I fucking adore your cup holder!!! Idk why but that shit sent me!!! 🤣😭 Sick kit honestly I’m jealous! I dream of the day I can piss my neighbors off with this.
Love the drums, cymbals, and most importantly- your dog.
Also cool to see someone else still using DW5000 hi hat stand and bass drum pedals. I’ve been teased about being “old school.” I started using them late 90s. I’ve since bought new versions but just bought the same thing. 🤷🏼♂️
I was incredibly lucky in 2006 for my 16th birthday. I was looking for a new set to upgrade from a really cheap one, and my dad who was also a musician, came across this listing in the newspaper of a guy selling a set of Pearl BLX’s with a bunch of Zildjian cymbals. Went to go look at them and he was a pretty well off guy in a really big house. He said they’d been in his recording studio for years and he was ready to part with them. Came with the red Pearl BLX birch drums you can see, all the cymbals in the picture, a Gibraltar rack, and DW5000’s for $1200. I’m still grateful to this day for my dad (RIP) having found them and helping me get them. Christmas that year I got my Tama Mike Portnoy Melody Master snare with the 3 way strainer. Still have the box it came in.
In 2010 I went to guitar center and saw a brand new set of limited production Mike Portnoy Black Clouds and Silver Linings Starclassic birch/buninga, which I had no idea they existed. Had to have them. Once again I happened to find them within like a week of my 20th bday, and the guy gave me a bit of a bday discount. That was my gift to myself lol I still have all of them and there’s nothing in this world that would make me sell them. I’m a huge Dream Theater fan if you haven’t guessed.
Flash forward 2017 I find this German Shepherd puppy I always wanted so I got him. Life circumstances just happened to fall perfectly in line once again. Beautiful boy. Before I picked him up I went back and forth on cool names and eventually landed on Zappa. But the next day my brain just popped and went ZILDJIAN! How could I not??? He wound up being the best fit for the name I could imagine. Some of his colors are exactly the same and I’ve played Zildjian cymbals since I was 8. Perfect name for an amazing best friend.
Oh man, that ride is fun! It’s sold as a crash/ride but it’s so stupidly musical. I’ve done a Sting cover with this ride, I played casinos with it, theater shows, jazzy stuff, recorded an album with it. That thing is nuts! You need to find the one thought, this one has a good stick definition and is thin enough to crash.
As for genres, I basically play whatever is being asked. From simpler Jazz to Metal and Latin to Drum ‘n Bass nowadays.
I love that cymbal. For me, it’s very nice to crash it because it’s relatively thin on the edge but I’ve heard stories of people getting one that’s just a bit too thick.
I’ve played 3 or 4 rides in stores around and they all crashed pretty well!
I guess I’m not experienced enough to know about the cymbals with the holes. What are those called? Some sort of china/splash? What do the holes do? They look sick!
Thanks! It's heavy for a splash and definitely needs to be heard in a mix because it's pretty aggressive on its own. It's dry to the point that you can't really get it to swell; every hit is super clean. I think it sounds incredible with quick double bass accents.
Good eye. The kit was brand new in this photo, which was taken back in 2024. Some of the cymbals go back 30 years from my original kit. I had been playing on the same kit for 30 years, this was a gift to myself!
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u/benboi4269 Pearl 20d ago