Written by Bitter Dawn on 27.01.2008 at 10:15

This thread will have to do. I finally ditched the drum program b.s. and got a real kit today. It's a mix of a Tama Rockstar and DW, in black of course!

2- 10" Toms
1- 12" Tom
1- 14" Floor Tom
1- 22" Bass drum
1- 14" DW Natural Maple Snare
1- 14" Sabian HiHats
1- Paiste 16" Crash
1- 8" Zildjian A Custom Splash
1- 10" Sabian (don't recall what type)
1- 16" Sabian Paragon crash (Neil Peart model)
1- 18" Zildjian A Custom crash
1- 20" Zildjian Ping ride
1- DW 5000 double bass pedals
1- DW 5000 HiHat stand

No photos yet, it's not even entirely set-up since I just got it today/yesterday but I am very excited about the prospect of having real drums for my music project and I even picked up a new interface/mixer today.

Very nice stuff, you must have spent quite a bit on that...
So... if you've been using a program... does that mean you haven't played drums before and now you're going to learn how or are you planning on getting someone else to play them?

Written by Guest on 29.01.2008 at 01:35

I have a really dumb question. I have a Pearl double bass pedal (122TW) and I can't figure out how to adjust it so that the beaters are closer to the skin but the footboard stays the same height. I've had it for a few years now but it's pissing me off, there's no rebound so it makes it really difficult to play fast (actually it makes it a lot more difficult to play in general). Maybe I just need new springs but I might look for some some different pedals. My friend used to have some Big Dog ones and I could play way better with those...

That's not a stupid question dude.
I will try to answer you as no one else has attempted to... (I don't know much about the Pearl design but I'm sure they're similar to my old Iron Cobras)
Try loosening the small part of the pedal that holds the beater onto the horizontal top part of the pedal. (Probably use a drum key?) Then hold the footboard up at the desired height and move the beater closer to the drum skin, and tighten the part you loosened. It's a bit tricky... just be patient and keep trying.
If this makes absolutely no sense I will try to draw a diagram.

Written by Savage Messiah on 29.01.2008 at 05:17

Written by Bitter Dawn on 27.01.2008 at 10:15

This thread will have to do. I finally ditched the drum program b.s. and got a real kit today. It's a mix of a Tama Rockstar and DW, in black of course!

2- 10" Toms
1- 12" Tom
1- 14" Floor Tom
1- 22" Bass drum
1- 14" DW Natural Maple Snare
1- 14" Sabian HiHats
1- Paiste 16" Crash
1- 8" Zildjian A Custom Splash
1- 10" Sabian (don't recall what type)
1- 16" Sabian Paragon crash (Neil Peart model)
1- 18" Zildjian A Custom crash
1- 20" Zildjian Ping ride
1- DW 5000 double bass pedals
1- DW 5000 HiHat stand

No photos yet, it's not even entirely set-up since I just got it today/yesterday but I am very excited about the prospect of having real drums for my music project and I even picked up a new interface/mixer today.

Very nice stuff, you must have spent quite a bit on that...
So... if you've been using a program... does that mean you haven't played drums before and now you're going to learn how or are you planning on getting someone else to play them?

I played around on a kit about ten years ago, and I've messed with a couple electronic kits throughout that time frame, but I never had much of a concept on how drums work.
I'm teaching myself though as I want to keep my "band" as a two man project, just for personal reasons so the music feels like it really belongs to us, to prove to myself that I can do a bunch of things musically and I am probably not the easiest to work with since I am so particular and can be a bit of a jerk.

I got the kit used for a great deal, the previous owner really need the cash so I just matched is asking price instead of bargaining since it was an OBO situation. I've been having alot of fun with them, and I have the basics going on.

Hey, any drummer here record a video of him/herself playing an then upload it on youtube to brag? If so, hit us wit da links so we can check it out!

Written by Remus on 31.01.2008 at 23:22

Hey, any drummer here record a video of him/herself playing an then upload it on youtube to brag? If so, hit us wit da links so we can check it out!

I still need to find a way of recording myself...
But I agree with Remus, POST LINKS PEOPLE!!

Perhaps I will once I get better, and maybe we'll do some in studio recording clips.

Written by Savage Messiah on 01.02.2008 at 09:24

Written by Remus on 31.01.2008 at 23:22

Hey, any drummer here record a video of him/herself playing an then upload it on youtube to brag? If so, hit us wit da links so we can check it out!

I still need to find a way of recording myself...
But I agree with Remus, POST LINKS PEOPLE!!

Id love to, but the closest thing I have to a vid of me playing is me falling over and crashing my kit over when I was really drunk, and the sound it made sounds better than my playing anyways. I have to convince my buddy to post it, he wont put it up on youtube or anything because hes dubbed it "more of my pointless drunken stupidity that we can catch on film every other week"

I gotta get a new set before I can even consider recording by myself. And I'll buy the set hopefully during the summer or after it. This is what I had in mind: http://www.thomann.de/gb/pearl_vlx925s_c_vision_fusion_1_232.htm. Thoughts?

^ Very nice!!! it'll probably set you back a pretty penny, but you can't put a price on quality, can you?

Yeah, after working through the summer I'll be able to get it, along with a new cymbal set, a seat, and double pedals.

Some pics of my kit finally, I apologize for the really bad photoshop done of the overhead view.





2- 10" Toms
1- 12" Tom
1- 14" Floor Tom
1- 22" Bass drum
1- 14" DW Natural Maple Snare
1- 14" Sabian HiHats
1- 8" Zildjian A Custom Splash
1- 12" Wuhan Splash
1- Paiste 16" Crash
1- 16" Sabian Paragon crash (Neil Peart model)
1- 18" Zildjian A Custom crash
1- 20" Zildjian Ping ride
1- DW 5000 double bass pedals
1- DW 5000 HiHat stand
1 - Pacific Drums throne (pretty comfy)

Thinking about putting the Wuhan China back on, but I need to get another cymbal stand. As you can kind of see, I have five out of seven mics set-up: two overhead condensors, snare, kick and one tom. I've found things work best with the tom and one overhead off since there is so much reverb.

^ Man that is terrible photoshop-ing ! Nah, just joking, it's the drums that count! And boy, do they look awesome! Sooooo many cymbals, btw, is your ride set up on your left hand side? - kinda weird.

So i had the opportunity to play on an Axis double bass pedal: Holy shit! < That pretty much sums up my experience!
They are so light, yet still give great feed-back, and they're so damn fast - it usually takes me a bit of time to get adjusted to a new pedal, but on these i just started playing and i never made mistakes - it was as though i'd been playing on them for ages!

Man i have to get myself a pair of those! Although miss Messiah stresses that Trick are so much better...


P.S.
Oh yeah, they're better than my Cobras!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okcZCZr-13A
Watch out drummers, you may become obsolete! JK...

Nothing beats an acoustic drum set with a drummer that has perfected their technique. I am always amazed at the hand-foot coordination of drummers who can play different rhythms between upper and lower body. I don't understand how someone can mentally do that, it's like patting your head and rubbing your stomach in a circle at the same time... or moving your arm in one direction circularly while moving your foot in the opposite direction circularly at the same time. I guess it just comes with practice and repetition...

@Bitter Dawn: I love that drum kit man! Wish I had one as good as that...

@ Bitter Dawn: Fucking awesome kit mate, nice setup.

@ Remus: Trick ARE way better. Haha but Axis are still awesome. Get some.

Thanks guys and gal'! I lucked out with that set, I found it on Craig's List and the guy was hurting for money so I got it for a steal, the price I paid for the kit is what the cymbals would cost alone brand new plus he threw in another cymbal or two, the original snare and some other stuff.

Remus, yeah Axis is suppose to be pretty top notch. I think it's kind of a toss up between DW, Iron Cobra and Axis, it comes down to personal preferance. I'm pretty happy with my pedals, I actually tried just playing in my socks the other night and it was alot easier to play quicker and smoother constant double kicks without my boots on...I was surprised, happy yet disappointed all at once.

@ Bitter Dawn: Yeah playing with boots on sucks ass.

Here is a picture I took of Horgh from Immortal the other night. He has a pretty sweet drum kit.



If you wanna see more (and better) pics of Immortal, go to the Photo Galleries, I just uploaded them.

^ His name is printed on the bass drum - that's totally black metal

Written by Bitter Dawn on 17.03.2008 at 09:51

Thanks guys and gal'! I lucked out with that set, I found it on Craig's List and the guy was hurting for money so I got it for a steal, the price I paid for the kit is what the cymbals would cost alone brand new plus he threw in another cymbal or two, the original snare and some other stuff.

Remus, yeah Axis is suppose to be pretty top notch. I think it's kind of a toss up between DW, Iron Cobra and Axis, it comes down to personal preferance. I'm pretty happy with my pedals, I actually tried just playing in my socks the other night and it was alot easier to play quicker and smoother constant double kicks without my boots on...I was surprised, happy yet disappointed all at once.

How much did it set you back? BTW, from what I hear Axxis make weak pedals, better for people who use triggers (not from personal experience, just what Ive heard). But I have been planning on investing in some 'Cobras

Dr.Rock: The kit was $1000 and I gave the guy an extra $80 for his troubles. The mic set was about $200 or so, not a bad deal either.

As for Axis pedals I'd have no real idea, I've just read what people say on the drum forum at Harmony Central. I'm happy with the DW5000 that I have, it's just a matter of getting the technique down. I also finally figured out what was with the tom set-up, I got the revelation one night while playing on my drums drunk and discovered that the toms go on a few of the cymbal stands, because there is no tom mount for the bass drum and things are alot easier to play now - I also ended up changing my cymbal set-up a bit.

@Bitter Dawn
Yeah I noticed something different about your toms. Thats strange though, Its usually mounted toms on the bass or an actual drum rack.

Yeah, there should have been a mount or rack from the factory but I think the kit is from '98 or '99 and I am the third owner, so something must have happend to it when one of the other guys had it.

Written by Doc G. on 07.04.2008 at 10:43

BTW, from what I hear Axxis make weak pedals, better for people who use triggers (not from personal experience, just what Ive heard). But I have been planning on investing in some 'Cobras

Well before you make any hasty decisions you should test drive/play them both, preferably on the same bass drum.
I've actually played on both and i am of the opinion that Axxis are much better, but then again they are also more expensive.
Anyway, i thought that Axxis were lighter AND had more rebound wich makes them super fast. 'Cobras are way heavier and as a result are also a bit louder, but when you use a mic for the bass drum it won't count for anything much. If you play a lot of break-downs, like they do in metalcore, then Cobras should be better, 'cause they're heavier and you probably have more control over them, but if you play continous double-bass then Axxis should be tops.

But, it boils down to personal tastes so you should try them both out, maybe have a look at the Pearl Eliminator as well, also, those Trick pedals SavageMessiah is on about - you never know, she may be right in claiming that they are THE shizz-nizz!

Written by Remus on 09.04.2008 at 01:45

Written by Doc G. on 07.04.2008 at 10:43

BTW, from what I hear Axxis make weak pedals, better for people who use triggers (not from personal experience, just what Ive heard). But I have been planning on investing in some 'Cobras

Well before you make any hasty decisions you should test drive/play them both, preferably on the same bass drum.
I've actually played on both and i am of the opinion that Axxis are much better, but then again they are also more expensive.
Anyway, i thought that Axxis were lighter AND had more rebound wich makes them super fast. 'Cobras are way heavier and as a result are also a bit louder, but when you use a mic for the bass drum it won't count for anything much. If you play a lot of break-downs, like they do in metalcore, then Cobras should be better, 'cause they're heavier and you probably have more control over them, but if you play continous double-bass then Axxis should be tops.

But, it boils down to personal tastes so you should try them both out, maybe have a look at the Pearl Eliminator as well, also, those Trick pedals SavageMessiah is on about - you never know, she may be right in claiming that they are THE shizz-nizz!

I dont know, by the sounds of it the Cobras do sound better. I play mostly straight forward heavy metal, some songs dont even require double bass. Im also currently working on drums for my buddys doom metal side-project (yes hes in a not very famous black metal band and hes already doing side projects) so heavy bass drums would be better. As far as the eliminators go I was also considering that, my friend has a set of pearl kicks (probably a step down from eliminators) and I can do steady double bass for 4+ min non stop while wearing biker boots (very thick boots which are extremely hard to handle SINGLE bass pedal in). Right now Im dealing with crappy Gibraltars that tire you out in 30 seconds flat, no matter how I adjust it. BTW- Anyone try out those dualists yet? What are some opinions? Would that be considered cheating using those?

Written by Remus on 09.04.2008 at 01:45

Written by Doc G. on 07.04.2008 at 10:43


But, it boils down to personal tastes so you should try them both out, maybe have a look at the Pearl Eliminator as well, also, those Trick pedals SavageMessiah is on about - you never know, she may be right in claiming that they are THE shizz-nizz!

Oh gee thanks, you make me sound like a raving lunatic.
Sure I am raving, but I am NO lunatic.
Just try the fucking pedals out!!!

Picked up a Evans G2 snare head to swap out my old Remo Embassador, and I bought a Sabian Legacy HHX 18" crash to replace my 16" Paiste 2000 Crash, so I'm pretty excited to give it a try.

@ Dr Rock: The Dualist is that pedal with the three beaters, right? When i was young and naive ( i now am older and perhaps more naive :-) ) i was totally obsessed with them. I read up on them on the website but i didn't quite understand how that 3rd beater works. Anyway, i don't think using a pedal such as this can be considered cheating 'cause it's made of only mechanical parts - no triggers to make you sound more accurate.

When i bought my 'Cobras i asked the guy at the shop about the dualist and he said that they break quite easily, however, he also looked like an asshole so you can't trust what he says, he probably didn't even know what i was talking about so he just made something up to sound intelligent!
Your best bet would be to try them out and decide for yourself! Tell the rest of us what you thought of them as well.

@ SavageMessiah: I would LOVE to try out the Trick pedals but it's not that easy. See, i live in Africa and here, the music shops aren't exactly large to say the least - they just stock up on what the masses (which are quite small) buy i.e. Cobras and DWs and not much else. So unless one of my friends buys a pair i don't have any place to go where i can actually test drive these wonderfull Trick pedals.

Written by Bitter Dawn on 10.04.2008 at 04:18

Picked up a Evans G2 snare head to swap out my old Remo Embassador, and I bought a Sabian Legacy HHX 18" crash to replace my 16" Paiste 2000 Crash, so I'm pretty excited to give it a try.

Do you prefer the Evans skin?

@ Remus: EXCUSES.

Written by Savage Messiah on 11.04.2008 at 12:33

Written by Bitter Dawn on 10.04.2008 at 04:18

Picked up a Evans G2 snare head to swap out my old Remo Embassador, and I bought a Sabian Legacy HHX 18" crash to replace my 16" Paiste 2000 Crash, so I'm pretty excited to give it a try.

Do you prefer the Evans skin?

I just put it on earlier tonight/last night, and it seems pretty good. I am however getting some bad vibrating from the bottom skin so I'll have to play with the tuning a bit more. Acoustically I think that I like it more than the Remo I had on, but the real test is to do a recording. The HHX crash I picked up turned out to be good, initially when I was just playing around I thought that maybe it was a bit too dark sounding and didn't match up with my other cymbals - turns out an AAX would have been more suited for my A customs, but I did a drum take with one of my songs (before I put the snare head on) and it sounds good.