danhertlein.com

My Gear Page
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This page is dedicated to my life long love of the drums. It started back in 1964 and I've been playing in one form or another ever since then. I've been in many bands starting back in South Florida until I moved out to Northern California in 1984. Currently, I play with Mixed Nuts out of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I've been "on the cusp" of making it several times, but it has eluded me. Who knows, was it luck? Probably or lack of it. Was it lack of talent? I don't think so, although I've never thought I was a good as some people say I was. As a matter of fact, I think I've always been OK. I'm a groove player. in 4/4. I play many styles OK. I've been playing over 40 years and I'm an OK player in my mind. Am I depressed because of it? No. I love playing and I love the drums. That to me, is enough. But I'll always strive to be the absolute best as I can. Do I practice? Not really. I'd rather be riding my bicycle during the day when I have off.

So, with that uplifting introduction, here's what I use and why I use it.

Rack System and Hardware

Currently, I have five acoustic drum sets that I use at live gigs (more on them later). I use the Gibraltar Rack system with carbon fiber tubes and DW hardware with all the sets, including an Pearl Eliminator double kick pedal. I replaced my original Gibraltar steel tubes with carbon fiber tubes to lighten the load when transporting and setting up my gear. The carbon fiber tubes were purchased from Carbonlite Products. Even though they're more expensive than the steel tubes, it's definitely worth the expense. I'm not getting any younger! See the picture of the kit on the right. I use the rack system with all of my setups. This way, all I need to do is replace the actual drums if I have an inclination to do so. I find that using a rack places all my gear in the same location every time. I've tried going back occasionally to using stands, but to me it's more hassle to get everything placed just right. On my rack I've got a mic stand, a drum machine, an electronic percussion pad, a electronic metronome, a microphone (mic) mixer, a TC Helicon powered monitor, all of my drum mics (six), cymbals (Eight stands. Details below), up to 4 toms and a percussion tray. Yes, it takes me an hour or two to set up my kit. I deal with it. And yes, I get comments ALL THE TIME. Until my back gives out, I'll continue to use it.

And I can't forget my throne, an often forgotten piece of the puzzle. Bad throne? Bad experience ;-). I use the Roc 'n Soc throne. I actually have two. One for the gigging kit and one for my practice kit at home, and electronic V Drum kit. It is the best throne out there as far as I'm concerned!

 
 

Electronics

As mentioned above, I also use electronics with my live set up.  A drum machine (a Boss DR-770) is used for loops and songs that call for Latin percussion and hip hop stuff. I also use a Yamaha Clickstation metronome that I use to establish tempos from one song to another. Also, I use a Roland SPD-20 for electronic samples such as hand claps, gongs, shakers, sleigh bells. You name it! The SPD-20 is used right above my hi-hat for convenience. All this goes through a Behringer sub-mixer. I send a mix of the electronics out to our main board. I also send a separate individual signal of my click tracks which get routed back to my monitor only.
 
Close up shots of my electronics rig

 

Drum Microphones

The microphones I use are as follows; an Audix D6 for the kick; four Audix Micro-D's for the toms, a Shure SM-57 for the snare and a AKG condenser for the hi-hat. These get sent to the bands main mixer.

Monitors

I currently use Shure ES2 ear buds, connected to the band's HearBack Technologies monitoring system.

Drums

 I've now got five acoustic kits and two Roland V-Drum electronic kit's at the moment. A beautiful Fibes Natural maple kit, a green sparkle Ludwig Classic Maple kit, a brand new Gretsch Classic Maple kit, a Remo MasterTouch Jazz Bop kit and a Yamaha Absolute Nouveau Maple Custom kit.

Ludwig Classic Maple Kit

 

I'm a sucker for green sparkle, so when the opportunity to pick up a top of the line new (for me) Ludwig Classic Maple kit, I bit big time. This kit sounds great with a killer kick. A classy looking kit that I'm loving right now. Sizes are 18x22 kick, 8x12 and 9x13 rack toms and 13x15 and 16x16 floor toms with legs. Click here for a YouTube clip of me playing the Green Luddies!

Fibes Maple (Jasper Era) Kit

This is a fantastic Fibes Maple kit in it's beautiful natural gloss finish.. I'm very excited about this kit. The sizes are 18x22 kick/ 8x12 and 9x12 rack tom's/ 12x14 and 14x16 floor toms. The drums were all virgin shells but I drilled the 14 and 16 toms and installed vintage Ludwig tom mounts. Since, IMHO floor toms should have legs and Fibes mounts are so rare, I decided to go the Ludwig route. When and if I ever find some Fibes mounts, they have an approximate hole pattern and will be swapped out quickly. I'm using the heads that they shipped to me with which are coated Remo Emperors. These drums sounds huge and tune easily. They are a work of art. A definite keeper....

Gretsch New Classic Maple Kit

I know I'm always saying I got this or that at a great price, but really, this was a fantastic price. A beautiful Deep Red Cherry Lacquer finish, The sizes? 18x22 kick, 9x12 tom, a 14x14 Floor Tom and a 16x16 Floor tom. I also have a matching 6.5x14 snare. That great Gretsch sound. This set is the real real!!! Like all of my others!

 

Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute Nouveau Kit

This is a great kit. Yamaha's quality is second to none. Sizes are 18x22 kick, 8x10 and 9x12 Rack Toms, 14x14 and 16x16 Floor Toms. Blue Sparkle Lacquer. Beautiful!

Here's a YouTube clip of me playing the Yamaha's.

Remo MasterTouch Bop Kit

I was never a believer in small bass drums. Since I'm not a strictly jazz player, I never really sought out the smaller Jazz Bop kit. But, when I saw this set posted on Craig's List for $350, I bit. The reason the set was being sold for so cheaply was because it had water damage. The finish in it's veneer was bubbling in places. Also, the set is made of basically pressed cardboard. BUT, this set has a very good reputation for being a great sounding kit. I picked it up and decided to re-wrap it in Vintage White Marine Pearl. I think it came out great. And, the drum set sounds awesome. Since I always use a microphone on my bass drum, the size is not really a factor. Except for that it responds quicker when I play it. Sizes are 14x18 bass drum, 8x10 and 8x12 toms, 14x14 and 14x16 floor toms. I've recently purchased a 16x22 Acousticon bass drum shell from a fellow drummer that was used by Slingerland drum company for their very inexpensive line. Certainly not the old Slingerland we all know of BUT the shell was fine. I also purchased some old Remo lugs that matched the rest of the kit. Also, I purchased new wood hoops and various hardware to build up the 22 (which I prefer). I then wrapped the bass drum with the same wrap as the rest of the kit. Result is in the picture on the left. Huge sound. A YouTube clip of of me playing the Remo kit Jessica is here.

   

Roland V-Drum Session Kit

A dear friend of mine let me use his V-Drum kit for the last couple of years. Finally, after much cajoling, I sent him a check. It is a V-Session kit with a TD-12 module kit that I use a band rehearsal. I've also recently purchased a used TD-6 module for a practice kit I use at home. This is to be able to walk in my neighborhood without having rocks thrown at me ;-)

   

Heineken

One of my fans ;-) did this...

Cymbals

Since I don't have any endorsements (there is an upside to this fact I guess), I can use whatever I want. So there! Refer to the first picture directly above. The list below starts from my left as I'm sitting at my kit.

15" A Custom Mastersound Hi-hats. I've recently switch over from 14" Zildjian A Custom Mastersounds to 15" hats. I wanted more wash from the hats so I decided to go for a bigger size. They sound fantastic!

17" Zildjian K Custom Fast Crash - A "quiet" cymbal I use when we play in close quarters. Quick decay but dark.

10" Paiste Signature Splash - I like it and it's still whole! Quick (aren't all splashes?) and sweet.

16" Zildjian K Custom Fast Crash - Another "quiet" cymbal used on gigs where volume is an issue.

21" Sabian HH Raw-Bell Ride - It's a beautiful sounding cymbal. After playing Zildjian Ping rides for decades, I've finally found a ride cymbal that to my ears is perfect for all applications.

6" ZilBel. Just the bell of a ride cymbal. Yet another voice.

18" Zildjian K Custom Fast Crash - I wanted a larger cymbal that would match the other crashes but be able to provide more wash.

19" Zildjian K Dark Crash - Huge dark sound with a big wash.

12" Sabian AAX Splash on top of a 12" Wuhan China - Can you say trashy? I have this pair attached to a static Hi-Hat on my right side, right next to my 18" China. Yummy!

Snare Drums

I have eight snare drum's at the moment. A new Ludwig Black Beauty Brass 6.5x14 snare, a Fibes 5.5x14 chrome over fiberglass snare, a 5.5x14 Yamaha Copper Absolute Nouveau snare, a Yamaha Anton Fig maple snare with wood hoops, a 5.5x13 Remo MasterTouch snare. a 5x14 Ludwig Supraphonic snare, a Remo Gold Crown 6.5x14 snare and a great little funky 5x15 Pearl Sensitone brass snare drum. My small snare collection sounds great.

Kits I've owned in the past

DW Maple Collectors Royal to Regal Burst. A great kit that I used for eight years.

This is a DIY Kit. Do It Yerself. I bought the parts and put it together. A lot of fun and it sounded great too. Maple Keller shells. The wrap is turquoise glass glitter. I liked it...

The same kit but in a green sparkle wrap.

Again, the same kit without any wrap. I attempted to give it gloss finish.

A great Premier Signia kit in it's white lacquer finish.

The same kit in a silver glass glitter

A Premier Resonator kit that I covered in purple glass glitter wrap.

A very cool Gretsch USA Maple kit that I am real sorry I got rid of. What was I thinking???

Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute pink sparkle kit. A great sounding kit! I wish I had the space to keep it.

Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute Nouveau pink pearl fade. As the others, a great drum set!

Tama Starclassic Performer. A birch kit that I really, really liked. My first Tama kit and not my last. Had to make room for others unfortunately.

A Gretsch USA Maple kit. A wonderful sounding kit.

A great Gretsch USA Custom kit. The classic Gretsch Rosewood kit.

 Fibes Maple kit from 1990's. An awesome sounding kick. I prefer 22" kicks so it didn't get played much. I recently acquired and Fibes kit with a 22" kick and two floor toms and I couldn't be happier! See it listed above.

Yamaha Absolute Beech Custom Kit. An absolutely wonderful sounding and engineered drum set. I'm sorry I got rid of it.

A 1980's era Yamaha Recording Custom kit. The real deal.

Fantastic Sonor Delite kit. A true classic with unbelievable quality and engineering. 

Ludwig 9 ply Classic kit, circa late 1990's. I miss this one.

Ludwig 3 ply 70's era kit I built up from old shells.

Milestone Fiber glass kit that I restored. I hated to let it go but I had to make room for others.

Tempus Carbon Fiber Custom kit. I sold it because I already have a Tempus CF kit. Great sounding kit that now has a great home.

Gretsch Renown 100% African Mahogany Purewood Series Kit. A great Gretsch kit that could stand up to any Gretsch kit out there. I traded it for my current Rogers XP-8 kit. I'm sure I'll be sorry...

Rogers XP-8 "Big R" Kit. Vintage Maple kit from the late 70's-early 80's. Like the color???

Fibes Maple. A wonderful sounding kit. Jasper shells. Not my favorite color, so when I had the chance to get my Green Ludwig Maples, I sold these. I'll regret it as usual I'm sure!

Tempus Carbon Fiber kit. This was an awesome custom built kit.

Ludwig Blue Vistalite kit. Great vintage kit.

A Tama Granstar kit that I had cut down (the toms that is). Nice sounding kit from the 80's. I re-wrapped it in pink sparkle.