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Vistalite Collections - Colin GrahamMY STORYHello, My name is Colin Patrick Graham and I am from Calgary Alberta, Canada and I have been playing drums since the age of 6 years old. I have been playing bars, pubs and clubs and small concert venues for over 20 years now. I have been playing what I consider to be one of the best sounding drum sets in the world. The brand name is CANWOOD and a gentleman named Fred Pepper in Lloydminster Alberta, Canada makes them. I purchased this kit in 1986 from Long & McQuade music here in Calgary. Americans are not familiar with this brand but Ayotte is a close second.  These drums are thunderous; there is no question or comparison with sound and tonal quality. Over many years of touring they have sustained lots of road scars to the finish as someone liberated my custom cases from a nightclub. They still sound perfect. I will be having them refinished and custom cases ordered. So what would I play while my drums were being refinished? I bought a cool little Westbury to tide me over and decided to use this as a kit for Sunday bar jams. It actually sounds ok for what it is. But what would I play for the large gigs? DW? Yamaha? Pearl? Tama? Ludwig? The search was on for something that could compare with my CANWOOD kit. Quite frankly I spoke to many people drummers and so forth about my next purchase. Everyone has a different opinion. Thus I ventured to the net to visit drum manufactures websites. The first thing I tried was Ayotte. A very interesting site, Ludwig was next. Hell of a site to get into actually. I could not find it initially so I used a search engine and found a link. It was to the news release for the clear Ludwig Vistalite. I quite laughed when I first looked at them thinking those are what God played (John Bonham). Back to the search engine and Vistalite. RCI Vistalite and Vistalites.com came up along with MusicFriend.com. What a wealth of information. Then I saw it, the Bonham Vistalite reissue. As a Kid I always wanted this set not because of John Bonham specifically but the sound. THAT SOUND! I was not disappointed. I left my office and went straight to Long & McQuade Music and Ordered the set in August with custom SKB lined road cases. I only have one criticism here Ludwig is slower than the second coming of Christ. They even delivered them to the wrong store in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. But I finally got them December 30th, 2003. Just in time for the New Years gig. Almost a 6-month wait, was it worth it? THE REVIEW To be perfectly honest they are fantastic. I must admit quite different than any other kits I have ever played. This is a very loud kit, extremely resonant with deep rich tones. They do lack that overtone which can either help or hinder wooden shelled drums. Tuning is extremely sensitive, but they are microphone friendly. A nice deep punch for the most part. If you are lucky enough to purchase this Vistalite set, do not play it until you change out the factory silver dot heads. They are terrible. I recommend Evans G2 Clear for the tom batter heads and an Evans EQ3 for the kick head. The factory resonant heads are actually quite good and there is no need to change them out right away.  Do I have anything negative to say? No, however a few quips I might mention. Again the factory batter head are lousy especially the kick head. I had to use a Remo pinstripe CS after New Years Eve because quite frankly the factory head would oscillate because it was far too thin. Waiting on the Evans EQ3 to come in, then I should be able to play it with out my custom Wal-Mart towels I had to run out and buy. The LM402 Chrome Snare Drum that comes with this set. It is average at best and I felt this would be the biggest let down of the set when it arrived. Since my CANWOOD snare is a maple 8 X 14 with 42 bead snares the LM402 comparatively sounds very average. When I tour I will bring this as a back up snare drum. Some may ask why not just use it? In my research I found a great wealth of knowledge about drums. The most complete and knowledgeable website concerning snare drums comes from Ronn Dunnett. If you have not visited his website you should www.dunnett.com. Ronn will make acrylic snare drums and actually any type you want or need. I spoke with him about making me an 8 X 14 matching Amber Vistalite snare drum. He will be engraving it from the inside outward and it will have many great features that include his trademark. This will not only be my main snare on this kit but a showpiece to be sure. When Ronn is finished I will make sure I e-mail pictures to all the Vistalite fans out there. I must now take a moment to give honorable mention to another company Vintage Logos www.vintagelogos.com. These guys are great and will design a bass drum logo with anything you desire. Myself I prefer the Gene Krupa lettering with the Buddy Rich Shield. Thanks guys it looks amazing and it sounds fantastic. All in the entire Ludwig Bonham Vistalite 5 piece reissue drum set is an amazing sounding dynamic drum set and look fantastic under lights.  A special thanks to:
Colin Graham |