My Custom Green Sparkle Kit

GhostNotes

Member
Hi, I'm new to the forum and thought I'd start off by sharing my drums! I've been playing for a decade and this is my practicing/gigging/recording everything kit.

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At gigs I get questions about what the overall kit is, but honestly I'm still not sure what to call it. The kit started life as a decent set from Sound Percussion Labs, and then had a few more drums added/replaced from a Brooks Mays kit I found at a garage sale. I re-wrapped the whole thing in Green Sparkle myself, plus Evans drumheads for batters and resos (Their Black Chrome series tunes up well and pulls warmth out of shells that carry no inherent bragging rights, haha).

My primary snare is a 1981 Yamaha Recording Custom from Japan, I absolutely love the thing. Medium-low tuning with Puresound Super 30 wires sounds like a kick to the gut on a strong rimshot, but it's still very sensitive with great dynamic response and snappy ghost notes.

The cymbals started life as the wonderful Paiste PST 7 light/thin set, but I'll be honest... for all it's shimmering affordable glory, the line's weakness has to be the limited-to-20" ride options. The light ride just didn't do it for me, personally. It crashes beautifully though, so it's mounted up as a crash. I've got a 22" 2002 as the primary ride instead, and that is a brilliant cymbal I have no complaints for.

Hardware is pretty assorted, but nothing remains from the cheap beginner hardware. Good hi hat and bass drum pedals are worth every penny! I also mounted the ride and rack tom off the crash stands to keep things simple and uncluttered, and to escape those cheap kick-mounted tom arms.

In general, this kit has been an ongoing project and a very cost-effective way of reaching the sound and look I wanted. Very fun and musical to play with some killer punch when you lay into it. Would still replace the shells with C&C drums in a heartbeat but... we're not there yet, lol
 
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Channeling some Bonzo there, perhaps;)

Welcome to Drummerworld.
 
👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾 + nice matching guitar

side note, how do you make that little graphic representation of your set up?
Thanks! Mapex used to have this little online kit builder intended for the their "MyDentity" series. I took a bunch of the assets from it, and used them to make a little graphic of my kit layout in Photoshop for personal use. I did it years ago, and I just update the picture when I change something, ha
 
Thanks! Mapex used to have this little online kit builder intended for the their "MyDentity" series. I took a bunch of the assets from it, and used them to make a little graphic of my kit layout in Photoshop for personal use. I did it years ago, and I just update the picture when I change something, ha
Ah ok. That’s a lot of work and dedication! Maybe one day someone will develop a small online kit builder for all of us to enjoy on Drummerworld 😂
 
Is that a 6 lug bass drum?
Yup, it's pretty silly. It's a 14x22 from the Rogers RD500, an old kit sold by Brooks Mays. I've got it sounding good enough to get compliments from sound guys, but it's difficult to tune properly. I had a different bass drum with eight lugs originally, but I really liked that this one is only 14" deep, it's very responsive and the feel of playing it won me over
 
Channeling some Bonzo there, perhaps;)

Welcome to Drummerworld.
That has ended up being the vibe, yes! Amazingly, I fell in love with Paiste 2002s, green drums, and "one up, two down" tom layouts before I realized Bonham played all of those. I did know he used 2002s, though. Either way, sort of an inadvertent tribute to the Zep kit now, haha.

I've made a point to keep my setup distinct in notable ways though, like with the black drumheads, or the overall size and positioning of different kit elements. I also wouldn't mind playing green/black burst drums, because I think those are gorgeous, but that wasn't an option here..
 
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I had a different bass drum with eight lugs originally, but I really liked that this one is only 14" deep, it's very responsive and the feel of playing it won me over
Yeah ..... that's gotta be hard to tune. A six lug 18 ain't bad. A six lug 20 can be a little difficult. A 22 ..... no doubt you gotta work at it. But I also like the 14" depth. I have 20, 22, 24 and 26 inch kicks ..... all 14 deep. Certainly my preferred depth.

My default set-up is 1 up, 2 down also. Gigged a 22, 14, 16, 18 clear Vistalite kit for decades. Whenever I buy a 4 piece kit, I always start the hunt for that second floor tom. Sometimes they turn up, sometimes they don't.
 
Yeah ..... that's gotta be hard to tune. A six lug 18 ain't bad. A six lug 20 can be a little difficult. A 22 ..... no doubt you gotta work at it. But I also like the 14" depth. I have 20, 22, 24 and 26 inch kicks ..... all 14 deep. Certainly my preferred depth.

My default set-up is 1 up, 2 down also. Gigged a 22, 14, 16, 18 clear Vistalite kit for decades. Whenever I buy a 4 piece kit, I always start the hunt for that second floor tom. Sometimes they turn up, sometimes they don't.
Yeah, I had an eight lug 16x20" at first that was much easier to deal with, but I could never get it to feel or sound as good as the 14x22. Its cool to hear the appeal of 14" depth carries over to other shell sizes. I know Bonzo played a 14x26, and though I don't think I'd personally want a bass drum that tall, it sounded awesome for his style.

I've loved the idea of playing 16 and 18 floor toms some day with a 13 or 14 rack. I've got 12, 14, 16 and I wish they were deeper sounding sometimes. I love the sound of bigger drums, I think that's part of what's great about having two floor toms. The entire Brooks Mays Rogers kit was sold to me for $50, and I originally only bought it just so I could add a second floor tom to my original kit. lol
 
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