1974
I started playing on a vintage KINGS kit (produced by Tromsa GDR) A present from my parents.
Later I added a Sonor teardrop set to it to have a double bassdrum setup. My father spraypainted it white. Today that is seen as a deadly sinn! But back then I thought it was cool.
1980
I ordered my first new Pearl wood fiberglass Bassdrums (24, 24"). A year later, in 1981, I added 6,8,12,13,14,16,18, with a Ludwig Black Beauty 14x6.5" Supersensitive snare.
Around 1987, due to circumstances, I had to sell a large part of the kit and I stopped playing for a while
1992
After the birth of our second son I picked up drumming again. I had more time and money to spend so I bought a used BLX snare in Wine red, a couple of roto toms and some Paistes 505 to start playing again
1992-2015
I bought and sold numerous Pearl drums for the reason te be able to play and hear them all. It was great fun!
VBX - Vision Birch ( 2008 model) Picture above
BLX -All Birch (1986 model) Pictures below
ELX - Export series (1999 model) Picture below
WLX - World series ( 1985 model) Picture below
SLX- Session elite (1991 model)
SRX - Session custom maple (2003 model)
F - series Fiberglass (1975-1981 models)
WF- series Wood Fiberglass ( 1975 - 1981 models)
DLX - Laquered birch/mahogany (1983 model)
M - series maple (1981 model)
President - series phenolic ( 1969 model)
Outfit no 1 model 3 ply with rerings (1965 model)
2015
I bought a new Masters Birch kit to be my main workhorse for live gigs. It is the BCX model that was only sold for two years. I started with 22,20,18,16,14,13,12,10,8 and the 5.5 and 6.5" matching snares. And I picked up producing my own sound at that moment.
2022
I downsized my BCX to 22,22,10,12,13,16,18"
The snares I use depends on the type of music I play at that moment.
And the list goes on !!
I still buy, play and sell vintage sets, just to hear and feel them.
My current cymbal set:
22" Paiste 2002 Poweride
22" Paiste Giant beat multi
19" Giant beat multi
18" Giant beat multi
18" Paiste 2002 black label china
10 & 12"Paiste PST-X crash
8" Paiste 2002 splash
15" Giant beat hihat
Conclusions:
After all those years I was fortunate to play and owe a lot of different Pearl drums and that was and still is great fun. The conclusion I have is that Pearl always gives you value for money. Every serie is fun to play and by exchanging heads you can achieve a great sound in every Pearl drum.