Ultimate Vintage Drums Comparison

[@demonicsweaters]

Slingerlands always sound so freaking good. There's just something magical about those drums.

[@burnradio9681]

11:26 Radio King 1948 11:32 Sound Kind 1972 11:37 Ludwig Super Classic 1967 11:43 Ludwig Vistalite 1976 11:50 Swingstar late 60's 11:57 Sonor Champion 70's

[@MM-pd5zi]

The '48 Radio King sounds amazing!! My personal choice

[@carlupthegrove262]

The big surprise for me was the SwingStar.... they really sounded quite good for a "cheap" Japanese kit.... Thanks for this great video

[@jarhead7206]

Carl Upthegrove Most important are drum heads and tuning techniques. Throw a cheap or worn out set of heads on a vintage set and it sounds like crap, just like a less expensive set with bad heads. Throw a set of new/name brand heads on either set and they sound better.

[@andsoandsoandso]

I thought they sounded best...they'd sit so easily in a mix.

[@giannibadeau3344]

Yeah, I noticed that too!!

[@nathanzaworski2780]

It’s crazy what you can get away with cheaper drums and good heads/tuning.

[@Paisteconvert]

@@nathanzaworski2780 But it's much harder to get "cheap" snare drums to sound like the traditional ones that we all know and love!

[@ocho611]

maybe the best sounding Vistalites i've ever heard. and those Swingstars sound straight-up amazing

[@mwdollar]

Agreed

[@MiguelKooreman76]

That swingstar bassdrum... It's just sooo nice!

[@bobdadruma]

The Ludwig Super Classics and the 60's Slingerlands are my favs. The Sonor kit also sounded awesome.

[@DrumsBonedo]

Thanks! :-)

[@jpcampos]

I have a 1966 Ludwig super classic in mahogany just like yours except in champagne sparkle. Love that kit so much! Just last week I got a Slingerland Radio King with mahogany shells from 1960 in Blue sparkle. Mine is a 22” kick not 24” like yours. I’m really enjoying that kit as well. This video helped me decide to go ahead and get it! Thank you so much!!!

[@R3TR0R4V3]

Man, that is a sweet collection of drums! Great comparisons! Cheers

[@Darrylizer1]

I had as my gigging kit for the entirety of the 80s and into the early 90s my dad's Slingerland Radio Kings that he bought used in 1952. They're a little beat up and I don't play out with them anymore but they still sound great.

[@billbrandt1106]

WOW! I really enjoyed this video. It is great to be able to hear the different vintage kits next to each other & the background info is interesting. Thank you VERY MUCH for making this video. Now I know that there are two more drum sets I must add to my collection - Sonor with beech wood & Ludwig vistalite.

[@rypetkypar]

Anyone else a little surprised how well the vistalite recorded? Especially the kick sounded nice and thumpy to me, that being said all the kits here are AWESOME. great video guys 👍🏼

[@DrumsBonedo]

thanks!

[@FishingforFisher]

Great content, I absolutely love vintage drums, this professional presentation really let them shine.

[@z512345]

I have been a drummer for about 50 years, I have a set of 1970 vintage Rogers. To me all the kits sound very similar, but great video.

[@diverdave4056]

playing 55 years and YES I agree .. if you know how to tune drums and pick the right heads - you can make a cheap set sound good

[@ronaldzeoli7528]

Gretsch has a long history. You should include them

[@DrumsBonedo]

We are planning to do a second part.

[@ivanbajovic3476]

@@DrumsBonedo That is fantastic! I can't wait!

[@Paisteconvert]

Maybe "Drums Bonedo" wants to restrict his comparison to companies that actually made their own drum shells?

[@westleedrums]

Big time

[@bartni]

not only you have wonderful drum kits here, but they are also mic'ed and mixed really well!

[@DannyO-j4q]

The 1972 Slingerland Sound King was my favorite with the 1967 Ludwig Super Classic as a very close second. However, I love that Sonor bass drum.

[@tobiaswinter1358]

Cooles Video, sehr aufschlußreich! Aber die Sitzposition ist mit das seltsamste was ich im Schlagzeugbereich je gesehen habe :D

[@CelsoEduardo]

My choice, 1967 Ludwig Super Classic 22“ x 14“, 13“ x 9“, 16“ x 16“ in Blue Oyster Pearl

[@madebymarco]

Me too! You can tell the big difference.

[@danielschwarz5335]

The Slingerland kit sounds really very nice. I like !

[@philipnestor5034]

Excellent video. It would be nice to see you demonstrate 1960’s drum sets from Gretsch,Ludwig Rogers and Slingerland with 18,12,1,4 jazz sizes. Also could you’d do a video of all the companies besides Sonor that built marching drums for the Wehrmacht,Luftwaffe,HJ, and SS marching bands? I have seen these drums with their painted rims and it seems sometimes the different colors of the triangles on the wood or metal rims was for a different branch of the German military. Thanks again.

[@mwdollar]

Love the 67 Ludwigs. I have the same they are awesome in the studio. Also, that 13" vistalite tom is a goodie.

[@ChristopherSmithNYC]

Swingstar was my favorite! Wow.

[@TheQuestion31]

The Super Classic and Sound King for me. The Swingstar also sounded surprisingly good!

[@corneliusknudsen670]

cool studio. and the late 60s swingstar sounds awsome!

[@rogerwelsh2335]

That vistalite bass drum is killer

[@mariotelaro]

Fantastic video. Great recording, tuning, and playing. All these kits sound sublime

[@FishingforFisher]

I loved the Radioking, Super Classic, and Swingstar best

[@that-avr-drummer]

I actually liked them all

[@the_katman2181]

Amazing drums, and very well recorded. I think I'll take the Sonor, thanks :)

[@BartSoundsGood]

wow, what a great video, wonderful kits and great recording setup

[@Streichholztasche]

Thank you so much for this impressive presentation! Very well done, great explanations, fat sound! Love it. :-)

[@markusaxt]

incredible collection of kits! impressed af. all of them sound amazing. especially the radio king was killin me. thanks for this well produced video.

[@DrumsBonedo]

Markus Axt Dankeschön

[@AlexanderOspanov]

Thanx a lot! Really amazing job! Actually all of them sounds fantastic in your gold hands! :)

[@ccadp1219]

Incredible video....thanks. Please do more like this👍🏻

[@donsak111]

wow this is epic!!!keep 'em coming

[@mellilore]

4:55 No man! It's the same thing in the end but it's the other way: Slingerland Radio King shells were similar to Ludwig ones, Ludwig&Ludwig starting the manufacturing of mahogany-poplar-mahogany with maple re-rings shells around 1924. Back then Slingerland was exclusively into banjos and ukuleles.

[@Stephendohringphotographer]

awesome job, loved the RK's - hand crafted with quality, other than the vistalite you really got "your" sound out of all them.

[@GIGMUSIC-o6z]

Great comparison. Nicely done

[@darrylfulgham8]

All these are awesome sounding drums, each with it's unique sound. Love the tone of the radio kings.

[@DrumsBonedo]

thanks!

[@danhoyland142]

From my experience people don’t give slingerlands enough credit, especially their 70s stuff. Their hoops make them harder to tune but once you get how to seat them flat they sound great. Also, hands down best bass drums.

[@Paisteconvert]

Just don't use Slingeland's Set-o-Matic tom holder (see above-noted comment).

[@itchyvinyl]

Great demo! Wish you had a Rogers in there.

[@DrumsBonedo]

It's on our bucket list for the next one...

[@rhythmista7707]

I love Ludwig, and I'm actually a Sonor guy, but that Slingerland Radio King....😲 is just insane..However, if I was to leave with a kit from this comparison, it would be the Sonor .. Great video comparison, and everything was extremely well done. Cheers 👍

[@thomasmoje5926]

All the drums sound great..very little difference to my ear given the equal tuning of them and same head selection. The Ludwig Vistalite drums do have a noticeable difference from the wood-shell drums but still a pleasant sound. Speaking of 1960's-1970's Japanese 'import' drums: I had a five-piece 'Whitehall' brand drum set which was my first 'real' drum set which I purchased back in 1971: turns out they were actually a private-brand set made by Pearl. They were excellent drums (aside from some of the hardware which was minimal quality); they were in a sort of 'white onyx' wrap finish with black striations (sort of a reverse of black onyx); quite a unique and nice looking finish. Wish I still had them as the later 'Whitehall' brand drums weren't nearly as well made as the earlier ones. Be that as it may, I have a weakness for all 'vintage' drums and this was a fun video to watch. Only thing is: too bad no Rogers drums in this video. Surely no vintage drum collection is complete without USA-made Rogers drums from the late 1950's through 1970's period.

[@brianczach]

Great comparison video!

[@kristiannygaard6034]

The sonor set sounds amazing

[@maximilianwohrer8396]

I have the same STAR (Swingstar) Aisia Pearl Drum Kit with the setup 20"x14, 16"x16, 14"x14, 12"x8; And Remo Heads. It is superb :)

[@roybeckerman9253]

No wonder Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, loved the Slingerland Radio Kings.. I have the Slingerland Sound Kings and mahogany Ludwig Super Classic ...both great kits.

[@andygingerichdrums]

This video is fantastic! I kinda wish the bass drums where opened up just a bit but wow everything sounded great.

[@r.a.8590]

Did standard Remo heads fit easily on the 1972 Slingerland kit? I'm looking to get a late 1960s Slingerland Modern Jazz kit but not sure if I will need classic fit heads to accommodate the potentially larger shells? Sometimes it sucks to tune them when the head won't seat easily on the edge.

[@hellorockerta]

Goes to show if you know how to tune a drum for it's own tone, any drum can sound great. Excellent recording as well.

[@dspinka]

Excellent video! Interesting historical facts I did not know about. I liked the Ludwig Vistalite set the best.

[@Scrimjer]

I like that you are using a stand for the tom

[@pawelmorrison]

Fantastic video!! Thank you very much for the effort

[@hippydippy]

Surprisingly, I thought the Sonor's sounded the worst. The Radio Kings were the sweetest to me. Very nice overtones on the toms.

[@larrymysliwiec6301]

Pretty much sound similar. Especially the Floor toms. All sound good!

[@lacucharecords]

Swingstar and sonor bass drums sound amazing!

[@grahamserle7930]

Honestly, a one off listen with all the drums miced up is a bit like splitting hairs and comes down to a personal preference. They all sounded okay and you can make any drum sound reasonable given the time to do so. The rest comes down to the quality of the build.

[@james35856]

Sonor always the best . Just has a different sound that I love .

[@Monsterdrumma]

Strange that my favorite kit is the swingstars then again I prefer the sound and liveliness of smaller sizes which they were so that might have helped. After those the Ludwig super classics for me.

[@finnchristensen527]

Wow, incredibaly nice video, thanks - must have been a work 👌 All the kits sound great, which leads me to believe that factors like heads, tuning, recording technique etc. have a maybe bigger impact on the sound than the shells´ wood, lugs or coating. Would have been nice with a description of the bearing edge shapes of the different kits, not easy to determine from the pics. Apart from the kits sounding surprisingly equal (good), the Vistalites differ a bit, I think + the Sonor; FT especially as well as the Bassdrum, - had the Sonor-kit just had a 13" Tom..:)

[@fab5720]

Pretty interesting. Sonor has that typical short note on toms that is still their signature sound, while the Tama-predecessor is just the opposite, a wide open singing, almost barking tom sound, that you can still hear today with Tama drums. And those Slingerland Sound King and Ludwig Superclassic toms are sonically not that distinct. Surprise surprise...

[@SydneyDrums]

How do you do a vintage kit comparison without a Rogers? There's always someone nearby with a Rogers

[@justinlee2268]

I wish I still had my first drum set from 35 years ago...with my current knowledge,that is. It was a Majestic. It was gorgeous but I had little knowledge of drums. I was 11. It was from a pawn shop and came with a broken Ludwig Speed King pedal.. I went through so many clothes hangers on that pedal,being 11 and not knowing how to fix it. I was dismissive of those Majestics,considering how horrible CB 700’s were as a replacement. 20/20 hindsight.

[@carloscrosara6931]

amazing drums

[@bittchwilson5628]

The 12" Swingstar tom sounds the best.

[@gregchapman3519]

incredible recording!!

[@fetengineer9151]

And if you had tested any snare drum or set of CAMCO OAKLAWN DRUMS in any size... hands down... they would have been overall the best looking, the best made and the best sounding and the highest price.

[@max_k_drums7276]

My first Drum that I learned on seems to be a Sonor (Super) Champion from 1973 that my Grandpa (former musician) gave to me piece by piece as birthday and christmas presents. Sadly it doesn't have the original Bassdrum. I know got the chance to get my hands on a matching 22 Basedrum also from 1973 from the Champion (not Super Champion) line - what lets me think of getting the Kit back to use. Would you advice to get a not 100% Matching Kick to complete such a historic set?

[@tuonglukim8973]

Look for the Sonor "Action" line of vintage drums, they're not that expensive (yet) and they use the exact same shells as the champion and teardrop lines. They were the cheaper entry line from Sonor at the same time as your Super (1972-78) which was upper mid range but Sonor used the same shells for all three models, just different finish, hardware and hole spacing for the lug mounts on some models but the shells were all the same. Those Action kits are often used to restore Teardrop kits with if a tom is damaged beyond repair due to having the same shells so i think that would be your best and most authentic option for the kit you have without having to sell your organs to pay for it. Whole "Action" kits go for as low as 100-150$, you only need a basdrum so with some patience i think you could pick up a "less than pretty" one for about 50-70$ Champion basdrum lugs may be different than the Action kits depending on the exact year but you could easily swap those out if you can find the original Champion lugs online or at a parts store that deal in vintage parts.

[@max_k_drums7276]

@@tuonglukim8973 hey man - thank you for that detailed response! It was really interesting to read! However I already got a matching Superchampion Bassdrum in 22" (180€) that I then cleaned and polished. To be honest with you: I love my "new" Superchampion set allot. I use it to record and I even thing it sounds better then my Gretsch new Classic Set that I used to play on. So I will probably use the Gretsch for gigging and the Sonor for recording! If you are interested in the kit - I got some posts on my Instagram (@max_k_drums) - feel free to check it out. Also I really appreciate your advice with the shells. However I think it is in total more expensive to buy new lugs and stuff for since one lug is dealed at about 10€ in GER a bassdrum with 8 lugs would then cost 160€ for the lugs alone...so I am pretty happy with my current deal :)

[@tuonglukim8973]

@@max_k_drums7276 Your welcome buddy, glad you found a suitable bassdrum. Ow wow, that IS good, lots of good drums around but beating a Gretch is rare! I don't have instagram but i'll try and take a look, you don't have to be logged in right? Yeah you're probably right money wise but you'd have to be lucky to find someone who's willing to part with the bassdrum of their champion, might you need parts in the future look up Cleassen drums in the Netherlands.... he's a Sonor specialist and might be a little cheaper.... especially if you have something rare and you get him excited about it.

[@max_k_drums7276]

@@tuonglukim8973 thanks man! I don't know if you have to be logged in tbh. - I was very lucky finding a dealer who had that Bassdrum as a separate part! Bought it in the region of Saarland - awesome dude - he helped me out really well and also gave me Tips on how to restore that beauty! Also I am very glad that I can now play the kit my grandpa once gave to me. Sadly he is not alive anymore - but with that kit - he got me started playing the drums. So it's a special memory for me :D I also got an old trixon snaredrum from him - but sadly there are parts missing all over the place lol

[@tuonglukim8973]

@@max_k_drums7276 YW Yeah, no showing without logging in, will have to make an Instagram account tonight cause i'm quite curious. That is indeed very lucky! You're from Germany i assume? Saarland was a town or region in Germany if i remember my middle school topography correctly. I own 5 drumkits at the moment, 2001 Tama Rockstar 22-14-12-10-14sn Made in Taiwan 1982 Tama Imperialstar 22-13-16-14sn (kingbeat snare) Made in Japan. 1986 Tama Swingstar diy bop-jazz kit 18-12-15-14sn (royal star snare) Made in Japan. I made this with parts i had left over from a broken kit and some shells from the Imp i wasn't using. A diy cafe kit with a 16-13-10-12n made from Pearl "stencil" brand parts.... i call it the "Fakebeats"... get it? Most of the parts are Taiwanese on this one and it was a hell of a lot of fun building it. Fun fact the two DIY kits are the exact same size ratios just scaled up 2 inches. And last but not least, a late 1960's Tromsa kit 20-12-16-14sn That snare is the fucking bomb i kid you not, chrome over brass shell. 10 lugs and a parallel throw off.

[@samuelsummers5342]

the start of this video made me scroll up profusely

[@markusthedrummer8143]

Every single one of these drum kits sounds 100 times better than the new mass produced garbage today. That goes for the drums and the music these days. That Sonor kit (as always) sounds better and warmer than everything else.

[@shawnbruce6934]

I'm with You on the first 2 statements..

[@juliussolovideo]

maybe some rogers holiday would be a great add to this comparison

[@sebuteo]

What a great video. And what a lot of cool gear. I'm not jealous at all... Thanks for all the info, and thanks for sharing. BTW, what's the little metal doodad on the snare rim?

[@DrumsBonedo]

Hi, thanks for your kind comment. :-) The little metal dampener is called snareweight.

[@AndyPutt1]

I don't think the quality of the Japanese kits was sometimes bad. All the vintage MIJ kits I've seen have been no worse than American made stuff. In fact I have seen many ludwig shells with seperations. Can't say the same for MIJ.

[@kyckyckyc5428]

awesome! what head is on slingerland radio king kick? i jsaw just evans logo...

[@DrumsBonedo]

Hi, I think it's an EMAD.

[@kyckyckyc5428]

@@DrumsBonedo thanks!

[@alexhoeffken]

@@kyckyckyc5428 Yes it is. The shells are slightly oversized that's why the classic Remo Powertroke 3 doesn't fit. I have to check out the new classic fit heads though. They might work :-)

[@thomaskleinhans2384]

Please do it again with different tunes: low, medium, high. Thanks!

[@nightskystudio1425]

Super Video! Darf ich fragen wo du die Mikrohalterung für die beiden snaretops herhast? Danke.

[@michaelhurwitz56]

Great video, sounds fantastic. I'd love to chat with you about mics, setup, daw settings, etc

[@dancalabrese3523]

How could Rogers, Gretsch and Camco be left out?

[@motorrebell]

Premier Drums and Trixon are very interesting too !

[@raulpozadamunoz396]

That Swingstar 😍

[@juliussolovideo]

i really dig those swing star!!!

[@seppoinnanen5577]

All the kits sounded decent to impressive. Oversized vintage drums might still have limitations compared to modern drums. Thanks for the comparison

[@shawnbruce6934]

I think the old drums are better. More Character just like antique cars. Better Looking and Cooler than the mass produced things and no 2 kits of same model and size sounded identical. They All had personality.

[@kushking420]

The 1967 ludwig, and sonor were my favorite

[@pumpdumpster]

Thank yoiu for that very interesting video. It would also be interesting to compare new with vintage drums.

[@scbgardien3931]

Man amazing video! The swing star surprised me a lot but nothing equal the tone of the superclassic (my number one favorite) Can’t wait for a second volume with Gretsch/Rogers/Camco/ Premier or Olympic/Berverly/Ajax 😉 How do you tune your drums, I would to know how you can reach all this low end with a little kit like the swing star and how about the others kits?

[@roybeckerman7843]

SLINGERLAND RADIO KINGS and SOUND KINGS, were favourites of both GENE KRUPA and BUDDY RICH. Still sound the best here..

[@johncollins5552]

Yeah, dream video, well done. Love all those kits, have played a couple of them, the Sonor I played once was a Phonic in standard rock sizes with natural finish, great fun. What makes it different from this kit?

[@jamesmccarthy6370]

Great video one complaint . Tuned drums too low?

[@Ben_Jammin_]

that's why I love modern drums....

[@michaeldonaldllewellyn6294]

And they love you

[@shawnbruce6934]

So Which one of the Kits Would You Like?? Yes...

[@deniskarlash]

Sonor ♥️

[@rogerwelsh2335]

The ludwigs here sound amazing

[@alexisgomez6910]

Which’s your favorite kit of all those????

[@revup67]

No Vista Lite snare ? :(

[@alanduncan1980]

Wow! Very cool video! 👍

[@fatbugz2919]

Ludwig Tom's with Sound King bass.... but, the true winner is that ride!!

[@markwiitanen8949]

WHAT IS YOUR CRASH/RIDE?

[@paulmyres7730]

When these drums were designed, no one played them as low tuned as this video. There was no such thing as sound control bass heads and the only choice in drum heads was the Remo weather king or an Evans head (which were not very popular at the time) , Most of these kits were tuned for jazz (much higher tuning) during their early life....... Notice that many of the mahogany shells are separating at the shell lamination joints, this is common among early American drum shells..... This did not improve until the American manufacturers stated to make drum shells using techniques which followed Yamaha's air shell system (1960s).... .................................... These drums were made for live performance and were designed for maximum sustain and a high tuning range (jazz and swing).... This design focus did not change until the late 1960s and early 1970s........ Todays drums are designed for studio recording so most do not posses features for live play. The bearing edges on these early drums are either round over, 30 deg or 60 deg .... 30 being the most popular. most early bass drums had round over bearing edges. 45 deg bearing edges did not become popular until fusion drumming became the norm late 80s to 90s when the "Big Tom" drums started to fade away..... Most drums today are constructed with a 45 deg or 45 deg round over bearing edge..... The Grestch broadcaster is probably the best sounding bass drum of all time.... which is absent from this video.... Most swing/jazz drummers would switch back and forth based upon what ever manufacturer provided them the best sponsorship. Buddy Rich switched back and forth between Slingerland and Ludwig.... In the 70s Ludwig sponsored Ringo Star, Buddy Rich, John Bonham and Don Brewer..... ......................... Therefore if one is considering vintage American drums, pay attention to the shell roundness further .....remove the heads and look for lamination separation. The only way to fix either of these conditions is to replace the reinforcement rings or the entire drum shell.

[@sticktrik]

Paul Myres just one thing you forgot to mention!! The 48 Radiokings only came with calf heads when they were made!!!! Terrible material used for a playing surface because of temperature changes effecting the drumhead! Hence, why Remo Weather king heads were born!!!!

[@tonyknaggs9763]

With the quite recent advent of micing up drums on stage the sound volume and quality can mainly be dictated by the drum mixer engineer. I've had Tama drums for over 45 years and they still sound great.

[@Paisteconvert]

@@tonyknaggs9763 Slingerland was using a shell moulding system in the early 1960s in a process that moulded in the re-rings in one step with the shells (long before Yamaha hit the scene). They bragged about it in their catalogues (I have a 1969 one that explicitly talks about their moulding system). Ludwigs were indeed made from steam-bent plywood (mahogany/poplar/mahogany) until the late 1960s or early 1970s. While one might think that the Slingerland shells would have fewer ply separation issues as they aged, in fact, it seems that the Ludwig shells have held up better over time (at least from my personal observation as well as a couple of folks that I've talked to that rehab or otherwise deal with vintage drums. Ludwig is currently using the same air-bladder-type moulds that were being used in the 1970s in Chicago, though they are now using a different glue and a radio-frequency (microwave?) curing system. So your new Luddies were likely made in the same moulds that gave birth to John Bonham's kits.

[@rhythmista7707]

Well, in most big time pro studios, modern drums are barely used, and possess mostly vintage drums. You'd be quite surprised at what vintage drums were used in famous top 40 recordings of many genres.

[@Paisteconvert]

@@rhythmista7707 Doesn't really surprise me as those kits aren't moved around very much so the condition of the hardware isn't as critical as it would be for a "gigging kit." 'Course, I've been told by some sound guys that the "deader" the drums are, the easier they are to record...so the needs of a studio drummer or sound guy can be completely different from the needs of a gigging drummer. Check out the discussion at about 30:02 on this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2KcpmufideIj5o

[@nothinglastsforever77]

Man you need a Premier 70's with Mahogany shells in your collection.