My new "Yes I can play" kit ;)

M

Matt Bo Eder

Guest
I know, this set has no place here in this forum. However, I've been collecting some orphaned drums and here's my new traveling set. It consists of a 5x14 snare, 8x12 rack tom, 14x14 floor tom, and a 18x20 bass drum. Since they were all orphans, I got them all pretty cheap (I think I spent less than $250 for just the drums), and I had extra hardware and good heads lying around, and I figure nobody's really looking at me anyway, so it doesn't matter if they don't match.

I'll let everyone guess at which drums they are. It's nice because I really don't have to worry about what happens to these to and from a gig, or on the gig, for that matter. But they sound really good with the right heads, so you don't have to be super-expensive to get a nice sound. I'll post a video so you guys can hear them too. I'm quite surprised.

I still might get that Ludwig Club Date Downbeat, though.
 

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I like the deliberate miss matched look, actually, better than some matched finishes I can think of out of certain "custom" shops / sheds. Of course, you'll still sound like you (comforting eh), & I look forward to copious smug gushing about how this kit trounces drums at 20 times the cost ;) ;) ;)
 
I like the deliberate miss matched look, actually, better than some matched finishes I can think of out of certain "custom" shops / sheds. Of course, you'll still sound like you (comforting eh), & I look forward to copious smug gushing about how this kit trounces drums at 20 times the cost ;) ;) ;)

Yeah, I don't know how this kit happened. I cruise the 'Bay and I see "tom for $30" or "floor tom for $25" and I just end up buying them. Like I really need more drums. Indeed I've been pleasantly surprised at how good this little kit sounds - and I can't wait to see how they hold up in the back of the truck flying down the freeway!
 
I like it Bo,but the OCD "everything must match" crowd,upon viewing this,will become violently ill, and have to at least ,double their meds.....I love it>:)

Steve B
 
Bo, the bass drum is a Pearl, right?

I'm bad, I know it!
 
Cool idea Bo !!

Oh, by the way, I was talking to a guy in the Los Angeles area who needed a drummer. He has a bunch of light rock and jazz gigs. They pay upwards of $1000.00 each and you would have been playing with some very professional musicians. I mentioned your name.
However, I just showed him your gigging kit and he decided to hire someone else.

I’m so Sorry Bo! :)


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I'll let everyone guess at which drums they are.

Here's my guess:

Pearl Vision BD maybe VXB birch?
d drum rack tom
old Ludwig Fiberglass floor tom
Gretsch snare

What do I win?
 
Bass drum: I want to say it's a Pearl EFX. The lugs are making me doubt myself, but that's my guess.

White rack tom: Looks like a Mapex mydentity tom?

The snare and floor tom I'm stumped.

Older MIJ drums if I had to guess.
 
The bass drum is a Pearl Vision that I actually got new - some shop had a bunch of them in different colors so I took the one most gaudy - he was totally blowing them out! The snare is my $50 MusiciansFriend Tama Rockstar special, the tom is indeed a Ddrum Diablo tom, and the floor is a Sound Percussion 14x14 - I put black gaf tape over the badge. It only has six lugs top and bottom, but I put an Evans G2 clear on the bottom, and a coated G14 on top, and the legs got Pearl's floating rubber feet and this little drum sings. I hate to admit it but this 14x14 naturally wanted to sing whereas that Pearl Reference Pure 14x14 I have took a bit of coaxing.

The 12 tom has emperors top and bottom, and the bass drum got a PS3 on the batter side with the Pearl stock logo head in front. The snare has new snares, new share wire, a Evans snare side head and a coated G1.

Thanks Jim - how do you know guys who get paid $1000 per gig?
 
Thanks Jim - how do you know guys who get paid $1000 per gig?


Ha! Yeah $1000 per gig. I wish.

I am seriously thinking about putting together a kit just like yours. Seems every time I test out drum kits, I get a great sounding bass drum but the toms sound not so good. And visa versa.

But I'm not sure I want to take a chance buying drums I can't test out first.

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Ha! Yeah $1000 per gig. I wish.

I am seriously thinking about putting together a kit just like yours. Seems every time I test out drum kits, I get a great sounding bass drum but the toms sound not so good. And visa versa.

But I'm not sure I want to take a chance buying drums I can't test out first.

.

Take the chance! That's how you know you can make any drum sound good!
 
Did you spend more for the Pearl tom mount than you did for the 12 inch tom? I like the kit. The next time we have blues band practice, I am going to take my toms that do not match just because I can. Peace and goodwill.
 
Take the chance! That's how you know you can make any drum sound good!

You know, you made me think of something important here.

Every drum, no matter how cheaply made, no matter how old or new, has it's own voice.
A few voices may be ugly, but most are not. They are just different from one another.
Finding the voice of each drum and matching those voices together to make a kit is the ultimate challenge of putting a kit together. I think it is an art.

I'm going to start my search for some individual drums and their individual voices.

Thanks Bo !


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Did you spend more for the Pearl tom mount than you did for the 12 inch tom? I like the kit. The next time we have blues band practice, I am going to take my toms that do not match just because I can. Peace and goodwill.

Ah - the tom mount is the one that came on my Reference Pure tom. I removed it because that tom sits in a snare stand.

I am thinking of just getting a Pearl tom bracket and drilling the drum for a permanent install. I don't really believe in suspension mounting.

If I decide on getting the Club Dates, I might install a bracket directly to that tom too to keep with the vintage vibe.
 
You know, you made me think of something important here.

Every drum, no matter how cheaply made, no matter how old or new, has it's own voice.
A few voices may be ugly, but most are not. They are just different from one another.
Finding the voice of each drum and matching those voices together to make a kit is the ultimate challenge of putting a kit together. I think it is an art.

I'm going to start my search for some individual drums and their individual voices.

Thanks Bo !


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Anytime Jim! Or, you could start easy and search for different finishes but from the same brand. There's a guy on the Vintage Ludwig Facebook group that has collected a number of different sparkle Ludwig drums, so he gets this jellybean mix of sparkles - looks kind of cool, and he kept to the same brand and era. Another guy had reds, greens, and silver sparkle and he sent them up vertical to be his Christmas tree!
 
More news: I've been going back and forth on what I wanted to do with this kit, and I think I've started the process to turn it into an actual Pearl kit. I found an 8x10 Pearl Vision tom in orange sparkle for $50 so that'll become the new rack tom, and I'm currently looking at a pair of Vision floor toms (14x14 and 16x16) in wine red with black hardware, new, for $260. This fun kit sounds OK now, but I was concerned about the construction and only 6-lugs of that 14" Sound Percussion floor tom holding up over time. I did only spend $30 on it, but if I made the whole kit a Pearl Vision kit, that might be pretty cool, and I'll be dealing with some kind of mystery birch on every drum, so the quality would be there, but all the colors would be different. Throw in my 5x14 Supra and it'll be a super-wacky gigging kit!

What do you think? Go ahead, dare me!
 
Ahhhh, you are quite sneaky. You know that mismatched look is quite chic in furnishings. You're just a style maven starting a new shabby chic trend in drum kits :). Who cares what they look like as they sound good. With you playing, they'll be great.
 
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