According to Paul Thompson (Welch & Nicholls 2001, p. 136) Bonham got the kit just before the Led Zeppelin II album was recorded, so it would have been used to record ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Moby Dick’.John apparently told his band mates that this was his favourite sounding kit. Sizes appear to be a 14" x 22" bass drum, 9" x 13" tom, 16" x 16" floor tom & a 5" x 14" chrome snare. The bass drums were also custom made to 15"x26" instead of the standard 14"x26" as was originally thought for many years.The Modern Drummer article with recent photos of the kit can be viewed The Ludwig Bonham Reissue Maple Drum Kit released in the early 2000's included a 12" x 14" tom and Todd Trent from Ludwig has said at the time that this is the size used by Bonham. Maple kits did not appear in Ludwig's catalogue until 1974 so these were a customised kit made to order by Ludwig with 3-ply shells and included reinforcing rings but no white paint inside. The finish was not a wrap but rather a lacquer ('Thermo Gloss Natural Maple' and hence the 'Blonde' color) as the woodgrain is visible. He first learned how to play drums at the age of five, making a drum kit out of containers and coffee tins, imitating his idols Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. John Bonham This was a winning factor at a time when miking up drums for live shows was uncommon. The Ludwig name would become forever associated as the main drum brand Bonham used. This site attempts to list the various drum kits and specs used by John Henry 'Bonzo' Bonham throughout his life and career, from his early days as a local up and coming drummer, his legendary contribution to one of the biggest bands in the world, Led Zeppelin, and to his untimely death on 25 September 1980This site is a work in progress as all the information gathered here is from various heavily researched sources including from archived interviews (by either John Bonham himself or others that have worked or been associated with him), forums, books, drum magazine articles and from many existing photos that were carefully studied to determine what the details of each drum kit consisted of. He played drums much louder than they'd ever been played before. John Bonham rock drum set game Play Led Zeppelin's songs with John Bonham's drums Led Zeppelin's drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham was one of the greatest rock 'n' roll drummers in the history of music. John Bonham As this photo and others from this show are in black and white, it is not really clear what sparkle color finish these drums were. The Ludwig Super Classic Green Sparkle kit Bonham used around this time likely consisted of a 22"x14" bass drum, 13"x9" rack tom, 16"x16" floor tom and a 14"x5" Supraphonic 400 metal-shell snare drum.
The kit was likely a 3-ply (maple-poplar-maple) with a 14"x24" bass drum, 9"x13" tom, 16"x16" and 16"x18" floor toms. I used to play on a bath-salts container with wires on the bottom, and on a round coffee tin with a loose wire attached to it to give a snare drum effect. During the late 1960's, there was a trend amongst British drummers to opt for playing on the more expensive Ludwig drums over the major British alternative at the time: Premiere. Hall eventually sold the kit in the 70's to West Cumbrian drummer Robin Melville for approximately fourty pounds. Thompson shortly afterwards saw Bonham at the premiere for The Song Remains The Same and informed him that he now owned the kit and he got the impression that Bonham wished he had never parted with it. Other bands Bonham performed with followed throughout his teen years such as Terry Webb and the Spiders, The Senators, Gerry Levene & The Avengers, Pat Wayne and the Beachcombers, The Nicky James Movement, Steve Brett and the Mavericks, Danny King and the Mayfair Set, The Way Of Life, The Crawling King Snakes, Locomotive, Band Of Joy (which included Robert Plant) and Tim Rose.