Jon Theodore

Jon Theodore, drummer for Queens of the Stone Age, uses a DW Jazz Series drum set in White Glass finish. His setup includes a 14x10 or 13x9 tom, 16x16 and 18x16 floor toms, a 26x14 or 24x14 bass drum with a rail and cymbal mount, and a 14x5.5 DW Aluminum snare. This information is detailed in his Wikipedia entry.

Used for Villains, as stated by co-producer and engineer Mark Rankin in this October 26, 2017 AudioTechnology interview.

“I used a lot of distortion from a great company in LA called Overstayer. We heavily used the Saturator. I usually put that on ambient and room mics to drive those a bit. Overstayer’s VCA compressor also has harmonics you can blend in. I used the JHS Colour Box pedal on the RCA mic. It has two stages so you can drive it into itself. And the Standard Audio Level-or is insanely good. Sometimes we’d also drive the board.

Jon Theodore, known for his work with The Mars Volta and One Day as a Lion, uses a Ludwig Stainless Steel Drumkit. His setup includes a 14x10 tom, 16x16 and 18x16 floor toms, and a 24x14 bass drum. According to Wikipedia, Jon has expressed interest in acquiring a 26x14 stainless steel kick drum but appreciates the punchy sound of his current bass drum.

Heads: Remo coated Ambassador on snare batter

He has also used Powerstroke 3 bass batters (and, on occasion, as resonant heads, too) with a falam pad and coated Ambassadors.

Drummer Jon Theodore is known to use a Zildjian 23" Avedis Sweet Ride cymbal, as mentioned on his Wikipedia page.

Sticks: Jon is a Vic Firth endorser. He uses their American Classic Extreme 5B wood tip model

Prior to the Stainless Steel kit he used:

Fibes Crystallite Acrylic Kit 14x10 tom 16x16 floor tom 18x16 floor tom 26x14 kick

Hardware: Prior to his endorsement with DW, Jon used Pearl Eliminator single kick pedal and applied surf wax for playing barefoot, along with various straight cymbal stands. Now Theodore uses DW 7000 series Hi-hat and straight cymbal stands with a 5000 pedal.

Heads: Remo coated Ambassador on snare batter, CS dots on tom and bass drum batters, clear Ambassadors on bottoms of toms and on front of bass drum.

Theodore’s Tour Kit

Drums: Ludwig Vistalite in red • 6.5×14 Supraphonic snare • 9×13 tom • 14×16 floor tom • 16×18 floor tom • 16×22 bass drum

On this page from Modern Drummer, all the way down, it says that he uses a Roland Spd-sx for electronics.

Jon Theodore is noted for using Zildjian 14" A New Beat HiHats, often pairing them creatively in combinations such as a K top over an A New Beat bottom, as highlighted on his Wikipedia page.

Jon Theodore is associated with using Zildjian 14" A Quick Beat Hi Hats, as noted on his Wikipedia page. He incorporates these cymbals in combinations, such as pairing a Quick Beat top with an A New Beat top, to achieve his distinctive sound.

Prior to his endorsement with DW, Jon used Pearl Eliminator single kick pedal and applied surf wax for playing barefoot, along with various straight cymbal stands

Drummer Jon Theodore is known to use a Ludwig Vistalite drum set, featuring a 6.5×14 Supraphonic snare, 9×13 tom, 14×16 and 16×18 floor toms, and a 16×22 bass drum, as detailed on the Ludwig Drums website.

On the Jon Theodore's Remo artist page you can see that he uses a Ambassador Clear.

Featured in this April 22, 2020 Instagram post.

Maximum ups to @jamwhich and the good people at @roland.artists for delivering these weapons to help fight this ferocious shitstorm of unprecedented proportions. (With all due respect to those who are actually fighting (not punkass 45)) #rolandboutique #rolandtr8s #rolandse02 #rolandathome

Listed on the official Reflexx artist page.

Used as overheads on Villains, as stated by co-producer and engineer Mark Rankin in this October 26, 2017 AudioTechnology interview.

He’d have some standard overheads set up, but most of the times it was just the mono overhead with some room mics added for size. He put up a couple of Neumann M50 tube condensers to capture the great room sound at United, but most of the time that ambience was too big. “Sometimes I had a couple of condenser mics low to the floor, just outside the kit and facing out to get that close slap. Or if we had panels around them I’d have them facing out towards the panels to get quite a close ambient sound.”

Featured in this April 22, 2020 Instagram post.

Maximum ups to @jamwhich and the good people at @roland.artists for delivering these weapons to help fight this ferocious shitstorm of unprecedented proportions. (With all due respect to those who are actually fighting (not punkass 45)) #rolandboutique #rolandtr8s #rolandse02 #rolandathome

In an Instagram post dated April 22, 2020, Jon Theodore is seen using an Apple MacBook Pro, highlighting its role in his creative setup.

Visible in this June 30, 2017 Instagram post.

Finally road tested this new rig and it's all systems go. It's a super tite system and the only thing better than how it looks is how it sounds. Can't wait to put some serious miles on it.

Biggest ups and maximum respects due to everyone involved for the much appreciated support and for always going above and beyond the call of duty to keep me dialed in. @ludwigdrumshq @zildjiancompany @vicfirth @dwdrums @remopercussion @lppercussion @cymbalgirrl @damendrums #titesystem #thatseattho #nerdaler

Used as a close overhead on Villains, as stated by co-producer and engineer Mark Rankin in this October 26, 2017 AudioTechnology interview.

Beyond the sound of contact mics, Rankin used an old RCA ribbon mic just over the drummer’s shoulder. “It’s as if someone is sitting with their chin on your shoulder while you play,” said Rankin about the mic placement. “It looks down toward the snare and the kick. Sometimes if there’s too much hi-hat I’ll move it over to the other side so there’s a bit more distance. With a bit of compression and a bit of drive, it’s a great hard 800Hz-area breakbeat sound. It gives you the character. We would start somewhere between that and the contact mics, then add things to fill the picture out.”

(...) They also used a lot of distortion to shape the sounds. “I’m a big fan of distortion on the way in, it makes things come alive,” explained Rankin. “It adds a bit of aggression and pulls the harmonics out of it. Sometimes it means you can push the ambience lower but still get the feeling. The sound becomes a bit more hammered and the harmonics seem to spread it out a bit. It means the drums don’t have to be so banging, but they feel like they are.

“I used a lot of distortion from a great company in LA called Overstayer. We heavily used the Saturator. I usually put that on ambient and room mics to drive those a bit. Overstayer’s VCA compressor also has harmonics you can blend in. I used the JHS Colour Box pedal on the RCA mic. It has two stages so you can drive it into itself. And the Standard Audio Level-or is insanely good. Sometimes we’d also drive the board.

Used for the drums on Villains, as stated by co-producer and engineer Mark Rankin in this October 26, 2017 AudioTechnology interview.

“I used a lot of distortion from a great company in LA called Overstayer. We heavily used the Saturator. I usually put that on ambient and room mics to drive those a bit. Overstayer’s VCA compressor also has harmonics you can blend in. I used the JHS Colour Box pedal on the RCA mic. It has two stages so you can drive it into itself. And the Standard Audio Level-or is insanely good. Sometimes we’d also drive the board.

In the Modern Drummer article, Jon Theodore is shown using Zildjian 13" A New Beat HiHats during his tour.

In this article is displays the cymbals he used on tour

Jon Theodore, a staunch advocate of the Roland V71 module, uses the Roland TD716 V-Drum Kit with Mesh Pads to practice, record, and perform globally. He discusses his musical beginnings, recent projects utilizing this kit, and his future endeavors in a Roland Articles piece by Jamie Franklin and Tom Wonnacott titled "Careers in Music: Jon Theodore of Queens of the Stone Age."