Right now my favorite drum kit is made up of a 1960's Japanese Maxitone 20in Kick and a 10in Taye Pro Tour rack and a 14in match floor tom.. It's small and Punchy but still has a nice low end to them. I also have a 4 piece Gretsch Catalina Maple kit, a 1995 Japanese Tama Rockstar which I like but that little frankin kit is my favorite so far.

Thanks so much! This video gave me the opportunity to put all the various bits together in one kit (never done that before). Fun stuff!

That voice?? I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about....

@@drumdotpizza 😁

Now THAT is satisfying to hear, thank you for saying so!!

Marching bass drums are a great source for good drum deals! I used to have a Yamaha 18" marching kick that I. picked up nearly free. Kept it awhile until I got a whole kit that has an 18" kick. That Yamaha kick was punchy!! My 26" kick drum is a converted 3-ply Ludwig marching bass drum from 1969. Groovy orange and blue sparkle stripes, but the sound is AMAZING! Got it shipped, with a hard case, for $225. If it had been from a drum kit it would have been 2-3x that much without the case. And did you intend to write 'boom' at the end of your comment? :) Thanks for sharing!!!

Thank you! These toms are HEAVY, which I love (never played Hayman, but I understand they have 8-ply re-rings (4-ply shells??) with the metallized interior paint (vibratone or something like that, right?). Nor Ajax. So what is unique about the Apollo hi-hat stand? I know nothing about Apollo, except the my first kit (a 1980 3-pc Apollo) was a stencil MIJ (or Taiwan?) kit that I was happy to graduate from (into a 1963 Ludwig Downbeat!). ???

Might be CB700... It's clearly a 'stencil' drum design that companies put their own badges on. No doubt available in 6, 8 and 10 lug versions with various lug styles and strainers. I have owned many versions of this design (actually have a 6-lug version at the moment as well), and the hidden vent was new to me. I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of vents, so the idea of hiding it is a cool one. Functional and aesthetically clean. The 7000 series drums were Yamaha's lower line, but I'm not sure they were considered not-professional drums. Just lower cost in wood and lighter hardware (the tom mount, etc.) helped lower cost, but the build quality is truly impressive. Definitely not what we see these days even in mid-quality drum lines. A couple of years later Yamaha used the same triangular lugs for their lower level 5000 series that they termed "Stage" drums, but these that I have aren't Stage drums. They're nicer than those (which had more typically cheap shells). I want to rewrap them. The finish didn't show much in the video, but they really are quite scuffed and worn. Definitely candidates for rewrapping.

@@drumdotpizza Appreciate the reply. You're right about the finish not showing in the video. It doesn't look bad at all. But I know you're a perfectionist and it'll bug you until they're rewrapped.

@@StevenSclafani BTW, did you catch my mention of your (well... Paul's) Amir hi-hats that burned in the fire (as well as my snare)? I still have that drum and rebuilt it. Gonna do a 'show and tell' about that drum in another video soon.

@@drumdotpizza As soon as you mentioned Amir I thought of Paul's hats and then you actually mentioned them which was so funny. Curious to hear more about that snare in your future video.

Thanks so much for your comments! Yeah, when amplified along with other (often distorted) elements of a mix drums can easily become a simple tone with no real authority. The 'biggest' drum sounds I've ever gotten were from single ply heads with little to no muffling on heavy drums tuned to their midrange. Sounds fairly bright in person (LOTS of overtones), but just sounds huge and amazing in a mixl.

Thank you! Yeah, I am amazed at the build quality of the Yamahas. The fit and finish are incredible (damage to the wrap notwithstanding). The interiors are fully finished and sealed, ultra smooth edges, and the shells are HEAVY (which I absolutely adore). Not what I would expect from a lower line (at the time) drum kit. Thank you for your comments.

@@drumdotpizza amazing. And thanks you for all that detail!

Bummer! I'm so sorry to hear that. Yes, I'm surprised at the build quality of their lower line (at the time) kit. It's impressive!

FREE DRUMS!!! Love it.

High praise indeed! Thank you!

What can I say... I like bigly sound! It's a real 'win!' ;) That Zildjian is seriously my most used cymbal for the last three decades. For me it's mostly a crash (I do mostly pop/rock productions), but I have used it as a soft ride for more lyrical stuff. I would love to have someone (Zildjian, Sabian, Istanbul, whatever...) examine it and see if it could be duplicated. Thanks for reaching out!!

I'm sure I don't know what you're on about.... ;)

Absolutely, bring on the topic suggestions! I'd love to know what people want to see covered. Thanks so much!

I LOVE a 10" tom... but not at the sacrifice of the other two. Point well made!!! 10" toms are great as additions to larger rack toms, IMO. I think the trend towards smaller rack toms in recent years has pushed people to tune lower and lower, and I fear some younger drummers don't really get to experience rack toms tuned more to their midrange where they have the greatest tone. 12/13/16 was the standard for so long, and I definitely think it's the way to go (and most versatile) if you only have three toms! They offer a broad, useful range of tuning depending on tastes and styles. Great point, thank you for making it!!!

I love David (and apparently he loves my mom....)

Just repurposing guitar stands. I have cymbal bags that I could keep them in, but the guitar stands keep them at the ready, and I rather like the look of them too.

Ha!! LOVE it! (I may do that with the six-lug version I also have, currently).

@@drumdotpizza also the inner mute on mine holds my drink in place

Aquarian Studio-X (clear) on batters and Classic Clear on bottom. I really dig the Studio-X. It's one of the styles unique to Aquarian. It's their 10-mil single ply head with a ring of very thin 'dot material' near the perimeter, but NOT touching the bearing edge (the edges just see the 10-mil film (not like a power stroke or genera)). This ring material isn't mylar... it's some kind of woven material... I've never asked them what, but it's thin and flexible and strong -- same stuff they use for their dots. The effect of this ring is far more subtle than its appearance would suggest. It's just the perfect amount of taming of the overtones that are usually unwanted from single-ply, medium weight heads. It love them on toms (and they're great for reso side of toms with double-ply on the batters... sometimes reso heads have weird, high harmonics that are audible when used with double-ply heads, and the Studio-X just perfectly removes it while staying lively and resonant. And I highly recommend the Coated Studio-X for snare drum, with or without a dot! More than you asked for, I know, but a subject dear to my heart, so thought I'd share. Thanks for being here!

Pretty sure the sticks in this video are part of a bag of 10 reject pairs that I get from a local music retailer for $30. I have been so finicky about sticks for 20 years now (using ONLY Vic Firth Steve Smith signature model) and finally (about 2 years ago) opened the door to other options, starting with Pro Mark's Carter McLean signature model -- and then all heck broke loose!! There are things I love about many different sticks, but so far haven't found a stick that has all the characteristic to fit my style of playing and my slightly smaller than usual 'man hands!' For a long time I LOVED the fact that the Steve Smith VF model was the thickness of a 5A but slightly longer with a bit more weight toward the tip -- like it's doing some of the striking for me. But once I tried the thicker Carter McLean model (just randomly when at a music store) I was rather taken with the feel of them, the balance, the taper of the shoulder and tip, so I grabbed a pair... then another.... and another.... Then the SS sticks I'd been using no longer felt normal in my hands! "Arrrgghhhh!!!!" And here we are a couple years later, and I have been trying all kinds of things -- Maybe I will do a stick video, but it would just be a vanity project for me as I don't know that I would offer information particularly useful for others, and I do like to be useful if possible... I don't know... maybe there are some points I could suggest people keep in mind when choosing sticks that might be helpful? As for the 'bag-o-sticks' that I got from my local store, I play in a local alternative music cover band and I absolutely hate shredding good (and expensive!) sticks, so I started buying the rejects by the bag for cheap and just match them myself as best I can for that gig. I've actually found some that I like, but availability is always sketchy. I have gone through many bags, and one bag of sticks was (I'm quite certain) rejects of VF's Buddy Rich model as I have a factory pair I compared them with, and they are absolutely identical (except for the lack of paint and screening). I'm pretty fortunate, though, as the local store usually has a pretty broad range of options in their bag-o-sticks inventory, so I can usually find 5A's, stretch 5A's and 5B types readily. Cheap and fine for shredding on stage!

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your stick-journey. A similar thing happened to me. Pre-pandemic I heard that one should pick a stick and (wait for it) stick with it. So I went through my stick bags and settled on my Steve Gadds. For a while. Then my Vater Bebop 550s. Then all sorts of light jazzy sticks (my ride is a K Custom Dark 20 inch, 2110 grams). Then I got into a groove of practicing my rudiments every day with some VF 2Bs. When I move to the kit after my rudiment workout, every stick seems more pleasant to play. I may never find my perfect stick, but now I don’t feel so frustrated by the search. By the way, lately I have been using a pair of Wincent 5As. With regard to a stick video, folks might be interested in the path you’ve taken just because it’s comforting to know that someone else is dealing with the same predicament.

@@artsquillante3392 That's a good idea. Thank you for taking time to share that with me! I appreciate it.

Yamaha 7000 series (Taiwan era), 12/13/16, made about 1980. NOT "Stage" series (5000 series, which were MIJ and cheaper). These shells are basically the later 'Tour" series shells with the triangular lugs that made their way to the 5000 series when production returned to Japan (after RCs were introduced). Thanks for being here!

@@drumdotpizza 💯 from one working drummer to another 🥁🥁🥁