Alan Van Kleef has quite deservedly made a good name for himself over the last few years with his drums. I first played one of Alan’s drums a few years ago when I got to review one of the Thomas Lang signature snares he made. What struck me about that snare - and what stayed
This drum comes with two stories, the initial one of which is fairly routine. First of all, and as you’ll have seen, it’s a 12x7” Masterworks in a purple tamo finish which I bought second hand. The shell is made from mahogany with just a hint of maple in there too. It has eight tube
I’ve long maintained the majority of times we’re attracted to a [new] snare drum is initially because of the way it looks. Yes, it is possible these days - in fact, more so now than ever - that we can come across a visual and recording on any social platform and see and hear a
Yamaha’s FP9 Series of bass drum pedals have been out for a little while now and, from what I can see, gained a lot of interest in that time. The FP9 pedals are available in single and double versions (lefty too) in direct drive and double chain variations. There’s no single chain version if that’s
Dave Mattacks is an English drummer who has lived in the US since the 1990s. He’s probably most famous for being a member of Fairport Convention and a very successful session player. He also likes snare drums. I have two walnut Craviotto snare drums, both of them 14x6.5” but both still very different. As far
So a couple of updates ago I looked at some new arrivals for 2020 from Zildjian. The one remaining item from those new 2020 pieces were these, Zildjian’s new In Ear Monitors. Zildjian says that these monitors are designed to deliver high quality sound for musicians on stage, in the studio, or practice. They are built
So. Muffling drums. Sometimes you just have to muffle your drums, probably most often when you’re doing some recording, but it’s something we all need to do at some point. Now, there are - and have been for a long time - many products that we use to muffle our drums, and indeed, sometimes cymbals
So, while I was actually given these wires a good while ago, I hadn’t looked at them until the last few days. The joys of having lots of things to review, I guess! Now, the reason I mention this is because of the snare drum I used for the test/video. The drum in question is
I would love to give you loads of details regarding the background and history of these drums, but I can’t. I can’t even recall how I myself came to know about these drums either, I just seem to know about them. I know that Jeff Ochletree designed the Tree Bronze series of drums after he
Ok, so in case you didn’t know, Zildjian owns Vic Firth which should now explain why this is a joint review. Now that’s done with, lets look at the new gear… These are new products the two companies have introduced for 2020. I should note that Zildjian has also released some new in-ear monitors as
