My current go to kits are a set of ‘67 Ludwig’s and a set of USA Custom “Maple” Gretsch’s. Both of these kits give me a pretty good range of tone and sound to choose from whether it’s live or in the studio. Here is a breakdown of each:
1967 Ludwig’s
Finish - White Marine Pearl Wrap
Sizes Spec:
9” x 13” - rack tom (mounted on snare stand, w/ floating basket)
16” x 16” - floor tom
14” x 22” - kick drum
These drums just give you the feeling of playing with the legends of the past. There is a certain reverence that I feel when I’m on these drums. Hard to explain, but it’s there. They have a nice open rock feel to them. The toms just speak great in a mix and the kick has a sound all it’s own.
Gretsch USA Custom Maple
Finish – Natural Satin
Sizes Spec:
8” x 10” - rack tom (rims mount)
9” x 12” - rack tom (rims mount)
12” x 14” - floor tom (floor tom full circle rims mount)
18” x 22” – kick drum
My Gretsch’s, what can I say. The name says most of it for me. These drums are my go to for most sessions and live. I currently play these in the 4 piece configuration using the 12” and 14” toms. Surprisingly, the 14” tom sounds like a 16” tom. I literally put the head on these drums and snug the lugs down and BAM!!! The sound is instant. Most engineers don’t have to do anything to these drums EQ wise. They just have a great natural tone to them.
Current Snare Drums
Ludwig Black Beauty – 5” x 14”
Brass on Brass
- Features a brass Plated P86 Millenium Strainer, brass plated P33 butt plate, brass tube lugs, brass die cast batter and snare hoops
Ludwig Supraphonic – 6.5” x 14”
Aluminum (Seamless)
- The USA made chrome plated seamless shells produce a really bright sound with the perfect balance of full resonant tone and snare crack.
- I use a wide 42 strand PureCussion snares on the this drum
Ludwig Acrolite – 5” x 14”
Aluminum (Seamless)
**“My most used snare drum”
- This drum has a nice all around sound. It can be tuned down to get a nice fat sound, or tuned up for a nice live drum with good crunch and nice midrange honk to it.
**“Sometimes, for certain songs I’ll put a cut up old snare head to deaden for a certain vibe.”
Ludwig Classic Birch – 6.5” x 14”
Finish – Natural Satin
- This Birch Drum has a nice tone to it. I usually keep it tuned lower for the more slow vibey things I may be playing on. (ie. Blastiks, brushes, etc..)
- I use a wide 42 strand Purecussion snares on the this drum as well
Current Cymbals
The Zildjian K line of cymbals have a unique sound to them. In my opinion, when carefully selected, they offer the right frequency spot in a mix. They have a nice dark trashy sound that speaks, and then dies so as not to clutter the mix.
I am big fan of Zildjian cymbals. I have used them exclusively in my 18 years of being a professional. My current inventory includes the following:
- 8” Splash (special occasion use)
- 13” K/Z combination HiHats
- 14” Constantinople HiHats (bottom on Top)
- 14” A Custom Crash
- 17” A Custom Crash
- 18” & 19 “ K Custom Dark Crashes
- 19” K Custom Hybrid Crash
- 20” K Custom Dark Ride
- 20” K Custom Dry Ride
- 21” Sweet Ride
I use all DW Hardware and pedals.
Kick Pedal - DW 9000
HiHats – DW 5000
Throne – ROC n SOC Hydraulic
Electronics and software:
- Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors w/ 23” Cinema Display – 18GB RAM, 3.5 TB HD space – OSX 10.5.5
- Apple 15” Macbook Pro w/ 3GB RAM - OSX 10.4.11
- Digidesign Mbox, and 002
- M-Audio Oxygen 8 midi keyboard Controller
- G-Drive HD storage
- Pro Tools LE 7.4
- Reason 4.0
- Stylus RMX
- BFD 2
- Logic Pro
- Xpand
- and other misc plug-ins and such