About me: I'm a 47 year old hard rock drummer and currently reside in Sin City - Las Vegas, NV. My biggest influences have always been John Bonham, Ian Paice and Bill Ward along with Mike Portnoy, Eric Singer and Scott Travis in my later years. Born and raised in Colorado, I began playing drums at age 11, much to my parents aggravation, and my first kit was a Ludwig 5 pc. in red sparkle finish.






My best friend, an amazing, naturally talented drummer and a lifelong inspiration to me, Richard Brooks, bought an Octa-Plus Outfit in Smoke Vistalite and that was the beginning of my love affair with Vistalite drums and Ludwig's Octa-Plus Outfit in particular! Soon after that, I somehow managed to order my first Vistalite kit - an Octa-Plus in Pattern C Smoke & Clear Spiral Vistalite! Wow! It was the coolest thing since sliced bread that anyone had ever seen! Then, for some reason (which must have made sense back then because it sure doesn't now!) I traded them in on a Rock Duo Kit in Chrome-O-Wood...???



Determined to be a professional musician, I moved to Los Angeles, CA where I played in several hard rock bands before landing a spot in Metal Blade Record's, TYRANT. I played with them until 1998 using a Ludwig Octa-Plus Outfit again in Maple with White Cortex and mounted in a Gibraltar Cage. After leaving TYRANT, I hadn't played in a band regularly until I recently put together a Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society Tribute Band - DOOMSDAY DISCIPLES.





During my time away from playing in a band I got into collecting drums much by accident and now I have seven kits scattered around the house. (Thank you, honey, for putting up with my new hobby!)


I had gone from the monster kits down to one of Ludwig's Amber Vistalite Bonham Reissue Kits, which I tried to make as close to John Bonham's set as I could - budget permitting. I started with a little help and info from my friend at Ontario Music, Todd Trent (Thanks, Todd! You're the greatest!) and began gathering vintage parts for it - a Rail Consolette Tom Mount, Bass Drum Cymbal Mount, Single Brace Leg Cymbal Stands, 1970s Black Label Paiste 2002s in John's configuration of 15" hi-hats, 24" ride and 18" & 20" crashes, Remo CS Black Dot heads and I even managed to steal a 28" Copper Tympani off of eBay for $150! Oh, and a 28" gong.






A buddy was being a smart ass and said all I needed was a velvet rope around it... So I put a black one across the entry into what I refer to as "The John Henry Bonham Memorial Shrine Room"!





Later I was browsing the Ludwig section on eBay and got sucked into buying what was listed as an Amber Vistalite Octa-Plus Outfit but turned out to be a Yellow Vistalite Octa-Plus Outfit instead... (It's a long story, but the photos were poor quality taken in a dimly lit room and the kit had Ebony Pin Stripe heads and made it look much darker. Plus I got a notion that it would be so cool to have an Octa-Plus just like my Bonham Reissue kit... Insane!)

From there I just began browsing and buying and browsing and... Today I have the following kits in my collection:

Ludwig Amber Vistalite Bonham Reissue Kit - Customized
Ludwig Accent Natural Zep Set Ludwig Maple / Black Cortex Rock Duo Kit (2-24", 13", 14", 16" & 18", 6-1/2" x 14" Supra Phonic)
Ludwig Maple / Black Cortex Octa-Plus Outfit w/ Gibraltar rack
Ludwig Amber Vistalite Octa-Plus Outfit w/ Gibraltar Cage
Ludwig Black Vistalite Octa-Plus Outfit
Roland TD-20 Kit

All of my cymbals are either Paiste 2002s or Signatures and I use only DW 5000 or 9000 pedals and hi-hats.

Thanks for putting together such a great site for all of us Ludwig Vistalite freaks! Take care and keep it pounding HARD-n-HEAVY... Tom Meadows Las Vegas, NV