Louder. More attack. Great sounding. Heavy........

More "modern". More "doooooooooom", less "thump".

They have plenty of thump My 14x26 6 pli is the best sounding bass drum I have ever had I love 6 plies they are loud and yet when played soft respond awesome... I am sold on them...

The early '70s 3-plys are my favorite; maple/poplar/maple layup with re-rings

and better bearing edges. These sound great - a nice balance between '60s

(mahogany) 3-plys and later Classic Maples.

Supposedly, the Ludwig Legacy line was patterned after the '71 3-ply kits.

I'm not a big fan of the late '70s 6-plys but some swear by them.

YMMV

The Ludwig 6 plys were introduced in 1977 and were designed as has been said for more focused attack for rock drumming and heavy metal, a la Ozzy.

Ludwig for some reason as yet unknown, started to use rivets to fasten the wrap on some of these kits. Beware of this set-up!

A six ply without the rivets is a nice kit, although very heavy to gig around for aging vintage drummers :) I owned one for a couple of years and it sat in the house because I am my own roady. It just was too heavy for me to bother. The much lighter 3 ply kit is easy to gig out.

The early to mid 70's shells, maple/poplar/maple are considered to be the best of Ludwig's shells because you can get anything you want out of them by tuning, head selection. If you want that heavy "booom" then the 6 ply is boomy.

I have some exp with the 6 ply kits,there are some bad or dead sounding ones out there,I have played a few,but the good ones are nice drums.

In my experience they sound best at med and low tunings,they seem to lose the Bigness at higher tunings.

I had a 6 ply chrome over wood with the rivets,they weighed as much as Sonors,and the shells were probably 7/16 thick.

I have a Luddy S/L kit with a 6 ply kick and 4 ply toms,on both kits the kick drums were/are terrific,lots of volume,punch and low end.The 4 ply toms are ok,but since the kit is black I would like to someday find a few Classic Maple toms to go with the kick,then I would have the best of both worlds IMO.

If you are looking for heavy thick shell drums on a budget I think the 6 plys are one of the best values on the used market along with Sonor phonics,the phonics can be had for 600.00 to 800.00,the Luds for less. 500.00 to 700.00

I have always used 3 ply drums because I like the warm resonance of the drum shells.I have 2 early 60's sets one Ludwig and slingerland.both with mahogany in the shells.With the right drum heads I can get responce,power and incredible tone from these drums.I also have a early 70's five piece Ludwig kit with maple shells.This set has a clearer more defined sound and projection.I love the way all my set play and sound. The only thing that is not stock on my kits are the Tom feet. I replaced them with Pearl suspension rubber feet,this greatly increases the resonance of the floor Tom. Back to 6 ply shells, I once had a set and I did find them loud and hollow. I found that the tone mostly came from the type of heads and not as much from the drum itself. So I. Sold them and never looked back, I'm stickin with three ply!

I've owned alot of three plies, always heard stuff about the 6 plies. Picked up a set of 6 plies, complete with the dreaded rivets. First gig out with them, the sound guy's comment was "now, that's the sound"...... Very dynamic drums, used them on quiet hotel gigs, and loud outdoor surf gigs! They really play well quietly, when needed.

You can hear them in a studio recording at http://www.myspace.com/bill39smusicstuff Go to "Tailspin". The recording, not the video. They're set up with Aquarian Classic coated top, clear bottom. Stock kick reso, PS3 batter. '20's NOB pioneer snare. My only complaint is they are heavy! Not anymore then my Gretsch New Classics, but it adds up. A real benefit is, because of the 3 ply mania, they're pretty cheap. Mine came off a local CL ad for $350, original stands and pedals included! Reglued the floor tom seam, waxed them, and they were good to go....