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Berns' Gear.
My drumset is an original Tama Superstar - Super Mahogany finish purchased in 1984-5.
This, at the time was Tama's top of the range flagship drumset and it cost around two thousand English pounds. A lot of money back then! Actually still a lot of cash now. Tama has recently introduced a range called Superstar that are very nice but aimed at a mid range market not to be confused with the original Superstar. The two grand I paid only covered 5 drums and two tom holders, no snare, stands or pedals!!!
If you're still awake you've probably realised this information is not for normal, balanced folk! This is for anoraks only! So, if this applies to you then read on......
The sizes of my drums are as follows: 22x14" bass drum. 14x10", 13x9", 12x8" and 10x8" tom toms. I really wanted these sizes after seeing the late great Carlos Vega on a Dave Grusin video. His drums were Gretsch and they looked and sounded great. Of course they did, Carlos was playin' 'em, right?! Anyway, the Gretsch drums were very expensive so I opted for Tama 'cos not only was the price marginally better but the drums were of superior construction and I really wanted all birch shells. The above sizes and birch shells were originally made popular by the great Steve Gadd. The toms have Remo fibreskyn3 on the top and Remo clear ambassadors on the bottom, Remo powerstroke on the bass drum played with a hard felt beater.
So here we go with the rest of the setup: Ludwig Supraphonic 14x5" steel shell snare and a Ludwig Supraphonic 14x5" aluminum snare for recording, for these I use a Remo coated ambassador on the top and a Remo ambassador snare head on the bottom. Pearl snare and cymbal stands. Pearl throne. Rogers hi-hat stand and a Camco bass drum pedal. The cymbals are a 20" K zildjian ride, 16" and 17" K zildjian medium thin crashes. 13" hi-hats with an Istanbul agop on top and Avedis zildjian new beat on the bottom. Carmine Appice 18" china cymbal and an 8" china splash. That's it apart from Promark 808 drumsticks, when I can get them!
One last thing I'd like to mention is that one of my heroes played my set. Kennard Johnson played with the James Cotton blues band and Kenny Neal, he played the smoothest and swingin'est double shuffle I've ever heard, totally inspiring! Anyway, it was in Bremen, Germany at a blues festival. I was playing for Jimmy Witherspoon and Kennard was with Kenny Neal and they joined 'Spoon for an encore, great memories!
I didn't relish doing this but felt I had to keep up with Steve and Rob, who have detailed their gear so beautifully. I'm glad I did now.
Bernie.
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