Can you post some pics and details please ?

Interested !

Thanks

Kev

maybe a for sale thread would be best, I dunno.....?..:)

I have a full set of 6" to 18" Roto toms. I used to use five of them as the toms in my main kit. I've since moved on to Sonor Phonic and Phonic Plus toms.

I also made an interesting small kit for acoustic gigs using 10", 12" and 14" Roto Toms and the 18" as the kick in a custom frame that I made.

Barry

Wow. I just logged in and saw that this thread took off. If it weren't for the cheesy stand/bar thing I think rototoms would have been much more popular. I was a big Van Halen fan as a kid. I loved Floyd and the Dark Side of the Moon album which featured them prominently. Also, I went through the Missing Persons Bozzio phase and remember him playing a nice solo on the tune Windows. There is a video of him playing the US festival in 83 with MP and he plays that solo on that weird kit with the covered bass drums.

My question is with all the innovations with racks and clamps, why the hell hasn't Remo made a clamp for the rototom or completely revamped the whole rototom idea and made toms like Pearl did in the 70's that feature the roto-tune concept. Acyrlic toms with a center roto-tune would be cool. The whole reason I started thinking about this was because I saw the post on the Studio49 timpani thing the other day.

I always thought it was funny how most guys tune the 6" so high that there is no tone just clacking. That is kind of the Neil Peart influence I guess but the concert tom sounds much better torqued down that way. The other thing is seeing a guy with a kit that totally sounds bad because of either bad heads or bad tuning or both and there is a set of rototoms hanging over the small, regular tom touching the hats. LOL...

I can not post the pictures that I would like too but!! If you search the forum for biggest drum set ever played and blog # 40 is the star of me and believe later on same page is what I had about 3 years ago!! They do exist . I have a new computer the old one crashed.

I bought a set in the late 70's - 8,10 & 12 - used them with my Valje congas. Then I packed them away for about 25years. I brought them out again in 2007 and I like em. I even added a 6" - had to get a longer bar but and I bought a new Remo stand. I'm glad they're still around and you can buy the hardware...new. I like playing them with mallets. You can go from a 4pc kit to a 7 or 8 pc so easily....they're great

They are their own thing. I like them, too. I like the mechanism and the way they work.

I've always liked them. Had a 6-18 setup. I don't remember the stands being so bad. The 6,8,10 were on a rail with nice large wings. The 12,14 and 16,18 were on the same setups. I believe it was the 13 and the 15 that were on single stands all by themselves. The long bolt went through a hole on the stand.

I played them because of cost, but it was Bev Bevan who inspired me. He was using the snot out of them with ELO. Great sounds.

Through most of the 80s I played in a Top 40 band, using a Rototom-Drumset of 10, 12 TT, 14FT and an 18 Rototom BD that was on a stand designed, welded and built by my father, a do-it-yourself-er to relax after work. Snare was a Sonor 8" signature 24-lug (it weighed as much as the rest of the kit.)

The Roto kit was mic´d and sent to a large PA. At the time it sounded unbelievable, especially the 18" Roto Kick. Of course you needed good floor monitors with 15" speakers to sound like a drum kit.

drum soundcheck time was like 3 minutes no matter what hall or disco. needed no tuning key, no muffling, no mic positioning, no hassle. The first 2 or 3 strokes of that 18 " (loose pinstripe head, AKG D12) usually made everyone smile. we played "Down under" with that tom intro, Steve Millers "Abracadabra" - the sound of the rotos just nailed it.

the self-made BD stand had adjustable height and was reliable. A music shop called my father (a suit and tie businessman) and "ordered" 8 or 10 stands, because drummers were asking for it. so we were in the basement and "produced" them together to a fixed deadline. great times.

regards, twotone

I used to play 14" and 16"...loud thangs. Fun to play but hard to record, never came out quite right!

Three things that make life worth living:

Slingerlands

Roto-toms

Bev Bevan

Someday I'd love to own the whole equipment list on the credits for Out of the Blue. I'm probably halfway there.