxtqN2M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvXpxtqN2M[/video]
 
I normally hate electronic drums, but this one is nice!
 
Upgraded! New kit is smaller but sounds bigger and a little less loud. Tama Superstar from 1986 (back when superstars were good). Added a BUBINGA Tama SLP snare to further perfect it.





Yes that's a Pearl Eliminator C double bass pedal hooked up to the kit.
 
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