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How to sound like Led Zeppelin's John Bonham
Bonzo's drum set-up revealed
Rhythm Magazine, Fri 22 May 2009, 1:57 pm UTC
Legendary power
Bonham's power was legendary. His longest serving roadie/tech Mick Hinton says, "We had a riser with holes drilled for the tom legs, spurs and hi-hat to slot into. Ludwig drilled holes in the front bass drum hoop so I could anchor the bass drum.
He used a Rogers hi-hat pedal and Ludwig Speed King bass pedal with a wooden beater. Every tour, Ludwig supplied one gross (144) pairs of 2A hickory sticks. We used Remo CS black dot heads.
It was always the 14"x61/2" metal snare with Gretsch 42 strand snare. There was no damping in the bass drum, just a Dr Scholl's moleskin patch. John's great thing was the snare drum which had to be spot on, so he tuned it himself and I tuned the rest. The bottom heads were quite tight and the tops were slacker. But his sound was the way he played - it was nothing to do with me."
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