John Dolmayan
John Dolmayan's Gear
John Dolmayan is associated with the Tama Starclassic Bubinga (White Silk) drum set, as listed on the official TAMA Drums artist page.
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Listed here as using these sticks.
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The "Army Man" is a crusty old Western Electric frankenstein broadcast tube compressor I dragged out of an old radio guy's garage in Pasadena around 20 years ago. It has exposed wiring which I have not covered up, making it extremely dangerous when children or certain drummers are around. (hah!)
I have not done any maintenance to make this ancient compressor work properly. In fact, I don't want it to work properly because it makes anything you run through sound furry and explosive. For example, I'll route a mono drum room mic through it for extreme compression. Doing this makes the drums feel exciting without accentuating the high end on the cymbals. I might also go for the same effect on vocals and guitars, but in these cases it must be pushed to the absolute extreme to deliver the goods!
During a session, Serge from SOAD stuck a little toy army man in it, thus the nickname "Army Man" was born. That little toy soldier has has lived in there ever since and he must be doing a great job of guarding those precious components, it has never let us down.
This compressor was used all over the System Of A Down record, so much so that it probably would have been impossible to create the overall sound of that album without it.
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in that photo it shows he is either using G2 or G1s and judging on the lightly used but cratery heads it makes me think its probably a G1, these are known for a very punchy sound.
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In a video by ObeyYourSysteM, John Dolmayan is seen playing with two Paiste Signature Full Crash 19" cymbals during a System Of A Down performance on September 13, 2018.
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This cymbal is mentioned in the equipment list
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This cymbal is mentioned in the equipment list
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John Dolmayan uses the Paiste 24'' Rude Mega Power Ride Cymbal, as listed on Siteofadown's detailed equipment page dedicated to his gear.
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In an article by Modern Drummer, John Dolmayan is noted for using the Paiste 14" Signature Heavy Hi-Hat during his tour.
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In the Modern Drummer article, John Dolmayan is noted for using the Paiste 20" Power Ride Signature cymbal during his tour.
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In a video titled "John Dolmayan playing System Of A Down songs |Day 3| [9/13/2018]" on YouTube by ObeyYourSysteM, John Dolmayan is seen using Evans EC2 Clear Drum Heads on his toms during several drum cam recordings.
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John Dolmayan used this cymbal during his career
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John Dolmayan, drummer for System of a Down, uses the Yamaha Absolute Hybrid Maple drum set in Jade Green Sparkle, as confirmed by an Instagram post from Yamaha Drums Official. His setup features 10x7", 12x8", and 13x10" rack toms, 16x15" and 18x16" floor toms, and two 22x18" bass drums. The configuration is complemented by CS-865 cymbal stands, an SS-950 snare drum stand, FP-9500C pedals, and an HS-1200T hi-hat stand.
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This is a community-built gear list for John Dolmayan.
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Discography
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