To all Ludwig Maple Zep set owners!

[JoeyWaters]

To all of the owners of this kit, give me your thoughts on it versus your old kits. I have a Tama Starclassic and I love it, but the Luddies and big sizes are calling my name. I just have to know...Do the big sizes sound/feel much different when it really comes down to it? I don't plan on selling my Tamas, so I will have to come up with all of the money myself. Help me out guys....

Thanks

[Stevesmithfan]

Great kit. But don't expect it to sound like Bonham. His sound was all about the art of recording, high quality mic pre amps and microphones. Plus mic placement and the large room.
Other than that, go for it. The difference between the new and old sets?, I don't know. But I feel drums are better manufactured today rather than yesteryear. I think a newer kit will outlive an older one by many years IMO.
Hope that helps.

[JoeyWaters]

The idea was not to sound like Bonham. I like his sound fine, but I would want something a bit different. I was getting at this: Do the larger sizes make a huge difference when compared to say a 22, 12, 14, 16 set up? I love my drum sound, but I want more resonance & volume and I feel that the bigger drums will be exactly what I am looking for.

[gmrakich]

Limber up and do stretching...lot more ground to cover with the big drums.

[JoeyWaters]

I am 6'3", it shouldn't be a problem. Man, I really want these drums!

[harryconway]

I play vintage Ludwig 6 plys. 26, 15, 16, 18. Big drums sound big. 25+ years behind 22" kicks and the 26 and 28 I have now are a whole different thing.

[themac5150]

Get one, you won't regret it! Tuned like Bonham, they sound very much like his, which is where I keep mine at. I'm totally satisfied with the quality, and the sturdiness of the hardware. My Zep set came with the supra, another bonus. I only bought the shell pack, it was just over $1900, it came with a snare stand for the tom, but thats it. My set came with heavy clears on the toms, and they sounded great, but I changed them out for the coated emperor/coated ambassador combo that Bonzo used. They sound so warm with that set up. They are big and its not really a stretch, but it does take a bit of retraining because the proximity of the drums changes. If you're used to the standard 14" to 16" floors you'll find yourself falling short of the center of that big ole 18" in fast round house rolls until you reprogram your nugget. I think these drums are great when tuned higher/tighter than the smaller sized drum kits. They are LOUD. It wouldn't be right trying to compare them with a set that's not similarly sized. A 22" X 20" bass drum sounds different than the 26" X 14". I don't play my other set anymore. All of my old set, I could fit in the trunk of my car, less the bass. I can only get the 14" tom and the snare in there now, so it takes up every bit of the passenger space hauling these big things around. That's not really a complaint, but something to remember.
See this thread:
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15368

[Sirwill]

Here is a link to my new Zep kit. Words cant tell how great this kit sounds. This is the accent custom version but the sound and build quality have not been lost. They are truly amazing. I was told buy a Ludwig dealer that there were less then 100 natural finish kits made for guitar center were I found mine.

http://www.drummerworld.com/mydrumset/mydrumsetdrummers/Billy_Twinem.html

[pcmckay]

Get the Ludwigs, if deep down inside it's what you really want you will not be satisfied with anything else. I have a set of Maple Classics with the green sparkle finish in the Bonzo sizes and I am very happy. Lots of rich tone and resonance that you just can't get out of the smaller drums. These are the by far the best drums I have ever owned, the kit prior to this was a set of Pearl Masters. The Luddies blow them out of the room no question. The icing on the cake is the 6.5" x 14" Supraphonic model 402 chrome snare drum. Absolutely a beautiful sounding snare drum, it fits in with every kind of music that I play. Get the Ludwigs you will not regret it!

[Sirwill]

I just put on a set of Evans g2 coated heads for that warmer sound. The results are perfect.