Recent content by paulwells73

Absolutely not. Nor do I use a Drum Dial or any other tuning device. Just my ears and a drum key.

I hope it’s ok if I answer this too, even if it wasn’t directed at me. I’d have guessed Blue Sparkle - I feel like I see a ton of Blue Sparkle 60s drums, but that’s purely unscientific. For 50s Gretsch, it has to be Midnight Blue Pearl. If I was to guess for the 70s era, either Maple or...

Extremely interesting - thanks so much for your research! Fascinating how rare Black Nitron actually was. I’ve seen two or three RB kits in black, although one of the was late 50s. And of course, Tony had a couple of Black Nitron kits between 1963 and 1966. Also, am I correct in assuming that...

Those are among the greatest drums ever made, by any company. Well done!

This is what I use: https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/mobile-audio-recorders/ios-microphones/iq7/

Thanks for the compliment! I have a few from my personal that I would choose, but they fall into two categories: 1. Cymbals I own that I actually think actually sound like Tony’s - I have a 22" Agop 30th at 2274g that is really in the ballpark. Pitch, stick sound, and wash are pretty similar...

Thanks for that, Emmett. Sometimes I’m trying to convince myself that gear doesn’t matter more than anyone else! It was indeed a very special cymbal played by one of the greatest drummers of all time, but any of us would probably be able to make it sounds pretty special, too. As for your point...

This is really key, and it’s been said before but bears repeating - a large percentage of what we are hearing is Tony‘s touch and ideas, not a particularly great cymbal. It may have been a great cymbal, but Tony made great music with it. I‘ve spent a lot of time chasing that sound, and I have...

Here‘s a photo I can share. This was taken by Francis Wolff at the session for Grachan Moncur’s “Evolution." Unfortunately, this is a pretty low res photo. I’ve seen a high quality print of it, and you can clearly see that the stick in his left hand says "Gretsch 3D Sonny Payne." I went through...

Tony didn’t use 2Bs until later than this. Maybe he was using them in the Silent Way era, but I’ve seen multiple photos from 1963-1965 where you can see the label on the stick and it is a Gretsch 3D Sonny Payne model stick. Mike Clark verified in an interview that the first time he saw Tony in...

Tony said in an interview that it was 1960 when Max took him to the factory. I’d assume they’d have had Istanbul Ks primarily from the Intermediate area in stock, but maybe some Type IVs laying around, or even some Type IIIs collecting dust. It looks more like a Type III to me in pictures, but...

He started using an 18 around 1961 or 1962. You can hear a noticeable change in his bass drum sound between the Night In Tunisia and The Watch Doctor albums. He’s using a 20 from 1955 until 1960 or 61. Before that, it was big bass drums - 22s and larger. The photo in the original post is a...

I’ve definitely seen Rosewood Gretsch drums that look like that. They are often darker, but at times, they were a brighter red like that. I’m almost certain it is NOT Burnt Orange. Burnt Orange could also be seen in lighter and darker versions, but it’s always more noticeably Orange than that.

This is my Agop TW. I think it‘s a good one, but quite tamer than the Spizz TWs and maybe the earlier prototype Agop TWs that Ptrick describes.

I’m a Firth endorser, so I have an obvious bias, but I love their sticks and brushes. I‘ve used use a ton of different models, but mostly prefer the MJC5 these days. The AJ5 is a tiny stick. I like the AJ4 a lot, but the 5 is just too small for me. But maybe for you, if you’re coming from some...