Thinking about buying a Ludwig Vistalite kit. Thoughts?

Road Bull

Road Bull

Silver Member
I know that they are supposed to be a little louder than their wooden brothers. I am fine with that. I play in a crushingly loud rock band anyway, so no problems there.

I found these on CL last night. >> http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/msg/4354579959.html

I talked to the owner. Found out that its a 24" bass drum. Looks to be the newer Vistalites with classic mini lugs, elite bass spurs, bass/tom mount

On the one hand, I was not in the market for a new kit. I have a pretty nice Tama Artstar Maple Custom in green stain. But, these seem to be a pretty fair price for what is offered. If I ordered it myself, I might have gone with full size classic lugs. and perhaps a 13/14" tom. It is hard to say, but the tom might be a 12", maybe 13". The guy listing is a guitar player.

I like the idea of a 24" bass drum though. I have always had 22s.

So what do you think?
 
I like it a lot. Clear Vista's are definitely my favourite. 24" kick is a winner too IMHO. If I was to buy one myself, that one would pretty much tick all the right boxes, I reckon.

Go on. Why the hell wouldn't ya?
 
nice choice. that is a kit that s going to sound great, and turn some heads at a gig.
looks like a 13 tom to me, if the bass is a 24. go for it.
 
A minor thing is the configuration of having the tom in a snare basket. I have, and prefer toms mounted on bass drums. I see that it has that as an option. I am not sure if the tom has any mounting hardware. I imagine that I could use one of the new ATLAS mounts if they can be used with mini lugs I suppose.
 
Road Bull said:
A minor thing is the configuration of having the tom in a snare basket. I have, and prefer toms mounted on bass drums. I see that it has that as an option. I am not sure if the tom has any mounting hardware. I imagine that I could use one of the new ATLAS mounts if they can be used with mini lugs I suppose.
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Either that or a RIMS style mount will see you right.

Bought 'em yet?


opentune said:
looks like a 13 tom to me.
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I thought that too. The floors look like 16" and 18". Add to that the 24" bass drum and a 13" rack would certainly seem to be a more common choice given that combination.
 
Sleeping on it. Mostly due to the rain here and the fact that I have an uncovered 4X4 truck to pick them up with. I might be able to squeeze the bass in the front seat and sudo cram the floors in the extra-cab with the tom on the floor. It would be tight. Maybe the weather will cooperate more tomorrow. I doubt it though. I will figure something out. What do you think of the price? $1600?
 
Road Bull said:
Sleeping on it. Mostly due to the rain here and the fact that I have an uncovered 4X4 truck to pick them up with. I might be able to squeeze the bass in the front seat and sudo cram the floors in the extra-cab with the tom on the floor. It would be tight. Maybe the weather will cooperate more tomorrow. I doubt it though. I will figure something out. What do you think of the price? $1600?
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Price seems good to me. They are over $3,000 new and even used sets I've seen in this condition are around $2,000.
 
I am interested in seeing just how much louder they might be compared to my Artstars. I would love for the bass drum to be a good bit louder. My guitarist uses three heads and three cabs and my bassist uses two heads and two cabs, none if which are small. Lol. We play fairly loud. We don't get ridiculous about it, its more about Mixing different tones and textures... Bla bla bla. But, it would be nice to have a little more volume on tap from the larger vistalite drum.
 
I have a tiny bit of experience playing one.. I would like to own one for the novelty of it but I don't think I would ever prefer it to a wood kit.

If it's a good price then at least you can move it if you change your mind.
 
Started out playing on a set of vista's played them for years only retired them a year or so ago GREAT KIT. There a picture of them in my profile only other kit other then Yamaha I ever owned.The floor toms are Monsters...
 
That's a good price. Hope you get 'em.​
 
I have a set of older Vistas, and they are really good for loud rock type stuff.
The thing about them being loud - I'd say they're not that much louder than your basic ply drums, but they kind of need to be played loud in order for them to sound really good.

They don't open up that well on lower dynamics, but when you start to lay into them - that's when it all comes out!

I recut all the edges on mine, so it's not factory original, but man these things sound perfect for the type of music I'm playing. Mostly loud rock, that is.

Go on and get them, you know you want to.
Have a blast!
 
Well Road Bull - what's the verdict?

They look like they've been well taken care of, and the price seems right.
Did you get them?
 
LOL. No, I don't have them yet. I have some logistical issues that are keeping me from going and picking them up. I saw the add on Friday and head back from the poster after the banks closed on Saturday. It seems that ATM machines don't like to spit out $1600. It was funny I realized there is a security feature that limits what you can withdraw daily. I reset mine yesterday and thought that would do it. Nope. I managed to get $600 in TWENTIES today. I could hardly get my wallet closed. lame... So transaction wise, if it happens, it will happen tomorrow, or maybe this week. If I get them, I would like to get them before my band's show on Friday.

That and I only have a pickup truck to transport. The weather here has been, and will continue to be crap for the foreseeable future. That's Seattle for ya. I might be able to figure something else out as far as transport goes, but we'll see.

So for now, it's a little up in the air.
 
If I didn't already have a set of Ludwig Vistalites, I would definitely buy that kit for $1600. Great sounding drums at a good price. You might get him to come down to $1500 - I have amber, but I love the clear, too. Have fun, rock on.

Just more info for you - my Vistalites record beautifully, sound great in any band situation, and really do not sound any brighter or louder than my Ludwig Classic Maples. Both kits do sound great with Paiste 2002s :)
 
Loved my 70's vista lites. Kills me that I don't have them anymore. Great rock drum set in my mind. Those look clean and well cared for.
 
Update,

So I decided against this purchase. I had the money ready to go and did some thinking. I think the kit looks fantastic. But it's not MY kit. I think its a great deal and someone will be very happy with them. But, If I am going to put down good money for a new kit, it will be one that "I" really want.

After looking at some kits and doing so research and soul searching, I figured out that if I were to buy a new kit, I would still want a Ludwig, but probably a Ludwig Classic Maple. I would consider a Vistalite kit, but I would want a few things different than the one on CL. I would want the full size classic lugs, along with classic claw bass drum hardware, and curved bass drum spurs. And I might want a 26" bass drum.

I figure that $1600 is pretty darn close to getting the kit the way I want it. I think I will pass and let my urge to have these beautiful drums as my own go. I love to stuff I have, and if I pick something else up, I want it to be awesome.

Thanks everyone for the input. As usual, you folks never let me down with all the collective knowledge that you share. I have, and continue to learn a lot.

-Road Bull
 
Vistalites sound really good, but I'd never buy acrylic drums mainly because they're very fragile. They tend to crack and split.
 
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