Frank Godiva
DFO Master
Is that a bop? Very nice.
Had a set of SonorLites with HiTech hardware 14 16 24 matching snare that I really didn’t like.
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The Final Frontier: Yellow Drums
- Thread starter Utopian Glints
- Start date
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Is that a bop? Very nice.
Had a set of SonorLites with HiTech hardware 14 16 24 matching snare that I really didn’t like.
DSDrummer
DFO Master
That may be true, but are they as loud as Sliver Sparkle drums?
They may not be quite as loud as silver sparkle drums, but they are still more betterrer.
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Agreed! Blue sparkle is super cool, you should definitely get a kit!
vegadrums77
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Yes! 18/14/12...technically trying to sell them, but the market is so bad, that I will end up keeping them
I believe the Recording Customs had the one piece lug as in the picture.
Mine - 1979 Jasper shells - 24/12/13/16. Love them.
@Whitten - True. Paul Mason relayed a story once about building a yellow Tempus kit for Manny Elias when he was touring with Tears for Fears. He even did a Modern Drummer advertisement with the kit. Ultimately, Tears for Fears stage management, or perhaps Roland & Curt themselves, thought the kit color was too distracting on the stage and it was switched out for another color.
jpalom01
Very well Known Member
Why is it that drums in bright colors are "distracting" on stage, but guitars in bright colors (or lit on fire) are considered great showmanship?
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I’ve always loved Tama Star yellow.
Sonors in yellow I think would be cool. Don’t know if SQ2s come in yellow.
Sonors in yellow I think would be cool. Don’t know if SQ2s come in yellow.
I think it depends entirely on the situation. I can understand it. In 1987-88 I saw Shelia E. with Prince playing that yellow Yamaha kit on the Sign O' The Times tour. However, she was a major focal point of the set design and the show. The yellow kit fit with her spotlight and the set design. Compare that to this video of Tears for Fears live around the same time (1990). For the backup band - notice there are no flashy colors on the guitar and drums or even most of their clothing - most of it is black (with the exception of the blue congas). Roland & Curt are the focal point with their clothing and instruments and the back-up band are most assuredly not. As an aside, do yourself a favor and watch the entire video - just stellar musicianship on one of my favorite Tears for Fears songs. As a second aside - @Whitten if memory serves I believe you were on this same Knebworth show bill playing with McCartney.
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I'm not so into posting pictures but one day I'll post a pic of my Tempus yellow drums, bought in December, 1987, with Paul Mason standing by Mike Henry at the Drum*Guitar*keyboard store in Houston. Almost got the red. I didn't like the pale blue. Mine are the same as the above set except I have 12 x 10 and 13 x 11 toms and a 14 x 6.5 snare. About 13 years later I added a 10 x 8 tom (I shoulda got it at a 10" depth...It'd match soundwise better with the 12") and a 13 x 5 snare (which is an ideal snare for any 22/12/16 wood kit, sound level wise). Mine has Collarlock hardware, and I've got a small stockpile of extra/essential/spare Collarlock and Tempus hardware parts.
I remember this ad from MD in the 80's. I've still got my yellow drums. and they are near flawless except my yellow fibreglass (as Paul would say) rims could use a bit of a touch up but from 20' away they look great. I've played oh so many gigs on it and was once known in Austin as "that Houston drummer with the yellow drums", at least when I first moved up to Austin and began gigging here 20 years ago. I last busted them out as a 4 pc 22./12/16/14 and put new ambassadors on them for a set of jams a bunch of friends and I had at my house 3 years ago. I like the fact it has a tom holder on the bass drum.
A bunch of us gigging drummers bought Tempus kits in the late 80's in Houston because we liked their sound. My high school drum section leader, in the music union, as well as regular gigging non-union guys like me were buying them and gigging them steadily. As with Austin era Fibes in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and other Texas towns, Austin Jasper Fibes were all over the place in the early aughts. And Tempus were seen at small, medium and large night clubs and venues, mic'd and unmic'd. Because I was seeing Mike Henry, who was the big Tempus cheerleader at that Houston store, who also had a 20/12/14/14 yellow Tempus kit himself, out and about on the gigging trail and post gig late night restaurants, I was aware that lots of the drummers in the audience asking me about my kit were actually going and buying them. A short time later, Mike founded Houston Percussion Center where he made his own wood/Fiberglass/carbon fiber HPC drums with his glass and fiber shells from Paul Mason.
Henry Ford reputedly said that Model T's came in any color you wanted, as long as you wanted black. Paul Mason felt similarly about Yellow and Tempus, but made other colors obviously. When he moved into sparkles, it got really cool. I wonder if he ever made a yellow sparkle kit? I later owned a pale gray touring kit from late 90's Lyle Lovett's drummer and a Dunnett Orange sparkle kit that had a white interior that Ronn had Paul make him. Both were excellent but I really miss the orange sparkle drums. Oh well, I miss a lot of former drums, and have more than plenty to fill my home. Ask my bride.
I have been asked by many a band leader, after bringing another kit to a gig (and always a good sounding kit, no matter what make) to "bring the yellow kit from now on. We like it, the sound guy loves it. I've had all kinds of kits over the decades, and
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And she played them like they owed her money. I see they either came out with or are releasing a remixed box set of Sign of the Times. That was my favorite Prince album x 2.
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Before I began drumming, but wanted to, I desperately wanted an Apollo MIJ blue sparkle kit that they sold at the shopping mall music stores in Houston. Either red or blue sparkle.
that was in the late 60's and into 1970. Then I started taking drum lessons and was in school band and have had all kinds drum sets and played in all kinds of musical outfits since then. Never have I had a blue sparkle set until 3 years ago and traded for a very nice DW blue sparkle kit. It has a special "TOAN". I don't care what others say about silver sparkle. lolol. Blue Sparkle is just "kind of blue". I found that it was easy playing this blue sparkle kit in blues bands to get "tangled up in blue" as well.
You can get your SQ2 in any RAL color.
paulwells73
Very well Known Member
Tony was the first, having had a Yellow Gretsch bop kit in 1970:
Elvin’s yellow kit came a couple years later, 72 or 73, I think. He had a natural kit in 70/71 and a white kit in 72 that sometimes look yellow in black and white photos.
paulwells73
Very well Known Member
Besides Tony and Elvin, I’ve always been a big fan of Peter Erskine’s Mellow Yellow Recording Customs and Dennis Chamber’s yellow Pearls. Erskine’s recent yellow Tama Star kit is stunning as well. Another bit of trivia is that Neil Peart had a yellow Gretsch kit that he bought in 1985 but only used at home - 12/13/14/20 with a matching snare.
There was a gorgeous set of early 80s Recording Customs in Mellow Yellow that was for sale on Facebook marketplace a few years ago in very cool sizes - 12/13/14 and a 14x20, with 5.5 and 7x14 snares. I really wanted this kit, badly….
There was a gorgeous set of early 80s Recording Customs in Mellow Yellow that was for sale on Facebook marketplace a few years ago in very cool sizes - 12/13/14 and a 14x20, with 5.5 and 7x14 snares. I really wanted this kit, badly….
