GEAR!

YUM! I love gear... especially the new stuff (although vintage gear is cool too!).

This page will show you some of the set up's I've used in the past or am currently using. I've also listed what I generally use for Clinics.

What I do find is that different situations call for different set ups. The basics are always the same (kick, snare, hats, ride, 1st tom etc) but the sizes may vary, heads may vary, extra cymbals etc etc.

I am very proud to be able to use and be supported by Pearl Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets, Remo drum heads, LP percussion, Gator Drum cases and JTS microphones. (check out the links page for loads of cool info from these companies)

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23/9/2009 - Zildjian Night, Adelaide

With the suport of Zildjian, Remo, Pearl & Ludwig, we put together a Zildjian Night, here in Adelaide at Billy Hyde Music. I got to present the new Z3 range from Zildjian and it was a load of fun. I ended up playing a rock medley so for this I used a new Ludwig EPIC kit, with 24" x 14" kick, 10" x 7", 12" x 8", 14" x 14" & 16" x 16" toms, plus a 14" x 5.5" snare drum. Kit sound awesome with the new Remo Ebony Suede Emperors on it. In the Zildjians (left to right), it was the 14" Z3 Hats, 17" Z3 Rock Crash w/6" Zil Bell on top, 18" Z3 Medium Crash, 12" Z3 splash, 19" Z3 Thrash Ride, 20" Z3 Medium Heavy Ride, 19" Z3 Medium Crash with 9" Zil Bell on top and 18" Z3 China! Very rock indeed...

20/9/2009 Recording Song For Dad

My old band mates from Hippocrene gave me a call recently, asking me to play drums and percussion for a pop rock ballad.... man, we had fun! We used an old Pearl 80's electronic kit to create the drum loop (also using an LP shaker). And to get a really cool, natural reverb, Owen (the engineer) stuck a sweet Neuman mic in the stair well, outside of the studio... it sounded AWESOME! I used a bigger kit this time, with 2 rack toms up front (I haven't done this in years!). There were lots of tom fills so we needed the extra notes... Thanks to Owen & Luke from Billy Hyde Recording Studios

15/2/2009 Medicine Man Recording Session

This is the first installment in over three years!! A friend of mine asked me to do a session that involved 4 songs and a lot of HARD hitting! It's was very AUSSIE ROCK! I used my Pearl Reference kit (12" rack, 16" & 18" Floor and 22" kick) with two different snares (in these pictures, you see the Pearl Vinnie Paul signature snare being used with a Remo powerstroke 3 head. Later I used my 13" x 6.5" Reference snare with a Remo Powerstroke X head on it.). What was really cool is it only took 3 hours to get the drum sounds sorted and we were up and recording!. It was at the Billy Hyde Recording Studio's in Adelaide.... was a lot of fun!

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24/08/2005 Murray Bridge Clinic set up

This set up is NEW! As you can see, it's grown slightly.... now with two china's (one large on right, one small on left), an LP Tamborine on my left pedal, some wind chimes and the New 19" Z Custom Thrash ride (which is just awesome!!)

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4/06/05 AUDW workshop set up

This is the kit set up for Australian Ultimate Drummers Weekend, that I used for the work shops.... a few bits of LP percussion for a bit of fun, and it was an 18" Bass Drum!!

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21/02/05 clinic set up

Here's the set up for my Clinic at Southern Music 2005. This is a group of pics which show the NEW set up going together. This rig has the 16" & 18" floor toms in it... woo hoo!! This same rig was also for the BMC clinic on the 23rd.

And here it is again, but in Mt. gambier....

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The above diagram was the 2004 set up... this continually changes.

Here is a breakdown of my big kit now-a-days....

Pearl Drums - Reference Shells
a) 22" x 18" kick
b) 10" x 8" tom
c) 14" x 14 "floor
d) 16" x 16" floor
e) 18" x 16" floor
f) 13" x 6.5 " Reference Snare drum (or anything that's available in any size!)
G) 10" x 6" popcorn snare with ISS mount (or Firecracker 10" any model)
2 x P2002B (blue cams if pos) or P122TW
1 x H2000 Hi Hat stand
1 x Snare stand
4 x Boom stands
4 x CH1000 (or CH80's) + 1 x CLH1000
6 x AX20's (or any clamp)
1 x D1000 stool

Zildjian Cymbals - this is what I often use, but this can change to ANYTHING in similar sizes!

Zildjian Cymbals
h)1 x 14" A New Beat Hi Hats
i)1 x 14" ZXT Trashforma (or 15" A Custom fast Crash)
k)1 x 17" A Medium Crash
l)1 x 18" K Medium Thin Crash
m)1 x 19" Z Custom Thrash Ride or 19" A Custom Medium Crash
n)1 x 20" A Custom Projection Ride
o)1 x 9" Oriental Trash Splash
p)1 x 18" Oriental Classic China
q)1 x 12“ EFX stacked on 12” Trash hat Top (or 14“ Oriental Azuka Hats)
R)1 x 8“ A custom splash
T) 1 x 10“ ZXT Titanium Flash Splash

LP Percussion
v) 1 x LP Red Jam Block
w) 1 x Cyclops Tambourine (played with right foot off Double pedal)

Remo Heads
Toms - top = Emperors (various models but lately it's the smooth) / bottom = Ambassador Clear
Snare Drum - Large snare - top = CS brush finished or Emperor X / bottom = Ambassador Snare Side
- Small Snare - top = Ambassador Brush finish / bottom = Ambassador Snare Side
Bass Drum - Batter side = P4 Clear or Smooth / Front Side = Ebony P3

Vic Firth Extreme 5B Wood tip sticks
Vic Firth Soft Timpani mallets (for cymbal use)
Vic Firth Brushes & Multirods

JTS Mics
Kick – NX2
Snares & Toms – CX505
Overheads & HI Hats – NX9

For Voice, at clinics, I use the 901 wireless system with a CX504 Head set.

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Fun stuff

This is a funky little jungle kit I put together for loops.

It's a 14" floor tom using a Pearl Jungle Gig bracket to make it a bass drum. Then some 12"/14" Zildjian Trash hats, an Oriental splash and an Avedis 17" Medium Crash as a ride........ different, but effective!

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This is the standard rig I would use for most pop/rock gigs. It's the basics with a little extra.

Pearl Drums

a) 22" x 18" kick (with tom mount when ever possible)
b) 10" x 8"tom + arm
d) 14" x 11"floor (or tom + arm + clamp)
f) 12" x 5" sensitone steel snare (or anything that's available in any size!)

Zildjian Cymbals
h)1 x 14" A New Beat Hi Hats
i)1 x 15" A Custom fast Crash
k)1 x 9" Oriental Trash Splash
l)1 x 17" A Medium Crash
n)1 x 20" A Custom Projection Ride

here's that set up at a gig....

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In the Studio...

Here's a pic of the set up I used for the Master your addiction recording (there's a couple of cymbals cut off on the right). You can see the extra splash over the hi hats and the second set of Hats near the ride. I'm using Emperor smooth heads here.

The extra splash is an 8" A Custom and the Hats are my own design! The top is a 12" trash hat top, while the bottom is an Avedis 12" splash - sounds nice and electric... very unique!

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2002 SA tour

This is the earlier rig from 2002. You'll see I also had an 8" tom on this kit and the Ride was across a little further. This rig had loads of stuff on it including an LP Cyclops Tambourine. The Toms had Emperor Brush finish this tour.

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This set up is the Kit I used through 2002/2003 for my clinic set up. This rig had Clear Emperor Heads on the toms.

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Electronics

I run a Sony Mini disc player or my lap top for all of my sequences/backing tracks. They all have a click track (metronome) and that's usually in my right ear, while the music is in both ears. I have this go through a small Mixing console and then to my in-ear monitoring (like bud headphones). By running my own desk, I can then get a send from the front of house mixer and have ALL of my drums in my ears as well.... it's wonderful!!