House of Drumming.com

in regards to the mike johnson video of him playing his new gretch kit... didn't sound that good. the 10" tom was ok. had tone but the tone died out real fast. didn't do that long note he described. the 16" tom was dead. no tone. it's so easy to get those drums to speak! would like to hear him play with a clear ambass on it. has he ever done a lesson of tuning?

i'm guilty as charged when it comes to buying drums because of a certain player plays them. i bought the weckl rc kit. same color and sizes. gold piccolo snare to boot. even bought the K custom ride. that was 1987. now i don't care what i play. weckl had a great image going for him back then. it obviously worked! monster player, great looking drums, great mullet, nice pix of him in drum mags. he did it all right. hats off to the guy. love him.

what i really wish i could do is be 19 today. not know what i know now. see how influenced i would be with certain players with this internet generation. then after a year of observing myself (if it was possible) either kick myself in the ass or say your ok for not getting sucked into these mike johnson youtube things. drum and cymbal companies love young players. they buy lots of stuff cause of their hero's. i did. and knew lots of other cats that did also. as you get older you get into vintage shit and so forth.

i don't want to talk bad about mike johnson. it's just not my thing. i like his videos. he's somewhat entertaining. there are thousands of amazing players with his skill and more so. he just went out and did it. good for him. he's got quite a few bucks in his pocket. i also wish i bought yahoo stock at $1 and sold at $400 months later!

when weckl went to sabian i was shocked. zildjians are the best cymbals on the earth. nothing even comes close. weckl did his magic with sabian and now his cymbals sound nice and nice. if he went back to zilds he would sound 10 times better. and if he did, i would buy the zilds he is playing. no i wouldn't. was just being poetic or in my case pathetic. yup, got nuthin.

Not to butt in, Paul, but I think Steve was referring to the first generation Evolutions.

Clint Hopkins wrote:Not to butt in, Paul, but I think Steve was referring to the first generation Evolutions.

Oh, in that case, yeah, those sounded like shit.

Yeah I meant the cymbals weck had when he first switched back to sabian from Zildjian.

Kurtis wrote:zildjians are the best cymbals on the earth. nothing even comes close.

I know you're not being entirely serious, but there are so many amazing cymbals out there it's a great time to be a cymbalholic. Zildjian makes nice stuff too. I checked out a flat ride of theirs that was actually crashable at NAMM. But Zildjian wouldn't necessarily be in my top three list of must-have cymbal makers. They're going to have to up their game to keep up with everyone else. They're not like the Zildjians of the 60s and 70s, that's for sure. I remember an 18" thin crash I bought (Zildjian logo, made in Canada at the now Sabian factory) and it was incredible.

Wha's up with all those Sabian's crash, even some ride, sounding like a china cymbal ?

I'm just taking the piss out of the whole "these drums are so much better than anything else, ever." deal...if a drum isn't totally out of round it's going to sound halfway decent. A lot of good recordings have been made with old Ludwigs. Why not just play all vintage gear then?

Good for anyone that has the balls and skill to get a drum company to give them free drums and their name on literature. That's a huge achievement.

samnmax203 wrote:Look who else moved to Gretsch!



I also heard (but can't confirm) Zach Danziger went to Gretsch as well?!

Yep, Zach's name is listed on the Gretsch website

http://www.gretschdrums.com/?fa=artistdetail&id=1123

Josiah wrote:"There's a perfect drum sound in your head, and for me, it's always been Gretsch." - Yet, you've always played other drums.

It's kinda pathetic to watch someone throw away their morals for... apparently free, but whatever must make it worth it for Mike.


Those drums don't even sound that good. Dead and processed.

They don't sound bad either...

His room is probably not good for the type of sound you enjoy listening too (I'm actually agreeing with you),
but it would probably sound sweeter in rooms such as these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WLTWvc6AhM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvBRTHxs ... re=related

I think his cymbals sound great though

As for the groove.... whatever! Doesn't do anything for me...
Guys, learn from Mike. He's one hell of an enterpreneur and
he's making a lot of money!

For some odd reason I don't find him an asshole. He actually seams like a nice guy.
He has some serious marketing skills, I'll tell you that !

Rodge wrote:Well it's clearly "buiness" oriented, that Johnson guy touches a lot of kids thru internet, anyway...

Bahahahaha! Rodge, you're too much!