My ridiculous 80s Ludwigs!

PQleyR

Platinum Member
I thought it was about time I posted a few pictures of my kit, especially since I've now given it a bit of a clean (it arrived in a bit of a state).

Here's the whole messy lot of it as it's currently set up.
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Kick! 26x16!
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Left hand side from behind the kit.
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Right hand side. Excuse the blurry photo.
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Aerial photo number one, illustrating the strange shape of the whole thing...
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Aerial photo number two, illustrating how precariously I'm balanced on the throne to take this one!
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So! What we have here are a rather mixed bag of things. Firstly, the mid-80s blue & olives, thus:

26x16 kick, maple, 6-ply (I think), chrome wrap with scratches, rusty bits, and corrosion

10x10, 12x12, 13x13, 14x14 toms, as above.

16x15 floor tom (converted from a rack tom), 4-ply (I think), modern Ludwig badge, circa early 90s. Chrome wrap, in slightly better condition than the others.

Snare is a 402, which I got new in 2005.

Stands are a mixed bag, those of you who like everything to match please look away now! The tom stands are rusty old 80s Ludwig ones with no wingnuts (so I need a spanner to adjust them)...one yamaha cymbal stand...two pearl ones...one mapex hihat stand...tama and pearl snare stands.

Cymbals, similar...

Paiste 200 14" hihats (extremely the worse for wear these days)
Paiste 400 20" power ride (just been replaced with a Paiste 400 22" ride)
Sabian AAXplosion 16" crash (also looking unhealthy)
Zyn 5 Star 16" crash

Heads are almost all old and in need of replacement. Ancient pinstripes and Ludwig rockers with silver dots on the reso side. Currently an emperor X on the snare. Only really new head is the kick, which is an Evans EQ2.

What a mess! Enjoy!
 
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Damn Pinstripes and Controlled Sound heads! I wonder how that sounds.
 
that paiste ride.. purple logo!!!! its and old paiste... nice.. keep it.. and kit is not ridiculous,,, LUDWIG... good set... may be need a make-up... jaja... congrats...
 
Damn Pinstripes and Controlled Sound heads! I wonder how that sounds.

Not bad, considering, but I will definitely be changing them for something else as soon as I can. First though I'll need to get some new washers as most of them are missing, and some of the hoops might be a bit bent so they might need replacing...could be a big job!
 
I think your your kit has a lot of potential. Mine looked alot like yours except a lot dirtier. I cleaned it up real good. I had alot of great advice and help from people on this board. LVDC your the man! It started out as a double bass two mounted two floor setup. I scaed it down to a Classic One Up Two Down. "Spirit Of Bonzo" kit.
 

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PaiceFan, you have a gorgeous kit... i usually HATE kits with such large drums, but i REALLY want to play your drums haha!
 
Thanks Klopee. Truth be told they were'nt so gorgeous when I got them back. They had been out of my possesion for 10 years stored in a damp cellar. It took a lot of cleaning and resto work to get them to look like they do now. Got alot of help and advice from some guys on this very board. Could'nt have done it with out them. Oh and by the way BIG DRUMS RULE! Peace
 
Mmmm the old Paiste 400 Ride. I used to have a whole blasted set of Paiste 400s. Heaviest cymbals I ever remember dealing with- my ride was even a 22", making it even heavier. Had the old counterweighted Tama stands, and even those could barely handle the 22. Of course that set got stolen after a gig one night, which certainly sucked.

Groovy kit. I've got an 80's Ludwig kit (black/white badge) that I've been trying halfheartedly to unload, but they're certainly cool kits.
 
Ha, that's funny, as the day I posted these photos I actually received a new Paiste 400 ride that I bought on ebay last week. It's a 22" (the other one is a 'power ride' while this one is just a ride). It sounds a huge amount better though.

PaiceFan, nice kit! What size is the kick?
 
Thanks PQleyR. My kits sizes are 26"x16" Bass Drum,14"x13" Rack Tom,16"x16" and 16"x18" Floor Toms. I either use a 6.5" Supra or 8"x14" Maple Snare. I also added a Bass Drum mounted cymbal arm. The cymbals are 15" Paiste 2002 SoundEdge Hats. 24" 2002 Classic Ride, 20" Rude Crash/Ride. and an 18" A Zildjian Crash. I also have Coated Remo Emperors Batter and Coated Ambassadors on the reso sides. The bass drum Has Felt strips on both the Batter and reso sides. These 80's 6plys that all the snobs look down on can sound pretty amazing if you put a little time and effort into tuning and head selection.
 
Oh, they are 6-ply aren't they, yes. I shall amend my original post.

What would you recommend in the way of heads, then? I was going to go for Evans coated G2s or something like that for the batter side, not sure about resos.
 
It's called the Bonham recipe. For Big drums Remo Coated Emperors on the Batter sides. Remo coated Ambassadors on the resonant side. The bottom heads should be tuned alot higher than the batter sides. Play around for a while and tune them alot higher than you think. Have a friend play the kit and stand back a few feet. You may be surprised at how they sound from that perspective. Oh and don't forget your felt strips for the bass drum. Also try to find Jeff Ocheltree's "Trust Your Ears" on you tube he explains it perfectly and He's got a really sweet sounding green sparkle Bonham kit featured in the video.
 
I used to do exactly that, but for the music I'm playing at the moment that sort of sound won't really work, unfortunately. What I want to achieve is a balance between that big open Bonham sound and a more modern close-mic'd rock/metal sound, possibly a bit like Nicko McBrain's drums have sounded like since Brave New World came out.
 
What I want to achieve is a balance between that big open Bonham sound and a more modern close-mic'd rock/metal sound, possibly a bit like Nicko McBrain's drums have sounded like since Brave New World came out.

I LOVE the drum sound on Maiden's new albums, it's so crisp but still feels "real" ya know? You might want to try coated emperors on your toms, they really do the trick.
 
I did! However, I preferred the sound I got with G2s...less overtones but still plenty of warmth, with no dampening whatsoever. They also seemed to handle more or less whatever they were tuned to, I could tune them much lower than Remos and still get a strong tone from them. Not that I probably would, but they had that flexibility, which really impressed me.
 
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