A Look at Alex Van Halen's Gear (Part 2) with Kurt Ekstrom - EP 232
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- Опубліковано 12 лют 2024
- (Part 2 Covers 1985-2015) Alex Van Halen is responsible for inspiring a generation of young drummers to pick up drumsticks because of his virtuosic playing and HUGE drum sets. Kurt Ekstrom joins us on the podcast to guide us through each and every one of Alex's iconic drum sets and all the accessories and details that make them absolutely one of a kind works of art!
Alex Van Halen's drum sets feature 4 bass drums, fire extinguishers, gas masks, exhaust pipes, and rubber tubes connecting everything together. Does it get any cooler than that? In this episode, Kurt takes us through all the iconic kits that AVH used with Sammy Haggar in the mid 80's including the iconic 5150 set and his Simmons drum sets, through the 90's with Gary Cherone and up to his final performance in 2015.
Alex will always be one of the greatest drummers in the world and his drum sets have inspired millions of musicians around the world.
You can check out this series on UA-cam if you would like to see the visuals we discuss: / @drumhistorypodcast
Thanks for listening/watching!
Here are links to Kurt's other episodes of Drum History:
The Gear of John Densmore - • A look at John Densmor...
The History of WFL Drums - • EP 156 - The History o...
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Congratulations on the arrival of your newest family member, Bart! 😍 May both Mom and the Little One be well, too!
😊🙏
Congratulations Bart!!
Thanks for watching everyone! Thanks to Bart for putting this together. One thing I forgot to mention was Alex’s signature Paiste 24” ride. It was a crashable ride that has a picture of a guy on it in a suit flipping the bird. It’s called Alex’s big a** ride and was used at the later part of Alex’s career. Just thought it was worth mentioning.
Kurt! Why am I not seeing your name in the comments under the AVH interview on Steven Rosen's channel??? 😅
I watched both of these Alex Van Halen episodes. Enjoyed both very much and learned alot about all of his kits. Thanks so much for doing this and for all that you do! 🥁
His Simmons sounds were very heavy and aggressive, regardless of the original reason, he and at least myself too love the sound for the afformentioned reasons. Nice podcast guys!
I’m loving Kurt! There are soooo many of us who began worshipping AVH at the beginning!!!!
Yes, I loved his playing since the first time I'd heard him, which was in '79 (I was 9) and when my Big Bro played me VH's debut album 😊
By the way, and quite funny: Someone had posted an old photo of Alex with a 4-piece kit in a '4-piece enthusiasts' fb group recently, on which I commented with, "Then, several paychecks later, ...", followed by an awesome photo of him with his massive 'Fair Warning' tour kit - which then prompted the group's moderator to tell me off for it: "And no more photos of AVH's monster kits, please!" 😂
Two quick AVH experiences: On the 5150 tour, my buddy and I snuck into the Cincinnati Gardens (RIP) during show day and watched the last hour or so of set up. As a drummer and huge Halen fan, I was stoked! I remember the crew really having issues with one of the Simmons rack toms. They were seriously trying to wrench it into place, I mean they were working the shit out of it trying to get it into place. I guess they were finally satisfied with it. When his tech got behind it, you could immediately hear that something was up. He was pissed! He yelled at somebody about being too rough or forceful. The band got up there for soundcheck, and Al was paying special attention to it. Cool to see those guys in "normal life"! At the show that night, I could totally notice an issue with that drum...... I remember thinking "I know something that nobody else knows!"
Next was in 2007, my wife and I had the means to do the I Love All Access VIP thing. On my birthday in Cleveland (July 2), I got the chance during the soundcheck/meet & greet to talk drums with Alex for about 10 minutes! We talked about Ludwig, and he mentioned that he had recently visited the factory to " check out some snares". I later did the math and realized (I could be totally incorrect) that he was probably there regarding his first signature snare, but I guess he couldn't talk about it because they hadn't been released yet. We were front row for the show, and I had won a drumhead at a pre show raffle. When he came out for the post-show bow, I held up my drumhead and went nuts, yelling " Birthday! It's my birthday!!!" There happened to be a Sharpie laying on the stage, and he picked it up, grabbed the head,signed it, and handed it back to me!
BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!
Great video, guys! Total time-trip, informative and enjoyable as hell. Thanks so much......
Can't wait for the book!
Great story! We share a birthday dude! July 2nd!
Wow! Thanks for doing these two episodes. Like many, Alex is my favorite drummer and #1 influence on my own playing. This was a lot of fun to listen to.
I love these deep-dive episodes. Alex is a favorite of mine.
Just finally finished. Alex is a great drummer but he may be remembered more for taking drum set design and look to a whole other level! Wow. I bought the first album the day it was released on the recommendation of my local record store. I kind of lost interest during the Sammy years so hadn't kept up on his different sets later in his career. Just incredible. Thanks guys. That was a lot of fun.
The key to Alex sound is that he tunes higher than most-Bonham did the same. Even though he played bigger shells, he tuned higher like a jazz drummer-more projection and tone. They also cut more in the mix, both live and in studio.
It was emulating his sound on Poundcake when I was 14.
My 8×12" mid 60's Slingerland tom was CRANKED from where I normally had it. Not a table top, but tighter than a "rock drummer" would use.
I had a Ludwig Rockers Silver Dot Heavy and a Remo Ebony Ambasasdor reso.
I've never gone back after all these years since 1991.
Congrats on the new arrival and kudos on these 2 fantastic episodes!!
Long Live AVH! 🤘🏼
1:20:00 a lot of drummers at Al’s level use triggers for a consistent monitor mix nightly. In other words, they hear the triggered samples in their in ear mix only, but the sounds out front are acoustic miced drums. My pal Eric Singer does this for the same reason. Eric told me that this method allows him to have the exact drum mix in his ears every night.
You don't know E.S.
Many touring Drummer’s do in fact, use acoustic trigger’s for consistent MON mix. Some split their FOH snake with both Mic (live) and Trigger sourced samples and FOH Engineer will have ability to mix the two sounds to create sound’s for certain tunes…especially important for the Phil Collin’s Linn Drum Era samples that are gated/compressed etc. Although the DDrum 3 and 4 (4SE preferred) have not been produced since late 90’s, there’s guys like me (Frank Beard is another whom only use’s sample’s and no mic’s on toms or kicks) that have a few of these DDrum modules as they’re still the fastest as far as latency.
I just finished watching both part 1and 2. Very interesting to say the least. So much in depth. So much went into all those kits. I was most surprised to hear that his B/W kit was vistalite. I just assumed white cortex w/wide black tape applied.....the things you find out after all these years. Anyway...awesome podcast and as always keep up the GREAT work!!
…enjoyed both episodes so much !!!! Saw VH in 1980 and 1981. INCREDIBLE shows. RIP Ed.
I think he did an awesome job integrating his Simmons with his acoustic kit , kinda like Phil Collins did back in the day .
I remember it being quite a common thing, and also others like Alan White (Yes), Stewart Copeland (The Police), Lee Harris (Talk Talk) and Bill Bruford (King Crimson) had played a mix of Simmons and acoustic drums 🙂
Keep all these gear history series going!! I watch ALL of them.
Both episodes were facinating. This was a very touching tribute to a great drummer. Saw VH at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Florida around 1980 and opening for the Rolling Stones at the Tangerine bowl in Orlando around 1981. Sammy Hagar was the opening act.
Watched both episodes. While I’m not a drummer, I still found it fascinating.
1:04:36 we tried to get Alex to sign with DW during the Ludwig dark ages, they had a DW kit at 5150, I'm sure that was used for some recordings and probably what Wolfie learned drums on.
Very cool! I know Ludwig came close to losing him in the 90’s. No offense to DW at all but I’m glad Alex stayed Ludwig. I just think of the two together as well as Alex Paiste
Yes! I was in a band with MA's brother...went to a VH rehearsal in Burbank I wanna say around 95ish, and Alex had a double bass DW kit set up!
I remember as a teenager seeing the VH “Live Without a Net” concert on television…I think MTV played it. AVH’s kit made such an impression as it was so unique looking. I think a lot of the drummers then had interesting over the top kits…there was so much eye candy when looking at them.
I watched both episodes! Thank you guys! 👍🏻👏🏻
Great episodes. Really enjoying this podcast!
❤thanks again John and Kurt for a informative discussion of Alex's gear.❤
I saw Van Halen twice with Dave on the Fair Warning tour, one of them opening for the Stones in Orlando from the front row. One of the best live bands and rock n roll shows I’ve even seen, including Zeppelin on their last tour in Frankfurt Germany. Alex is one of my true inspirations since VH1 came out in 78!
Fantastic! Thank you both! ❤
This second part aired as soon as I was done watching the first part, so thank you for that.The only time I saw VH was on the Carnal Knowledge tour in '91 at the Centrum. Excellent show. I remember reading that Alex said the snare drum was a Ludwig marching snare. I think it was 10" deep and AVH said they had to modify a conventional snare drum stand to hold it. This didn't seem like obscure fact or knowledge at the time.
Thanks to both of you for providing such a meaningful service to the drumming community. Alex is just one of those guys that nobody really went deep on over the years so this was awesome. Really enjoyed geeking out with you guys.
Geeking out is a MASSIVE understatement!
Bart, you're personality & interview style for these deep dives is beyond perfection. I cannot picture anybody else doing these. You know exactly the time to listen & the time to chime in and you do it beautifully, cheers & congrats on the new family member (and I'm a bass player btw!:)
Yeah for sure! I watch myself on some of these and I often wonder if I should have backed off a bit and let Bart do his thing. You get some experience doing this when you have done as many videos as he has.
@@wflkurt 🤘🏻👍
I watched the whole thing!! Wow!
You guys might have missed one AVH kit, if you want to be exhaustive. haha The stainless steel 5 piece , one up, two down, Ludwig in the "Finish What Ya Started" video. It was on sale at The Guitar Center on Sunset in Hollywood just after the release of that video. I was only 12 at the time and I chose a white Tama Rockstar 5 piece over Alex' kit and I've regretted it ever since!
Truth be told I almost mentioned it but I didn’t know if that was a rental or not. They actually made that video right around the time I saw them in October of 1988. I kind of assumed it was a rental or something because it seemed like it was filmed very quickly between shows but honestly I don’t know where they did it. There was also a chrome set in when it’s love, a black set in the video for feels so good, a weird blue set in poundcake and I think top of the world had an odd set. I don’t know anything about those really and there just wasn’t enough time to dig at them all. I did notice in the video for finish what ya started that there is a giant light bulb on top of the bass drum. I’m thinking it was there to help filming? Alex also played traditional grip!
That was the Loudest concert I've ever been to. I was 16
April 22nd 1986 in Chicago.
They weren't as loud in 91 and by 2004 the volume was about half.
great show , & the knowledge for eddy & alex, music carreer. & drums. Alex had & played.
50:54 Yamaha double pedal, Neil Peart also used the same one at that time. Tama Hihat stand / X hat and DW cymbal arms
Not sure if this would be too much of a stretch, but could Bobby Blotzer and Tommy Lee be possible episodes ? Things like when did Blotzer get his Yamaha endorsement, what drums were really used in the SATD sessions ? There's definitely some triggers used on that recording. Food for thought. AVH ranks as my #1 most underrated Rock drummer, followed by Blotzer, Tommy Lee, and Troy Luccketta.
My new favorite show! I want more! You've covered Neil, and Bonham, and Alex. How about Phil? Or Stewart? Then I'll be complete.
The photo of eddie in the studio in front of the Simmons is early 1983, when they weren’t really recording much of 1984. The drum setup is likely ed’s setup featuring a Tama maple snare identical to the rosewood mastercraft. you can actually see that snare on the floor of the control room in a later shot in 1985. The other photos from the last episode featuring the roto-toms were actually taken in 1985 during the recording of 5150 surprisingly enough.
You can hear eddie playing the kit seen in this photo on overdubs on the Wild Life soundtrack, and also the left side speaker if you listen to the Balance track “Crossing Over”
Can’t say I agree. I’d go with Kurt that it’s Alex’s kit-it’s certainly his set-up.
@@glengamble526 kurt pretty much alludes first that it could be eddie’s setup for the Wild Life sessions. not really sure what you mean by that.
there isn’t really much debate surrounding what the red kit was used for given the time period it was seen in (1983). you hear the simmons, snare and cymbals on the Crossing Over track which was all eddie, plus the overdubs on Wild Life as I mentioned. the first track we have heard of eddie and alex in 1983 is Jump, which obviously had roto-toms, floor tom, etc. which was completely different, set up for the whole album.
The picture with the red simmons has been commonly mis-identified as 1985/1986 because of the simmons, but nearly everything in the photo presents itself as early 1983. Ed’s outfit, hair, the state of the studio compared to the 1985 photos, etc. Alex’s black simmons and rosewood snare were probably somewhere else in a rehearsal space for the US fest.
Watched both great
very nice show
He improved so much from the late 80s on, and quitting drinking had to have helped.
I saw them with the 88 monster set and 91. Their live sound in 91 as a band was one of the best I have heard. Awesome drum sound. Really cutting with the smaller toms and higher tuning.
What Scott said.....
And Prince used a LinnDrum on Purple Rain. Im sure Simmons pads are in there, but the main drums were a programmed drum machine that Prince programmed himself.
I just have to say this.......We Love you AL!
Awesome 👏
Some of the snare sound came from how he held his sticks. Those long Regal Tips make the drum sound different depending on how and where you hold them.
Really enjoyed this AVH series. Kurt is so knowledgeable and as usual I learned a lot! 🧯🥁
Hello Bart,this is off topic but is there a way you can do anything on snare wires? Ive been trying to learn more about them and how they effect sound.
Thanks for the videos. The "automotive finish" is called engine turning. It is basically using a round pad with and abrasive and spinning it to produce round swirl marks in metal.
Thank you for the info!
good stuff
During the live movie right here right now they did a promo from 5150….you can clearly see Alex in the drum room playing a set similar to that tour
This was epic thank you!! Saw them 5 times with Roth and 3 with Sam I personally preferred AVH on the (smaller lol if ya wanna call it that) sets; it just seemed live there was a little more clarity and a little more musicianship vs entertainment show type of thang and everything all over the place, all good tho.
The Ludwig AVH Rosewood snare was put out because Ludwig in 2009 was celebrating their 100 yr anniversary, and that snare was apart of that celebration / limited edition. I went to Todd Trent's Shop in Ontario CA and talked to Todd and I grabbed the 100 yr Black Beauty, Todd told me some cool stories... I would have loved to buy that AVH Rosewood and had the money, but I personally don't like die cast hoops (which they even had die cast hoops on the Black Beauty which changed the sound, kinda choked it, so I couldn't win, shoulda should grabbed da Rosewood!) Thanks again guys lol freaking epic job on this vid, looking forward to more. Peace
I noticed some Pearl hardware. Particularly some snare stands, because I have that snare stand. It is a beast of a stand.
Pearl hardware rules!
@@markcoledrumteacher I wouldn’t go that far.
Their boom arms being smooth - they don’t exactly hold well. The memory locks are also not that great. I have one, stopped using it years ago.
Those extra long acrylic kick drum shells are likely something you could order from RCI who will make any design 'vistalite' shell you could imagine.
white simmonds kit, would look awesome.
Great show! I have both Simmons SDSV and 7’s kits. You can have them configured how you want them and have all the pads refinished and Brain overhauled so it’s reliable by The Simmons Guy, ED Rose. He’s the best and it’s so fun to play these kits. Makes for a fun scavenger hunt😎
I sold a blue set of SDS 1000's to Ed. I had no idea who he was when I sold him the set as he was just another drummer buying drums. Of course I now know who he is and he does incredible work refurbishing the old Simmons stuff. I probably need to have my SDS-8 brain overhauled but at this point I'd bet he doesn't work on those anymore or it would cost me a fortune! Lol. The set I sold him was actually pretty nice but I saw how he made them look brand new again. Just amazing.
@@wflkurt nice, Ed’s the best! I need send my SDSV kit to be overhauled but yes it cost money but it’s worth it to me. It’s also a year wait I believe.
I really like Van Halen 3, and Gary Cherone.
Does anyone know were you can get sound samples of Alex’s drums for my eKit? Preferably from Balance album and tour?
And of course: Thank you both also for Pt.II of this discussion! 😊👍
'Van Hagar' never really have been my thing, but the drums info of that era still was super-interesting nonetheless! 😃
Just a lil' detail: I think the 'V' in 'SDS V' actually is a Roman '5' 🙂
It most certainly is. Thanks for watching!
@@wflkurt - Thank you for sharing your knowledge, Kurt! 😊👍 I'd no idea Alex had also played Tama snare drums! 😀
He's been one of my favourite drummers since my Big Bro had played me VH's debut album, in '79, when I was only 9 years old 😊
Fran Capitanelli has some great AVH videos on his channel too, by the way! 😉👍
The Balance tour Alex used 16x22” bass drums.
I’ve heard it rumoured that Reverend Al when back and took some technique lessons (in the 90’s I think) from Canadian teaching legend Rick Gratton.
That would not surprise me. There is a great video that originally aired on MTV when the band kicked of the 1991 tour in Atlanta GA. They show a quick clip of Alex warming up and it's very clear that he has been working on refining his technique. As I saw them throughout the 90's, I felt like Alex just got better and better.
He actually used Remo Muffles in the bass drum on the 1991 kit with the 20x22.
I think the Balance tour had Powerstroke 3 batter and resonant.
Bass drums were in fact 16x24.
Pedals on the 1991 kit are Yamaha Double pedals. He started using Iron Cobras on the Balance tour.
8× 14 Tama superstar snare birch 1982 .Dave Grohl played one too
Hey Bart, some more notes...
- "5150" is the LAPD radio code for a criminally insane person.
- The North drums were purchased @my favorite drumshop, Pro Drum Shop in Hollywood.
- No mention of the natural Ludwig maple kit used in the "Dreams"(live version) dbl bass with May EA miking system.
- Alex DID tour the Chicago factory. He spent almost the whole day there and spent alot of time with the employees.
- JD ROCKS!!! I have some of his artwork & he's done outstanding drum work for me as well.
- In 2010 PAISTE introduced the 2002 24" Reverend Al Big Ride.
Thanks for the extra info. I didn't wade into drum sets used in the videos a whole lot as there are actually several different ones. I did mention that in another comment. I also know that I forgot to mention the 24" ride but I did not remember the year it came out. At this point a lot of my years are running together! Lol
@wflkurt Hi Kurt, I also wanted to add that he played a chrome REMO drum kit in the "Finish what ya Started" video.
@@wflkurtalso Carter Buford (DMB) plays a LUDWIG AVH Rosewood snare rtum despite being a Yamaha endorser.
I’ve heard from several music industry sources that Alex is severely hearing impaired. And yes, I’ve heard the same story about Al having a hand in the early in ears development.
I went to the monsters of rock in Pontiac Mi, I went both shows. As for Alex I love the size of these kits. He work great with the band but his solos were just ok. Now this comes from someone who has seen Neil Peart live 14 times. So !
At 48:03. Alex's drum kits were big but nothing really that "80's" about it. It was more about art than status.
The X hats were probably in use when he played songs with double bass shuffles, like “Hot For Teacher”.
Hot For Teacher was never played by VH again until Dave rejoined the band in 2006-07. For some reason Sammy was not comfortable singing a lot of the Dave era material and he only stuck to a few regulars. Truthfully, as a big fan that got old after a while. There were not too many closed hi-hat songs done by VH in 1991.
funny eough, i wanted to combine, the simmonds kit with the maindrums, for extra sounds.
I assumed the LWAN snare had a Canasonic or similar type head on it. It's just tape?😊
It’s black gaffer tape covering the entire top of the drum head. the video isn’t clear enough to see the seams, but there are a lot of pictures from that time period that show it better
Alex's 5150 clear kit could have been New Old Stock. NOS.
Sammy said that Alex tried to hold a broom stick with both hands and hop over it........and being drunk he landed on his face.
After his Dad dying and that stunt he quit drinking.
Sammy says he was still an incredible drummer but not as loose.
Yeah, a few beers is sometimes the perfect mix.
Yeah he was a little more wild in his style of playing when he was drinking.
Alex used super classic 4 plys maple ,not classic 6 plys during the U812,FUCK,Balance .
i wuold do away , with gong.
it/s insane the drums. lol😃😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
it'sinsane, buying different drum kits ! and not keeping them. very expensve all those drum kits ! if it was me, i would keep them all. 🤪😆
Ludwig sucked for a minute. Great Video !
3 kids... you dog, you 😉😉.
But for real congratulations. It's tiring. I have an 11 year old, and an 8 monther.i def wish so many years didn't elapse.but time flies.im gunna be 37 and I feel old,which sucks cuz I know I'm not, and it only goes downhill from here
Personally, I don't think the 5150 kit is worth anywhere near $75,000 for the simple fact that the bass drum is cut in half, missing a simmons pad, missing the simmons module, the octobans are not original and the red tubing was painted black. Also, no cymbals included.
New Baby Fund!
Thank you very much!! He is doing well and sort of starting to sleep more at night :)
Please. Please find someone who is a Vinnie historian. There is just not enough out there on him
There are some great interviews with the man himself but it would be cool to see one on Vinnie. I would love that!
there ugly cymbals, they look stone age, victorian. prefer the traditional cymbals.
jerry Harvey was van halens monitor engineer in the nineties. inventor of ultimate ears ,jhaudio noways. great video bart !