Here is Keith Moon’s kit in 1968. Pretty large. Double bass, snare and 6 toms.
As I clicked on that, I said out loud “better see Louis Bellson”, and, luckily for the legitimacy of the article, it did.
Mind you, the OP stipulated “rock” drummers, so…
To slightly hijack, the current most ridiculously gigantic set of drums belong to Terry Bozzio. I saw him play on it at a clinic a couple years back…bonkers.
In the early days of the Who Moon did not use hi hats on stage. He may have used them in the studio.
The first double bass set I ever saw was played by Paul Whaley, from Blue Cheer. They were a power trio that didn’t last all that long and were mostly known for their set up: 3 Marshall stacks on each side of the double bass drum set. This was considered to be a bit on the extreme side FOR THAT TIME.
[quote=“Eddie The Horrible, post:22, topic:752225”]
As I clicked on that, I said out loud “better see Louis Bellson”, and, luckily for the legitimacy of the article, it did.
Mind you, the OP stipulated “rock” drummers, so…
To slightly hijack, the current most ridiculously gigantic set of drums belong to Terry Bozzio. I saw him play on it at a clinic a couple years back…bonkers.
[/QUOTE]Yeah, since Peart started using his effects board his setup has shrunk a bit.
Here’s a rare photo of The Who from circa 1966/67 that shows Moon with a double bass and several toms. I’m thinking Moon is going to be hard to beat as far as the first guy to do this.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/23/article-2221820-15A2FDB8000005DC-549_634x427.jpg
One reason Townshend wanted a really big amp was due to Moon’s loud kit. He got Marshall to build a cabinet with 8 speakers but they figured out it was too big/heavy. So Marshall cut it in half and that was the start of the double stack for amps.
That was brief but excellent; thank you for finding it.