A Look at Alex Van Halen's Gear (Part 1) with Kurt Ekstrom - EP 231

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Here is a video Kurt and I did about the HUGE Alex Van Halen 2024 auction: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKXEfX1-g7B0f7s

[@DAGDRUM53]

The best part of this is, it's got at least a Part 2.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thanks for watching! Part 2 will be out in a week or two - hoping for next week, but might be two. It will be a good one!

[@AVHtribute]

Take a look at the 1978 Texas Jam kit, sparkle & clears two Ludwig kits together

[@DAGDRUM53]

@@AVHtribute I was at the '78 jam, Van Halen were the first label act to play (high noon) after a local band then a singer opened the festivities. VH used the first wireless guitars I'd ever seen, the headliner Aerosmith were still plugging in.

[@johngarin8290]

John Grey Broadway, as $270au starter.! They do their job.! Rock on ☺️

[@Goodboy0953]

Loved video. Lucky to see Diver Down and 1984. For Christmas 1983 I got Paiste 2002’s and Simmons Sds 8. Loved Alex playing the excitement of Van Halen was palpable. The amount of equipement was unbelievable at shows. ❤❤❤

[@matthewpaluch777]

Hi Bart, here's some additional notes; - Billy Cobham was 1 of the first to experiment with combining shells. - Alex used road/flt cases for the extra long bass drums. - The fire extinguishers were for " I'm on Fire" - Slingerland cut tom (marching drums) photo was a promo video for the FairWarning album. - Black/white striped kit was made of Vista-lite shells. - The "JUMP" video was shot @an airplane hanger. - AVH's warehouse is actually @his home (basement?) - The rototom close to hihat in JUMP kit had a foot pedal to mimic a timpani.

[@_alex_merrick_]

I had the pleasure of playing 3 of Alex’s kits a few years ago: the 1980 “Flammable” kit, the 2012 kit, and the 2015 final tour kit. There used to be a mini-museum of famous drum kits that my friend’s stepdad owned and they were all free to play upon invite. It certainly takes some getting used to but they’re really fun to play! They also had two of Gregg Bissonette’s kits from his time with David Lee Roth which also had very deep bass drums. The “Eat ‘Em and Smile” kit is a monster!

[@Twotontessie]

Eat em Smile was Recording Custom wasn’t it?

[@_alex_merrick_]

​@@Twotontessie I know it was a Yamaha, so it was probably a Recording Custom

[@shanemartin8904]

I remember an article in a drum mag many years ago that the eat and smile garbage drums were sold, stripped down and separated to look like another kit...i even saw the photos

[@carlliano6295]

Wow, this was better than any MD article on Alex that I’ve read over the last 30 years

[@glengamble526]

As for 1:58:23 I’m nearly 100% certain that is the basement of Dr. Roth’s mansion, where they rehearsed, too. I remember reading about the trucks pulling up there to pick up the gear, pre-tours as well. It would stand to reason-look at the low ceiling.

[@wflkurt]

Thanks for the reply! I would not have guessed that!

[@drummaman1]

AVH drum solo at that time involved him lighting his mallets on fire (timpani mallets) and playing the kit with the mallets on fire. Thus, the fire extinguisher. It was real and functional.

[@diboc741]

Alex was the first drummer I ever heard that made me want to play. This was fantastic thanks so much!

[@ballhead5150]

so much information (also the VH history beside these iconic drumkits). I love it. It's brilliant... thank you!

[@motonorcal9938]

This really showcases the genius and experience of these incredible musicians. Nicely done. Alex and Eddie were linked by DNA to produce some of the greatest rock and roll ever heard.

[@BrianLovinsDrumCam]

Hey Guys! Love the channel, love this episode. Just something I can add regarding the burning of the heads. I don’t know when he started or stopped burning the heads themselves, but my first Halen show was August 5, 1980, with the white ‘flammable’ kit. They ended the show with Your Really Got Me and Alex wore the gas mask and burned the heads using flaming mallets. It was fantastic!

[@stevenwilson9865]

I've been a Ludwig guy since the beginning. And was always looking for others who played them. Alex made Ludwigs, Roto-Toms, and C.S. Black Dot drumheads, and E-drums cool. Al and Ed both are "tone chasers" Seeking signature sounds that fit their style. My dream kit is a massive stainless steel Ludwig set. They sound awesome!

[@philipreedwallace]

Alex Van Halen’s drum kit was the first thing I noticed about Van Halen. The Fair Warning drum kit caught my eye when MTV came out. Yes even before I knew about Ed. But I started playing guitar anyway because I sucked at drums. lol. Great job . Great picture s. This is awesome. I loved looking at all his drum kits. Thank you. Greg fixing the hi hat. lol it was broke. I’m a guitarist now and I knew he was raising the hat. My best friend was a drummer. I was 12 when I saw them in 1984. We went with my drummer friends brother. You are right. When we got there. It was rowdy as hell. His brother said “ don’t yall move! “ 😂😂😂 I’m sorry you didn’t get to see them. 2/11/84 Nashville. Still have my ticket stub. Thank you 😊

[@DWH072]

It’s too bad Alex doesn’t do interviews anymore, it would be awesome to get some of these unanswered questions addressed. Great show thanks 👍

[@Studio55DavidV]

Big book on the way by Alex 🤷🏽‍♂️ I’ll take it

[@romangarcia608]

i was 10 in 1984 and had just started playing drums, hearing Hot For Teacher blew my mind…he’s still in my Top 10 fave drummers (probably Top 5 if i sat down and wrote it out) - Alex Van Halen rules!! 🥁 🔥 ☝🏼

[@drumdiscussion7776]

Thanks Bart and Kurt for another interesting discussion of famous drum gear. More specifically Alex Van Halen. Fascinating and informative info on personally stylized gear for his playing style performances. Experimenting with various gear is a very specific connection to the artist in creating music.❤

[@johngolden5257]

Love it Kurt! In the early 80’s I striped my black Pearl drums with 2.5” white auto detailing tape and like you I had two of those MONSTROUS Roger’s boom stands, each holding up a 16” Paiste 404 crash cymbal. 😂🤣

[@duckydrummer6331]

I started really getting into Alex’s drumming on VHII. He started dialing in that snare tone on that album. I like the little drum solo on Light Up The Sky and his drumming on Out of Love is great. His use of brushes on Big Bad Bill is Sweet William now is spot on. Other smaller things he does like coming in on the up beat on Take Your Whiskey Home. His work on Loss of Control is great because it’s a hard song to figure out what to play.

[@jeffgarland6962]

Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge on Alex Van Halen!

[@thetype85]

Yikes! I'm super late to the party! I can add my two cents regarding Paiste: Paiste was dropped by Ludwig around 1971 or 72, that means that there was no U.S. distributor and no Paistes sold in volume in the U.S. until Rogers took over in 1974. Looking at all the pictures, it's clear to see Alex was still using Zildjians as late as 1977. My educated guess is when the band got an advance from Warner Brothers after signing the contract, Alex went and bought a full set of 2002s. You can clearly hear he's using 2002's on the first album: 2- 18's, a 20", a 22 inch ride and 15 inch sound edge high hats. I don't hear him using a China type on the album, I bet he didn't get it until the 1st tour. You can clearly hear Alex using his 20-inch china type on the second album, the very last note of "you're no good" and towards the end of his solo in light up the sky where he hits five crashes in a row, the last crash being his China. Also, Kurt is correct, Alex was using a 22-inch ride for at least the first two albums, the reason being that Rogers did not import or distribute a 24-inch! It wasn't until Paiste opened the Brea distribution center in 1981 that they started selling 24 inch rides in the US! Alex started using all 20 inch crashes or mediums on "women and children 1st", this also could be when he got a 24" ride. One last thing: Alex was never listed or mentioned in any Paiste promo material until the early 1980's, I think this is when he got an endorsement. Alex is one of the main reasons I've played Paiste for over 40 years, my brother got VHII when it came out in '79, it totally blew my little 13 year old mind!

[@josemariamedina3903]

The 1979 kit (Van Halen II era) is in the Hard Rock Hotel in Guadalajara, México. Right in the lobby.

[@glengamble526]

2:02:49 not only that, but I’m fairly certain he was using Tama heavy duty cymbal stands by this point too. Have a look at them-pretty certain they aren’t Ludwig stands.

[@mightyV444]

Oh emm gee, Bart! I feel like it's Christmas again already! 😄 Thank you and Kurt very much for this video! 😃👍 Going to be a late night for me! 😅

[@Wazulon]

My first Modern Drummer purchase was the 83 Alex issue too. Fell in love with his kits straight away. Sweet episode chaps.

[@mgdrummer77]

I'm not sure why people seem to think that the shallower Supraphonics are 5.5x14. They are all 5x14, they've never made a 5.5x14 Supra.

[@mikestern2drumz]

Great post really enjoyed this.! Quite the extraordinary history of Alex's drum kits...bring on part 2! 😬👌

[@559043]

i saw them on my birthday during the 1984 tour at the Cow Palace

[@SSTIXX-lc9qd]

bay area!

[@the_farpost]

The black and white stripes kit from the Fair Warning tour: I picked this up from their storage in the late 90s to be on display. i was originally set up in the West LA location and we ordered some Tama booms and got Pork Pie to make Octobans for the kit. a few items were missing but we were able to set this up close to his specs based all the available online photos. after my time with Guitar Center this kit got moved around a bunch and never looked like it was set up properly.

[@the_farpost]

I really wanted the "Lips" kit but we were told that one was not available, I think the kicks were repurposed for the 1984 tour with the small mirrors finish.

[@wflkurt]

Cool info! It had to be summer 1998 when I saw the set guitar center in LA. As you can see from the picture in this episode, it was not set up correctly at all.

[@tanneryordan]

@@the_farpost There are pictures of the lips and mouth kit since the US fest showing 2 of the 3 kicks. I don't think the shells were re-used, but the radial horns moved from kit to kit I believe.

[@ciadella1971]

​@@the_farpostI read that the lips kit got water damaged but someone ended up with it. I always liked that kit too.

[@geraldjoly5427]

Bob Seger system drummer had double depth bass drums.1960s. Great Podcast

[@Ian_P]

1:22:27 Bass drums clearly joined together inside of the shells, with a strip of something and screws.

[@GRohn61]

Great great discussion guys! I was lucky enough to see the original lineup at Maple Leaf Gardens around 1978. Just a monster show.

[@steverobertsmusic8019]

Yeah, great show guys. I was at Monsters of Rock in 1984 to see VH...as a 15 year old, went with my friend from school. I remember seeing DLR through the back stage fence driving around on a quad bike or similar. Awesome ..

[@Kinger1625]

This is a great history of one of the most underrate drummers of all time! These guys are Jazzy, Classical, Rock, and Metal and Blues all mixed together….but Alex is an amazing musician! Respect the wind is Al on piano, and he can play anything…but he wanted the connection to the instrument, which is why they switched . Thank goodness, but they would’ve both gotten there one way or another! Man I LOVE this! ❤❤❤❤🎉😊

[@shawnhapney8784]

Wow! Loved the interview and classic pics. Deep Deep Dig In. Can't wait for part 2! Cheers!

[@JohnnyBeane]

@1:55:00 Roth was scatting along with them when they recorded it. I have heard it.

[@wflkurt]

I never heard that before. I had always heard the two of them recorded it really late at night and then played it for Ted as they were super excited about it. Thanks for the info!

[@JohnnyBeane]

@@wflkurt You’re welcome!

[@wflkurt]

@@JohnnyBeane Oddly enough I just finished up listening to Steve Rosen's interviews with Alex from 1985. In part six around the 4:00 mark, Alex says that the main track for Jump was recorded at 3 in the morning. He says it was just him, Edward and Donn Landee. Maybe Dave had a tape of that recording that he scatted over for ideas? The way Alex talks about Dave in this interview makes me think that it would be very unlikely that Dave would be at 5150 at 3 am since Alex says that had a hard time getting him to show up at all. Who knows?

[@tanneryordan]

@@wflkurtJump was tracked as a whole band. you can hear bleed from all instruments, including dave’s vocals in the room, into the bass and drum mics. Remember that Ed and Al talked about tracking jump a bunch of times but decided that one of the first takes was the best. I can imagine they may have gone back with the 2 of them to try to redo it and they are confusing those later takes that weren’t used. they also frequently mix up those 84 tracks and could have meant “I’ll wait” which Donn landee confirmed was recorded without Michael anthony

[@wflkurt]

@@tanneryordanI’m just going by what Alex says in the Steve Rosen interview that was done around August of 1985. I also heard that the music was recorded before Dave even came up with vocals. I read that Dave took a tape of the music while riding in the back of his car and wrote the lyrics. Mike has also said in interviews that most of his bass tracks for 1984 were done later, standing at the mixing board.

[@lucyfuir6386]

Being that they were tinkers I wouldn't be surprised if Alex didn't take the hardware off both kits and use shelf paper or something of the sort to rerap the drums so they matched. A friend of mine did that in high school he bought 2 mismatched kits and rewrapped them with some sort of contact paper

[@TedDiabetes]

Been waiting very patiently for this one. Edit: some stuff about the Fair Warning kit. They are indeed Vistalites in F pattern. There's an old interview floating around where Alex talks about having a single bass drum being built first to test them for strength. Because in his words "Dave likes to jump up on the drums and, humiliate them." The second he stood on it, the drum as expected collapsed. So the kit that was ultimately built had been sprayed with a quarter inch of fiberglass to reinforce them for strength, and the end result made them even louder than they were previously. To my knowledge, that's the only acrylic/fiberglass kit in existence. It's now owened and was fully restored by Chris Heuer of Heuer's Drum Lab.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Thanks brother!

[@wflkurt]

Thanks for the added information!

[@Claes_Isacson]

Very cool episode! I saw Van Halen at Monsters of Rock in Stockholm in 1984. Alex is a monster on the drums and so are his kits! Thx for sharing guys! 🥁

[@wflkurt]

I have to say, it's interesting for me to revisit this video after so much has happened regarding Alex over the last year. Bart had plans to make these episodes well before either of us knew that Alex was going to write a book and before Alex decided to have his massive auction of gear from over the years. This particular episode was filmed in January of last year and While I am pretty happy that most of the information is accurate, I have learned several things since this has come out. One of the biggest things I learned was that Alex's first Ludwig set was indeed bought in 1970 and Alex bought it right after he quit the machine shop that nearly took a finger of his off on his left hand. Alex says in his book that he bought the set at Village Music in Sierra Madre California and paid $1000.00 for it. He says that he made a dollar an hour at the machine shop and he paid the proprietor of the store, Mr Shephard 1000 one dollar bills as that stack of money represented 1000 hours of his life. Alex also says he still has the set so it's possible the set was only on loan at the Hard Rock cafe? The other surprise I learned, which came by way of the auction is that the set did not come with a 26' bass drum. It actually came with a 22 as alex sold that lone drum in the recent auction. All those old pics pre-1975 I had been looking at were 22" and 24" bass drums. The 26 must have come later around 1975 as he mentions getting a 26 around this time. It's also likely the bass drum purchase coincided with when he acquired the first 6.5x14 supersensitive. I also had known he had a water skiing accident, which is what has been the root of his neck/back problems for many years. What I did not know is when the accident happened. I had heard stories of it being sometime in the late 80's but there had never been any details, at least that I knew of where he talked about it. In the book, Alex says accident happened in 1979 when his tech Greg was whipping him around at 60mph. Alex said he broke his neck and it never healed correctly. That explains a few things. Alex did also confirm in a recent interview I heard that he was playing Zildjian cymbals in the early days. I'm just glad that some of this information has been brought to light now.

[@RedVynil]

In his early days, he kinda sounds like me. I got my first set (a 3-piece made by Dixie) for Christmas in `67. I was 10, they were $350. I'd been playing drums since my days in the womb. I'd watch American Bandstand and all those other record-based shows we had in the `60's and lay out an array of mom's pots and pans on the floor between the T.V. & I and, using pencils as my sticks, would play along to the records they'd play. A Crisco can was my bass drum. I also played that with a pencil. When I finally got into a band in 1980, I heard someone was selling a small set of drums for about $150 so, I bought them. I combined them with my first set so I had 2 bass drums and 4 toms (one was my first snare from `66 which I converted into a tom). By the time I got into the band, I THINK I stopped growing and was 6' 9". Like Alex, I sit kinda low behind the drums on top of 2 inverted milk crates stacked up so, that puts me 20" above the floor but, my snare is even lower than I am. The toms are also pretty low. I could never understand the point of having them 2' above the bass drums and perfectly level! What's the point?? Aren't you supposed to set them up so you have easy access to them? Mine are set up so they're a nice, smooth concave rounded bowl. Almost like a steel drum. Also like Alex, I don't give a rats ass what they look like or who made them, as long as they do what I need them to do. So, I've got a 20" main bass and my second is 22" (or possibly 24"). The 22 is brown woodgrain, the 20' was originally silver but I covered it with strawberry contact paper, like what you'd find in a kitchen cupboard. The main 12" tom also has that but, I ran out after doing that one and never got to cover the 13" so, that's still silver. I've got a red 8", a blue 10", a clear Vistalight 13" next to the silver one, a blue 13": next to that, a woodgrain 16" ride that matches the 22, a blue 16" floor that matches the blue 13" and a white pearl 16" floor by Zim Gar. I think only the 8 & 10 and the wooden 16" have bottom heads. I have an old silver Ludwig snare, it's not as deep as Al's but it DOES have the bead around the middle. The tag is either olive & silver or olive and blue. I DO have a spare that might be a bit older, and, I've got a piccolo snare. Some day, I hope to also incorporate my Simmons drums and my V-Drums; the Simmons are only a 5-piece set but the V's are 13-piece. I also have 3 different brains for the V's; a 5, 7 and 10. The Simmons have an SDS 1000 and a TMI. I bought the V's in numerous pieces and preferred the rubber heads to the mesh. The cymbals are mostly Zildjian. Because I'm sitting kinda low, I guess my traps are a bit low but, when I was using a shorter stem on my first set, I had to keep the top almost at the very top of the stem. The other 6 are: two on my left, two on my right and two in front of me. I remember one night, we were playing at a fairly high-end venue, famous people DID play there (Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Julian Lennon, Johnny Winter, Joydrop, Todd Rundgren, Dr. Demento and "Weird Al", etc.), I was still using a pair of 20" bass drums. I walked in and started to set them up on the stage and the sound man started laughing at me for having such small bass drums, this was years before Primus where Tim used a pair of 18"'s. We did sound check, played the gig and, afterwards, the sound man came down, gobsmacked and wanted to know what I did to those bass drums to get that kind of incredible sound out of them! It's NOT what you have, it's what you can do with them!

[@patrickmiller4987]

Just go ahead and write a book bout your awesome self! Jeezus!

[@billyrhythm]

I'm a little more than 1/2 way through the episode, but as one of the unofficial GHOST historians on the web, here's some info for you. 1) Though the GHOST may not have been as popular as the Speed King, it had a fairly long production run. The original patten info dates to 1951, so it's probable the GHOST was in production in the late '40s. Ludwig phased in out (According to The Chief) in 1981. 2) The GHOST was named in honor of the USS Enterprise, the "Galloping Ghost of the Oahu Coast." GHOST inventor Bob Ramsey was stationed aboard the ship. There's a story that retractable landing gear on the planes of the Enterprise were the inspiration for Mr. Ramsey to use circular clock springs in his pedal. 3) I met Bill Ludwig III once, and we talked about the GHOST. He told me that the last 1/2 dozen or so GHOSTS they had at the factory he snagged and gave to Alex Van Halen. ~Billy Rhythm

[@wflkurt]

Awesome information! Thanks!

[@billyrhythm]

@@wflkurtyou’re welcome. #goldsparkleludwigs

[@glengamble526]

53:41 I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Oslo, Norway to see Alex’s silver Ludwig kit on display. I was a cruise ship drummer and it was listed as being in that location on their website. I was so excited, I got there before they even opened. Well, I came back once they DID open and toured anxiously through the (rather small) building-both floors. It was nowhere to be seen. I was mystified, so I asked the manger on duty ‘Excuse me, but aren’t you supposed to have AVH’s drum kit here?’ He replied ‘Yes, we do.” I asked where it was, to which he replied ‘It’s locked up in cases in the back room-it’s being sent to another location.’. Apparently they move items around the world to keep the displays fresh for fans. I begged the man ‘Please, could I have even a small peek at it? I came all the way from Canada!’ (which was a small lie, but I AM Canadian!). He seemed to understand and said ‘I gladly,would, but it’s locked in cases that I don’t even have a key for.’ Perhaps he was just getting rid of me…who knows.

[@glengamble526]

p.s. That Had Rock Cafe shot of the silver Ludwig’s DOES LOOK LIKE the Oslo location…it had two floors-and these appear to be set up,under the stairs.

[@orlandodavidson]

When I saw this video pop up I literally jumped off my couch in excitement. Thank you Bart 🙏

[@jimallen6197]

45:46 It looks like he lowered the floor tom leg mount to raise the height of the drum. That top hole is right in line with the factory setup.

[@jimflys2]

@1:26 vibrafibe. Not vibrafoam. It wad fiberglass and resin that was applied to the inside of the drums. Added projection. Neil's kits had that done to them at the Drum Center in Ft. Wayne. Talked about a lot in MD back in the day.

[@bobc.5698]

Roth is the one who was blowing into the drum during Alex's solo.

[@wflkurt]

Thanks for the clarification. It was a vague story I heard somewhere. maybe it was in Greggs book and I just forgot.

[@bryant2399]

This is awesome guys, I can’t wait to listen to part 2 which is more my era: I graduated high school in ‘95 so I’m a huge fan of “For Unlawful…”

[@beyer66]

I’ve handled plenty of Ludwig drums with loose badges.. and Alex’s snare badge could very easily have been “loose” and able to be moved slightly side to side

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Yeah that could be. I wonder if it can be seen in multiple photos over multiple years with the angle. You would think it would be straightened or bumped one way or the other over the years if it was just loose.

[@wflkurt]

It's possible for sure but clearly he had at least two of these drums, if not more. I have also handled a ton of Ludwig drums over the years and while I have seen the occasional loose badge on wooden sets and snares, I have yet to see a loose badge on a metal drums. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen though. I just know all the badges on my metal snares and the many I have seen have badges that are pretty well on there. Alex's snare likely got a LOT of use though and was moved around a lot so anything is possible.

[@beyer66]

@@wflkurt also we should see scratches where the badge was moved back and forth, if it was loose.. but who knows.. it could’ve just been SLIGHTLY loose.. just loose enough to be manipulated back Into a horizontal position

[@morandavid1471]

I was also 13 years old in 1984 and got to go to that Worcester show in March. There was an unseasonal snow storm that day and getting there was questionable all day.

[@kevinwilkins3248]

Awesome video. Really enjoyed it. Al is also my all time favorite and #1 influence and even though I knew all the info already, it is just really fun to see other diehard fans discussing all of his amazing custom kits. Favorite kits: 1. Fair Warning painted Vistalite 2. 1980 WACF "space shuttle" kit 3. 1979 stainless steel with all the Vistalite Octobans. Those Octobans sounded AMAZING on that tour. 4. 1982 Diver Down kit, but definitely with the high mounted 8" and 10" toms before he deleted them. 5. 2007 Reunion tour blue sparkle kit with those half bass drums built into the side of the main bass drums 6. 2015 Final tour kit with the sharp copper hardware and VH logo badges. I always wish Al had used the roto tom kit from the Jump video and filled it out with the Octobans for the 84 tour, since several of the tunes on the album you can hear roto toms. And, then he should've had the Octobans mic'd and actually played them instead of just having them up there for show on both the 84 and 5150 tours. To this day, whenever I watch footage from the LWAN show, I find myself wanting to yell at Alex, "PLAY the Octobans!" Al always had such unique kits all throughout his career. I have read that he and John Douglas already had a kit designed and built for the proposed 2019 tour that would've been the original 4 back together that sadly never happened because of Ed's declining health. I always wonder what that kit looks like, if it indeed was already put together by John and Al.

[@TheZappawizard]

That's not an amp on the ground behind Alex in that outdoor picture, that is a trap case with the lid off.

[@wflkurt]

I do see that now that I’m looking. I think I should have said further behind as there is a speaker further behind him. Thanks for pointing that out

[@glengamble526]

Yep, I noticed that too.

[@mightyV444]

By the way, Tama have only recently re-released a 'Limited Edition' of the Rosewood Mastercraft snare drum, in either 5" or 6.5" deep and as part of their 50th Anniversary celebrations 🙂 I wish I could afford the re-released Tama Superstar kit together with a Bell Brass snare drum! 😍🙏

[@shanegriffin2215]

The stainless kit was always my favorite one. Something to touch on: Tama Octobans were always 6” in diameter. Still are to this day. The ones off to the side above his floor toms are 8” diameter. So are these clear Cannon toms? They made their own tube drums back in the day as well. And to go deeper, those 8” diameter drums had Tama hardware on them. So did he take off the original hardware- because Cannon had their own design, or what? Also, 2 clear 8” diameter drums were in front of the black and white Vistalite kit used in the Fair Warning tour, not 6” diameter. So the mystery is who made the 8” diameter drums? Would love some info on this!

[@marntralkeys13denoon9]

Can you do a tommy lee gear next? Or in the future?

[@adamh111169]

Amazing video guys! There actually was a floor tom used an a song or two on 1984. Probably a Ludwig. Used very minimal but there for sure. Very taped up and muffled but sounds like a 16 inch

[@tanneryordan]

yep. there are absolutely 3 tom pitches on 1984, with the obvious simmons tom additions on HFT and GGB

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Interesting! Great info - thanks for watching!

[@ickysan]

Sorry if someone else has mentioned this, but, the black & white Vistalite kit AVH used on the Fair Warning tour was reinforced with *fiberglass* resin/cloth, not spray foam or whatever you said it was. You could see it up close when the kit was on display at Guitar Center Hollywood. It was very sloppily done, really thick and messy and gloppy, with many areas of unimpregnated fiberglass cloth hanging out, like they did a rush job (or had no real idea of how to "tap" fiberglass). It looked as if the fiberglass reinforcement was spray-painted white afterwards. Looked great on stage, though. Great podcast. Thanks for making it. ❤=vH=

[@wflkurt]

Thank you for this clarification. I saw the set myself and did not know what to make of it. This was 25 years ago too and I was quite shocked at how sloppy those insides looked. Not at all what I had expected.

[@24theMoney]

AVH is selling his gear. What a perfect timing for this video part 1 and 2.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Absolutely! Kurt and I just recorded an new episode about the auction which will be out tomorrow

[@TheZappawizard]

I wonder if it's possible that the no name add on silver sparkle drums were from the previous kit and they were re-wrapped? The "Slingerland" drum looks like it could be a 14x14 floor tom.

[@tanneryordan]

I don’t think rewrapping was very easy back then, and especially not affordable to alex

[@TheZappawizard]

Good point ​@@tanneryordan Maybe he found a silver sparkle MIJ kit cheap

[@tanneryordan]

@@TheZappawizard I think that is the likely answer. A lot of eddie’s first guitars were import MIJ copies that he bought from local music stores..

[@NEALBABBITT]

I used to have a double bass set of Ludwig stainless steel drums (12,13,14,15,18,20,2x24) and they were actually lighter than a lot of wood drums.

[@aksap5544]

On 1978 tour with Journey, their drummer was was still Aynsley Dunbar so he never learned rudiments from Steve Smith as was speculated in the vid

[@johnsoos6907]

Kurt has some great ears. I always knew that Alex used a metal snare on "So This Is Love?" Great job researching AVH's stuff!

[@tanneryordan]

metal, plus wide open which was super rare for alex. he always muffled the top head to no end, but that track was totally different!

[@johnsoos6907]

​@@tanneryordanIt always kind of reminded me of Mitch Mitchell's snare drum on the first Hendrix record. It sounded great!

[@jimflys2]

@44:11 Tama hi hat stand, 14" floor tom. Tama snare stand. Ludwig Hercules throne.

[@jimmyscrimshaw]

Vibra-Foamed or Vibra-Fibed? I think the answer is Fibed. Fiberglass. Peart did this with his Tama and Ludwig sets at The Percussion Center - Ft Wayne IN. As far as I know, the only place doing this. Neil explained it as a very thin layer of fiberglass applied to the inside of the shell. But in the photos of Alex's drums it looks like a very thick layer - applied liberally. Maybe they needed that much to get it to bond to the acrylic. Who knows?

[@beyer66]

Did AVH maybe use Ludwig tom/ft leg mounts on the bass drums, with straight 3/8” rods connecting via the mounts? I thought I saw pictures of such a setup, but it may have not been his drums. But anyway, the tom mount idea holding the drums together would explain how to fit them in cases.. just take them apart

[@wflkurt]

I think he did on the white set from 1980. I haven’t seen this on any others.

[@BrianLovinsDrumCam]

Thé 1981 kit was a clear vistalite kit that Alex modified by adding white and black (I believe they were fiberglass) strips. I believe Alex talked about that in the 1983 Modern Drummer interview.

[@tanneryordan]

Alex claimed that kit was made by cutting different color drums and putting them back together or something… he obviously had no clue how they built the vistalites 😂

[@makattak3550]

Around 1:10, the word you're looking for with Alex's flexible kick drums is "DUCTING". PIPE.

[@wflkurt]

Thanks!

[@DRCRANKNSTEIN]

I LIKE THE PART ABOUT WHEN YOU WERE 13 AND WANTED TO GO SEE V.H. BUT YOUR MOM SAID THAT YOU WERE TOO YOUNG..THAT PROBABLY HAPPENED TO ALOT OF KIDS AT THAT AGE, ME, I WAS LUCKY THE FIRST BAND I EVER SAW IN 1974 WHEN I WAS 13 WAS THE N.Y. DOLLS IN DOWNTOWN DETROIT. REGARDING V.H. WITH DAVE, I WAS WORKING AS A USHER AT THE THEN NEW JOE LOUIS AREANA IN DETROIT,IN 1983 OR 82' CAN'T REMEMBER.. AND SAW THE DIVER DOWN TOUR- WITH DAVE OF COUSE, AND BEING AN USHER AND HAVING THE RUN OF THE PLACE, I DID GET TO MEET AND TALK TO EDDIE.

[@James-cm7so]

Fantastic!! I'm a guitar player, and I'm lmao 🤣 because we don't know what we are talking about, lol! But I k ow that a band is as good as it's drummer.. alex is one of the most underrated drummers !! Eddie is always praised for his sense of rhythm and swing.. he got it from alex I'm convinced! Great job gentleman

[@yankeesdrums2]

Does anyone know were you can get sound samples of Alex’s drums for my eKit? Preferably from Balance album and tour?

[@gregthompson7053]

One of the things that I’m surprised was never mentioned is how much of a Led Zeppelin fan John Bonham idol he was 15 inch hats 2002 Cymbals Ludwig Drums super phonics snare drum and Bonham and the lighting of the Gong that was done back in 73 Madison Square Garden, I’m sure Alex Got the idea to do his gong the same way

[@IraSiegel]

I saw the 1984 tour at Worcester Centrum and I was also 13. I think VH was the first band to play the then new Centrum in ‘82.

[@wflkurt]

This is the show I should have been at. I went the next time around after Sammy joined the band in 1986. I think there were many times when Worcester gave VH the key to the city.

[@IraSiegel]

...and I didn't see 5150 and wish I went to that one.@@wflkurt

[@wflkurt]

@@IraSiegel It was a great show for sure. I just can't believe that I never saw the OG VH lineup.

[@stephenmurphy1189]

When it shows him in rehearsing that is correct what you said about all the beer cans and crap all over the floor that was just for the picture a friend of mine knows Neil and Neil said yeah we got it all messy looking just for the photo. Also, I agree about Greg Emerson, who helped Alex with his kit. Sadly he passed away, but I heard about the black and white striped ones that he sent the drums out to get fiberglass inside of them to make them a lot stronger and roadworthy, because those acrylics would've cracked like crazy if they didn't put fiberglass inside of them, they wouldn't have lasted that long on the tour. Had they not done that. I haven't seen the part two yet but I'm just telling you from what I know.

[@wflkurt]

Thanks for the info! I'm really just a long time fan from New Hampshire that has never met Alex or any other band member. Nice to hear from people that are really in the know or know people that were there. Having correct facts is really what is important. I know I did not get everything right but it's a lot to cover and Bart did an amazing job putting this together. He is top notch when it comes to this stuff.

[@Twotontessie]

This was so good. Would like to know what the shells were on white 1980. Also - 1984 Octobans weren’t even miked/struck? Just for show right?

[@wflkurt]

I'm going to assume the shells in 1980 were just regular Ludwig six ply shells (at least for the toms and floor toms). It could be a different story for the bass drums but I still think they just customized regular factory made bass drums. Looks like everything was just painted black inside. As for the 1984 set, I don't think the Octobans were mic'd individually but I'm guessing the overheads could pick them up. I saw the 5150 tour when I was 15 and I could just about swear that he hit the clear ones during part of his solo. I mean that was 38 years ago and I was pretty young and likely over excited to see Alex for the first time. I think I remember it though as it seemed out of the norm to see him hit those. I'm thinking they were mainly for show as they made the set look more consistent as the Simmons pads are kind of small and thin.

[@benjaminfinley9314]

Yes the octobons were 💯 for show. They were just there to cover the SD5 pads and fill out the kit. They looked so cool though, and I used to draw those kits in elementary school instead of doing my classwork 😂

[@10alexa10]

I was at the very last show of the original line up at monsters of rock in nürnberg. Van halen were great and they always have been my favorite band by far. But acdc took no prisoners and just killed it that night. Van halen was way to pop for the rock crowd.

[@MagickYoga]

love these gear videos ...

[@bonzoleum]

Excellent, Bart!!!

[@gotmilk91]

That person squatting down in front of bass drum @ 26:35 appears to be singing into a mic... who'd be the singer back then?

[@zeketrick]

Before I listen... .awesome already

[@24theMoney]

The PA horns in the kick drum used on the 1984, 5150, and OU812 kits...where these just speakers for the electronic triggers?

[@wflkurt]

That's a great question. I kind of always assumed they were there for show but I really don't know.

[@benjaminfinley9314]

I feel like those had to be for show. Can’t imagine they actually did anything substantial.

[@meanmetalmike666]

Phil Rudds drum gear!

[@beyer66]

I was thinking the same thing

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

That is definitely on the list. I need to find the expert on his gear!

[@bobc.5698]

After listening to this and learning how long the silver sparkle Ludwig set was used......Ludwig should do an AVH signature kit. A Legacy 3ply maple kit With 2 14x26 base drums A 12x8, 13x9, 16x16, and a 16x20 in Silver Sparkle.

[@jeffclark6988]

That silver sparkle kit needs to be in Cleveland RRHOF😣

[@rogerdat7807]

Fire extinguisher was meeting code for commercial venues due to AVH being the trigger man for smoke pots and lighting his gong on fire in the early days before they could afford a proper pyro guy.

[@DavesArtRoom]

You must be an awesome drummer yourself. My favorite era was the Dave era. I liked some Sam stuff though. And the Gary era as well. But anyway, you hit it on the head with Jump! It was POP, but man was it good. The solo timings were awesome. VH is one of a kind. I really like them with Wolfgang too. Too bad Ed is gone. The one guitarist and drummer that remind me of Ed and Al, are Jacob Deraps and Josh Gallagher. Ed and Al, Dave and Mike are one of a kind band.

[@wflkurt]

I am a drummer thanks to my teacher but a lot of my inspiration has come from Alex himself. I learned so much from Alex and I wanted to do these as kind of a thank you. Josh and Jacob are fantastic! It's scary how good those guys are. Thanks for watching.

[@drummer78]

EVH is legendary for modifying and breaking apart/building back up his guitars (Frankestrat, etc.) but AVH was just as much a customizer and inventor when it came to drum kits. It must have run in the family.

[@dorfsteen]

I'm sure we all miss Alex, it would be nice to see him do some interviews. I wish he😎 would come out and talk with us let us know he's all right and everything something, Alex where are you. God bless you we miss you we want to talk to you a bunch of us would love to jam with you as well.

[@markali-gilkes8517]

alex &van Haen ,amazing , the two brothers &bass player. david lee Roth upfront singer..

[@markali-gilkes8517]

Alex, awesme drummer &band.😀🖖👍

[@petervandebor1828]

Alex is what Edward was onley on the drums, i miss that band, but i understand Alex, i wish Alex a nice life after VANHALEN, MISSCHIEN ZIE IK JE EEN KEER IN NEDERLAND ALEX NET ALS EDWARD WAS ,BEN,EN BLIJF JIJ DE BESTE GROETJES VAN EEN NEDERLANDSE FAN EN VRIEND GODZEGEN JOU EN DE HELE VANHALEN FAMILIE IK HOOP JE IS TEGEN TE KOMEN IN HOLLAND, TOPPER WE MISSEN JULLIE AFZ.BOR777 ❤❤❤

[@RedVynil]

About 25 years ago, I was helping to run sound at the same venue I mentioned before. I think that was one of the two night's Todd played there, and the sound guy I was with told me that if he couldn't find a way to mic the snare on the top or bottom, he'd mic it from the air hole on the side so, maybe that's what's going on with the guy micing the snare from the side.

[@tanneryordan]

I looked into that idea because it would be a huge discovery, but where the mic is on alex’s snare is not where the air hole was. I’m thinking that the foam was to protect the front of the mic, but the point was to put the mic right against the shell to pick up some of the woody-sound that alex liked. almost like a contact mic

[@RedVynil]

@@tanneryordan Hmmm, I've never heard of micing the drums THROUGH the drums. One thing that really bugged the hell out of me in places where we'd play, I was using a 6 or 7-piece set, double bass drums, and, even in these bigger venues with nearly top of the line sound gear that get lots of famous bands playing there, I never got more than 2 or 3 drum mics!! I'd get one on the snare and one in my right bass drum. I used both of them a lot so, asking me which is my main was kind of moot point. It WAS the right but, still, when I'd start playing both alternately, it probably sounded like shit! If I was lucky, I'd get a third mic on the trap cymbals! HOW can you be a pro soundman dealing with very famous bands and NOT be ready for just about anything? Even if I showed up with a 4-piece set, they STILL couldn't mic it all! But, when I was working for Joe Kelly, he had 2 anvil cases with about 20 mics per case so, HE was READY!! Sadly, I never played a gig with him on the sound board. He was building a recording studio for a local guitar god and said he was gonna have me work there with him when it was finished but, a couple weeks later, someone robbed him and shot him dead! Best soundman I've ever dealt with and I doubt he was much more than 30 years old! Great guy, too!! He actually quit his job at that venue over me when I accidentally was given a $5.00 chicken dinner that Todd's road crew was supposed to get and, once the promoter found out about, he raised a big stink about it!! Joe was irate over this guy raising a fuss over $5.00 that I was prepared to give him and he told the owner that he quit!

[@tanneryordan]

@@RedVynil Alex’s mic setup was consistent for every show on each tour. I’ve argued with people over that because people always talk about the “sound guys”, but the mics were part of alex’s kit for the entire tour. same exact mics, same exact setup. he had a lot of say in how it was mic’d as well. hell, eddie set up his own mic’s even on the 1984 tour. those specific mic setups had little to nothing to do with the “soundguy”. in the 90s, alex had internal mic’d drums which were mounted to the inside of the shells. attaching mics to the shell typically adds a different sound because of the sound that comes through the vibrations of the mount. this is my theory of why they put this side mic right up against the shell. i’ve heard of side mic’ing but it’s obvious they were going for some tone of the shell. the same mic setup was used on the 1986 tour and you can see it in the Live Without A Net show. his mic setups were probably designed with sound engineers and such, but he had a lot of say in it. there are some mysteries of the mic setup on the 1984 tour, mainly in the micing of the altec radial horns on the front of the bass drums. i’ve been told that those horns are almost entirely high-frequency so it wouldnt be very much of a “bass drum” sound.

[@RedVynil]

@@tanneryordan I'm just going by my experiences with it. I HAVE heard of some other guy that put his mics inside his drums. Maybe he was copying Alex, I don't know but, it seems like not the best idea in the world for drums. I would think that the mic even being there would change the sound a bit and the vibrations from playing drums would eventually loosen parts of the mic or the mount and, if it's inside the drum, there's nothing you can do to fix it until the show's over and, by then, maybe you would've lost your mic or just its ability to work. Maybe a part of it would be bouncing around inside making it sound terrible. I eventually took the muffler out of my snare because it kept vibrating its way loose and being no good at all or just falling off inside. Besides, I like the kind of Bill Bruford ringing sound. Otherwise, except for their first and maybe 2nd album, I've never been much of a fan of theirs so, other than Alex HAVING a lot of drums, I never bothered much with anything of their set-up or knew much about them. I DO have, "Diver Down" but, I seriously doubt I've ever played it more than once when I first got it about 25 years ago. It was part of one of those record club deals. I HAD to buy SOMETHING so, that was the only offering they had that I was even marginally interested in and didn't already have. Kind of a "hassle" of having at least 20,000 records! It's over 62,000, now. I hardly buy more tsan one or two a year, now.

[@tanneryordan]

@@RedVynil it was very popular starting in the 90s. he likely used the May Miking system. it was designed not to move or rattle around as you say. it’s also the reason why alex’s tom sounds were so basketball-y in the 90s live shows. it was pretty brief that he used them, but it was a cool era. allows for a cleaner stage look. ultimately the side snare mic wasn’t permanent, nor was it the secret to his snare sound. before and after that setup did he have a similar and equally amazing snare sound, so i’m thinking it wasn’t very important.

[@JohnnyBeane]

Awesome dudes! =VH=

[@jaynorthrop7456]

I've heard that part of the reason for his sound was that the drums were recorded with all of that on them.

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

That is really interesting

[@jaynorthrop7456]

@@DrumHistoryPodcast I also just found and purchased two of the Cannon 8" Concert Toms ( The 8" Octabons ) Don't see them come up often. It really seems like AVH used whatever he wanted. Mainly Ludwig, but Tama Octabons, Cannon Toms, Simmons Pads. Loving your content though, always good stuff.

[@totigerus]

I had the chance to buy the “come on baby finish what you started” kit and I passed on it like a fool. 🤷🏼‍♂

[@danielelise7348]

All those mic's would have taken up a lot of real estate on the mixing console.

[@tanneryordan]

they only needed 4-5 inputs for Ed, Mike, and dave. so the rest of the 20ish tracks could all be for alex

[@NintenDub]

One thing ppl always forget, when talking about gear, and looking at the early days of any musician(known or not)is the order in which ppl get things. So in this episode, he says "alex was playing the super sensitive over the previous drum, maybe cuz he liked it more" which mosy likely has nothing to do with it. Its more likely it was newer to him. In the 70s,ppl didnt care about gear. Youd have someone with a super rare/coveted item back than, simply throw it away or trade for something that was garbage,but was new to them,simply cuz it was new. So when you go through time(at least for a band or musician that would go on to become massive) youll see ppl with new gear over previous pics, likely cuz they wanted to try something else/gain experience/ get it cuz it was new, regardless of its actusl quality or sound or provenance. When your twenty something and broke, you do dumb things that make no sense, so going from a great snare or cymbal, to something ppl would gawk at now, is likely just due to it being new to the player,not necessarily that it was what they where looking for,wanted, or even liked. I remember a drunmer i knew back in the esrly 2000s who had a pearl export snare that was tuned a certain way, and this other drummer from another band traded him this 400$ picollo (it may have also been a pearl,i forget) and when he told me that i just laughed. This guy clearly didnt care or realise what he had, what he couldve done with it, and just traded it for the most boring plain snare on earth but i guess he was happy with it

[@tanneryordan]

this may be true for many musicians, but Van Halen has always been all about the sound. eddie was a complete lunatic about the intricacies if his tone, even from the mid 70s before being famous. alex was the same way. they both were totally nuts about achieving a sound with their gear/new gear and would stop at nothing to achieve it. I will concede that the gear not being coveted explains why they both would destroy what we now think of as collectors items, but they destroyed them in pursuit of a sound that they wanted, not just because it was something new to them. they weren’t passé about gear until the 2010’s

[@wflkurt]

@@tanneryordan I agree completely. I think Edward and Alex knew exactly what they wanted in their heads and bought the gear that would likely get them where they wanted to go. The silver sparkle set likely came as a brand new set sans the 26" bass drum and Alex added it ( I would assume ) as soon as he could afford it. Because a Ludwig Pro Beat was featured with a 5x14 supraphonic, I'm guessing Alex felt that he needed a deeper drum and likely wanted one similar to what John Bonham played. I'm not sure why he chose a super-sensitive over a supraphonic but I guess he must have felt he could get a better sound with one. Clearly he liked it as he had a second one as well. @NintenDub, people do dumb things in youth but I really feel like Alex and Edward were very calculated in terms of the gear they used and wanted. Just my opinion of course.

[@tanneryordan]

@@wflkurt the super sensitive over the supraphonic is interesting, especially since the sensitives were more expensive new. he likely didn’t know exactly what Bonham was using back then, maybe he just got the expensive one of the two. what’s interesting is that the Tama Rosewood’s were similar in construction to the super sensitives with parallel strainers.

[@abovethefirehouse]

of all the pedals I have used, the Ghost was the best.

[@starlord1177]

THANK YOU

[@GreatCircle360]

I had a St. George guitar, had no idea they made drums too lol

[@DrumHistoryPodcast]

Very cool! That is really common - lots of MIJ/Stencil brand names were on both guitars and drums. Thanks for watching!

[@CavemanWithAStringStick]

11:41 😬 … Yes. Yes I am. 😅

[@SeanM-i7m]

Rumor has it he had a little car and that's why he removed the bottom heads so they would all fit in his car in the early days lol so you could fit the floor toms inside the kicks lol