Bonham rocking a Sonor Teardrop kit

A

Anthony Amodeo

Guest
here is something I have never seen before.

cool pic ......great kit

bonzosonor.jpg
 
Well, as the story goes, Bonham didn't get his Ludwig kit until after their 1st American Tour, so it would make sense there are some photos of him playing something else.

But you're right, I've never seen such a photo, until right now.
 
What's the source? Where is he?
 
What's the source? Where is he?

Somehow, that looks like a TV show set. So they may have said "we've got a rock band coming, get a drum set in here". Probably lip synced as well. Most TV studios weren't prepared for a loud rock band. There is a vid from a Swedish TV show where they are actually playing live. Some of the cleaner live footage you'll see of them.
 
Note the 60's era kaftan?

I'll bet London to a brick that pic is pre-Zepp. Could be any number of bands that he was playing with at the time......Band of Joy, Tim Rose etc.

I was thinking something like that too, but it kinda looks like a TV set... Maybe a super early pic of the zep days before he was famous enough to demand his own kit at every gig?
 
Well, if you're gonna' use a temp drum set, why not use the best?
I'll always associate Ludwig with Bonham, just like I associate Slingerland with Buddy Rich
 
Well, if you're gonna' use a temp drum set, why not use the best?
I'll always associate Ludwig with Bonham, just like I associate Slingerland with Buddy Rich


but unlike Bonham with Luddys it wasn't really odd to see Buddy playing Ludwig, WFL, Rogers, Fibes, even Trixon for a brief period

he did always return to Slingerland but endorsed many brands
 
It's the way everything is evenly lit up that makes me think TV set. Most clubs back then had pretty poor lighting. If you could see anything, there were shadows a mile long after them.

Back in the late '60s I performed on the SF PBS fundraiser drive. Bunch of precocious kids with a garage band. They had these huge banks of flood lights. Like you'd see up on poles at a stadium. These went from the floor to about 25' up and each bank was equally wide. It was like standing in front of the sun. TV cameras needed that much light in those days. By having these banks all over the place, there weren't many shadows. Which look horrible on TV. This pic reminds me of that kind of lighting.
 
......oh and the pic is from a German TV show called Beat Club

here are a few others thanks to Zutty from Vintagedrumforum.com

zep1.jpg

zep2m.jpg

zep3.jpg
 
but unlike Bonham with Luddys it wasn't really odd to see Buddy playing Ludwig, WFL, Rogers, Fibes, even Trixon for a brief period

he did always return to Slingerland but endorsed many brands

Yeah, it's not hard to find footage of Buddy playing a Ludwig, or Rogers kit. I know even when he endorsed Slingerland drums he played a Fibes snare. I heard he endorsed Trixon, but I don't think I've ever seen footage of him playing a Trixon kit.

I guess it's just as far as I'm concerned, Buddy Rich and Slingerland go hand-in-hand.
 
Interesting. You can see the Watkins amplifiers in those other pictures. Which is actually what they used early on and often recorded with. Page is noted for the Les Paul and Marshall stacks. But most of the recordings are a Telecaster and either a small Supro amp or a Watkins Dominator (which Marshall later copied to famous use by Clapton on the Mayall Bluesbreaker album). The Watkins and Vox were the most common amps around the UK at the time. I guess they found their way up to Germany as well. Makes sense that a German TV station would provide Sonor backline though.
 
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Another unusual Bonham pic; I've seen a music video on a documentary programme with him using this set up, but can't remember when or where I saw it.

attachment.php
 
Note the 60's era kaftan?

I'll bet London to a brick that pic is pre-Zepp. Could be any number of bands that he was playing with at the time......Band of Joy, Tim Rose etc.

That Sonor kit is a back line kit used on the show.Just like American Bandstand used a Vox drum kit(yes vox) on their show for a time.

Bonzo used his Ludwig green sparkle kit(13/16/22 and LM 400) and a Slingerland black diamond pearl (13/24/16/16/ Lm 400) in the early Zep days before the Ludwig thermogloss double bass kit ( 14/15/16/18/26/26 LM402) .

The green sparkle 13/16/22/LM 400 was bought by him,and not given to him.This was pre Ludwig endorcement which he used in Tim Rose,and Band of Joy.

Steve B
 
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