Mike Mangini

In the Vater Drumsticks YouTube video, Mike Mangini demonstrates and discusses his signature Wicked Piston Drumsticks, highlighting their features and benefits.

"My drumsticks came about because of one need. I needed a heavy stick that I could use to play fast. Now look it, that is what I got hired to do was to play in a lot of recordings and hit fast. I had to hit loudly because the worst thing is to hit lightly in music that involves a lot of guitar. Because the guitar has all these frequencies in that middle range and want sound that cut through, you have to hit the drum hard because if you hit lightly in that setting there is too much leakage and a lot of air and ambience gets into each of the mics. (...)"

At 5:18 you can see the whole 2014 tour kit. According to Pearl's website, it's a Masterworks BMW Frozen Blue w/ satin hardware with the following sizes: - 22x18 bass drum x2 - 20x18 bass drum x2 - 6x7 tom - 8x7 tom - 10x8 tom - 12x9 tom - 13x9 tom - 16x16 floor tom - 18x16 floor tom - 20x14 Gong drum - 14x6.5 snare drum - 10x6.5 snare drum - 6x12 rocket tom - 6x15 rocket tom - 6x18 rocket tom - 6x21 rocket tom

In this video, Mike shows lots of changes on his drum kit with Dream Theater in 2013, as the use of the ZBT. He says in the video at 1:13: "(...) the ZBT, I find... have more kind of an 'attack' and it really helps me when I'm trying to get like a 'drum machine' kind of effect..."

As it can be seen on the video, this was the drum set Mike used in the "Along For The Ride Tour" with Dream Theater. With some improvements from the first version he used with the band, Mike have been using some variations of the same set to make the sound of the band ever better and even more unique.

The video from the 2012 tour shows the Custom Lacquer Pearl Reference Pure Mike used back then. According to Pearl website, the sizes are:

26x16 bass drum / 22x18- bass drum (x2) / 18x16- bass drum / 6x6.5- rack tom / 8x7- rack tom / 10x8- rack tom / 12x9- rack tom / 14x9- rack tom / 16x16- floor tom / 18x16- floor tom / 14x5- Reference Pure Snare / 10x6.5- Custom Snare Drum / 20x14- gong drum / 6x12- rocket tom / 6x15- rocket tom / 6x18- rocket tom / 6x21- rocket tom / 10x6.5- Epro Drum (x4)

On his artist page on the Zildjian website, Mike Mangini is associated with the Zildjian ZBT 13" Hi-Hat, highlighting its role in his percussion setup.

Mike's page on Zildjian website

Mike's page on Zildjian website

As we can see in this youtube video video (at 2:47 i.e.), he uses not one by 2 Roland TM-2 trigger volume for his live performances.

In the video titled "Mike Mangini's Demon XR Pedal Settings" by Pearl Drums on YouTube, Mike Mangini reviews the Pearl Demon XR Direct-drive Double Bass Drum Pedal and explains the specific settings he uses.