Gear

Drums

Eames birch drum shells, handcrafted by Joe MacSweeney in Saugus, Massachusetts. I’m fortunate to have known Joe since 1989, and have a few different Eames sets to work with. For my style & approach, most of the time I prefer to play a set that consists of four or five drums. One of the many nice things about a custom set of drums is the ability to specify the sizes, as the drums are built to order. Here are the general specs for a set that I lovingly refer to as “The Workhorse”, as it’s used for many Boston-area performances:

12″ x 20″ bass drum (or 12″ x 18″ used w/ Tough Love Trio)
8″ x 12″ mounted tom
12″ x 14″ floor tom
7″ x 14″ snare drum

This Eames finish (photo above) is called Cherry Wine. Joe MacSweeney is a true artisan in every sense of the word. From hand-selecting the birch, to the last coat of satin urethane, Joe’s hands are the only hands involved in the process. I’ve often told Joe “I hope to be able to play these drums almost as well as you’ve built them.” The shells on this workhorse kit are his 9-ply ‘Naturaltone’ series. I chose to have them outfitted with Ludwig long lugs, Yamaha tom & bass drum brackets, Pearl LB-40 floor-tom leg brackets, Gibraltar gull wing spurs on the 20” bass drum (Gibraltar pro spurs on the 18″), and a Tama Starclassic MTB30 bracket used for fixing the ride cymbal arm to the bass drum. The 18” & 20” bass drums employ solid heads (no front-head port). For muffling on the 18” bass drum, only felt strips are used, which are stretched across the inside of each head in the traditional manner. For the 20” bass drum, a felt strip is used on the resonant head, and an Evans EQ pad lives at the bottom of the shell & very lightly touches the batter head. I like the EQ pad because it’s not bulky and thus doesn’t kill the sound of the drum.

A Shure Beta 52 microphone is suspended on the inside of the 20” bass drum by a Randall May shock-mount arm. I had Joe drill & install an extra air-vent grommet on the lower portion of one side of the shell, so a microphone cable can pass through. This microphone set-up seems to work fine for live situations; the isolation pleases most front-house sound engineers. In a recording studio, I tend to double-mic the bass drum, using a combination of signal from this internal mic, with an external mic located somewhere out in front of the drum. This particular kit was built with a shallower-than-standard bass drum & floor tom, mainly for portability. Eames drums tend to sound a size bigger than they actually are, and over the years I’ve learned that this opinion is shared by many other Eames veterans. This is also one of the reasons why I’ve chosen not to own a bass drum that is larger than 20” in diameter. This 9-ply 12” x 20” bass drum sounds fantastic. It puts out a suprising amount of low-end, with a nice round & open tone. My other 20” Eames bass drums are the traditional depth of 14”, and are 3 plies thicker – the 12-ply Mastertone series. The timbre of the 12-ply shell is beefier, with even more low-end resonance & strength. I’ve been told by several audio engineers that my Eames 20” bass drum produces a sound that seems more like the common 22” size. That’s fine by me –my 20” provides the kind of feel, response, and tonal focus that I’m after (and it’s such a joy to play). The other element to the bass drum sound that I’ve been working on for a long time comes down to foot technique: I don’t “bury the beater”. Burying the beater on a 20” striking surface really chokes that batter head and limits low-end response. The smaller the striking surface, the more the sound chokes should one leave the beater buried on the head after the note. It’s taken me a long time, but I’ve found that letting that batter head vibrate freely after impact makes a big difference in sound quality.

Snare drums change depending on a variety of factors… musical situation, room, venue, etc. The snare drum in this photo is an Eames Master Model *Monster* [24-plies], 7”x 14”, in Black Lava satin, with 8 tube lugs, a modified Ludwig p86 strainer, & Puresound 16-strand classic snare wires. Of late, I’ve been using a die-cast hoop on the snare side [for it's strength & rigidity], but for the batter side I’m using a standard 2.3mm triple-flange hoop. For my ears & style of tuning, the triple-flange works out so much better on the batter side of a snare drum. I’ve never been able to make heavy die-cast batter hoops work on snare drums, as I find they tend to ‘box-in’ the sound. (I do like the snap & focus they can provide on tom-toms, however. I recently swapped out the triple-flange hoops on the toms to die-cast, and love the results). This Monster is the finest snare drum I’ve ever played, and the drum that can cover nearly any gig.

A few others from the arsenal that are worthy of note:

1969 Gretsch ’round badge’, chrome-plated brass shell (thanks to Dave Mattacks), 5″x14″. This Gretsch “COB” has their classic rounded bearing edges, & produces a beautifully warm “bark”.
2008 Yamaha ‘Jimmy Chamberlain’ model, steel shell, 5.5″x14″. This drum came outfitted with Yamaha’s aluminum die-cast hoops. I don’t like heavy zinc die-cast hoops on snare drums, but their aluminum version is light enough not to overly colour the sound, yet rigid for easy tuning. This snare drum is surprisingly versatile for a steel shell. The more I play it, the more I like it! I swapped out the original Yamaha 20-strand hi-carbon steel snare wires for a set of Puresound 16-strand custom wires.
1968 Ludwig Acrolite 5″x14″ (thanks to Jerome Deupree).
Eames Master Model, 15-ply, 6″x14″ made in 1980 for Danny Gottlieb (when Dan was with the Pat Metheny Group.) Joe has made many drums for Danny over the years, and I feel very lucky to have acquired this one.
2009 Acrylic shell (aka “Vistalite”) I put together with spare parts, but had the edges and beds recut by Mike Ambroszewski.

My snare drums are usually outfitted with either Puresound 16-strand or Pearl 20-strand snare wires. Snare chord is the orange Ludwig type, which I buy in bulk from Jack Lawton.

Cymbals

Zildjian. My first ride cymbal [way back in the 6th grade] was a Zildjian, and I’m still proud to play them today. This company is always innovating, and continuously offers an extensive collection of gorgeous top-quality cymbals. In my chameleon-esque musical world, my cymbal set-up can change depending on the type of music I’m playing. While there are no hard/fast rules, the following is a configuration I use quite often, as it’s one that I’ve found can cover many different types of gigs:

13″ K. Hi-hats
18″ K. Crash Ride
22″ K. Dark Medium Ride
20″ A. Pang (at least 20+ yrs old)

For an example of how my cymbal set-up might change ~ With my own jazz group - Tough Love Trio – the other two instruments are hollow-body (aka “jazz box”) guitar & double-bass (upright). This particular instrumentation, in conjunction with the trio’s musical style & approach, inspires me to typically employ the following configuration:

13″ K. Light Hi-hats
17″ K. Custom Fast Crash
20″ K. Light Flat-Ride [prototype]
20″ K. Constantinople Light Ride [w/3 rivets] (discont. model)

Hardware

Yamaha single-braced snare & hi-hat stands. Ludwig 1400 (old school, with a few mods) flat-base cymbal stands, except for the main ride cymbal, which as noted above is mounted on the bass drum using the Tama Starclassic MTB30 bracket and a custom-made stainless steel L-arm with either a Ludwig or Danmar top. My throne is actually an entry level Tama HT25, which is light & easy to pack into the trap-case, yet sturdy enough. However, I did have it modified with some extra nuts & bolts (literally) which permanently locked it’s height, and also serves to prevent any ‘internal wobble’. I also had the seat reupholstered by my friend Angelo who’d recently done the same for the seats of his vintage Porsche. Angelo had some leftover Porsche leather, so now my buns feel… Schön! “So, why not just by a better throne?” I did, and I keep it at home on my practice kit. It’s too heavy to lug around! I find that much of today’s popular hardware is excessively heavy. Unless you are playing on a very bouncy stage, and/or you have a lead singer who relies on gymnastics, you really don’t need that double-braced 1500 lb. boom stand!

Pedal

Drum Workshop (dw) 5000 NX ~ nylon strap-drive, with either a Danmar square felt beater (Zoro model) or a Yamaha rubber beater. I play a single pedal, and while I have nothing against those who creatively use twin bass drums or a double-pedal, these days I have no interest whatsoever in “going there”. My left foot loves the hi-hat! The 5000 NX pedal that I use is their upgraded pedal that dw issued (and called “NX” for the 1^st time) sometime in the early/mid-2000s. This pedal is like their original 5000 strap-drive pedal, but with some choice enhancements:

The chrome/tin hinge was replaced with their bigger red “Delta” hinge;
The half-round heel was upgraded to their ’stackable’ square heel, w/mini-plate underneath it;
The body of the pedal is bigger & sturdier than the original.

The original dw 5000 was essentially a copy of the old (and outstanding) Gretsch ‘Floating Action’ pedal. I received my 1^stone as a birthday gift in 1984, and since then I’d believed that it really couldn’t be improved. Nonetheless, when Drum Workshop released their burly NX version in the mid-2000s, I ate humble pie. Stronger, sturdier, yet still a convenient fold-up pedal that packs easily into the trapcase. It’s the Bionic Man of strap-drive pedals. **update ~ click here for some important info regarding the previously upgraded/now downgraded 5000 nx pedal.

Sticks

Silverfox 5A or JX models.

Heads

Almost always medium-weight coated single-ply, for both batter and resonant. There are several good brands out there…you know who the popular contenders are. Over the years I have experimented with other heads, but always return to a coated medium single-ply head. I find that this type of head provides the ’snap’ that I need, due to the coating, and the overall right sound & response for what I’m after. Clear, uncoated plastic heads feel and sound sponge-y to me. Double-ply heads, for the most part (and in my experience) can be a bear to ’seat’ properly, due to the double layer of mylar that needs to marry to the bearing edge of the shell. I’d much rather use a single-ply head with some dampening if necessary, to achieve a particular sound, than go to a double-ply and deal with its limitations. As a general rule, I don’t like heads that come with built-in muffling, as it’s either too much or not enough. I’m much more comfortable when I can control the amount of dampening used on a drum in any given setting.

Click here for the Orange kit.

And… a little Eames story from yours truly…

I was first introduced to the Eames Drum Company over twenty years ago, during my senior year at Lynnfield High School. That year, our school music program had the good fortune of receiving a superb ‘student teacher’ from Berklee College of Music by the name of John Thomas. John was originally from Michigan, and came complete with a healthy dose of bright midwestern affability. He had moved to Boston four years prior, specifically to study at Berklee. John was required to log a certain number of hours ‘student teaching’ in an assigned public school music program, as a prerequisite for a Music Education degree from Berklee. John was also a percussionist, so this situation was of enormous benefit to me during my senior year. As I was to enroll at Berklee the following autumn, and as John was a fellow drummer & undergraduate there, I sought John out quite a bit. John had a set of Eames drums, and while I didn’t get to play them at the time, I did attend John’s senior recital at Berklee and heard his drums from afar. Impressive, though at the time I was so blown away by the recital hall at Berklee, the anticipation of my enrollment there, and John’s amazing night of music, that it was difficult to really focus on much else. Oddly enough, I knew very little about the Eames Drum Company, despite the fact that they were located in the next town over, in Saugus Massachusetts. I remembered that our junior high school had a very old Eames marching snare drum in the closet. It had been heavily neglected, and its tattered condition left me apathetic.

After graduating from high school and moving on to Berklee, John and I stayed friends, and I credit John with recommending an instructor who essentially changed everything for me (and countless others) – Bob Gullotti. While still a freshman at Berklee, I began studying privately with Bob at his studio in Waltham. My studies with Bob continued off & on (though more on than off) for the next fifteen years of my professional development. I could write a novel about the enormity of Bob’s influence on me and my drumming. The first set of Eames Drums I ever played was the set that Bob has in his teaching studio. There are many reasons why I’ll never forget my studies with Bob, but the one most appropriate to this chronicle was the extraordinary impression I had from playing his Eames kit for the first time. I got to play those drums during my lesson every week, experiencing their rich, unequaled tonality right from the drum chair (or hot seat) – and – I got to hear Bob play them (far better); either me standing next to him from behind the kit while he demonstrated something, or me moving out in front of the kit and hearing them from that vantage point. The experience was astounding, to say the least. My youthful ears had Bob’s incredible musicianship and wisdom to cope with, and the sound of these gorgeous handmade drums was simply awesome. I learned that Bob had a couple of Eames kits – one to teach/practice with in his studio, and another to gig with. I soon began going out to hear Bob play with his band The Fringe, on Wednesday nights at The Willow Jazz Club in Ball Square, Somerville MA. Those experiences of live music played by these masters were [again] something I could write a novel about. Nevertheless, hearing Bob and his Eames kit sparkle in that setting was the clincher for me: I had to meet Joe and order up my own set of Eames drum shells.

I think back often on my first visit to the Eames Drum Company, and meeting Joe MacSweeney. The excitement I felt, and the way I demonstrated to both Joe and me that I knew so little about drum shells (though I thought I knew a lot) must have been both familiar and taxing to Joe. I’m grateful to Joe for having the patience of Job! I remember Joe showing me the top floor of his shop, and I felt like a kid in a candy store. Several Eames drum sets of differing configurations lined the walls of that old barn building – and I played them all! We talked about the physical and tonal differences between his six-, nine-, and twelve-ply shells, as well as how a drum’s depth affects the air column & timbre (particularly important & evident with unstuffed bass drums). I was able to hear those differences by playing the assortment of drums he had on display. Theory + testing = proof… I was psyched!

At that time, I didn’t have the money to order up a complete set, so for my very first Eames adventure, I planned on having the shells made piece-by-piece, as I could afford them. I already had a set of drums whose shells I swiftly learned were substandard in many ways, but on the flip-side there was absolutely nothing wrong with that set’s hardware. As Joe is a drum maker and not a metal worker, I knew I’d either have to purchase new hardware for his shells, or use the existing hardware from my current set. [In those days Joe did not stock his own ‘house’ hardware, though today he does and it’s an excellent option]. Financially and expediently it made the most sense to slowly transform the drum kit that I had. Joe would mount the hardware I already had onto Eames shells, again, drum-by-drum, as I could afford them. I was a full-time college student, but I had a part-time job on the weekends, and during the summer I worked full-time. In those days I also played percussion in the pit for several civic theatre productions – which were paid jobs [though not very well]. By my senior year at Berklee, I finally had my first full set of Eames Drums. Twenty years and several sets later, I’m still proudly playing Eames drums, and remain very grateful for the fact that I need not look any further than “my own backyard” for the finest handmade drum shells.

It is an indisputable fact that Joe is a master drum maker. This type of vocation is considerably beyond basic woodwork. While I have little-to-no natural aptitude for carpentry, I’m fairly certain I could be taught to nail 2×4s together with a slight (very slight) degree of success. In the field of carpentry, I’ve heard that cabinet making is reserved for the most talented. I presume that the craftsmanship required to construct drum shells from scratch is on par with that of the most practiced cabinet maker. I’ve seen the flat stack of birch on the shop floor, and I’ve seen the finished shells on the workbench, and it baffles me that the entire process at Eames is done by hand — Joe’s hands. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to play drum sets from virtually every major manufacturer out there, as well as many of the ‘boutique’ brands. While there certainly are many fine drums out there to play, I’ve yet to hear anything that rivals the sound of Eames. This, my friends, is the most important piece of the puzzle: you’ve got to enjoy what you play. The instrument needs to talk back to you, and you’ve got to love what you are hearing. I love the sound of Eames drums, and am reminded of this every time I play them.