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

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.

You can see this jam block on this video.

In the description of this YouTube video that was posted by Gretsch Drums, it says “Broadkaster Stain Gold Duco” with a link to the same kit that Ben at the bottom of the description. He also can be seen clearly playing this kit on almost every live show since 2021.