A Look at John Bonham's Gear with George Fludas and Terry Keating - EP 179 

Source?

Wow that is a great thought, it makes a lot of sense!

No.

@@SopranoPizzaJMFNJ my a pizza nevera hurt a nobady!

I concur. Bonzo was a massive Clockwork Orange fan (1972 release) Vistalite introduced in 1972. Just a thought. 🤔

Haha yeah that is gold. Thanks George!

George your the man.keep.crankong stuff out.podcasts,collabs,gear talk etc. It's all great. though I really want to hear your jazz drumming,takes on the style and talks about the history and knowledge you have.we live in a very recorded world,..now. people from your era, are the last to exist where you were adults when the internet rolled around.and you hold a key, to a treasure trove of stuff. The next generation above you where pioneers. Just killing it when it mattered. Such cool times. Those stories,and thoughts that got passed onto people such as yourself, through gigs and studio and just being in the scene in general is really special. In 30 years when today's bands are being combed through(can you even imagine?) They'll be able reference everything about stories and studios and gigs and gear used etc. People like you and Terry are the last kind of folks on that transition line,if you get what I'm trying to convey here. The more stuff you put out and the more you talk,the more this stuff gets recorded for history.just hope you've got your vids backed up,and two step verification. A lot of ppl are getting hacked and when that happens,they delete and mess up all of your shit and it's never the same after. I particularly worry about terry being that his channels older and has quite a bit of subs. Could.happen to him at anytime, I hope you'll pass that forward at some point when chatting with him.can never be too safe..anyway, I always enjoy your knowledge and conversations. We all do. Don't ever think that people don't really care that much about what you do,cuz that's not the case. Keep rocking George

Great to hear this full exchange & get more data points. Thanks again @bonhamology! 💯

🤧

Ritchie Ringman

They are the best!

@@DrumHistoryPodcast an Alex Van Halen history would be amazing, talk about all types of unique kits!

that's sad

how so?@@ochocabra1542

Hey Carmine. Love your drumming.

There are pictures of him playing the blond maple Ludwigs in late Jan. 69. Zeppelin opened for VF on their first 5 US shows in Dec. 1968 as well as a few shows in Feb. 1969.

Still trying to get a piece of Bonzo. Coat tail rider ..

Slingerland Drums rock! Their chrome over brass snare drums are sonic.

My money's on Slingerland for the first album too

He also had a green sparkle Ludwig that his parents had purchased for him. It had a 5" deep snare and a 22" kick.

Thank you for listening!

Nobody admits they started on John Greys', although 1st kit I played in anger was Gretch.! Love these Vlogs❤😊

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for watching! Unfortunately if we include any music it immediately gets dinged with a copyright claim

True professors of music production!

Bonham only had one style Led Zeppelin

Jason is a great guy and has his dad`s genes for sure.

Can you ask Jason a question for me please? Did his dad play on any Bad Company tracks? It sounds so much like him.

That is really interesting. I would love to know if he used more than just the standard 5 piece or if he added another tom or two, because I hear at least 4 pitches of the toms on Bonzo's Montreux. I would love to talk to Jason someday about his dad.

The KIT has also a fantastic sound I reckon mostly because the way Bonham attacks the KIT....... He is such a unique one of a kind player......."the Song remains the same" is one of my favorite all time LIVE albums...... the Sound is Amazing!

Thank you for watching - they are great!

Yeah that is really cool to think of those monster songs being on a basic kit. I love it too, thank you for listening!

Absolutely - Not exactly my first drum set but my first real-deal kit was a Ludwig and it was because of Bonzo and Ringo

Ludwig has a thunderous sound and tone but I had some old 50s or 60s toms in the early 80s with very thin shells with bracing that had a very musical tone. I gave away all my drums to kids who wanted to play over the years and would buy cheap sets on the road while gigging to give away. I wish I would have known better and kept some of the better individual drums for recording. One of my very best sets burnt up in a fire. It had some incredible cymbals including a set of Paiste 2002 and several Zilgian rides and a very odd but great silver one with a strange diamond pattern on it. I mastered that set. Never found anything that came close for live shows.

That’s right, forgot about Welch getting the kit

@@BONHAMOLOGY Any idea whatever happened to the black and white vistalite?

The whole idea of banging drums or hitting them "hard" is ridiculous. If you play properly (relaxed) you'll never break a stick and get a huge sound if you have that attitude. If that's in your soul and what you want. How "hard" you hit is irrelevant. There's a difference between intensity and power and banging/thrashing. That's my speech on that - thank you. 😜

@@Twotontessie there is no doubt hitting harder changes the sound of the drum. for me there's something about hearing a drum at full volume but it's all personal preference. if that's your style cool. there's some heavy hitters out there i really enjoy their playing but it needs to fit the style of music. your not going to bash away to some jazz tune or a Beatles tune lol but for hard rock, perfectly acceptable imo. i try not to judge other drummers even if i don't care for their style.not like i'm snapping sticks right and left or putting dents in heads but i hit hard, don't have the greatest technique but hey i pay for my sticks and enjoy playing haha who's it hurting? 🤣

Thanks for listening!

Great suggestion. I have an episode with Andy from the Drum Archive you should check out

Thanks for listening!

Wow I am jealous!

Thank you Steven! I am very glad you enjoyed it, Terry and George are great

Thank you!

Thanks for watching!

There are very few color pics of his kit from that era, and none show the color clearly. There are pics from Sept 68 in Scandinavia that were black and white and someone colorized them.

That is an interesting Theory. Doesn't seem like much of a stretch at all, he certainly loved his cars

Haha thats great

No he wasn’t. He didn’t care for black drummers, sorry.

​@@bomkfort9428 You're taking the piss right? 😂

Haha thats hysterical - welcome and thank you for watching my friend!

Thanks for watching!

Thats a good idea 👍

Thanks for geeking out with us!

Thank you Tony, I couldn’t recall his name. Yeah the new Promuco are not like Bonzo’s really

Thanks for watching!

Ah very interesting, thank you for the info and for watching the video!

Correct

Good catch!

Yes I’ve heard that mentioned before, I can’t recall where I read it but a couple different places although it seems possible, there is no proof that I could find in photos of the Yardbirds with that Slingerland kit

I wish!

I’ve the same 67’ Slingerland kit I’ve had since 11 yrs old in Marine pearl. My son pulled it down from the attic and rebuilt it when he was working at a Drumshop in Mi. At JC’s Drum Academy. Bonham was my favorite drummers at time countered only by Mitch Mitchell’s light musical style. JC’s Drum Academy. He beveled the rounded rims and set it up the floor Tom on a spring suspension for full resonance. He presented it to me the Xmas morning of 93’. I’ve gigged for the last 30 years w/ it. Rather than the Pearl purchased in late eighties.

Agreed!

I specifically have “Flashing Lights” from that album. Right away you know it’s Bonham and it sounds great!

Thanks for watching! You are right, that slipped my mind. We know it was a SpeedKing but I'm not sure what was before that

@@DrumHistoryPodcast That's kind of what I've always assumed, but there's been different versions of the speed king over the years. Still I LOVED this discussion. Also, on a related note, I was a little disappointed that Jason used a different acrylic kit (Pearl, I think) & Zildjians for the reunion show...he did great, but the gear is important, at least a little bit imo...

@@tommybell1786 - Jason’s kit was Ludwig. (Well documented and photographed…no more than a Google search will confirm this) Jason discussed the cymbals around the time of that show, saying he’d been happily with Zildjian for over 20 years (at that point) and saw no reason to change for just one gig.

@@deaterk My bad, you're absolutely right about them being Ludwig's.

Very true

@@BONHAMOLOGY ...one more thing that dawned on me concerning the green sparkle kit. There’s such a color called British Racing Green and I have a gut feeling that Bonzo was partial to this color. After all, he was a real deal speed freak. That GS Ludwig kit does resemble BRG.

@@luvbasses5487 I love British racing green. I build amps and always use British racing green tolex to replicate the look of early Marshall amps that sort of turn green with time

@@lauratanner8475 ...something tells me Bonzo was well aware of and liked this color...which leads me to believe it’s the reason he may have chosen it when browsing the Ludwig catalog.

I thought the stainless steel sounded like shit. Just didn't do it for me.

I agree, I don't recall if we mentioned that but I think some or all of the tracks recorded in 74 for PG may have been the Amber kit

I was at one of those shows and he definitely played 2 bass drums the night I was there. Also you can hear that show on RU-vid and especially during Bonhams solo there is no doubt about the 2 bass drums. I was on the Swan Song label in the seventies and Jimmy Page remembered John Bonham playing two bass drums at the Boston Tea Party show....

@@TheDumballa I stand corrected as I just heard this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F2rYecyr6Xo.html The Boston shows were probably the only time he used 2 kicks.

THE Joe Franco!!! Super Cool Man!

@@JoeFranco He used two kicks at San Bernardino Aug 1969. There are pictures from the show. Sadly no bootleg.

I started with that album when I was 7. It always felt like I was in the presence of something supernatural like the Loch Ness monster. Still feel like that. Not of this Earth....

Thank you!

Yes, although Jason said that the kit was blue sparkle. I often thought based on those couple color photos from the marquee that it was green sparkle as well.

He actually did use a blue sparkle kit that was apparently rented along with other gear for a show in Kansas City USA on November 5, 1969. There is a photo of it on my website, but I cannot post the link here.

I have heard about that but no evidence , sorry we forgot to bring that up

Bonzo's drums were set up on a wooden platform that was specially made that could fold into three sections to pack up. When it was opened it had holes drilled where the Spurs snare stand high hat stand and I believe floor tom legs all set in place. Therefore, it wouldn't move at all. You can see the platform in many photos

That same symbol was on some Ballentine beer glasses I got from my aunt in the early eighties Always wondered if he was a Ballentine beer drinker.

Is the same ring in the 69-70 kit and stainless kit that don’t use the symbol? Maybe it’s that simple??