Anyone play huge drums?

OldReliable said:
Bo, I’ve actually found bigger drums, Ringo’s Silver Sparkle Ludwigs he used for the filming of the video “Hello Goodbye”. They had the dimensions of 28”x14” kick, 20”x18” floor tom, 16”x10.5” rack tom, and a MASSIVE 20”x6.5” snare! Apparently, they barely saw any use because Ringo couldn’t wrap his right leg around the huge snare. They were sold in the Julien’s auction in 2015 for $115,200. I threw in some photos of Ringo behind the kit for scale.
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I'm feeling a lot of sympathy for that tiny little "L" arm holding that huge rack tom!
 

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Big kits are only for the young, or dudes that just play them in the basement, or players that have roadies and don't have to schlep their own gear. I can't imagine lugging monsters around to gigs.
 
Rattlin' Bones said:
Big kits are only for the young, or dudes that just play them in the basement, or players that have roadies and don't have to schlep their own gear. I can't imagine lugging monsters around to gigs.
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I play big drums because they sound right for the music I do, and I ALWAYS take my own gear on gigs when I have the chance. My band mates are cool enough to help me out with it as they want that sound and looks on the gigs too. But I still do most of hauling all that stuff around.

I don't mind, I'm not lazy. Its been worth the effort so far. I've got much praise from other metal drummers for the stuff I have... The only thing they might complain about are tom angles, bu most don't mind that. I think 90% of all rock and metal drummers I have seen play with either small or regular setups and they seem to go totally bonkers when they get to play something bigger than that. :D
 
PorkPieGuy said:
I think bigger drums sound like they'd be a lot of fun if someone else was carrying them, setting them up, and tearing them down. Also, if the music you are playing calls for it, then play them and have fun. I know that they simply would not work for the kind of music I'm playing these days, which is praise and worship at church in addition to an Americana band who plays relatively small stages.
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The fun factor is phenomenal, take my word for it. :D It is quite a lot of work to haul all that stuff all over the place, but some times sacrifices must be made to have THE sound the music requires. Haha, that would be crazy, play in a church with some monster setup with 26" kicks and nine toms or something. I bet it would be just a little bit out of place there. But playing rock or heavy metal, big drums are really at home in that environment.

The downside for me is to setup everything nicely. Its so much easier to play a smaller setup with everything low and flat. If I would play different kind of music, I would definitely switch to four or five piece with shallow toms. Ride + Hi-hat and two crashes to go with it. Its so effortless to play. For heavy metal, I'll definitely keep using huge drums, it just fits.
 
Hexhammer said:
Haha, that would be crazy, play in a church with some monster setup with 26" kicks and nine toms or something. I bet it would be just a little bit out of place there.
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If I'm not mistaken, the guy who owns this is a pastor.

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Is 24 - 16 -12 huge enough? Can I be in the club?
 
I traded my Gretsch Renown Walnut 10-12-14-20 to a good friend for his Ludwig CM 9x12 - 16x18 - 14x26 last year. I've been wanting a kit with a 26, and lucked out without having to shell out 2500 for a special order or kit on ebay. I ordered a 16x16 floor tom to match come tax time (last year) as well as some Ludwig Atlas mounts to try and mount the 12 over the bass drum. I decided to play it on a gig with my classic rock cover band, thinking that it would be too much bass drum, and that after that gig it will only reside in the basement whenever I want to get my Bonham rocks off, because it was too loud for the room.

Except that it wasn't. It was perfect. The Ludwigs played so well, they made me a fan. It fit with the music so well, I'm hoping that it will fit in some more contexts.
I've even gone 24 with my main gigging kit. Big drums are where it's at. Except for acoustic jazz, but then again, Tony did it.
 
I have old 2 old TAMA Rockstar kits with deep power toms 8,10, 12, 13, 16, 22 + 24 kicks
and a 10,12,14,16 rack toms 18 floor and 2x22 kicks
Love them
I dont understand the small drums
 

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Rattlin' Bones said:
Big kits are only for the young, or dudes that just play them in the basement, or players that have roadies and don't have to schlep their own gear. I can't imagine lugging monsters around to gigs.
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Wrong and wrong. Im late 40s I have 2 big drum kits and i bring them to my gigs. I also workout 4x a week. Exercise is good for you ;)
 
I have two kits with 13, 16, 24, Ludwig CM, and dw Collectors, and a 1980 Yamaha recording custom stage white power sizes with 13, 14, 16, and 24.
One little kit, a Sonor Bop kit for hostile environments and sketchy dive bars.
And a Roland TD4.
 
Heck, it's a four piece, but I have Ludwig classic maples: 10x14 rack, 16x18 floor, and a 16x28 bass drum. The girth is tremendous. I took it to a band rehearsal and played it softly most of the afternoon and that sound just permeated the building like a wave. It was so felt. It was awesome. The nicer thing is the rang of dynamics in the drums. Smaller drums either sound good played softly, or when you really lay into them. There's not much in-between. With huge drums, there is a giant range of dynamics in-between, so it really keeps your technique in-check on getting a consistent sound.
 
Bo Eder said:
Heck, it's a four piece, but I have Ludwig classic maples: 10x14 rack, 16x18 floor, and a 16x28 bass drum. The girth is tremendous. I took it to a band rehearsal and played it softly most of the afternoon and that sound just permeated the building like a wave. It was so felt. It was awesome. The nicer thing is the rang of dynamics in the drums. Smaller drums either sound good played softly, or when you really lay into them. There's not much in-between. With huge drums, there is a giant range of dynamics in-between, so it really keeps your technique in-check on getting a consistent sound.
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I have a hard time believing you avoided this thread for this long. I haven’t been following it, just randomly opened it, and see your recent post. LOL
 
A few threads below this one I am building a kit with a pair of 28x22 kicks...
 
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mikyok said:
I love big bass drums and big floor toms. You have to tune them a lot higher than you think to get the Paice/Bonham sound. Man I miss 26s!

It's big rack toms I can't get on with. I have a 14x10 Ludwig and I haven't used it for years. Got a 12x8 and use that with the 16 and 18 floors. Much easier to play with a 24.

Biggest downside to them is moving them around never mind using them in a small venue. We've all been there!

I'd love to know where Ian Paice's old Ludwig lives these days. 26/16/18/20 from the MK2/3 era.

Cozy Powell played some mad sizes but I loved the red sparkle Ludwig he had in Rainbow.
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I'm really liking my new 24 kick and 16x16 floor. I'm oredering a 18x16 floor. My rack toms are 12 and 13.
 
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