HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Is that a SpaceX launch booster?

Woah that is quite a bass drum or is it a canon ? Would love to have a go on that but taking it to gigs might be a problem.

Buying old rusty 1970's & 80's drums has been very exciting. Got a very nice sounding Premier Elite 15" tom for £35. As endorsed by Keith Moon, Clem Burke and others back in the 70's. The rest are Pearl Export. 18" floor tom is an absolute boom pig it goes so low . They are all different colours so i am going to end up with what is known as a jelly bean kit. I have some serious rust removal to do on some of the chrome or maybe i will just leave it.

My prize 1990's Premier Genista may end up getting sold at some point. People go bonkers for them on ebay. Me turning up with my vintage rusty cheap drums will probably ruffle a few feathers. I laugh at the gear snobs and with drummers & musicians it is just as bad as with hifi. Doesn't matter if you can't play for toffee the most important thing to them is image. A good drummer can make a budget kit sound amazing with good tuning and playing. Dynamics plays a big part. Crap drummer = everything same volume and usually fffing loud. One of the things i love about John Henry Bonham is he was such a cave man but had amazing lightness of touch and feel when required.

It's the same with many instruments, Stu. When I was first starting out on guitar I got hold of an old, beaten-up, semi-acoustic that was strung with something like telegraph poles. I asked a guy I vaguely knew, who played the guitar (he actually turned out to be the ex-lead-player for a rather well-known local band, and became a good mate) and he had a good laugh at my "prize" and then he plugged it in and made it sound like it never had before, and never did again.

Same again with the gearheads. They'd turn up at an audition with a shiny new Gibson and a rack of effects that looked like something they'd borrowed from NASA (this was pre-pedalboard days, I'm old) and you pretty much knew they were crap-to-average players.

You still playing the axe then slinger ?

I notice a theme running through my life, maybe its the farming thing. I buy or own functional stuff which does the job and i dont care too much what it looks like. You have seen my hifi , right My car is 22 years old built like a tank with scratches, dents and a bit of rust. Drums are old scratched and rusty but do the job.

The best thing is not being bothered about the next scratch, dent or bit of rust. Things are meant to be used and i cant be bothered to be always worried about their condition or what they look like. If another drummer wants to use my kit then yeah no probs mate do your worst ( broken heads will be charged for though).

Messed my drum solo up at a gig last night. Been beating myself up about it ever since . Got to the solo and had a mental block. First 30 secs were a bit crap but pulled it round after that. Fleetwood Mac Oh well went down a storm

karatestu wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 9:18 am You still playing the axe then slinger ?

I notice a theme running through my life, maybe its the farming thing. I buy or own functional stuff which does the job and i dont care too much what it looks like. You have seen my hifi , right My car is 22 years old built like a tank with scratches, dents and a bit of rust. Drums are old scratched and rusty but do the job.

The best thing is not being bothered about the next scratch, dent or bit of rust. Things are meant to be used and i cant be bothered to be always worried about their condition or what they look like. If another drummer wants to use my kit then yeah no probs mate do your worst ( broken heads will be charged for though).

Messed my drum solo up at a gig last night. Been beating myself up about it ever since . Got to the solo and had a mental block. First 30 secs were a bit crap but pulled it round after that. Fleetwood Mac Oh well went down a storm

Still playing, when I can. A lot of the time it's too painful though, due to arthritis, so I have to resort to "software" guitars. Didn't stop me buying a new fretless bass last week though, despite promising myself I was going to start selling off my collection.

Re the "messing up" thing, I choked on a vocal once. Sultans of Swing. I'd been singing it for ages, I can still sing it word for word now, and I forgot the first line, my mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. I missed the second line, pretended the mike wasn't working, came in on the third line. It was bloody embarrassing though. It was almost as bad as asking our rhythm guitarist for a B7 to get my key, and when I came in I was nowhere near it. He said afterwards "I wondered why you asked me for an E7," the deaf git. Funny, my two major disasters were both singing-related. I should have taken the hint and stuck to guitar.

Got an outdoor gig this bank holiday Sunday. Hope it doesn't rain. Bands all day long. I think i will be using another drummer's kit (i hope) and then we can have a few drinkies afterwards. Middle aged Rock music day out here we come.

karatestu wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 5:50 am Got an outdoor gig this bank holiday Sunday. Hope it doesn't rain. Bands all day long. I think i will be using another drummer's kit (i hope) and then we can have a few drinkies afterwards. Middle aged Rock music day out here we come.

Hope you have a good gig and weather kind to you, no matter what drinks at the post gig is what's all about.

Aged rockers are the coolest gig in town these days,
make believe you're just a lad again Stu and ''Rock Out With Your Cock Out !!'' laddie.

I worry about guitarists whose guitars just disappear from the mix, but its my fault, the kit is faulty (it isn't), anything except their guitar. I think I know what it might be but I'll know more on Sunday.

wiicrackpot wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 8:37 am

karatestu wrote: ↑Tue May 21, 2019 5:50 am Got an outdoor gig this bank holiday Sunday. Hope it doesn't rain. Bands all day long. I think i will be using another drummer's kit (i hope) and then we can have a few drinkies afterwards. Middle aged Rock music day out here we come.

Hope you have a good gig and weather kind to you, no matter what drinks at the post gig is what's all about.

Aged rockers are the coolest gig in town these days,
make believe you're just a lad again Stu and ''Rock Out With Your Cock Out !!'' laddie.

Cheers. Weather is not looking good for Sunday although that could all change by then. Last year was glorious and over 500 people turned up. I guess rain will dampen spirits somewhat and not so many will come. Oh well (thats one of our tunes by the way)

Geoff.R.G wrote: ↑Wed May 22, 2019 5:29 pm I worry about guitarists whose guitars just disappear from the mix, but its my fault, the kit is faulty (it isn't), anything except their guitar. I think I know what it might be but I'll know more on Sunday.

Thanks for your input Geoff even though i dont quite understand it. Are you a guitar repairer ?