Building a Massive ROTO TOM Drum Set!

Major thanks to Steve Weiss Music for Roto-Toms!

Also big thanks to Dave Witte for coming by to rip some double bass on this beast!

Music used (background & playalongs)

Roto Toms have definitely fallen off when it comes to the, modern drum sound. Most of the time roto toms are used as an add on to a normal kit. But the people over at Steve Weiss and myself wanted to see what a full drum set made of roto toms would sound like, including the snare and bass drums. This is an 11 piece double bass roto tom drum set, with 2 18" roto toms as the bass drums. We also made up a set of 16" hihats out of 2 Steve Weiss cymbals. Definitely a weird drum set for sure!

Building a Massive ROTO TOM Drum Set!

[rdavidr]

Whats the first song you would play on this drum set? 🤔

[magrildz]

Dave Witte!!!! Damnnnn. My band opened for Municipal Waste in 2010 in Brazil and he was such a rad dude to talk to.

[chuckmiller]

I’m blown away by how good this sounded.

[TacoCrisma]

You can actually hear where a lot of 80s-90s drum samples came from. The snare, low Tom’s, and kick especially. When you lightly hit the snare it almost sounds exactly like an 808 snare.

[LouSassles]

Imagine playing in the air tonight on this kit, and also adding more snares to the snare

[HamptonGuitars]

50 years ago I had a clear Vistalite kick and 7 rototoms, a really versatile, musical kit and compact to transport.

[ethanmoen]

When it cut to Dave Witte I literally jumped out of my seat. Absolute legend.

[MrTizzay]

Love how musical and expressive the rototoms are, the floor toms sound way better than you’d expect! Bring this vibe back

[jeremiahkirby]

Sounds so 80's. The drummer for my first band was very serious, we would joke with him about his drum stool. IT'S A THRONE! Worked every time. We opened for Bowling for Soup, The Distillers, Skatalites and more. Went fast, now I'm 43.

[itsfonk]

This is one of the best 80-est sounding kits I’ve ever heard in my life!

[thingnumbertwo]

Honestly, sounds pretty good; way better than an all roto kit has any business sounding. Also, so awesome to see Dave Witte here! I got to see him drum for Melt Banana a couple of times, and he's one of the sickest drummers ever.

[claysmell]

whoa Dave Witte how is this possible!? mind blown 🤯

[ShawnCrowder]

Your double bass chops are better than you know. Perfect quintuplets at 8:57 🔥

[radvincula]

I love how they sound, its like a drum with built-in reverb

[vegadeth]

On my old set of roto toms I made some locks to keep them from de-tuning. I used square nuts and welded a handle to each to mimic the handle that locks the carriage bolt to the track. That way I could lock the bottom of the bottom drum casting so it can't spin and de-tune. This was useful when gigging/transporting.

You always put up quality content. Now I want to buy some roto toms as I sold those old ones years ago.

[SyntheticFuture]

Roto-snares need to become a thing 😂 Pretty solid kit honestly. Even the bass drums turned out better than expected.

[michaellukers]

Have loved rototom sounds since Van Halen's '1984' album. Especially "I'll Wait". Such a cool tone to the drums.

[jglasernyc]

Terry Bozzio used a Roto Tom kit but with actual bass drums when he was in UK with John Wetton and Eddie Jobson, as well as Missing Persons. Fun video!

[ronnieparfait]

I can kinda remember Alex VanHalen playing a roto-tom kit in the 80’s with I think Ludwig 24” kicks. 🤔🤘🏼✌🏼

[peteperez]

I custom built 2 complete roto tom set 6-8-10-12-14-16-18. One of the set i use mesh drum heads on them for quiet practice. Same pitch range as the regular heads with the quiet cymbals. Awesome tunable practice set.