Stage Drum Kit

This is my regular stage kit.  Toms and Bass Drum  are Pearl Masters MMX maple shell in natural maple finish.
Sizes are; 8" x 8"   rack tom, 10" x 10" rack tom, 10" x 12" rack tom, 12" x 14" rack tom, 16" x 22" bass drum. All toms currently have Evans G2 clear batter heads and clear Remo Ambassador resonant heads. Bass drum has Remo Powerstroke 3 heads, clear batter and ebony resonant.
Moongel dampers on toms & snare as required, usually only for recording.  Rack is Pearl Icon series, Double Bass drum pedal is Tama Iron Cobra, Hi-hat is modified Yamaha HS930.

I have a collection of snare drums and tend to swap them around a lot:-

1 x Ludwig LB417 Black Beauty 6.5" x 14" brass shell, 2004
1 x Ludwig LB416 Black Beauty 5” x 14” brass shell 2009
2 x Ludwig 400 5" x 14" chrome on aluminium shell, 1960's
1 x Ludwig 402 6.5" x 14" chrome on aluminium shell,1980's
1 x Rogers Dynasonic 8" x 14" 10 ply natural maple shell, Big R 1980's (a beast!)
1 x Rogers Superten 5" x 14" COB shell, 1980's
1 x Rogers Dynasonic 6.5" x 14 COB shell script logo 1970's
1 x Tama 3" x 14" dark blue maple shell piccolo, 1990's
1 x Slingerland 5" x 14" natural maple shell, 2000
1 x Slingerland 6.5" x 14" WMP mahogany? shell 1970's
1 x Beverley 5.5" x 14" WMP birch? shell 1960's
1 x Pearl Masters MMX 5" x 14" natural maple shell 2007
1 x Pearl free floating 6.5" x 14" natural maple shell, 2001
1 x Pearl Sensitone 5" x 14" brass shell with tube lugs and single flange hoops, 2002
1 x Pearl Sensitone 3.5" x 13" brass shell circa 1995
1 x Pearl Super Gripper 6.5" x 14" brass shell circa 1988
1 x Pearl Masters 6.5" x 14" brass shell circa 1998
1 x Sonor Phonic 6.5” x 14” Ferro Manganese Steel shell 1980s
1 x Mapex Black Panther 7" x 12" black maple/cherry shell 2007
1 Premier marching drum 12" x 14" dark blue, birch shell 1970's with top & bottom snares
1 Premier HTS200 pipe band drum 12" x 14" royal blue, birch shell, 1980's? with top & bottom snares

Cymbals, from left in overhead view of kit:-
14" Zildjian Flat Hats, Paiste 2002 20" Ride, 18" Paiste Signature Full Crash, 10" Paiste Signature Splash, 16" Paiste Signature Fast Crash, 20" Paiste Signature Power Ride with optional sizzle chains, 17" Paiste Signature Full Crash, 22" Zildjian China Boy High

Microphones; AKG C408/C418 on each rack tom, AKG D112 on bass drum, Shure SM57 on snare drum. If necessary I also use a pair of AKG C391 overheads and an AKG C451B condenser mic on the hi-hat, but usually only for recording.

All the hardware is flight cased such that cymbal arms and tom holders are transported at their 'as-installed' settings. ie erect the rack, drop in the cymbal & tom arms, fit the toms and cymbals and start playing!  This kit is remarkably quick to set up, and everything is in the same relative position as it was at the last gig.  The hardware box is heavy though!

Since the pictures above were taken I have made a lot of changes. I added LP bar chimes mounted above the china and now use all 3 sides of the Icon rack.  The legs of the Yamaha hi-hat have been removed and it is now clamped to the rack I have also added a foot-operated cowbell to the left of the hi-hat, using a spare Tama Iron Cobra pedal.  Removing the hi-hat legs has made it much easier to move between the left hand bass drum pedal, the hi-hat and the cowbell.

 I have added a Roland SPD-S sampling pad above and behind the hi-hat. This is programmed with lots of useful percussion sounds, sound effects, car horns, and of course seven varieties of fart.

Cymbal additions are a 6" Sabian AAX splash above the 17" crash, a 10" Stagg splash above the 18" crash, an 8" Stagg splash above the 16" crash and a 15" Paiste Alpha sensitive china above the hi-hat.  The hi-hats are generally now Paiste Signature 14" Dark Crisp.

You can see some of these changes in the pictures below.

I also have two  Ludwig kits, a black 1964 Super Classic kit (3 ply maple poplar maple), and a late 80's Ludwig Super Classic (maple) kit with 22" kick,10",12",13" and 16" toms in black cortex. I also have a 1980's Rogers Londoner 5 kit in 'blue mist', a 1980's Rogers Londoner 7 kit  in 'tobacco sunburst', and a Remo Mastertouch 'Bop' kit with 18" bass drum, 10" and 14" toms in black.

Update October 2008: I have acquired two more kits, another Pearl masters in natural maple with 10",14" &16" rack toms and 20" kick and a Yamaha 9000 kit in cherry wood finish, originally with 10",12" and 14" rack toms (see later) and a 20" kick. I have added the Pearl 16" rack tom to my main stage kit so it now goes 8,10,12,14,16,22.  I mainly use the 10,14 and 20 small Pearl kit for dep gigs and the Yam 9000 for recording and when the big Pearl kit needs cleaning or reheading. The big black Luddy comes out on blues/rock deps when I want to look mean and moody and the Remo kit for jazz gigs when I want to look genteel.  When I’m feeling really nostalgic the 64 Luddy gets an outing, about once every 5 years. Pictures of the lot - eventually.

For practising at home I have a Roland TD8-K electronic kit, with 4 additional home built pads.  This has the stock Roland Rack and a Pearl double bass drum pedal.

	Ludwig 1988 Super Classic, maple shells rescued from a  loft in a filthy state, stripped to the last nut and bolt, cleaned and carefully re-assembled.  Toms fitted with Evans G2 batters and G1 resonant heads, Aquarian Superkick 1 and ported Force 2 resonant on the bass drum. Sounds fantastic, if I do say so myself.  Note: I have now refinished the BD hoops and replaced the Ludwig T handles with square head bolts. This is a PLAYERS kit.  No more snagging/detuning when getting the kick in and out of the case.
	Player's eye view, also showing the rebuilt 402 snare drum.  This I got on eBay from the States and it needed tension bolts and a snare strainer, maybe not such a bargain after all, but a lovely drum now.  Coated Remo CS batter, Ambassador snare head and Puresound 24 strand wires.
	Here is the Remo Bop kit.  Remo Fiberskyns on tom batters, Remo Ambassador resonants, Powerstroke 3's on the kick, because they do sound great on that little drum. with a 3.5" mic port. No other damping.  A 2" BD riser is used to get the pedal beater dead centre.  Again I replaced the horrible T handles with square-headed bolts for practicality.
	Player's eye view. That’s the 3.5” x 13” brass shell Pearl with it.
	The tale of the expanding 9000 kit:- This kit started life as a sensible 10,12,14,20.  I always intended getting an 8 and there was this guy on Dolbear's site that had one, so I bought it.  Then I fancied a 16 and there was this bloke on eBay selling a 13 a 15 and a 16 with the holders and cases......................
	When I gig this kit I mount the toms on the Pearl icon rack using the Yam ball type tom holders, so the 8,10,12,14,& 16 drums just swap with their Pearl equivalents. Sometimes I use the 13 and 15 instead of the 14 and 16. Heads are G2’s over G1’s. That’s a 400 with a PS3 batter and Puresound 16 strand wires with it.

This Page has got into a bit of a mess with all the updates methinks. I will try and redo it soon with more pics of that latest state of everything.

updated 13/12/2009