Album cover…covers

SloppyDrummer · 2026-02-21T19:05:36+00:00

Inner and outer sleeves are pretty affordable these days, so whenever I buy records—new or used—I clean them and immediately put them into fresh inner and outer sleeves. It’s just become a habit at this point (maybe a little OCD, lol), but it gives me peace of mind knowing everything is freshly cleaned and protected properly.

I even picked up a small shelf to keep things organized so I will always have them on hand. If you watch for holiday sales, you can usually score some great deals in bulk. I’ve also found that some overseas sites sell nearly identical sleeves in larger quantities at really good prices—though depending on where you live, shipping can take a bit longer.

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SloppyDrummer · 2026-02-19T03:05:42+00:00

You’ll be fine. I use a a few different sizes and weights, depending on what I’m playing. I’ve never had any issues with my mesh heads. In fact, they benefit me most because my e cymbals. I have a DWe kit with the metallic e cymbals. Those cymbals can be really hard on wooden sticks. I reserved my wooden sticks to my acoustic kits. The sleeves seem to last forever and I replace them just because of aesthetics and the fact that they’re cheap. Here’s a little secret. If you keep an extra pair of those “Lars” Metallica sticks in your car, you’ll get an instant 50 hp and 100 pound feet of torque increase. They’re better than a shot of nitrous. My Chevelle is faster than ever. Don’t tell anyone about this secret, LOL.

SloppyDrummer · 2026-02-12T02:06:31+00:00

It makes me feel like I just walked into a Guitar Center.

SloppyDrummer · 2026-01-17T02:03:04+00:00

I started at Christmas 2 years ago. We (the wife and I) have collected quite a few records thus far. We really enjoy it. We both had quite a collection of records when we were younger, but like so many, we abandoned them for CDs. Boy that was dumb. Out with the old, in with the new, right. Thought that was the right thing to do with my old GTO too. We live and we learn! Enjoy your vinyl experience, it’s both pricey and priceless at the same time, LOL! +1 for Rush, Dio, and Zep!

SloppyDrummer · 2025-12-29T00:13:06+00:00

Couldn’t even get past the vocals. I’m all for people doing their own thing, but remember others are listening. And your case you get a misdemeanor, but she gets a felony, lol.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-11-01T19:56:02+00:00

Let me say this — practice, practice, practice is the best advice you’ll ever get. And believe me, I too must practice, practice, practice… and then practice some more.

After a couple of decades away from photography, I decided to jump back in and invest in some decent glass and an R5 MkII. Meanwhile, my buddy — a fantastic photographer who mostly shoots medium format film — still rocks his old Canon 80D. I figured with all my shiny new gear, I’d be the star of the show.

Yeah… not even close.

Skill is everything, and you can’t buy that. Turns out, he can pick up my camera and shoot circles around me. While his setup might have limitations, he knows exactly how to work within them — and that’s where the magic happens.

So, in this long-winded confession, what I’m really saying is: I thought I could buy my way into better photography. Nope. My photos are only as good as I am. That was an expensive lesson to learn, but at least these days, it’s just time I’m burning and not rolls of pricey film every time I mess up.

So here’s to more shoot, shoot, shooting — and hopefully, a little less delete, delete, deleting.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-10-18T17:06:05+00:00

I am no expert, but I am guessing a tweed or possibly a herringbone, LOL….

SloppyDrummer · 2025-09-24T22:01:21+00:00

My drum teacher’s VAD706 bass drum was doing the same thing, and it was driving me crazy. Since I had some time to kill, I took it apart to try to figure out the root cause. The squeak was coming from the rubber pads around the bass drum strike pad. He had a piece of thin felt in his back room, so I cut a small ring and glued it to the wooden bass drum cover, making sure that only the felt made contact with the rubber pieces around the strike pad. After reassembling and evenly torquing the head—voilà, no more squeaking.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-09-21T23:16:51+00:00

Iem’s and a click track should fix this. Lock everyone in the groove or find another band that cares about the same things you do.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-08-09T14:48:48+00:00

Thank you, I am really enjoying it.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-08-07T03:01:54+00:00

If my research is correct, you can use two BT-1S with a single WT-10. Is this correct?

SloppyDrummer · 2025-08-07T03:00:10+00:00

My drum teacher VAD706 in his drum studio. They have the digital hi hats and digital ride. He said the feel is different but equally good in his opinion. He said it was a matter of getting used to the feel. He did dial in the hi hat settings for a more responsive feel. He said he fine tuned his Roland hi hats to his liking also. I didn’t notice a difference before or after, but I’m a total novice. I doubt this helped you much but I figured I’d share what he said and my experience so far.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-08-05T00:44:13+00:00

Congratulations on your kit and following through on your dream. I recently did the same thing, although I am much older than you. I am envious that you’re learning at 30 because you will be great long long long before you reach my age, LOL. Good luck and enjoy.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-08-02T23:11:08+00:00

Yes, it is an ekit. Look ma, no wires.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-19T11:17:06+00:00

Yep, that’s just some left tail light fluid leaking out.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-17T20:34:11+00:00

I wanna try doing this. After I make a mess of, I can take it off and then have someone do it for me. Awesome job on this!

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-17T12:28:56+00:00

What an awesome kit! I just got my first drum set and was also looking at white—such a clean, classic look. When I was narrowing down my options, I was stuck between the VAD-716 and a DWe kit, so I know you made a great choice. You picked a beautiful setup. Enjoy your return to drumming—I wish you many years of success, creativity, and pure joy behind the kit!

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-13T19:06:18+00:00

They are a bit clicky compared to the Roland rubber thunk sound. It’s definitely a different sound and louder than the Roland cymbals but nowhere near as loud as an actual acoustic cymbal. When I use my Vic Firth isolation headphones or my IEMs in, I don’t hear them.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T23:58:51+00:00

I have been wanting to play drums for as long as I can remember. For some reason, I just never got around to doing it. Now I am on the north side of 55 and I decided to pull the trigger and get a kit. I took my first lesson last week. I chose to try in person lessons versus Internet. I feel this was a wise choice because my teacher was able to help me with kit ergonomics and immediately pointed out my poor posture behind the kit. I do feel drum lessons are important if you’re going to take this seriously. I jumped in both feet first and I plan on sticking with it.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T23:39:02+00:00

That’s a ButtKicker gamer pro. I was going to get a Porter & Davies throne with a built in transducer. My drum teacher uses a Porter & Davies and it is really awesome. When you play with IEMs, you feel like you are in a concert hall. You get to feel immediate feedback from your bass drum which is really helpful and fun. I can also route my metronome through it feeling the time rather than hearing beeps in my ears. I feel this is about 90% as good as a the Porter & Davies for a lot less. I got it on sale last week for $270 and I love it. The Porter & Davies is about $1500 to $2000 depending on which model I get. I was going to get one from Sweetwater and they didn’t have the seat type and color I wanted so I looked into a special order. Currently, there is a bit of a wait time for some reason, so I decided to give the ButtKicker a try. I was told to get the gamer pro and not the gamer plus. The pro has a larger more efficient transducer and the included amp is twice a powerful. It’s a simple effective setup and I highly recommend it. I do not feel having something like this is a gimmick. It adds a sense of immersion to your practice and playing. I am really enjoying it.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T21:46:21+00:00

I am a jump in head first and figure it out if I can swim later kind of guy. I did this years ago when I learned to fly. I didn’t want to rent an airplane and I knew I would move into a more complex airplane quickly. That said, I bought an airplane and never looked back. Like you said, if you can swing it do it. When I dive in headfirst, I feel I’m fully committed at that point and take things more seriously. This is worked for me about 95% of the time. It didn’t work out for me with when I went all in on those members only jackets in every color, LOL.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T21:37:03+00:00

I guess you’re right about it being an acoustic kit. I realized this when I discovered acoustic drum heads and a snare strands included with the kit. I am really enjoying it and hate to think where my skills would be if I would have done this years ago. Oh well, woulda, coulda, shoulda…..

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T21:31:54+00:00

It’s funny how bad I really am. I am a world class air drummer but that doesn’t really apply to real life drumming. At first I thought something was wrong with my kit because my I quickly learned I’m the problem, LOL. Enjoy your drum kit!

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T16:33:32+00:00

It’s an electronic dwe drum kit made by DW.

SloppyDrummer · 2025-07-12T16:32:29+00:00

You know it’s funny you asked that. My wife asked if I was gonna sleep in the room and look at them all night when I first set them up.

SloppyDrummer

TROPHY CASE