And just like that, you hate your current gear...

This happened to me with hi hats. I played Sabian 13"s for a long time. Then I got the chance to work some Paiste Signature 14's and the world stopped. They had the crispiness & chick I thought I had in the 13's FAR beyond what I actually had.
I kept the 13's as X-hats & got the Sigs ASAP.

As for drums, I always knew I wanted a Gretsch kit. I played on "Shit Kits" and "Frankenstein's" for most of my playing years until I could afford THE drums for me. Once I got them, I've never looked back. So as of now, nothing I've sat behind rivals the Gretsch's I have.
 
I used to own a Sonor Force 3005 kit, - 22" kick, snare, 10, 12, 14 hanging toms and a 16 floor. Was a great kit and sounded amazing, but the 400 series hardware was always a bit crappy, and my circumstances changed such that I had nowhere to set the kit up and play it. The 6 piece kit in those deep early 2000s sizes (so that every drum was just a bit bigger than it needed to be), meant that the whole thing just became a bit too much to handle. Ended up selling it and buying a smaller kit. It was a great kit, but as my priorities and circumstances kind of shifted it didn't end up suiting me.
 
Well... the point of this thread, if I understood it correctly, is that you are perfectly happy with your gear (maybe for decades), not giving it a thought, until you stumble across something that completely changes the game.

Exactly! This is the point I was trying to get across.

I remember the first time I played an A Custom crash. I was horsing around on friend's kit not really paying attention, then I hit his A Custom, and I immediately stopped and was like "What the heck is THAT???" At that point, I'd never heard anything like it. It only took me about a decade or so to get some, but I finally did and I like them a lot. I now rehearse with them every week and I've been playing them for almost 10 years now. I'm not crazy about the ride I have, but that's a different story.

I feel a lot like Uncle Larry right now in that I feel that everything I do is more of a lateral move. My original post has definitely happened in the past where I had an "ah ha" moment whenever playing gear, but I'd say ever since I got my first set of Pork Pie USA drums in addition to some A Customs, everything else I have bought has been more of a "right tool for the right job" move. Any lower-line kits I've bought or cobbled together have come and gone, but they had their purpose at the time. Right now, I've never been more content with the gear I have. Sure, there are things that I'd love to acquire (like the matching Ludwig tom that I'm looking for), but at this point, I have what I need for a variety of situations.
 
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Yeah seems a common theme-you love the "old" kit and play it forever-then tire and get rid of it for something "new". Then remorse and regret sets in later when you tire of "the new" as you either want something "newer" or miss the "old" and try to find something more like it. Lot's of ironies in all of it-but so the human condition. Now cymbals I'm not as interested in changing likely cause it takes some time to find one I like. All the hardware gear of stands, mounts, etc don't bother me one way or the other (the cheap stuff has held up just as well as the more expensive). I wonder if you did a double blind study-one you are actually blindfolded and only going by "ears" if we could tell the difference in all the kits we've owned over the years? Something you are intimate with so should have some memory of it. I know some people can -but I'd to collect the data from a population of drummers to see what pops up. One thing I think would make it more difficult is you'd be an audience listener rather behind the kit that you would be more familiar (a completely different perspective).
 
I'm going to remember this and keep it as my own. :)
Unless it's a fossilized turd ( coprolite) which you can polish but you can't roll it in glitter. Must be a reference to "vintage" LOL.
 
The only thing I can think of drum wise is I wanted a set of DWs since the first time I played them in the 90s. For two decades I salivated over them and couldn’t afford them. Got the closed things I could afford which was PDP and had them for 10 years. When I finally came across a set of DWs I could afford used, I was obsessing over them, looked them over, checked everything, tuned them up and played them. Suddenly the image shattered. They were way too close to my PDPs and definitely not the sound I had in my head. They were beautiful, but it was over from that moment. No knock on the brand. They are killer drums, just not what I had envisioned for all those years.
 
The only thing I can think of drum wise is I wanted a set of DWs since the first time I played them in the 90s. For two decades I salivated over them and couldn’t afford them. Got the closed things I could afford which was PDP and had them for 10 years. When I finally came across a set of DWs I could afford used, I was obsessing over them, looked them over, checked everything, tuned them up and played them. Suddenly the image shattered. They were way too close to my PDPs and definitely not the sound I had in my head. They were beautiful, but it was over from that moment. No knock on the brand. They are killer drums, just not what I had envisioned for all those years.


Ya - that's the flip side to the thread.

Disillusionment happens with drums just as often, or even more so, than infatuation.
 
Only when I owned 'junk' did this ever happen to me. That was 40 years ago though.

Once I could afford better gear, the only time I changed was for desire of something new/different on feel and sound - not because I was unhappy.

I'm way over gear acquisition now and have been for about 4 years. You wouldn't be able to give me a drum or cymbal I would allow in my house. I don't want to store it, no matter how good or different it may be than what I already have.

At this point what I have is what I die with, unless I find the need to try selling it first. Then again, I don't enjoy the hassles of selling so I will probably die with it. I have told to my wife and have it in writing to gift 100% of what I have to a world renowned music school that happens to be local to us. No selling hassles for her either.
 
I know..

The last sentence i wrote is more a sort of automatic reflex that i get whenever i see the word 'gear' at this place..:)
Well... the point of this thread, if I understood it correctly, is that you are perfectly happy with your gear (maybe for decades), not giving it a thought, until you stumble across something that completely changes the game.
For instance, I´ve been utterly satisfied with my sticks for years until I tried what became my current favourite. Easier to play, nicer sound, overall a much better fit for what I was aiming for and therefore much more inspiring to play.

I play allready 30 years on the same set and, kinda the same, cymbal set up..

What i can not play with those, i will also not be able to play with anything else..

Must be very tiring to be busy with (and unhappy about) gear that much..

Well it’s not only not about being unhappy with the current gear ...

It’s also not about what you can or cannot play on your current or new/different gear ,....

It’s about the sound and of functionality of something new or different . I can play on one of my daughters old hello kitty kits that’s in the closet just as well as my current kit but I don’t , because mine sounds better. And although my current kit sounds fine I’d rather play on my friends sonor or my other buddies Tama Bubinga , because they SOUND BETTER and not because there’s anything I can’t play on mine ??
 
Something about those Gretsch kicks makes them blow pretty much every other kick out of the water.
You're really onto something there. I've heard of players using Gretsch kick drums, especially in the studio, regardless of which toms or snare they have. Jon Fishman of Phish has used a 22x14 Gretsch for almost his entire career with the band.
Also, Tony Williams' little 18x14 Gretsch "bop" bass drum sounds amazing on Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles record, especially on "One Finger Snap" (which might just be the greatest drum solo ever recorded, but I digress.)
 
Time + Mistakes = Experience. For me, five decades of drumming learning what I like and the chasing specific sounds was an arduous process. Pre-internet all I had to lean on was the advice of a few trusted drummers, salesmen and drum publications. Everything is comparative at any given period of time. It often was a process of experimentation within the confines of a very limited budget. Gear will likely come and go in this process. If you play long enough you get it figured out and the end result of all that experience is contentment.

My gear journey is very near to the end. A couple more snares are coming this year. Next year I hope to get a mixing board and DAW. Everything beyond that is maintenance and expendables. It's all good.
 
I woke up one day and I was tired of pingy, non-crashable rides. Up to then, they were the only type of rides I had sought out.

Since then I only bought rides that crash well too.
 
Yes completely understand, I still go back and forth between a Yamaha kit and an old Ludwig 3 ply. Love one for awhile, then it's like not feeling it and the other seems right. I don't fight it I just go with it,
 
You're really onto something there. I've heard of players using Gretsch kick drums, especially in the studio, regardless of which toms or snare they have. Jon Fishman of Phish has used a 22x14 Gretsch for almost his entire career with the band.
Also, Tony Williams' little 18x14 Gretsch "bop" bass drum sounds amazing on Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles record, especially on "One Finger Snap" (which might just be the greatest drum solo ever recorded, but I digress.)

Lars Ulrich, too. Love him or hate him, he's always had just about the punchiest kick sound on the planet, and evidently it's been the same Gretsch kick since the black album. I'll have to check out that Herbie record; I haven't delved nearly deep enough into either his or Tony Williams's discographies.
 
I feel this way about 14" snares. Started playing a 13" like 3 1/2 years ago, fell in love instantly and have no desire at all to ever play a 14" again.

Thought about it a bit more, and the same happened to me. I just play deeper 13's now.

Another thing was the switch to smaller sized drums.
First time I tried a 20" bass drum with smaller sized toms, it was like holy crap - I've been missing out on this all these years.
 
I've been doing the opposite, I'm liking the bigger drums lately. I had a large set of Ludwigs many moons ago that I hated and they turned me off to the bigger toms for a long long time. Now with the great drums and precise bearing edges these days, I'm digging the bigger toms quite a bit.
 
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