An original "Weather King" brand drumhead was part of this withdrawn Bonham's auction lot.

Mitch Mitchell: A Ludwig snare drum, circa 1920-30, chrome finish, 14 x 6inch, with stamped maker's logo to the body, eight tube lugs, top with George Hayman by Remo head, bottom a Remo Weather King Diplomat Snare head, in modern hard case with spare Remo Weather King Ambassador Batter head

Footnotes

Provenance: From the Estate of Mitch Mitchell.

Mitch is pictured holding a very similar drum to this in the photograph on the inside back dustjacket of 'The Hendrix Experience', Mitch Mitchell & John Platt, Pyramid Books, 1990.

This website shows Buddy Rich's drumheads were Coated Remo Diplomat heads, from the late 1950's onwards. Remo Diplomat drumheads were first made in 1957.

Mentioned by Lynch in this February 1984 Modern Drummer Magazine interview.

RF: Would you detail your setups, both live and recording?

SL: They might not always be different. They’re different now because of Jimmy and Tommy. They really like that Damn the Torpedos-esque sound.

RF: What comprises that sound?

SL: That is an older Tama drumset, the Imperial Star, which is a thin composite shell. They’re all stock sizes, a set you can buy off the rack, with a 14 x 24 kick drum, 8 x 12, 9 x 13, and 10 x 14 rack toms, and 16x 16 and 18x 18 floor toms. I never use all those drums at one time. They’re there in case they want to hear specific sizes. The most toms that I use is in a drum fill in the middle of “Don’t Do Me Like That.” I used four tom-toms. Usually Jimmy and Shelly like to hear two rack tom-toms, the 9×13 and the 10 x 14 on top of the kick drum along with the 16 x 16 floor tom. The snare drum I use is an old Ludwig Superphonic. [sic]

RF: You mentioned the “Refugee” snare. Is that the same one?

SL: That’s the one. I have a whole slew of snare drums, but that one snare cuts the majority of records. Occasionally I‘ll get an old brass snare on there. We’ll always use a white coated Diplomat bottom head, and depending on the song, we’ll use Pinstripes or white coated Ambassadors on the top. If we want a more live sound, I go with the white coated heads. I’ve taken all the mufflers out of the drums and I have any new ones made without mufflers. I never put any tape on any of the surfaces. That makes me very honest. I either tune my drum correctly or it sounds terrible.

My cymbal setup is Zildjian. Depending on the song, if you want a little less noise, go to bigger cymbals because they don’t ring as much. If you want things to sound real bright, go to smaller cymbals. Live, last tour I used a smaller set than I record with. I used a 22" bass drum, a 9 x 13 rack tom, a 16 x 16 floor tom and a duplicate of the studio snare.

RF: Why the smaller set live?

SL: I think the smaller set is more fun to play. It’s all part of the growth process too. I was trying to do something different. I just wanted to play a different setup because I thought maybe it would make me play differently. I t did too. Live, I use a 21" ride, a 22" swish, an 18" crash and 13" New Beat hi-hats, which are kind of unusual but they feel great. They’re a lot more fun. The 13" are a little more responsive for live stuff.

In a live show you vary your tempos from song to song like crazy. One song is really fast and the next song is a funeral dirge, so you have to have a kit that will respond to all of that and will work in extremes. Then it will work everything else in the middle. In the studio, you might spend two days working on one song, so you can tailor your setup to make that one song really work. Live you have to go for instant satisfaction.

RF: What about your heads for live playing?

SL: I’m using white coated Ambassadors on top and Diplomats on the bottom, and the same with the snare. The kick drum has the white coated Emperor on the live kit and in the studio I use an Ambassador, white coated. On the live kit I needed a little thicker head just for the security of it.