For all of those who have been "conversing" about JB's kits...here is a great article from
www.ludwigdrummer.com .........
It shows that JBs kit was not "just like" Carmine Appice, but that Carmine got JB the Ludwig endorsement........enjoy
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Bonzo's Drum Kits
Written by Nick Hunt
Kits
Bonham always used Ludwig drums and 99% of the time Paiste Cymbals. Here is a complete list of the drums he used though the years starting from his first to last kit. I've collected this information over the years by reading every article on Bonham I could find and studying photos for hours at a time.
When Zeppelin first came to America John had the following Ludwig kit:
14"x24" Bass drum with Rail Mount
9"x13" Tom
16"x16" Floor Tom
16"x18" Floor tom
Ludwig & Ludwig 20's/30's COB tube lug snare
Finish was Black Diamond Pearl
This might have been the set he used on Led Zeppelin 1.
Bonham's first Endorsement kit he got from Ludwig was in 1969. Carmine Appice got him a Ludwig Endorsement by personally ringing the Ludwig factory. The sizes were as follows:
14"x26" Bass Drum x2 with Cymbal Mount
12"x15" Tom
16"x16" Floor Tom
16"x18" Floor Tom- he added this later on
6.5"x14" Chrome Supra-Phonic Snare Drum
Finish was Natural Maple Thermo-gloss
When John first got this kit he used both bass drum's in rehearsal and for a couple of shows, he soon got rid of it because his fellow band members said he was drowning them out! The tom was at first placed on a Ludwig Atlas snare stand but later he added a ‘Roger's Swivo-matic’ tom mount while still keeping the snare stand there. He also used a pair of conga drums. Also he used what looked like 2 small concert toms next to his hi-hat but he only used these for a short time.
Bonham's second kit came from Ludwig in about May 1970 just before the start of the Iceland tour and he used this kit until 1973 US tour. This is the kit John toured Australia with in 1972 and is my personal favorite. The sizes were as follows:
14"x26" Bass Drum with Rail Mount & Cymbal Mount
10"x14" Tom
16"x16" Floor Tom
16"x18" Floor Tom
6.5"x14" Chrome Supra-Phonic Snare Drum
29" Ludwig Machine Timpani Drum
30" Ludwig Universal Timpani Drum
Green Sparkle Finish
Around this time he started to use Gretsch 42 Strand Power wires on his snare drums
This kit was John's favorite recording kit and all of Zep's albums from III onwards where recorded using this kit. I have the same kit as this minus the gong and Timpani drums and mine is finished in Natural Maple.
Bonham's third Kit from Ludwig was his most famous kit, "Ludwig Amber
Vista-lite's which he got in about March-April 1973 for the start of
the 1973 US Tour. The sizes were as follows:
14"x26" Bass Drum with Rail Mount & Cymbal Mount
10"x14" Tom
16"x16" Floor Tom
16"x18" Floor Tom
6.5"x14"Chrome Supra-Phonic Snare Drum with "Gretsch" 42 strand power
snare wires
29" Ludwig Machine Timpani Drum
30" Ludwig Universal Timpani Drum
John last used this kit at Earl's Court Arena London May 23 1975
I've heard people say that he used 15"-18"-20" toms but that's not
true, all the photo's I've seen clearly show the 14"-16"-18" set up.
Bonham's forth Kit was a Ludwig Stainless Steel kit that he got
before the start of the 1977 US Tour sizes were as follows:
14"x26" Bass Drum with double tom mount
12"x15" Tom
16"x16" Floor Tom
16"x18" Floor Tom
6.5"x14" Chrome Supra-Phonic Snare Drum with Gretsch 42 strand power
snare wires
29" Ludwig Machine Timpani Drum
30" Ludwig Universal Timpani Drum
This kit was used until Led Zeppelin's last ever performance, Monday
July 7 1980 Berlin Germany. An interesting feature about this kit was that it had Mach Lugs (long lugs) on the 12"x15" tom. Also I heard he used 18"& 20" floor toms but the floor toms were the same depth so they must have been 16" & 18".
Hardware
On Bonham's Black Diamond Pearl Kit and his Natural Maple kit he used
Rogers Swivo-matic cymbal stands, a Rogers Swivo-matic hi-hat stand and
Ludwig Atlas snare stands.
Bonham's Green Sparkle and Amber Vista-lite kits used Ludwig's first
generation Atlas hardware the ones with the flat steel legs and a Rogers
Swivo-matic Hi-hat stand.
His Stainless Steel kit used Ludwig’s second-generation Atlas hardware the
ones with the tube legs and a Rogers Swivo-matic Hi-hat stand.
John used a Ludwig Speed King Pedal on all his kits. He also used a Ludwig Ching Ring for his solo on Moby Dick.
I read that John used Ludwig 2A sticks but I don't know if this is true or not.
Also, on tour, a spare pre-tuned Bass drum and snare drum were kept close at hand just in case they broke!
Drumheads
Bonham used a variety of drumheads through out the years including Remo Black Dots, Remo Coated Ambassadors and Ludwig Weather Master heads.
Cymbals
Here's his cymbal list in the order he got them:
15" Sound-Edge Hi-hats 2 Pair
18" Giant Beat
20" Giant Beat
24" Giant Beat
15" Sound-Edge Hi-hats
18" Giant Beat
20" Giant Beat
24" Giant Beat
18" Giant Beat x2
20" Giant Beat
16" 2oo2 Medium
18" Giant Beat
20" Giant Beat
24" Giant Beat
20" 602 Medium Ride
38" Gong
15" 2oo2 Sound-Edge Hi-hats
15" 602 Sound-edge Hi-hats
16" 2oo2 Medium
18" 2oo2 Medium
18" 2oo2 Medium Ride
20" 602 Medium Ride
24" 2oo2 Ride
15" 2oo2 Sound-edge Hi-hats
18" 2oo2 Crash
18" 2oo2 Medium
20" 2oo2 Ride
24" 2oo2 Ride
1 Cymbal Bag
Where are they now?
Well, his Black Diamond Pearl Kit I have no idea where its gone.
Paul Thompson of Roxy Music has his Natural Maple Kit complete with 2 Bass
Drums.
The Green Sparkle Kit Now sits in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in
Cleveland.
The spare Bass drum is at Jimmy Page's Sol Studio.
Terry Bozzio used the 14"x26" green sparkle Bass drum on a Jeff Beck Album. Jason Bonham also used this bass drum on Jimmy Page's Outrider album. Apparently John gave Jimmy this bass drum.
Amber Vista-lite I've heard all sorts of stories but nothing concrete.
His Stainless steel kit was auctioned on the net this year minus one floor tom and a snare drum.
Long live Bonham!