The stainless kit was used live only. Jeff Ocheltree & Jimmy Page have both confirmed that the green sparkle kit was the kit also used on In Through the Out Door......The silver sparkle kit was a 6-ply shell kit that was used at his home in England. I believe that Jason Bonham has also confirmed this. It was never recorded with or used in a live concert.
Thanks, LD.
piccolo snare with the Sonor kit, far cry from a 402 wouldn't you say.
Wayne
A recent interview with those who worked closely with Bonham is that his tuning and technique were larger parts of his sound than the drums themselves. This is particularly true with the huge stainless steel and vistalite bass drums. Recording engineer Eddie Kramer points out in the July, 1984 Modern Drummer article on Bonham that the large bass drum would ring like crazy when touched lightly. When Bonham would play them with a wooden beater and just the right amount of attack, however, they put out "an incredible crack with a low frequency 'ooomph'".
KIT 1: Green Sparkle Super Classic: 14X22, 9X13, 16X16 and a 5X14 #400 Supraphonic. This kit was used by Bonham in his early bands Way Of Life and Band of Of Joy.
KIT 2: Black Diamond Pearl: 14X24 (with rail mount tom holder) 9X13, 16X16, 16X18 with an old LUDWIG & LUDWIG tube lug chrome over brass snare drum. This is the kit Bonham used on his first American visit, and may have been used on for the first Led Zeppelin album. (Admin note: I always thought Bonham used the Slingerland green sparkle set since that's what he was using during their "warm-up tour" for the album.)
KIT 3: Natural Maple: (2) 14X26, 12X15, 16X18, 14X22 (Bass drum converted into a floor tom with triple flange metal rims) and a #402 Series Snare. According to Carmine Appice, Bonham was in awe of Carmine and his drum sound and wanted help in getting the same kit. Carmine contacted LUDWIG on Bonham's behalf and helped arrange this first endorser kit. Bonham got the kit in 1969 and told Carmine that it was used to record Led Zeppelin II. It was this kit that Bonham used on the 1969 Led Zeppelin / Vanilla Fudge tour: both kits were identical.
KIT4: Natural Maple: (1) 14X26, 12X14, 16X16, 16X18 and a #402 Series snare. It is not clear wheater this was a complete kit or whether Bonham simply added smaller toms to KIT 3. But Carmine remembers seeing Bonham play this configuration on television appearances.
KITS 5, 6 & 7: Green Sparkle: 14X26, 10X14, 16X16, 16X18 and a #402 Series Snare. These kits were used from 1971 through 1973. These were also used to record approximately four Led Zeppelin albums.
KIT 8: Amber Vistalites 14X26, 10X14, 16X16, 16X18 and a #402 Series Snare. This kit had extra components which were sometimes substituted; 20 and 22 inch floor toms and an extra bass drum. Perhaps because of the striking appearance, it is this outfit that is known among all the collectors as "the Bonham kit". That, coupled with the fact that the larger sizes nor the amber vistalite were produced in large numbers has authentic Chicago LUDWIG "Bonham kits" bringing top-dollar in the vintage marketplace. (At this writing, about $5,000.00).
KIT 9: Silver Sprkle 14X26, 12X15, 16X16, 16X18.... 1975-1980.
KIT 10: Stainless Steel 14X26, 10X14, 12X15, 16X16, 16X18, 18X20. This was Bonham's final stage outfit. It was used on Presence and In Through The Outdoor tours. This was his only stage kit to feature long lug casings on the 12X15 tom.
Bonham also owned Gretsch and Hyman kits. He also owned a couple of LUDWIG pattern-C sets. The ten kits listed, however, constitute his performance kits. One set was a concert tom set-up and the other was his typical stage set-up According to one of his former drum techs, Jeff Ocheltree, no recording was ever done using the Vistalite or the Stainless Steel drums. (excerpt: Jeff Cook's The LUDWIG Book)
(Admin note: There is some dispute with the image from Polar Studios that the elusive silver sparkle kit is in this photograph along with his green sparkle set. The green sparkle Slingerlands is the last photo and was not included in Rob Cook's The LUDWIG Book)
Regarding his 20-inch and 22-inch floor toms, I’d really like to find pictures of those. I’m sure I’ve never seen them before. Terry Keating has detailed a pretty good amount of proof than one of the thermogloss kicks was in fact a 26x16. It was right there under our noses the whole time.
Regarding his 20-inch and 22-inch floor toms, I’d really like to find pictures of those. I’m sure I’ve never seen them before. Terry Keating has detailed a pretty good amount of proof than one of the thermogloss kicks was in fact a 26x16. It was right there under our noses the whole time.
Terry recanted that it is indeed a 14x26"
There's NO physical eveidence 'Bonzo" Bonham played/used silver sparkle Ludwigs,
I.e. NO photos/pics exist of it, what most people seem to think is silver sparkle is his green sparkle kit under different lighting UNLESS this kit was used purely for practice at home?......
Pretty amazing that one guy out of billions of guys and millions of drummers could command a sound that we could only study after the fact, huh? Very few drummers have that quality. There are SO many great technicians of drumming around, now, as a result of the real creators of the art, who came before. It's not even a genetic thing because Jason can only kinda mimic his dad. In fact, I can't think of any famous drummers' kids who were able to carry on the greatness to any degree -fame, maybe...but the actual talent? hmmm... Anyway...yeah Bonzo was the real deal 100% and Led Zeppelin was the perfect combination of individual elements wherein each complimented the other so well, the effect of it was even bigger than the individuals, themselves. I say this from a perspective of the kid who grew up with their music and I can't even tell you of all the "first time" experiences I had with their music playing in the background....heh heh ;)
A recent interview with those who worked closely with Bonham is that his tuning and technique were larger parts of his sound than the drums themselves. This is particularly true with the huge stainless steel and vistalite bass drums. Recording engineer Eddie Kramer points out in the July, 1984 Modern Drummer article on Bonham that the large bass drum would ring like crazy when touched lightly. When Bonham would play them with a wooden beater and just the right amount of attack, however, they put out "an incredible crack with a low frequency 'ooomph'".KIT 1: Green Sparkle Super Classic: 14X22, 9X13, 16X16 and a 5X14 #400 Supraphonic. This kit was used by Bonham in his early bands Way Of Life and Band of Of Joy.KIT 2: Black Diamond Pearl: 14X24 (with rail mount tom holder) 9X13, 16X16, 16X18 with an old LUDWIG & LUDWIG tube lug chrome over brass snare drum. This is the kit Bonham used on his first American visit, and may have been used on for the first Led Zeppelin album. (Admin note: I always thought Bonham used the Slingerland green sparkle set since that's what he was using during their "warm-up tour" for the album.)KIT 3: Natural Maple: (2) 14X26, 12X15, 16X18, 14X22 (Bass drum converted into a floor tom with triple flange metal rims) and a #402 Series Snare. According to Carmine Appice, Bonham was in awe of Carmine and his drum sound and wanted help in getting the same kit. Carmine contacted LUDWIG on Bonham's behalf and helped arrange this first endorser kit. Bonham got the kit in 1969 and told Carmine that it was used to record Led Zeppelin II. It was this kit that Bonham used on the 1969 Led Zeppelin / Vanilla Fudge tour: both kits were identical.KIT4: Natural Maple: (1) 14X26, 12X14, 16X16, 16X18 and a #402 Series snare. It is not clear wheater this was a complete kit or whether Bonham simply added smaller toms to KIT 3. But Carmine remembers seeing Bonham play this configuration on television appearances.KITS 5, 6 & 7: Green Sparkle: 14X26, 10X14, 16X16, 16X18 and a #402 Series Snare. These kits were used from 1971 through 1973. These were also used to record approximately four Led Zeppelin albums.KIT 8: Amber Vistalites 14X26, 10X14, 16X16, 16X18 and a #402 Series Snare. This kit had extra components which were sometimes substituted; 20 and 22 inch floor toms and an extra bass drum. Perhaps because of the striking appearance, it is this outfit that is known among all the collectors as "the Bonham kit". That, coupled with the fact that the larger sizes nor the amber vistalite were produced in large numbers has authentic Chicago LUDWIG "Bonham kits" bringing top-dollar in the vintage marketplace. (At this writing, about $5,000.00).KIT 9: Silver Sprkle 14X26, 12X15, 16X16, 16X18.... 1975-1980.KIT 10: Stainless Steel 14X26, 10X14, 12X15, 16X16, 16X18, 18X20. This was Bonham's final stage outfit. It was used on Presence and In Through The Outdoor tours. This was his only stage kit to feature long lug casings on the 12X15 tom.Bonham also owned Gretsch and Hyman kits. He also owned a couple of LUDWIG pattern-C sets. The ten kits listed, however, constitute his performance kits. One set was a concert tom set-up and the other was his typical stage set-up According to one of his former drum techs, Jeff Ocheltree, no recording was ever done using the Vistalite or the Stainless Steel drums. (excerpt: Jeff Cook's The LUDWIG Book)(Admin note: There is some dispute with the image from Polar Studios that the elusive silver sparkle kit is in this photograph along with his green sparkle set. The green sparkle Slingerlands is the last photo and was not included in Rob Cook's The LUDWIG Book)
Very informative post, Mark!! Thank you!!
Cheers
John Bonham played that North looking kit on this with Paul McCartney.
[ame]https://youtu.be/QaTHAmWhIgA[/ame]
[ame]https://youtu.be/sy-k1ZtYbMM[/ame]
