My Gear!

Sticks

Vic Firth Peter Erskine original model. I've been using these for years now. Great cymbal sound and still hold out under extreme use. They are like a 7A but slightly longer and with that "ball" type wooden tip. I go though a pair roughly every 4-6 months. And I usually have about 3-5 pairs on the go at any time so I'm not "playing" a pair in cold.

Note about sticks. I never use nylon tips because I believe they wreck your drum skins and I have never liked the sound of ride cymbals with nylon tips. Bad for my ears! But great if you need that cutting sound. Not for me though.

Brushes

The green Regal Tip ones. Model Number 583R "Classic" They are perfect.

Kits.

The D.W.

This is the kit I've had for a while now. It's finished in Grand Piano Black. I have 10"-12"-14"-20"x16" and the 14"x6" snare. All Maple shells. I love this kit.

This is a pic taken when I was filming my DVD last July. I tend to use it with this setup at the moment. I leave the 12" tom at home a lot simply to save on the carrying about factor! I sometime use the 10" and the 12" only. This saves even more on the carrying about factor! All I needs an 8" and i'm laughing.

From above using the DrumWorkshop website Kit Builder

The Pearl Masters Custom

The other Kit I have is a Pearl Masters Custom Jazz kit. 12" tom and a 14" floor tom. The bass drum is 18"x14". I have done more gigs on this kit than any of the other sets of drums I have owned in my life put together! I use it nearly everyday of the year. Sometime I put it up and take it down three times in one day at busy times of the year. It sounds great and is really light. Here's a pic.

From above using the DrumWorkshop website Kit Builder

Snares

Well, I have several at the moment. A quick list makes nice reading I think. I have 1 D.W. snare. It's a 14x 6 that is part of the kit I bought. I have a Gretsch Solid Walnut (Steam bent shell) The Gretsch is a killer. As soon as I played it, I had to buy it! I believe they have stopped producing that model as well so I was lucky to get it! I've also just got my hand on a custom made drum by a guy in Stockport, Cheshire. Keith owns his own custom drum company called KD-drums. This snare is something specail. Made from South African Zebra wood, it is a solid/segmented shell. Check out Keiths web site for more info.

Hardware

Most of the hardware I use with the Pearl and the DW is the single braced Yamaha stuff, cos it's so light, strong, and have great boom arms. I've just swapped all my Tom mounts for the DW over from the "Colarlock" system I have, (I have a rack setup for it. It's great but It's really really heavy! A real back-breaker. Where's my roadie!) to the Yamaha tom arms and brackets. I still use the DW Hi-Hat and snare stands though.

Bass Drum Pedals

I have the new Yamaha FP 9410 direct drive model single and the double version too.

Heads/Drum Skins

On the DW I use Evans EC2 coated/uncoated or Evans G2's. I use clear Remo Ambassadors on the bottom.

For the Snare I've stared using an Evans G1. (Still with an 'X' of gaffa tape on the underside!)

On the Pearl Toms I use Evans G2's on the top and remo coated ambassadors on the bottom.

On the Bass Drums for both kits I'm currently trying out the Evans EQ4.

Other heads I've been trying out recently are the new Evans J1 Etched series. I really liked the snare batter partucually. I put it back on for certain jazz things. Great for brushes as well.

Cymbals

Check out my pics of some of my fantastic Istanbul's.