My kit is a 6 pc set of Mapex Pro M drums. This set is 7 ply all maple shell in a dark cherry fade finish. The drums are all standard sizes, the mounted toms are 8x8, 10x8, 12x9, the floor tom is 14x14,and the bass drum is 22x18. I have two snare drums I use; one is the 14x5.5 matching snare drum that came with the kit. The other, (and now my favorite) is a restored 1982 Tama Imperialstar chrome snare, 14x6.5. The chrome snare I changed the heads, put on a new snare wire, and cleaned the chrome. It now looks great and sounds great.
As far as drumheads go I prefer Remo drumheads. I had Evans heads on the kit at first but could never get a tone I liked. I switched both top and bottom heads to Remo heads and the drums have a never sounded better. I use Remo clear pinstripe on the batter side of the 10, 12, and 14 inch toms with a clear Ambassador on the resonant side. On the 8 inch tom I use a clear Ambassador on top and bottom. On my chrome snare I have a coated Emperor on top and a Hazy Ambassador on the bottom on the maple snare I have a coated powerstroke 3 head on top over a Hazy Ambassador. With my bass drum I have to say I use the Evans emad head on the batter side, I love it. The muffling ring lets you dampen the drum without choking it, and the two different size rings makes it very versatile for any situation.
My cymbals are all Zildjian. Choosing cymbals has never been easy for me. With such a variety of cymbals on the market by Zildjian , Paiste and Sabian the choices seemed endless. I became familiar with the Zildjian products from my early years of playing and stayed with them. With The Trouble No More Band I use primarily A Zildjian Series cymbals. I play a 20”medium ride, and a pair of 15” new beat high hats. For crash cymbals I use a 18” and 17” medium thin A series crash, and a 18” thin K series dark crash, I also have a 12” splash and a 10” fast splash both A series.
My first new drum set was a Tama kit I bought in 1982. With that kit I purchased heavy duty Tama titan hardware, I still use them today. The chrome looks great and the stands are solid as a rock. The only down side is they weigh a ton. I picked up a heavy duty Mapex double arm cymbal stand that I mount my 8x8 tom on and a new Tama iron cobra hi hat stand. On my kick drum I use a DW 5000 pedal and I treated myself to a new Roc & Soc bicycle style drum throne, best purchase I ever made. Rock On!
