Recommend me some gear prescriptions.

[justinhedrick]

any (semi) decent guitar (going from squiers to high-end epi's to fenders/gibsons) - tuner - 2nd hand bass combo, anything higher than 50W. push the volume of the amp, let those mids come in and let it rip.

yep, i was laying in bed thinking about this last night, and it seems like MOST peavey bass heads sound really decent, especially with a dirt pedal in front of it for some extra hair.

[MichaelZodiac]

I've tried it with a NYC Muff, a DS-1 and just no dirt pedal... I actually liked it the most without dirt pedal, dialing in on the amp got the best sound imo.

[Discö Rice]

Alright. As far as drums are concerned, there are some poor choices to be made. Namely, wooden drums with thin shells. Drums that produce long sustaining notes with mitigated, if not drastically reduced attack have no place in this kind of music and all those amps are here to tell you so. You will get buried.

Drum Workshop is the main offender. Thanks to clever marketing (appealing to hobbyist, well-to-do collectors by paying unscrupulous pros to coo over them publicly) they made this type of shell construction popular in the late 80's, and respectable drum manufacturers (shame on you, Tama) followed suit. Until then, and into the early 90's, Tama made the Artstar, Artstar II, Granstar, and Rockstar series with volume and cut in mind. Resonance was kind of an afterthought with it generally being understood that good materials, proper head choice and tuning would give you all the resonance you'd need. Thick shells, fairly sharp bearing edges, fairly large sizes, and the hardware to hold these goliaths up on the road made Tama drums the best thing a serious touring drummer could buy (nevermind that the hardware took six men to lift/erect) up until the beginning of the "less is more" scam.

Which is not to say DW got everything wrong. Their hardware designs have drastically reduced the weight and increased the strength and versatility of tripod-style stands, and their pedals have always been top notch (if a little sluggish, but they pack a wallop).   

Of the big manufacturers, Tama and Yamaha, even though their shells are thinner than they used to be, have stayed the truest to the monstrous sounding drums of the 80's, and because they were so popular then, there are a lot of pre-'92 kits out there for purchase. While I don't necessarily think vintage drums are the best idea due to warping, bearing edge issues, price, and the beating drums tend to take from drummers on the road night after night, drums from the 80's are still a viable option. Cheap, loud, and rock solid - what more can you ask for?

As far as sizes go, despite my love for huge drums, it should be mentioned that small drums cut through layers of supercharged guitars very well due to their higher pitch and the amount of wood that's used proportionately in comparison to an extremely large drum. You get less stick/beater rebound with a wide/deep drum than you do with a narrow/shallow drum, so it takes substantially more physical effort to play a big drum, but you move more air, produce stronger, lower fundamental tones and look cool doing it. When you can focus your energy on speed rather than the power it takes to muscle through things on big drums, it's much easier to blaze through long or constant rolls on the toms or kick drum(s). Personally I tend to play a lot of snare-driven fills (the smallest, loudest drum on my kit by far) if I'm playing fast because my toms are ridiculously hard to roll on, and it drains my stamina greatly to do so over and over. A good illustration of the difference shell sizes can make in your playing/sound would be pre-Coady Willis Dale Crover vs. Brann Dailor.

Cymbals - brands don't matter so much here, but types and weights do.

Crashes - THIS is where you want your sustain. Loud, slow music REQUIRES gigantic, heavy crashes. I use two 24" rides that are near identical in voicing/EQ, but slightly different in pitch. Make sure your crashes sound good together. While it doesn't necessarily matter what brand you choose, keeping within the same brand and series with your crashes (take Paiste's 2002 series, for instance) will help give your drums a more unified sound.


Rides - If you plan on crashing with your ride, it helps to follow suit here. I use a fairly small (20"), dry ride, because I tend to play fast a lot, and I get enough wash from my giant crashes that I don't need or want ANY from my ride. A loud, defined PING PING PING on the body and an ear-eplitting PANG! PANG! PANG! from the bell is all I require. Lately, however, because I do a lot of "crash riding", I've been thinking of picking up a more washy ride. I think I'm developing some repetitive motion problems in my shoulder from constantly reaching over my head to ride my crashes.

Hi-Hats - Big and heavy. I used to have a set of 14" hats that was so loud it was physically painful to play them without earplugs, but lately I've been looking into much larger sets (16"+) just for a different sound.

Chinas - I like 'em big, your mileage may vary. I'm also very loyal to one specific brand (Wuhan - best sound, best price) for these, although I would love to add a 20" Paiste Rude Novo China to my rig.

Okay I'm done for now.