Vintage Series shell bank complete!

[DaveInNZ]

Around October/November last year, our distributor here in New Zealand gave me the heads up the Black Slate finish was being discontinued, and that if I'd like to order any extras, get in quick. They knew I had been, for some time, talking about completing the shell bank, adding to the drums I already had. Discontinuation of the finish kinda forced my hand and this, by default became my own 150th anniversary kit - just without the badges and veneers!

You'll see in the last picture, the amount of blue in the wrap has changed over the past few years. The earlier part of the kit, which includes the 22" bass drum, was made in 2021 and these new drums in early 2025. The blue tint is actually really lovely, I like it. Not very noticeable at all until you get light right into the finish and look closely. Another difference I note is the bass drum spurs now have memory locks whereas they're absent on the original 22" bass drum, I'll have to order those.

So that's 8x8", 10x8", 12x8", 13x8" and the now discontinued size, 14x9" rack toms. 14x12", 16x14" and 18x16" floor toms, 18x14", 20x14", 22x14" and 24x14" bass drums. The 24" bass drum is no tom mount and interestingly ships with a different batter head to the rest, using a black dot coated. The kit also has a 14x6.5" snare.

To say I'm smitten is an understatement. I consider this my forever kit and it's going to be with me for a very long time.

[Jack]

That's very awesome Dave!

Just to carry on a couple of points you made: I too have a little bank, not the extent of yours, but comprising of 2016, 2024/25 drums. Bass drums (20 and 22 from '16 and '25 respectively) both had memory locks on the spurs. The 22 shipped with a coated black dot and the 20 with just a coated PS3 for me. Both my bass drums have the vent to the front like all yours. I think this became standard when they start offering the tom mount option - if memory serves, the first year the tom mount wasn't available and all BD's were NM.

The kit is great, I really like mine. The snare is fabulous - I have the 14x5. What heads are you using?

Congrats!

[Jules]

Awesome Dave! Looks great.

[Jules]

Dave, here is the part number for the Vintage Memory Series Memory Locks. 190 560 01

Note: I know you specifically want these for the bass drum, but for anyone wanting to use them on floor tom legs, they do not clear the bottom hoops on the floor toms, BUT I think you can put additional washers or spacers under the square rod head and keep the screws from protruding so far. I can do a separate post on that once I check it out myself.

[tcbetka]

Incredible! Even I'm not THAT smitten...yet.

[SonorBart]

Wow, great shell bank!

[DaveInNZ]

That's very awesome Dave!

Just to carry on a couple of points you made: I too have a little bank, not the extent of yours, but comprising of 2016, 2024/25 drums. Bass drums (20 and 22 from '16 and '25 respectively) both had memory locks on the spurs. The 22 shipped with a coated black dot and the 20 with just a coated PS3 for me. Both my bass drums have the vent to the front like all yours. I think this became standard when they start offering the tom mount option - if memory serves, the first year the tom mount wasn't available and all BD's were NM.

The kit is great, I really like mine. The snare is fabulous - I have the 14x5. What heads are you using?

Congrats!

I just checked back on my spreadsheet (for better or worse I have a spreadsheet covering every bit of music gear I've ever bought) and the original kit I bought (second hand) was a 2018 build date. No memory locks on those spurs and I'm not sure what bass drum head it would have shipped with as it was minty, but second hand when I got it. That was the 22x14 and still has the coated PS3 on it from when I bought it. The new 18 and 20 bass drums are coated PS3 but the 24 has a black dot, I haven't looked closely enough yet to see what type of head it is beyond the dot.

For heads I'm going straight to what I know has worked very well on the original 12/13/16/22 kit - coated Emperors over coated Ambassadors, tuned to the same frequency via the Tunebot. I'm anticipating needing to use a trick I developed on my Pearl kit which is to use a varying number of flattened cotton balls inside the floor toms to achieve the same length of sustain on the note. On the Pearl kit it was two cotton balls in the 14FT, four in the 16FT and six in the 18FT. This theory is yet to be proven... I'm also not 100% sure whether an Emperor on top will kill the 8 and 10 toms down too much, but we'll see.

I'm not anticipating ever having it all set up at once beyond maybe a novelty, so I guess setting it up as a starting point and then adjusting it to whatever project I'm working on.

[Jules]

I use a Tune-Bot, also. Do you select and use arbitrary tunings from the app, of do you get your drums sounding like you want and then fine tune with the Tune-Bot?

[DaveInNZ]

It depends. I almost never use it on a snare or bass drum, and rarely on a modest sized kit. However, when you get a number of toms set up at once, putting them into the app so it gives you frequencies to tune to is really helpful - helps you get decent intervals. I also find it (without the app) essential to pitch bottom and top heads to the same frequency accurately.

I have no formal musical education at all and don't play any other instruments, so when people say 'intervals of thirds' or 'tune to a G#' I understand it conceptually but not in any practical way to make use of.

[Jules]

I have heard that you can tune the bottom head up to a minor 3rd higher than the top. I still don't know what that means.