New setup with Dream cymbals

[hammertone]

I've just added a 22" Bliss ride and 14" Bliss hats to my kit (Yamaha Maple Custom.) The sound of them seems to sit well in the mix for our band. Amazing for the price.

This is a simplified version of the setup I mess about with in the drumcave at home. I found that 8 drums and 12 cymbals was more than slightly excessive for our blues band! And apart from that, I'm now 57 and less inclined to lug as much gear to gigs.

I also found a shot taken on a gig way back in 1974. It's amazing what a difference hair makes to the way you look! Although I guess the 32 years that have elapsed may have a bit to do with it too!

[katman]

I love your drums. Don't know anything about those cymbals though. And that old pic is great - old black and white pics feel authentic for some reason.

[drumminjohn]

Diggin the fro in the last pic man, cool set too

[Almuric]

Nice set of Yamms. Not familiar with the Dream cymbal line. I'll look them up on the web and get educated. It's cool to uset a fresh set-up now and them. And with all new brass it must be really nice and a whole new sound. Congrats!

I just pared down from a monster set too, also to play a blues trio.

Fantastic shot from the past!!! Gotta love the shoes. I think I had a pair like that (turning 50 this year).

Cheers!

[louis]

hang on, is this you in this pic? must have seen another post of yours on here before.

absolutely love the your kit man, yammies are so sweet, great aray of cymbals too, although i see what you mean about lugging all your kit around, you have got a fair amount of it haha!!

louis
x

[kung_f00]

What's your take on the Bliss hats? I don't know.. I love the sound of their rides, but the hats are so different from the hats I'm used to playing on (Bosph. Trads, Zildjian Ks). Do they fit in well, or do they stand out from the rest of your cymbals?

Oh yeah, and I dig the triple-stack, that's kinda funky.

[GRUNTERSDAD]

I remember hair, (58) and I remember that style of shoes, andbell bottom pants with cuffs...and its obvious that you played the bass drum bare footed. Great looking set.

[tommapex]

What is going on with the floor tom head in the 70s picture? If I'm seeing things correctly, it looks very wrinkled. How did you play it that way?

BTW, I had shoes and pants like that in those days too! I'm 48....

[mind_drummer]

How do you like your Bliss ?

Where have you bought them ? I could get the 20" ride and 14" hats for about 120$ cdn each. But dont need them at the moment... maybe except the ride which I'd like to add to my set.

They are well praised at the moment, they sell like hot cake.

[hammertone]

Thanks guys, for the nice words.

Louis - well remembered, that's my kit all right.

Tommapex - wrinkled tom head was well spotted! Long story. Premier (being English) used to be made in Imperial sizes that were not quite the same as the US drum diameters. The 16" tom heads were a problem - the bloody drum was bigger than the available heads. At the time (1974) I was unable to get a plastic head to replace a dead one (living in rural Australiua didn't help either.) The picture shows a fairly disastrous home made attempt with calf skin. Shortly after, a head with the necesary extra 1/4" or so of diameter became available, problem solved.

[hammertone]

The Dream Cymbals from China. Bliss is the model line best reviewed and the cheapest
They got an excellent review in Modern Drummer (Dec 2006) If you don't have the mag you could go to the importer's website http://www.mountainrythym.com/home/drums/dream.asp and read it there.
The appeal of these cymbals is that people claim they sound v much like vintage Turkish K's and cost a fraction as much. I have never played vintage turkish cymbals, but I can say these have the sound of high quality about them. The finish lacks the perfection you get with modern high end cymbals, but the sound is great. I am happy to have the odd minor blemish when I am paying well under half local good cymbal prices.

I bought them from Chris Fisher of Front Range Bronze who sells from the web and also through eBay. He was good to deal with - great packing job and reasonable freight charges (airmail to Australia is terrifyingly expensive.)

The 22" ride (actually it's a crash ride) is brilliant. Its crash harmonises amazingly well with the 18" HHX Studio Crash next to it. It is also really nice to ride on: because it is thin, it shimmers and flexes a little whilst you play, giving a soft feel through the stick (if that makes sense.)

The hats are VERY different. I use a pair of K's or sometimes an old pair of Paistes. I like the Bliss, certainly, but I'll be using a different setup to usual with them. They seem to blend nicely with the 18" HHX Studio Crash and a 16" K Custom Dark Crash. They sounded good in the blues band mix on a gig and the horn players commented that they liked the sound. That was in a very reflective space. Next gig (tomorrow) is in a quite heavily damped room, so I'm looking forward to hearing them there. Other guys will be using my kit too (we are the host band for a blues jam in a pub,) to it'll be interesting to hear them from front of house.

I am intending to give them a couple of weeks to settle in and then decide whether to keep in my gig rig or not.

[maddrummr]

Nice kit, and that vintage pic HOW COOL!!

That triple stack makes me smile.

[ < 8

[Salicete]

Nice kit, and I'm diggin the bell-bottoms(with cuffs) and the cap-toed, stack heeled, saddle shoes too!

[mind_drummer]

The Dream Cymbals from China. Bliss is the model line best reviewed and the cheapest
They got an excellent review in Modern Drummer (Dec 2006) If you don't have the mag you could go to the importer's website http://www.mountainrythym.com/home/drums/dream.asp and read it there.
The appeal of these cymbals is that people claim they sound v much like vintage Turkish K's and cost a fraction as much. I have never played vintage turkish cymbals, but I can say these have the sound of high quality about them. The finish lacks the perfection you get with modern high end cymbals, but the sound is great. I am happy to have the odd minor blemish when I am paying well under half local good cymbal prices.

I bought them from Chris Fisher of Front Range Bronze who sells from the web and also through eBay. He was good to deal with - great packing job and reasonable freight charges (airmail to Australia is terrifyingly expensive.)

The 22" ride (actually it's a crash ride) is brilliant. Its crash harmonises amazingly well with the 18" HHX Studio Crash next to it. It is also really nice to ride on: because it is thin, it shimmers and flexes a little whilst you play, giving a soft feel through the stick (if that makes sense.)

The hats are VERY different. I use a pair of K's or sometimes an old pair of Paistes. I like the Bliss, certainly, but I'll be using a different setup to usual with them. They seem to blend nicely with the 18" HHX Studio Crash and a 16" K Custom Dark Crash. They sounded good in the blues band mix on a gig and the horn players commented that they liked the sound. That was in a very reflective space. Next gig (tomorrow) is in a quite heavily damped room, so I'm looking forward to hearing them there. Other guys will be using my kit too (we are the host band for a blues jam in a pub,) to it'll be interesting to hear them from front of house.

I am intending to give them a couple of weeks to settle in and then decide whether to keep in my gig rig or not.



Thank's for the excellent review

That's what I thought about where you have bought it. Chris import them from here in Canada from Mountain Rythym. Are you a Cymbalholic member or have you seen the Dream cymbal thread on that forum ?

I'm glad you like them and I know that you guys over there, drum gear's pretty much expensive so you have good cymbal at an excellent affordable price.

Keep rollin' those sticks sir !

[hammertone]

I only found out about Cymbaholic in last week or so. But they have closed their group to new members, which is a shame.

Yeah, as a cymbal junkie it was quite pleasing to see that there are many others with the same affliction.
Actually, that touches on one of the nicer things about this forum for me: to find that there are other guys who have never lost their love for drums and drumming. I have lived and worked in rural towns up till 6 years ago and have never had the chance to meet and talk with many drummers. Drummerworld has been fabulous for me in learning more about our instrument and in finding out what other drummers are thinking and feeling.

(God Bless Bernhard!)

Re the cool shoes in the 70's pic. The high heels were impossible on the kick pedal. Later on it took me years to get comfortable playing the bass drum in shoes again.

[hammertone]

I got to hear some other guys on my kit at the pub blues jam on Sunday last (as we were the host band and had to provide all the gear.)

In a blues context, the ride sounded absolutely excellent: lovely stick sound, very harmonious wash - like I would imagine a top class jazz cymbal to sound. One of the other drummers commented that it sounded like an old k. It was loudish, but didn't need taming with tape as I had feared it might.

I am still getting used to the hats. They sounded fine from front of house, but maybe not as good as my k's.

We have another blues gig tomorrow night and I'm going to try a k as bottom hat with the Bliss on top to see how that sounds in the mix.

[thumper]

Love that stacker setup, and did anyone ever tell you that with that cap on in your newer pic, you are a dead ringer for Neil Peart?
Those Yamaha MC's are GORGEOUS!
What's that trashy looking cymbal above your Hi hat?

[hammertone]

It really is a trash cymbal! It is a discard from a pair of cymbals from a children's classroom percussion band setup. I found it in a storeroom 30 years ago when I was teaching in an isolated one teacher school in rural NSW, Australia. It's sound is like what I imagine an 10" circle of roofing iron would sound if hit with a drumstick.

Neil Peart? Sadly no. I am 57, bald and fat and not likely to ever do well in a Neil Peart lookalike contest! But thanks for the kind thought.

The splash tree is the only original setup idea I've ever had.