Just curious. Does anyone here play with a jelly bean kit simply because he/she prefers the sound of an individual drum over others in the set? Maybe someone prefers using a Gretch snare, Ludwig bass, Slingerland rack toms and Tama floors rather than playing a particular matched set of any manufacturer. Wraps don't matter. Neither does age. Model? Nope. Heads? All a matter of individual preference. Just would like to know. Thanks.
Brian
Brian - I've played studio kits like that, (2) that were put together for the sound of each drum. brands and color wasn't even a consideration. I've never owned one like that or knew anybody that had put one together. I hope to see some photos of a couple of those kits if some guys respond to your question.
John
I purposely custom ordered my Dw collector series in Jelly bean colors, I like jelly bean kits.
Hey Brian. Not sure what happened there, but at least you got the original post. Thanks for the PM. You are very observant and didn't miss a lick. Bottom line, it's a common practice with studios and a few edgy drummers with mischievous grins (Mark!). Good question!
As I understand it Jim keltner did this all the time, and has something to do with DW's timbre matching. When we were recording a demo at my house, my brother and I tried different bass drums and snares, but we used the same run of toms (yamaha tour custom 10,12,14,16) we ended up using a Tama 6.5x14 snare and an18x22" Yamaha bass. Although I liked a ludwig supra 5x14 with die cast hoops and a Gretsch 14x22" better.
Cymbal selection was also a war, he wanted to use all of his SABIAN cymbals. I did manage to convince him to use a 2002 ride( best bell ever) and a pair of 10" Zildjian splashes.
The next recording I want to assemble a set of "god drums" based purely on sound.
Thanks for your input, everyone! Your time and expertise are much appreciated.
Brian
I always thought "jelly bean" referred to mixed colors, not mixed manufacturers??
I believe that the kits at Motwown records and Stax records were Mongrel/jelly bean kits.
I believe ludwig popularized the term when they used it for the multicolored vistalite kits.
I think Jellybean kits were invented by folks that wanted quality drums but couldn't pay a lot,but before the internet you could kick around pawn shops, thrifts,local papers and find singles cheap.I knew a couple of people that were into vintage drums early on and they would buy up everything they could find and put jellybean kits together and then buy sell and trade through collector news letters.
