I primarily play a Yamaha Stage Custom Hip 4-piece in the Surf Green finish. I have a variety of snare drums that I switch between: the included 13″ x 5″ Yamaha Stage Custom Hip wood snare, a 13″ x 5″ Pork Pie Little Squealer wood snare, and a 14″ TAMA Superstar wood snare. I obviously have a thing for smaller sized drums, though the TAMA snare is my current favorite.
Cymbals
I use 13″ Zildjian K/Z cymbal mix for my hi-hats, with the heavy Z cymbal on the bottom. My crash is a 16″ Sabian AAX, and my ride is a 21″ Zildjian K Sweet Ride. I also have Sabian AAX 18” china and 6” splash cymbals, but haven’t used them in years—but can’t bring myself to get rid of.
Stands
For stands, I’m using the Yamaha HW3 Crosstown light-weight collection, which my back greatly appreciates. The stands are incredibly durable but also super lightweight, with a mark-resistant satin finish. They’re really quite lovely, and came with a nice bag. It’s amazing to be able to cary all my stands and hardware with one arm. My previous hardware weighed well over 60lbs, and was a nightmare to carry down club stairs at 2am.
Monitoring
I rarely play without an ear buds or headphones. Drums are loud, and I try my best to protect my hearing. As part of my practice and live setup, I’ve incorporated a Yamaha EAD-10, as system with a microphone, trigger, and processor unit.
The microphone+trigger unit attaches to the bass drum hoop with a simple thumb screw. The piezo trigger is… triggered… when hitting the bass drum hoop. The unit also has two wide area microphones pointed left and right to pick up the rest of the kit. The processor unit has a few more inputs for additional triggers, which I’ve tried but don’t really need.
The processor unit combines the triggers and microphones, offering control over the mix—including an additional aux input. While practicing the aux is connected to my phone, playing music or YouTube. Live, the aux is a feed from our mixer and serves as my in-ear monitor.
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