I originally wanted to get a cheap, beat up vintage kit to gig with--one that sounded good, but I wouldn't care if it got destroyed at a gig. I got my Downbeat that's in great shape for pretty cheap ($300--not bad). Now, I'm starting to very much like the sound of the Ludwigs over my DWs, but the studios I work with want the sound of the DWs. I don't know if the marketing/hype has gotten to them, or if there really is a specific asthetic that they're looking for in the drum sound, but that's how it is in my case.

I sometimes wonder if my DW kit is my meal ticket. :rolleyes:

Those guys are stuck in a rut and no nothing but DW i would not be surprised if they got a kickback.. lol they got a kickback for pushing DW... i personely can not stand them... tell the techs you want a oldschool sound and that it can not be found in a DW drum lol see what they say then.. it has been my experience that DW's are hard to tune and i also can not stand rims type mounts or hanging floortoms or anything that flops for that matter.. :)

I have, and I've brought in my Ludwigs when the old school sound was desired for particular sessions. But, when it comes to pop/rock/funk/jingle sessions, it's always the DW sound they want. That punchy, huge, warm, and full sound.

I've found the opposite to be true: my DWs are the easiest-to-tune drums I've ever owned. It's almost like you can't tune them "wrong". However I tune them--high, low, whatever--they sound great! They just don't have that vintage sound...

I am a bit confused since most all good rock and roll music has been or was recorded on vintage drums i do not follow you(pre 1980) ,but i do agree about pop,funk and jingles of which i have never done ,nor would want to but i do understand working for a living dictates otherwise sometimes, i come from a blues backround very hard edge tradional type music and your discription of a

punchy, huge, warm, and full sound discribes vintage drums to a tee for me.. Punchy lol why do you think everyone took off their bottom heads in the seventies... vintage drums have a huge sound for most of their sizes i guess it just depends on ones ears and what he is playing or wants ... it is probably good we are all different that way we got choices.. :)

With the "rock" thing I was referring to, yeah, lots of vintage drums have the punchy (due to shallow depths) and warm (due to the sound of the shell) sounds, but the "huge" and "full" are the main differences. Like, when I play on my 10" DW tom, it actually sounds like another brand's 12" tom, and my 16" floor tom sounds like it could be a 20" tom...the sound is so huge and full. When I play my Ludwigs, I totally love the sound, but it seems more appropriate for the sizes of drums I'm playing. I don't know if that makes sense or not.

I'm glad everyone has their own opinions and choices, too! It takes all kinds to make this world...otherwise, it would be dull and monotonous.

I too am not a fan of the DW sound. I want to like them as they are beautiful and I can get killer deals on them, but they always have that DW-ie flat shape to their sound regardless of heads or tuning. I've recently found one drummer who's DW sound I liked - Toss Panos. We opened for Robben Ford at the Portland Blues Festival this year and I got to talk to Toss about his sound. I outlined my developing opinion of DW drum sound, and that he, so far, was the lone exception. He seemed to share my opinion and was enthusiastically appreciative that someone had noticed the results of his focused efforts. Sorry I don't have details of what he has done - I'm not interested in playing DW's; However, if you are a DW fan, and are interested in getting a different sound then the normal DW, check out the Toss Panos web site and drop him a line...great people too.

I am a vintage guy Thur and Thur, but i have to agree with caddywumpus my dw kit is very easy to tune and sounds like a freight train coming Thur, but in my studio work i use vintage drums live i use dw's, but i can say the dw ported front heads on the bass drum, i hate, put ambassadors or emperors and sound controls on the bottom and your off to the races,, also matt cameron, recorded with dw's on pearl jam's Binaural in fact almost all of pearl jams drummers used dw's, if that's a bad sound count me in? Cool1 i thought you dw non fans would like a pic of oxnard ca's handy work, it is a 16x24,10x14,16x16,16x18, ludwig brass 6 1/2x14

Wow. I feel like the equivalent of a welfare-case drummer. I only have one kit (only ever wanted one - silly me) and I've used it for the last 30 years for live (mic'd and not) and studio work. I've always dragged it to rehearsal studios, because I just always loved playing them and the sound I get with them. Building a kit for a gig? Am I missing something here? Is there a Vintage harmonica forum I can join? Toilet

AZBILL i gotta tell you a funny story, there was a vintage drumshop and museum in concord nc called legends it was featured in modern drummer mag, now closed, the young cats that worked there were into new drums not vintage, charlie the owner and myself and a few other cats were all vintage drums, the young cats had a saying for us it went like this , why don't you old guys get out of the trash, one day charlie got a barrett deems kit the real deal when they saw what it sold for, they never called old drums trash again!! Storm Trooper

I still don't know what people mean by "vintage sound".

I've been playing my RB's all my life and have used them for big band, Zeppelin band, Ganga Reggae Band, country band, dixieland, Hendrix, and lots of jazz gigs. They weren't vintage when I bought them, they're just drums.

Cymbals are different because you can't tweak or do anything with them, so I do change cymbals around some for the song.

I have never bought into this "studio is one way live is another" thing. I use the same things studio or live because even if I'm recording it's still live, and a good sound is a good sound. If it doesn't record right the mics or recording procedure are wrong.