simey
Footballguy
"And The Cradle Will Rock..." has been my favorite VH song since the day I heard it for the first time. I love the intro, and the sound is actually a piano. EVH did some other great intros too.
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Best Van Halen Album of The First David Lee Roth Era. Have You Seen Junior's Grades? (1 Viewer)
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bigbottom
Footballguy
Whoa, awesome analysis. Interestingly enough, I know Alex’s drum tech. Super cool guy, kick ### drummer and an exceptionally talented artist (he paints amazing portraits of rock legends and has also painted tons of kits and guitars played by lots of famous artists). This guy. He’s the one who coordinated a back stage signing for me of an EVH guitar by Eddie for our Chance for Hope fundraiser, which raised a ton of money. He also donated a signed print of his portrait that he did of Slash as part of one of our live auctions. Supremely talented, but even better, he’s just an awesome person all around.
drummer
Footballguy
Thanks, that's cool that you know AVH's tech. He's pared down his kit than the ones he played during the Roth era, like the Fair Warning Tour kit and forward that I mentioned. That kit, he used the outer bass drums as "woofers" and didn't have any slave pedals attached for them. The kit in the video, he uses the added bass drums in front of the main kicks as woofers, which Drum Workshop popularized. He still has four bass drums (though a lot less than Terry Bozzio uses lulz), but one of them doesn't look like it has a pedal attached, probably more for show. I see he has a muffle on the beater sides of his main kicks, 26" bass drums while moving a lot of air can also be a bit unwieldy when it comes to sympathetic vibrations and work better when tuned up. Having two of them with woofers even more so. I used to have two 24" bass drums with my old kit, with both heads on them and very little muffling. But when I played with bands where I had to slam them, I added more muffling and had a big port in the front bass drum head and used plastic beaters instead hard felt ones. I think two bass drums are better than one lol, moving that much head can slow rebound a bit, so IMO it's better to use two because you also have that much more wood resonating with each other, and you can tune one a half to whole step above the other to give them some contrast.
Today I prefer smaller ones, like a 20" and an 18". I tune the toms higher so the smaller ones don't eat them up and are more melodic. And yes you can play "Hot for Teacher" with the smaller ones lol, in fact having the contrast really cooks when you play boogies like "Hot for Teacher". The smaller bass drums are also more expressive, Frank Beard with ZZ Top had a live kit during the 80's that had a 20" and 18" (his live kit now is all triggered with electronics). Smaller bass drums are also quicker. To me the best bass drum size for rock is a 24" bass drum. But a 20" will do just fine too. Just mic it up, and if you want more shake, add a drum trigger and trigger samples with it.
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simey
Footballguy
I mentioned this a long time ago in some thread, but back in the early 90s when I lived in Orlando, I met Michael Anthony at a party at my next door neighbor's place. He was nice. He liked his whiskey 
. He wasn't a loud and obnoxious guy, and he didn't have an ego at all. He was just hanging out and having fun.
. He wasn't a loud and obnoxious guy, and he didn't have an ego at all. He was just hanging out and having fun.
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drummer
Footballguy
Nah, the kit is in storage at the moment lol. I had a total knee replacement a couple of years ago, and I also got some tendonitis on the left thumb that just started bothering me again. I fragged the thumb years ago when I was studying with Tony Williams, trying his ride cymbal technique with the left hand along with the right hand (as I play ambidextrously). After I sold my old double bass Simon Phillips rig, I put together a smaller one not long ago, and just started to get everything back together and the fragged the knee. Then after that, COVID hit and it affected my living as far as work (because it's predicated on attendance), and I had to adjust accordingly.
The kit I have now I don't really like, because I planned to put all the expense into the cymbals, and they are just a mish mash of stuff built around the toms that came with the kit. The kit shipped with a 22" bass drum that is ok, after a few months with the kit I decided to build a custom one instead. The bass drums I have now are beat, next year I plan to order new ones from a cat who builds them out of St.Louis. But the time I put everything I want in place, it will be this time next year lulz. I have pads that I work on that are set on front of mirrors, and right now I am revamping my technique. So hopefully things shake out in 2022, I have been digging all the new cats out there like the cats in this vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIKSHtHVgOk
Along with Chris Dave, Ari Hoenig, and Sput Searight.
When I do put a vid out, I'll find a way to post it. Thanks for asking though.
ETA: the drummers in that vid play smaller bass drums, and you can hear them more and they never get in the way. You can play a lot more figures with them that way.
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drummer
Footballguy
One thing I forgot to mention about AVH: I think he epitomized the sound of the Paiste 2002 line more than John Bonham had. The later albums not so much, but the earlier albums very much so. When it came to the ride cymbal, he used it like a crash ride ala Keith Moon, but he also played the bell and bow of it. He and Bonham played the Paiste Sound Edge hi-hats that set a standard in rock when it came to Paiste. His hi-hat on "Runnin' With the Devil" is you can hear him accent it with a slight bark on the backbeats that make the 2 and 4 swing a little bit (AVH had some swing to his playing, he grew up playing jazz, and swing is everything in rock, because not only can you kick the butts, you can swing the butts too), and of course his ride cymbal patters in the guitar breaks.
Nothing beats a great set of cymbals. You can make any drum sound good, but crappy cymbals to me I just can't play. Great drummers have a sound of their own that others drummers want to replicate, and AVH in the earlier albums had a sound that was big, round, and open. And tight. Add some swing to that with a great cymbal sound, and that makes everyone else sound good.
Nothing beats a great set of cymbals. You can make any drum sound good, but crappy cymbals to me I just can't play. Great drummers have a sound of their own that others drummers want to replicate, and AVH in the earlier albums had a sound that was big, round, and open. And tight. Add some swing to that with a great cymbal sound, and that makes everyone else sound good.
Ghost Rider
Footballguy
Snipped for length, but love seeing some love for A Different Kind of Truth. Tattoo is trash and I wish the mix was less hot (damn modern production), but the songs are there. Had it been mixed with the warmth of those early albums, that might've ended up being my 3rd favorite VH album with DLR, and as is, I still take it over Diver Down and Women and Children First with zero hesitation.
bigbottom
Footballguy
For our Chance for Hope gala in May 2022, I have an autographed Schecter bass signed by Michael Anthony (Link), as well as a canary yellow Cabo Wabo edition Washburn autographed by Sammy Hagar (Link) up for auction. If anyone is interested, I can arrange for a proxy bidder! All proceeds benefit Chance for Hope!simey said:I mentioned this a long time ago in some thread, but back in the early 90s when I lived in Orlando, I met Michael Anthony at a party at my next door neighbor's place. He was nice. He liked his whiskey
DocHolliday
Footballguy
I still listen to most of the VH catalogue often and more Roth VH than Van Hagar. Love the raw energy of early VH. The debut album is probably the best but I have listened to the first album for so long and so often that I can’t listen to it much more. Fair Warning is my second favorite and Unchained is my favorite VH song. Probably. It’s a tough decision. I love Eddies sound and playing on Fair Warning. Can’t believe Eddie is gone. Sucks.
bigbottom
Footballguy
drummer
Footballguy
Van Hagar oof. I can't stand Sammy Hagar. When I was a teenager I worked the stock room at the local JC Penney to pay off my brand new Tama kit, and he bought a baby crib there that I loaded into his pickup truck. ******* didn't tip or even thank me. But what I really can't stand is how phony he is, and to see a grandfather singing butt rock who is basically Jimmy Buffet with a distortion pedal can now only be appreciated at The Villages, where 65 year old dudes who survived two heart attacks and three marriages yell "PLAY ROCK CANDY" while two fisting White Claw.
drummer
Footballguy
Found this vid that covers all of AVH's kits through the years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXZRy02HoEE
His first kits used the "woofers" too. Also, what it interesting is that it explains why I found AVH's drum sounds on "1984" the worst: they were mostly electronic via Simmons. Especially the kicks sounds on "Hot for Teacher". I figured they were triggered because they sound like it. Although "Jump" sounds more like acoustics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXZRy02HoEE
His first kits used the "woofers" too. Also, what it interesting is that it explains why I found AVH's drum sounds on "1984" the worst: they were mostly electronic via Simmons. Especially the kicks sounds on "Hot for Teacher". I figured they were triggered because they sound like it. Although "Jump" sounds more like acoustics.
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