Models
15 models
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WFL Super Classic
The same drums, the other badge
Drum kit · United States
Built while Conn held the Ludwig name, WFL kits are Ludwig drums in everything but the badge — same shells, same lugs, same factory, same man. They trade a little below their Ludwig equivalents for no reason a drummer can hear.
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Camco Oaklawn
The Illinois-built kits collectors chase
Drum kit · United States
Camco's Oaklawn-badge drums, built in Illinois before the company moved to Kansas, are the most sought of the brand: thin maple shells, minimal hardware, and a following far larger than the production numbers justify.
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Asba Caroline
French kit of the 1960s and 1970s
Drum kit · France
The Caroline was Asba's professional line, with cast lugs, distinctive hoops, and a following among French jazz players that has kept the drums circulating in Europe.
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Trixon Speedfire
One bass drum shell, two tuned chambers
Drum kit · Germany
The Speedfire's bass drum is a single elliptical shell divided internally into two chambers of different volume, played with a twin pedal so a drummer gets two bass pitches from one drum. It did not catch on and is unmistakable.
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Slingerland Modern Solo
The Krupa-era outfit
Drum kit · United States
Slingerland's professional outfit through the swing years, sold around the Radio King snare and the endorsement that came with it. Original Modern Solo kits in white marine pearl are among the most photographed drums of the century.
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Ludwig Downbeat
The small kit of the 1960s
Drum kit · United States
A 20" bass drum, a 12" tom, and a 14" floor tom — the configuration Ringo Starr played and the one every jazz and small-club drummer bought. Its size is the reason 1960s records sound the way they do, and the reason the format came back.
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Gretsch Round Badge
"That great Gretsch sound"
Drum kit · United States
Round Badge kits — named for the badge shape used until about 1971 — pair three-ply maple and gum shells with silver-sealed interiors and die-cast hoops. The dry, woody tone is the sound of American jazz drumming, and Art Blakey, Tony Williams, and Elvin Jones all played them.
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Gretsch Progressive Jazz
The bebop configuration
Drum kit · United States
An 18" bass drum with a 12" tom and a 14" floor tom: small, quick, and pitched high enough to sit under a ride cymbal rather than compete with it. The configuration is named for the music it was built for.
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Ludwig Super Classic
The four-piece that defined American rock drumming
Drum kit · United States
A 22" bass drum with two toms, in three-ply mahogany and poplar with maple reinforcement rings — thin, resonant shells that are loud without being hard. Along with the Downbeat, this is the kit most 1960s and 1970s American records were made on.
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Slingerland Buddy Rich Outfit
The endorsement kit of the big band era's loudest drummer
Drum kit · United States
Slingerland catalogued a Buddy Rich configuration for decades, and the association — like Krupa's before it — did as much for the brand as any shell specification.
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Trixon Telstar
Conical bass drum kit
Drum kit · Germany
The Telstar's bass drum tapers from a large batter head to a smaller resonant one, a shape Trixon argued projected better. Like the Speedfire it is remembered more for its silhouette than its sales.
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Slingerland Radio King Outfit
The swing-era Slingerland kit
Drum kit · United States
Radio King outfits paired the solid-shell snare with maple toms and bass drums, and Gene Krupa's endorsement made them the most visible drums in America through the late 1930s and 1940s.
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Sonor Phonic
The heavy beech kits of the 1970s and 1980s
Drum kit · Germany
Phonic is the Sonor most drummers picture: dense beech shells, chrome-heavy hardware, and a low, controlled tone that made the kits fixtures in European studios. Original Phonic drums are collected as seriously as any American vintage kit.
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Rogers Londoner
The larger 1970s Rogers configurations
Drum kit · United States
The Londoner sets were Rogers' answer to the growing kits of the 1970s, offered in numbered configurations that ran up to double bass drums and five toms.
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Rogers Holiday
The 1960s American kit with Swiv-O-Matic mounts
Drum kit · United States
Holiday kits carried Rogers' Swiv-O-Matic ball-and-socket mounting, which let a tom be positioned in ways competitors' hardware could not, and thin maple shells with reinforcement rings. The Cleveland- and Dayton-badged drums are the ones collectors chase.