danhertlein.com

My Gear Page
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This page is dedicated to my life long love of the drums. It started back in 1964 and I've been playing in one form or another ever since then. I've been in many bands starting back in South Florida until I moved out to Northern California in 1984. Currently, I play with Mixed Nuts out of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I've been "on the cusp" of making it several times, but it has eluded me. Who knows, was it luck? Probably or lack of it. Was it lack of talent? I don't think so, although I've never thought I was a good as some people say I was. As a matter of fact, I think I've always been OK. I'm a groove player. in 4/4. I play many styles OK. I've been playing over 40 years and I'm an OK player in my mind. Am I depressed because of it? No. I love playing and I love the drums. That to me, is enough. But I'll always strive to be the absolute best as I can. Do I practice? Not really. I'd rather be riding my bicycle during the day when I have off.

So, with that uplifting introduction, here's what I use and why I use it.


Rack System and Hardware

Currently, I have five acoustic drum sets that I use at live gigs (more on them later). I use the Gibraltar Rack system with carbon fiber tubes and DW hardware with all the sets, including an Pearl Eliminator double kick pedal. I replaced my original Gibraltar steel tubes with carbon fiber tubes to lighten the load when transporting and setting up my gear. The carbon fiber tubes were purchased from Carbonlite Products. The link is at http://carbonlite.bigstep.com/  and I highly recommend them. Even though they're more expensive than the steel tubes, it's definitely worth the expense. I'm not getting any younger! See the picture of the kit on the right. I use the rack system with all of my setups. This way, all I need to do is replace the actual drums if I have an inclination to do so. I find that using a rack places all my gear in the same location every time. I've tried going back occasionally to using stands, but to me it's more hassle to get everything placed just right. On my rack I've got a mic stand, a drum machine, an electronic percussion pad, a electronic metronome, a microphone (mic) mixer, a TC Helicon powered monitor, all of my drum mics (six), cymbals (Eight stands. Details below), up to 4 toms and a percussion tray. Yes, it takes me an hour or two to set up my kit. I deal with it. And yes, I get comments ALL THE TIME. Until my back gives out, I'll continue to use it.

And I can't forget my throne, an often forgotten piece of the puzzle. Bad throne? Bad experience ;-). I use the Roc 'n Soc throne. I actually have two. One for the gigging kit and one for my practice kit at home, and electronic V Drum kit. It is the best throne out there as far as I'm concerned!

 
 


Electronics

As mentioned above, I also use electronics with my live set up.  A drum machine (a Boss DR-770) is used for loops and songs that call for Latin percussion and hip hop stuff. I also use a Yamaha Clickstation metronome that I use to establish tempos from one song to another. Also, I use a Roland SPD-20 for electronic samples such as hand claps, gongs, shakers, sleigh bells. You name it! The SPD-20 is used right above my hi-hat for convenience. All this goes through a Behringer sub-mixer. I send a mix of the electronics out to our main board. I also send a separate individual signal of my click tracks which get routed back to my monitor only.
 
Close up shots of my electronics rig

 


Drum Microphones

The microphones I use are as follows; an Audix D6 for the kick; three Audix Micro-D's for the toms, a Shure SM-57 for the snare and a AKG condenser for the hi-hat. These get sent to the bands main mixer.


Monitors

I currently use Shure ES2 ear buds, connected to the band's HearBack Technologies monitoring system.


Drums

 I've now got five acoustic kits and two Roland V-Drum electronic kit's at the moment. A vintage Ludwig Blue Vistalite acrylic kit, a green sparkle Ludwig Classic Maple kit, a brand new Gretsch Classic Maple kit, a vintage and customized Tama Granstar kit and a Yamaha Absolute Nouveau Maple Custom kit.


  

This is my newest acquisition. I'm a sucker for green sparkle, so when the opportunity to pick up a top of the line new (for me) Ludwig Classic Maple kit, I bit big time. This kit sounds great with a killer kick. A classy looking kit that I'm loving right now. Sizes are 18x22 kick, 8x12 and 9x13 rack toms and 13x15 and 16x16 floor toms with legs.


Vintage Ludwig Blue Vistalite Kit

MP3 of the Ludwig Vistalite kit. Me (and Mixed Nuts) playing and singing Peg by Steely Dan, recorded 08/06/2007

This is a vintage Ludwig Blue Vistalite Acrylic drum set. I'm very excited about this kit. The sizes are 14x24 kick, 8x12 and 9x13 rack toms, and 16x16 and 16x18  floor toms. I changed the heads to a twin ply Aquarian Super 2 clear head. This twin ply head has two different sized plies which make the head brighter than normal twin ply heads. It works well with the acrylic shells producing a huge, deep sound. A definite keeper....


Gretsch New Classic Maple Kit

My newest acquisition. I know I'm always saying I got this or that at a great price, but really, this was a fantastic price. A beautiful Deep Red Cherry Lacquer finish, The sizes? 18x22 kick, 9x12 tom, a 14x14 Floor Tom and a 16x16 Floor tom. I also have a matching 6.5x14 snare. That great Gretsch sound. This set is the real real!!! Like all of my others!

   


Tama Granstar Birch Kit

My newest acquisition. I I picked these 80's era top of the line Tama's for $350. They were in rough shape covered in a satin yellow wrap. ThThe sizes? A 16x22 kick, 11x12 and 12x13 rack toms and a 16x16 floor tom. Since the tom sizes were way too deep (I did say the 80's right?), I decided to send them to my friend John Riolo at American Drum Parts in Eugene Oregon to cut them down to conventional sizes. He did, as usual, a great job! I let me girl friend, Kathryn pick the color...gulp Pink Sparkle. What the guys at office will say! Well I received the wrap, the cut shells and the hardware I was replacing (rims and tension rods that were pitted or rusted and bent), and dedicated around eight hours to cleaning, wrapping, sanding and applying the new hardware. I was also able to score a Custom Granstar 16x18 floor tom on the internet. I received it and quickly re-wrapped it. The drum is a cannon!

It came out great! The kit sounds awesome. The new sizes are 7.75 x12" rack tom, a 8.75x13" rack tom and the 16x16 and 16x18 floor toms and 16x22 kick drum.

 


Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute Nouveau Kit

This is a great kit. Yamaha's quality is second to none. Sizes are 18x22 kick, 8x10 and 9x12 Rack Toms, 14x14 and 16x16 Floor Toms. Blue Sparkle Lacquer. Beautiful!


Roland V-Drum Session Kit

A dear friend of mine let me use his V-Drum kit for the last couple of years. Finally, after much cajoling, I sent him a check (which he still hasn't cashed!). It is a TD-10 kit that I use a band rehearsal. I've also recently purchased a newer TD-12 module for a practice kit I use at home. This is to be able to walk in my neighborhood without having rocks thrown at me ;-)

   


Heineken

One of my fans ;-) did this...


Cymbals

Since I don't have any endorsements (there is an upside to this fact I guess), I can use whatever I want. So there! Refer to the first picture directly above. The list below starts from my left as I'm sitting at my kit.

15" A Custom Mastersound Hi-hats. I've recently switch over from 14" Zildjian A Custom Mastersounds to 15" hats. I wanted more wash from the hats so I decided to go for a bigger size. They sound fantastic!

17" Zildjian K Custom Fast Crash - A "quiet" cymbal I use when we play in close quarters. Quick decay but dark.

10" Paiste Signature Splash - I like it and it's still whole! Quick (aren't all splashes?) and sweet.

16" Zildjian K Custom Fast Crash - Another "quiet" cymbal used on gigs where volume is an issue.

21" Sabian HH Raw-Bell Ride - It's a beautiful sounding cymbal. After playing Zildjian Ping rides for decades, I've finally found a ride cymbal that to my ears is perfect for all applications.

6" ZilBel. Just the bell of a ride cymbal. Yet another voice.

18" Zildjian K Custom Fast Crash - I wanted a larger cymbal that would match the other crashes but be able to provide more wash.

12" Sabian AAX Splash on top of a 12" Wuhan China - Can you say trashy? I have this pair attached to a static Hi-Hat on my right side, right next to my 18" China. Yummy!

18" Sabian HHX China - I just got this to replace an old 16" Zildjian Low China Boy that died. Tried the Sabian because of my pleasant experience with my 18" mentioned above. Sweet. It's actually much more musical than the China Boy was. Love it, Love it, Love it!


Snare Drums

I have three snare drum's at the moment. A new Gretsch New Classic Maple 6.5x14 snare, a Fibes 5.5x14 chrome over fiberglass snare, and a 5x14 black Ludwig Acrolite snare. My small snare collection sounds great.


Kits I've owned in the past

DW Maple Collectors Royal to Regal Burst. A great kit that I used for eight years.

This is a DIY Kit. Do It Yerself. I bought the parts and put it together. A lot of fun and it sounded great too. Maple Keller shells. The wrap is turquoise glass glitter. I liked it...

The same kit but in a green sparkle wrap.

Again, the same kit without any wrap. I attempted to give it gloss finish.

A great Premier Signia kit in it's white lacquer finish.

The same kit in a silver glass glitter

A Premier Resonator kit that I covered in purple glass glitter wrap.

A very cool Gretsch USA Maple kit that I am real sorry I got rid of. What was I thinking???

Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute pink sparkle kit. A great sounding kit! I wish I had the space to keep it.

Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute Nouveau pink pearl fade. As the others, a great drum set!

Tama Starclassic Performer. A birch kit that I really, really liked. My first Tama kit and not my last. Had to make room for others unfortunately.

A Gretsch USA Maple kit. A wonderful sounding kit.

A great Gretsch USA Custom kit. The classic Gretsch Rosewood kit.

 Fibes Maple kit from 1990's. An awesome sounding kick. I prefer 22" kicks so it didn't get played much. I recently acquired and Fibes kit with a 22" kick and two floor toms and I couldn't be happier! See it listed above.

Yamaha Absolute Beech Custom Kit. An absolutely wonderful sounding and engineered drum set. I'm sorry I got rid of it.

A 1980's era Yamaha Recording Custom kit. The real deal.

Fantastic Sonor Delite kit. A true classic with unbelievable quality and engineering. 

Ludwig 9 ply Classic kit, circa late 1990's. I miss this one.

Ludwig 3 ply 70's era kit I built up from old shells.

Milestone Fiber glass kit that I restored. I hated to let it go but I had to make room for others.

Tempus Carbon Fiber Custom kit. I sold it because I already have a Tempus CF kit. Great sounding kit that now has a great home.

Gretsch Renown 100% African Mahogany Purewood Series Kit. A great Gretsch kit that could stand up to any Gretsch kit out there. I traded it for my current Rogers XP-8 kit. I'm sure I'll be sorry...

Rogers XP-8 "Big R" Kit. Vintage Maple kit from the late 70's-early 80's. Like the color???

Fibes Maple. A wonderful sounding kit. Jasper shells. Not my favorite color, so when I had the chance to get my Green Ludwig Maples, I sold these. I'll regret it as usual I'm sure!

Tempus Carbon Fibre kit. This was an awesome custom built kit.