Show & Tell #1 - FREE Drums (That I Dig!)

[@BenjaminGib]

That zildjian crash literally sounds like a million bucks.

[@marcin7154]

The drums and a left crash really speak to me.

[@nelsontorres1694]

Nice Yamaha ❤ like the Tom size.

[@tomeverson5782]

I own a very similar MIT snare as that and also love it.

[@terrydrums]

Well done. I can appreciate a drummer who loves and plays their drums because of the way they SOUND and not how impressive or expensive they are.

[@1thess523]

Right now my favorite drum kit is made up of a 1960's Japanese Maxitone 20in Kick and a 10in Taye Pro Tour rack and a 14in match floor tom.. It's small and Punchy but still has a nice low end to them. I also have a 4 piece Gretsch Catalina Maple kit, a 1995 Japanese Tama Rockstar which I like but that little frankin kit is my favorite so far.

[@WilliamPerri-m9l]

@@1thess523I had a 89/90 Tom a rockstar is my first brand new kit. I often wonder how the mid-90s rock stars and newer imperial stars compared to the first GEN rock stars. That 1990 Rock Star was killer.

[@TomCawoski]

Very cool that you found these various drums and cymbals. They sound good!!! You are blessed to find gear like this. Yess FREE drums is a good thing especially when you can use them!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

[@dave_sanderson]

I genuinely LOL'd at the 'elastic' comment 🤣

[@tb7077]

The TOMS ARE KILLING it. The honkin’ snare sound would sit into a country rockin’ honky tonk song beautifully. This One’s For The Girls kinda thing. To my ears anyway. That kit is classic fantastic.

[@drumdotpizza]

Thanks so much! This video gave me the opportunity to put all the various bits together in one kit (never done that before). Fun stuff!

[@joelanguell4874]

I am just a beginner drummer but I really liked this video and you discussing cymbals especially! Love your videos! I hope you can talk more about cymbals in future videos!

[@pokemonthemedance]

Man vintage (and hell, even new) Yamaha just simply rules. This 7000 set of yours sounds incredible, but it of course has a lot to do with your touch in both playing and tuning, the latter of which is further helped by how easy these old Yamahas are to tune. I have a 1981 Yamaha 9000 set with 12", 13", 16" and 22", real wood finish. Just an incredible set, made me think about selling everything else that I have (I haven't done that). That particular set was very not free though.

[@eddieavakian]

Those drums sound glorious Joel. You’re playing feels great as well. Keep the vids coming! “China” 😂😂 I recognize that voice. so funny.

[@drumdotpizza]

That voice?? I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about....

[@eddieavakian]

@@drumdotpizza 😁

[@StevenSclafani]

The toms really sing. Vintage Yamaha rules! Could that snare be an old CB700? They had a similar ribbed steel design and used stickers instead of badges so that would explain the lack of branding. The hidden port hole is a mystery though.

[@drumdotpizza]

Might be CB700... It's clearly a 'stencil' drum design that companies put their own badges on. No doubt available in 6, 8 and 10 lug versions with various lug styles and strainers. I have owned many versions of this design (actually have a 6-lug version at the moment as well), and the hidden vent was new to me. I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of vents, so the idea of hiding it is a cool one. Functional and aesthetically clean. The 7000 series drums were Yamaha's lower line, but I'm not sure they were considered not-professional drums. Just lower cost in wood and lighter hardware (the tom mount, etc.) helped lower cost, but the build quality is truly impressive. Definitely not what we see these days even in mid-quality drum lines. A couple of years later Yamaha used the same triangular lugs for their lower level 5000 series that they termed "Stage" drums, but these that I have aren't Stage drums. They're nicer than those (which had more typically cheap shells). I want to rewrap them. The finish didn't show much in the video, but they really are quite scuffed and worn. Definitely candidates for rewrapping.

[@StevenSclafani]

@@drumdotpizza Appreciate the reply. You're right about the finish not showing in the video. It doesn't look bad at all. But I know you're a perfectionist and it'll bug you until they're rewrapped.

[@drumdotpizza]

@@StevenSclafani BTW, did you catch my mention of your (well... Paul's) Amir hi-hats that burned in the fire (as well as my snare)? I still have that drum and rebuilt it. Gonna do a 'show and tell' about that drum in another video soon.

[@StevenSclafani]

@@drumdotpizza As soon as you mentioned Amir I thought of Paul's hats and then you actually mentioned them which was so funny. Curious to hear more about that snare in your future video.

[@rocketsauce5067]

I have a 90's Mapex mars kit with really thick birch shells, The only thing I would like to customize is make them ten lugs on appropriate sizes and cut them shorter because they are power tom sizes.

[@eddyvilar]

Love your channel and love your story telling. You are helping me fall back in love with the cool parts of drums again even after playing 30 years.

[@drumdotpizza]

Now THAT is satisfying to hear, thank you for saying so!!

[@earldrum]

Those are the best entry level drums ever made by Yamaha. I’ve been looking for a kit for year … I had a kit in the late 80s. Great find!

[@doublea7054]

Great kit + drumming! Love the crash cymbal

[@joek81981]

My favorite kick I ever owned was a $50 Yamaha Fieldcorp (8000s) marching bass drums (nearly free). They had all kinds of bass drum sizes 14x14, 18x14, 20x14, etc. By far, punchiest kick I ever owned. Now I only ever want x14 depth kicks. The boof was unreal.

[@drumdotpizza]

Marching bass drums are a great source for good drum deals! I used to have a Yamaha 18" marching kick that I. picked up nearly free. Kept it awhile until I got a whole kit that has an 18" kick. That Yamaha kick was punchy!! My 26" kick drum is a converted 3-ply Ludwig marching bass drum from 1969. Groovy orange and blue sparkle stripes, but the sound is AMAZING! Got it shipped, with a hard case, for $225. If it had been from a drum kit it would have been 2-3x that much without the case. And did you intend to write 'boom' at the end of your comment? :) Thanks for sharing!!!

[@ronvallejo7987]

Great context.

[@BenjaminGib]

Good Lord, they sound incredible, Joel, especially the kick!

[@drumdotpizza]

Thank you! Yeah, I am amazed at the build quality of the Yamahas. The fit and finish are incredible (damage to the wrap notwithstanding). The interiors are fully finished and sealed, ultra smooth edges, and the shells are HEAVY (which I absolutely adore). Not what I would expect from a lower line (at the time) drum kit. Thank you for your comments.

[@BenjaminGib]

@@drumdotpizza amazing. And thanks you for all that detail!

[@MediaCubeCleveland]

I believe those became the Stage series when Yamaha started offering three main lines (Stage, Tour, and Recording). The Stage was my first “real” drum set.

[@jefftipton2470]

I had a set exactly like those. They were stolen from me in Houston summer of 1986. They were great drums.

[@drumdotpizza]

Bummer! I'm so sorry to hear that. Yes, I'm surprised at the build quality of their lower line (at the time) kit. It's impressive!

[@nathanielnicholson559]

At first I almost thought I was hearing Ajax or Hayman toms and I nearly wet myself with joy, but these pups have some UGH in them in a way that shouldn't sound good..., but BOY do they! Oh, man. As far as the 'thin crash' goes, if you get as much info as you have to Bob Chaisson (Jollity Drum Farm, Argyle N.Y.) he, quite possibly, could get you closer to the identification. Great guy, very knowledgeable, very talkative and hopefully still very healthy. He identified an Apollo hi-hat stand that was bestowed upon me that you need to see if you haven't yet.

[@drumdotpizza]

Thank you! These toms are HEAVY, which I love (never played Hayman, but I understand they have 8-ply re-rings (4-ply shells??) with the metallized interior paint (vibratone or something like that, right?). Nor Ajax. So what is unique about the Apollo hi-hat stand? I know nothing about Apollo, except the my first kit (a 1980 3-pc Apollo) was a stencil MIJ (or Taiwan?) kit that I was happy to graduate from (into a 1963 Ludwig Downbeat!). ???

[@vlkiller]

The snare looks exactly like a Peace snare I have. It was rough and had rust spots but I love its sound.. and the vent is in the same spot.

[@llRoBoBinHoll]

I have really enjoyed your channel over the past couple months. I’ve played drums for over 15 years and never really bothered to learn what makes a great drum sound. I always muffled everything to death and thought of my kit just as a ‘practice kit’. When I started to make recordings I noticed that my stuff lacked power and high end. I feel like you really need to overcompensate the ‘bigness’ of the sound when recording. Because otherwise when you take away the raw volume on playback you’re not left with much. I think this also has to do with the psychoacoustic phenomenon where we experience high frequencies much more intensely at high volumes. This week I’ve upgraded my kit for the first time ever, from a Pearl Forum to a Sonor S-Class Maple, and it definitely helps with supersizing the sound. The guy I bought it of was very rich, so I was able to get a really good deal. Though it was not free. Thanks for the great videos!

[@drumdotpizza]

Thanks so much for your comments! Yeah, when amplified along with other (often distorted) elements of a mix drums can easily become a simple tone with no real authority. The 'biggest' drum sounds I've ever gotten were from single ply heads with little to no muffling on heavy drums tuned to their midrange. Sounds fairly bright in person (LOTS of overtones), but just sounds huge and amazing in a mixl.

[@morrinsville23]

I get the feeling Joel that you would be the best dude to be stuck in the kitchen with at a party!! My kit was free too! 70's Hoshino tiger stripe luan kit, which i love soo much, ive been very lucky, i did some trades with friends and got a few bargins and now i have great soild hard ware and cymbals, 4 awesome snares, and some fantastic cymbals, and some trashy ones.. ive been drumming for a year and a half now and ive found it amazing how much other musicians. Me included, dont know about drumming, theres so much room to have a really individual sound! such an exciting instruments

[@drumdotpizza]

High praise indeed! Thank you!

[@thebeatclinic9000]

I have a late 70's/early 80's in bop sizes 18/12/14. Paid £30, about $50. Love it

[@gadymarcus2362]

Magnifico.💰💰💰💰💰💰

[@wilkinsnl]

They sound pretty damn good

[@brionesmusic]

I would love to hear your opinion on some nerdy things I’ve always pondered. Could I suggest some video topics perhaps?

[@drumdotpizza]

Absolutely, bring on the topic suggestions! I'd love to know what people want to see covered. Thanks so much!

[@stephangreyling1289]

Awww man.... That 18"ish Zildjian just has an absolutely beautiful sound, and would work well as a secondary ride (as most bop drummers do; not really doing the crash thing) on a bop/ straight-ahead/ what-have-you setup. The mystique and funkiness of it's origins really just adds to that! It's sound is bigly, man! There has never been a better cymbal sound! Make American cymbals (brought there by immigrants) great again! CHINA! 🍊

[@drumdotpizza]

What can I say... I like bigly sound! It's a real 'win!' ;) That Zildjian is seriously my most used cymbal for the last three decades. For me it's mostly a crash (I do mostly pop/rock productions), but I have used it as a soft ride for more lyrical stuff. I would love to have someone (Zildjian, Sabian, Istanbul, whatever...) examine it and see if it could be duplicated. Thanks for reaching out!!

[@SONORSQ2guy]

What kind of tom mics? Great video as always. 👍

[@morgunstyles7253]

I walked into a used musical equipment store one day looking for chicken parts, and they had a set of c b sp series layin there. They kinda know me. So they asked me if i wanted them. No scars, the wrap was very nice. All the badges were there and in good shape. Even had the mount risers. Heads were crap and was missing a 16"hoop. So new heads, spurs(upgrades), hoop and tension rods. I asked how much, im thinking a hundred or less. Or i could scab them for the hardware. They said no, we were gonna throw them in the dumpster. You can have them. Whats that you say? Free drums? So i didnt hesitate. After the afore mentioned upgrades. And tuning. I took them on a job. The sound man loved them. Asked be to bring them back to that gig every time. So i starded using them from time to time at different shows. Instead of my $3000.00 Gretsch. Not only do i get some of the "are those really c b's" kind of comments, but they make me pretty good money. Moral of the story? I dont know, but free drums can be a good thing. Ps. So for the couple of hundred i put into them. They have returned many more than ten times. And look great on stage. Free drums. Gotta live it.

[@drumdotpizza]

FREE DRUMS!!! Love it.

[@alsdrumhang]

Free is always good! Nice job snagging the Yamahas. They sound amazing. That china's been to the wars and back 🤣

[@artsquillante3392]

Can I ask what sticks you are using in this video? I am currently obsessing about sticks. Are you considering doing a stick video?

[@drumdotpizza]

Pretty sure the sticks in this video are part of a bag of 10 reject pairs that I get from a local music retailer for $30. I have been so finicky about sticks for 20 years now (using ONLY Vic Firth Steve Smith signature model) and finally (about 2 years ago) opened the door to other options, starting with Pro Mark's Carter McLean signature model -- and then all heck broke loose!! There are things I love about many different sticks, but so far haven't found a stick that has all the characteristic to fit my style of playing and my slightly smaller than usual 'man hands!' For a long time I LOVED the fact that the Steve Smith VF model was the thickness of a 5A but slightly longer with a bit more weight toward the tip -- like it's doing some of the striking for me. But once I tried the thicker Carter McLean model (just randomly when at a music store) I was rather taken with the feel of them, the balance, the taper of the shoulder and tip, so I grabbed a pair... then another.... and another.... Then the SS sticks I'd been using no longer felt normal in my hands! "Arrrgghhhh!!!!" And here we are a couple years later, and I have been trying all kinds of things -- Maybe I will do a stick video, but it would just be a vanity project for me as I don't know that I would offer information particularly useful for others, and I do like to be useful if possible... I don't know... maybe there are some points I could suggest people keep in mind when choosing sticks that might be helpful? As for the 'bag-o-sticks' that I got from my local store, I play in a local alternative music cover band and I absolutely hate shredding good (and expensive!) sticks, so I started buying the rejects by the bag for cheap and just match them myself as best I can for that gig. I've actually found some that I like, but availability is always sketchy. I have gone through many bags, and one bag of sticks was (I'm quite certain) rejects of VF's Buddy Rich model as I have a factory pair I compared them with, and they are absolutely identical (except for the lack of paint and screening). I'm pretty fortunate, though, as the local store usually has a pretty broad range of options in their bag-o-sticks inventory, so I can usually find 5A's, stretch 5A's and 5B types readily. Cheap and fine for shredding on stage!

[@artsquillante3392]

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your stick-journey. A similar thing happened to me. Pre-pandemic I heard that one should pick a stick and (wait for it) stick with it. So I went through my stick bags and settled on my Steve Gadds. For a while. Then my Vater Bebop 550s. Then all sorts of light jazzy sticks (my ride is a K Custom Dark 20 inch, 2110 grams). Then I got into a groove of practicing my rudiments every day with some VF 2Bs. When I move to the kit after my rudiment workout, every stick seems more pleasant to play. I may never find my perfect stick, but now I don’t feel so frustrated by the search. By the way, lately I have been using a pair of Wincent 5As. With regard to a stick video, folks might be interested in the path you’ve taken just because it’s comforting to know that someone else is dealing with the same predicament.

[@drumdotpizza]

@@artsquillante3392 That's a good idea. Thank you for taking time to share that with me! I appreciate it.

[@jimleadbetterdrums]

What are those Tom mics? They sound thick 🤘🏻

[@drumdotpizza]

Yamaha 7000 series (Taiwan era), 12/13/16, made about 1980. NOT "Stage" series (5000 series, which were MIJ and cheaper). These shells are basically the later 'Tour" series shells with the triangular lugs that made their way to the 5000 series when production returned to Japan (after RCs were introduced). Thanks for being here!

[@jimleadbetterdrums]

@@drumdotpizza 💯 from one working drummer to another 🥁🥁🥁

[@TwoandaHater]

8:20 throwing that camera man right under the bus, lol.

[@drumdotpizza]

I love David (and apparently he loves my mom....)

[@josephcasile6314]

Despite all of the niceties of shell construction you always go into, don't glaze over the difference having 12 and 13 "up" toms can make vs the modern 10 and 12" we're now used to. Those smaller toms ship more easily (thanks to nesting), but the slightly bigger toms make a big difference.

[@drumdotpizza]

I LOVE a 10" tom... but not at the sacrifice of the other two. Point well made!!! 10" toms are great as additions to larger rack toms, IMO. I think the trend towards smaller rack toms in recent years has pushed people to tune lower and lower, and I fear some younger drummers don't really get to experience rack toms tuned more to their midrange where they have the greatest tone. 12/13/16 was the standard for so long, and I definitely think it's the way to go (and most versatile) if you only have three toms! They offer a broad, useful range of tuning depending on tastes and styles. Great point, thank you for making it!!!

[@sammykerns4397]

any particular reason you keep your cymbals face in on those A frame racks?

[@drumdotpizza]

Just repurposing guitar stands. I have cymbal bags that I could keep them in, but the guitar stands keep them at the ready, and I rather like the look of them too.

[@zivmoerman1844]

which heds you have on the toms and flor?

[@drumdotpizza]

Aquarian Studio-X (clear) on batters and Classic Clear on bottom. I really dig the Studio-X. It's one of the styles unique to Aquarian. It's their 10-mil single ply head with a ring of very thin 'dot material' near the perimeter, but NOT touching the bearing edge (the edges just see the 10-mil film (not like a power stroke or genera)). This ring material isn't mylar... it's some kind of woven material... I've never asked them what, but it's thin and flexible and strong -- same stuff they use for their dots. The effect of this ring is far more subtle than its appearance would suggest. It's just the perfect amount of taming of the overtones that are usually unwanted from single-ply, medium weight heads. It love them on toms (and they're great for reso side of toms with double-ply on the batters... sometimes reso heads have weird, high harmonics that are audible when used with double-ply heads, and the Studio-X just perfectly removes it while staying lively and resonant. And I highly recommend the Coated Studio-X for snare drum, with or without a dot! More than you asked for, I know, but a subject dear to my heart, so thought I'd share. Thanks for being here!

[@WalterBlomquist]

13:14 😂 FREE Paiste China! What more could you ask for?

[@brent3760]

The China thing is hilarious! When i first heard it, i thought to myself "I swear i just heard Trump" 😁

[@drumdotpizza]

I'm sure I don't know what you're on about.... ;)

[@HR2635]

well .. that china.. sounds like a 2002 china: perfect.. have 3 of them... love em to death. Yours actually does not sound much different to a new one :-)

[@MatthewBennett1974]

China! 😂

[@timm1139]

Wouldn’t this be a “(drum) shell and tell”? Lol

[@Pure_KodiakWILD_Power]

Dave filmed your mom? Where's the footage? This video needs ladies 😅

[@arneolson7114]

c h i n a 😅🎉🎉🎉😂