Ben Thatcher

In this live performance photo, Ben is seen playing his Gretsch Renown Maple Drum Kit.

"I ventured into a music store in Manchester to buy batteries. It was like the moment in Wayne’s World when Wayne spots the white Fender strat. But instead of the guitar, it was a Gretsch Renown Maple drumset in a dark-wood finish with a vintage marine strip down the center (12? rack, 16? floor, 22? bass). I’m currently recording with those drums at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales. It’s sounding so good—deep, warm tones and a lot of character" - via Modern Drummer

Ben's Morgan Davies Black Mamba snare can be seen in this live performance picture.

"Ok, snare time. I’m a big fan of the Ludwig 402 and Black Beauty. You can’t go wrong with them. But my weapon of choice has come straight out of Brighton by Morgan Davies (http://www.morgandaviesdrums.co.uk). I have two of these bad boys. My main snare is the Black Mamba, which is a 7×14 hybrid of birch/ walnut/smoked-eucalyptus. I have it tuned right in the middle, but it sounds great cranked up and down low" - via Modern Drummer

This drum is also features on the Morgan Davies site here.

In a 91X San Diego interview, Ben Thatcher discusses his signature D'Addario Promark Classic 5A Firegrain drumsticks.

In this live performance photo, Ben is seen playing his DW Collectors Series Custom drum kit, in a vintage marine off-white finish.

"Ok, let me tell you about my drums. Up until very recently I’ve been playing a DW Collectors kit—13? rack, 16? floor, and 22? bass with a vintage marine off-white finish" - via Modern Drummer

Gretsch tweets : "Here’s @BenjiTalent 's USA custom kit in deep black diamond pearl w/a vintage marine pearl inlay stripe. #royalblood". Also more info here on Gretsch site : http://www.gretschdrums.com/artists/ben-thatcher

In this video you can see Ben using this cowbel.

In this Modern Drummer interview, Ben is quoted as saying: "Drumheads can make or break your drum sound. I use Evans coated G2s on pretty much everything at the moment and an EMAD 2 on the kick. They last long and sound fantastic"

In this interview with Modern Drummer, Ben says this about his drumsticks of choice: "Lastly, let’s talk about drumsticks. I went though a time where I was snapping everything, so I didn’t really care what I was using, as I knew it would break within a few songs. What I have found is that the Promark 5Bs are my jam. They are a happy medium between a tree trunk and a matchstick."

Listed on Grestch.com artist page.

Listed on Gretsch.com artist page.

In the photo inside this link we can see an Roland SPD-SX at Ben's set.

You can see this cymbal on Ben's artist page on official Zildian page.

In an interview with Modern Drummer Magazine, Ben Thatcher discusses using the DW 9000 Single Bass Drum Pedal as part of his drum setup.

Mentioned in this November 12, 2014 article from the official DPA website.

"We use DPA's d:facto™ Vocal Microphone on vocals and d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones on snare bottoms and toms," says Front of House engineer Phil Jones from Output Audio.

During this interview with Modern Drummer, Ben is quoted to say: "Drumheads can make or break your drum sound. I use Evans coated G2s on pretty much everything at the moment and an EMAD 2 on the kick. They last long and sound fantastic"

In this Modern Drummer interview, about his cymbals of choice, Ben says: "Zildjian cymbals are my metal of choice. I’ve used them my whole life, and I’m lucky enough to have a deal with them. I’m currently using a 15? A New Beat top hi-hat over a 15? K Light bottom, a 19? K Dark Thin crash, a 20? K Custom ride, and a 22? K Dark Medium ride. Very loud!"

In this interview with Modern Drummer, about his cymbals, Ben says: "Zildjian cymbals are my metal of choice. I’ve used them my whole life, and I’m lucky enough to have a deal with them. I’m currently using a 15? A New Beat top hi-hat over a 15" K Light bottom, a 19" K Dark Thin crash, a 20" K Custom ride, and a 22" K Dark Medium ride. Very loud!"

In this interview with Modern Drummer, Ben says: "Zildjian cymbals are my metal of choice. I’ve used them my whole life, and I’m lucky enough to have a deal with them. I’m currently using a 15" A New Beat top hi-hat over a 15" K Light bottom, a 19" K Dark Thin crash, a 20" K Custom ride, and a 22" K Dark Medium ride. Very loud!"

Ben can be seen using his 'Cobra' snare on the BBC Maida Vale sessions in 2013. For a clear shot see 3:20

Ben got the endorsement with Adoro Drums in June 2012 and got this kit right before he started recording for Royal Bloods debut.

He still uses it for all recordings, but for some reasons decided to keep this a secret. Short after the recording, the band signed with Warner and got a free DW kit. Ben short after paired up with Gretsch as they can provide worldwide support. Since Ben himself tried to avoid answering questions concerning the equipment used for recordings, being loyal to his recent endorsement.

Before he got engaged with Gretsch, Ben statet:

"I own a Custom City Lights kit. Each time I play it I get people commenting on how good the sound of the kit is, everyone from recording engineers, live sound engineers, session players and general public. The kit itself looks spectacular, It's a slightly darker broken glass sparkle finish. These kits can also take a bashing, I often find myself standing on the top of them, sometimes having a little wrestle. I'm honoured to drum with Adoro. I would recommend them to every drummer that like's a good sounding kit and for a very reasonable price." Ben Thatcher

Bens sound engineer was indeed so impressed by the sound of the set that they decided to record it with room microphones only, so they ended up recording just the drums first, while replacing the cymbals with cushions, and then tracking the cymbals extra.

First Ben also toured with these drums locally, but his label wanted his kit to be bigger for the show effect (sizes of his City Lights kit: BD is 20x17, Toms 12x8, FT 14x12 and 16x12) and gave him a pretty similar looking DW.

Mentioned in this November 12, 2014 article from the official DPA website.

"We use DPA's d:facto™ Vocal Microphone on vocals and d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones on snare bottoms and toms," says Front of House engineer Phil Jones from Output Audio. (...) Jones has been using a DPA d:dicate™ 4091 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphone on Thatcher's kick for a couple of months now and says that it has been an eye-opening experience.

"I come from more of a jazz background and for that, it would be amazing," he says. "Outdoors, with lots of sub, and control of the sub especially, it's brilliant. I get some extra bottom end that I can't put my finger on and I love it."

Ben says that he uses two Kerope crashes, one being a 19".

In this Modern Drummer interview, when asked about his drum equipment, Ben says: "Zildjian cymbals are my metal of choice. I’ve used them my whole life, and I’m lucky enough to have a deal with them. I’m currently using a 15? A New Beat top hi-hat over a 15? K Light bottom, a 19? K Dark Thin crash, a 20? K Custom ride, and a 22? K Dark Medium ride. Very loud!"

In this interview with Modern Drummer, Ben says this about his cymbals: "Zildjian cymbals are my metal of choice. I’ve used them my whole life, and I’m lucky enough to have a deal with them. I’m currently using a 15" A New Beat top hi-hat over a 15" K Light bottom, a 19" K Dark Thin crash, a 20" K Custom ride, and a 22" K Dark Medium ride. Very loud!"

LP Tamborine is seen in this image from Zildjian Artist page.

You can see this cymbal on Ben's artist page on official Zildjian site.

You can see this cymbal on Ben's artist page on official Zildian page.

You can see this cymbal on Ben's artist page on official Zildian page.

You can see this cymbal on Ben's artist page on official Zildian page.

You can see this cymbal on Ben's artist page on official Zildian page.