LA Sessions SDX contains eight conventional drum kits, with seven named session drummers contributing personal sets and Steve Jordan supplying two. The ninth setup is a percussion-focused kit assembled from drums and hand percussion rather than another standard acoustic configuration.
That ownership matters because the library is not built around anonymous showroom examples. Across the drummer-owned LA Sessions collection, Niko Bolas recorded instruments with working histories and familiar tunings. Their unusual combinations and physical quirks carried directly into the sessions.
The result is less tidy than a collection organized by one manufacturer or decade. You move from 1970s Rogers shells to modern Gretsch maple. Then come deliberately mismatched or heavily muffled setups whose character partly reflects how their owners actually used them.
Steve Jordan's Ebony kit has an even more recent trail. The black Gretsch USA Custom Round Badge set was used while recording The Rolling Stones' “Hackney Diamonds” and on the tour that followed. Its compact configuration pairs a 22-inch kick with one rack tom and one floor tom.
Anthony LoGerfo's Newspaper kit carries a different kind of history. The DW Collectors Series maple and spruce kit previously belonged to Neil Young and appears on many of his records, according to Toontrack. An alternate configuration adds a 26-inch kick and a Gretsch maple snare.
Russ Kunkel's Indigo kit is a DW Contemporary Classic made from poplar and mahogany. It uses five toms around an unusually deep 23-inch kick. Mixed Sabian and Zildjian cymbals widen the setup further.
The detailed instrument lists reveal another useful wrinkle. These are not sealed museum snapshots where every configuration stays fixed. Several kits include alternate kicks or snares, while some cymbal choices recur across different shell packs, making them practical session constructions too.
That matters if you are chasing a famous record rather than a generic artist association. Sunset and Ebony have explicit documented record links, while Indigo and Koa are described as long-serving session kits without one named title attached. The distinction keeps provenance useful without pretending every owner-supplied kit recreates a specific album sound.
Charley Drayton's Big Kick kit goes in the opposite direction. Its defining piece is a 26-inch Yamaha Maple Custom kick beside an 18-inch floor tom. The main setup adds a Gretsch maple snare and large cymbals for the open, ringy response Toontrack describes.
Stella Mozgawa's Bone Dry kit is deliberately less uniform. It combines a 1960s Slingerland 20-inch kick, an Astro steel snare, and shallow C&C concert toms. Vintage cymbals complete a tightly muffled mixed-shell drum palette instead of making one shell recipe responsible for the whole sound.
Jordan's second contribution, the Open kit, takes another route with a Sakae Trilogy maple shell pack and fully open tuning. Its smaller 18-inch kick sits with a 12-inch rack tom and a 14-inch floor tom. The setup suits lighter jazz and singer-songwriter work without the heavy damping that defines Mozgawa's kit.
That contrast is useful when choosing by behavior rather than by drummer name. Bone Dry starts with short, controlled drums, while Open preserves more resonance. Big Kick leans on oversized low-end hardware, and Koa combines an older shell recipe with deliberate snare damping before processing begins.
The setup mixes hands and felt mallets according to each instrument's role. Toontrack says it was not sampled as an exhaustive recreation of every traditional technique. Instead, the pieces form one unified kit approached from a drum set player's perspective and organized for performance.
That choice gives Foundaround a different kind of provenance. Its identity comes from Lonsdale's assembled collection and the way Bolas shaped those pieces into one instrument. The ingredients include a 1960s Pearl President kick, vintage cymbals, Remo hand percussion, and traditional tabla.
That ownership matters because the library is not built around anonymous showroom examples. Across the drummer-owned LA Sessions collection, Niko Bolas recorded instruments with working histories and familiar tunings. Their unusual combinations and physical quirks carried directly into the sessions.
The result is less tidy than a collection organized by one manufacturer or decade. You move from 1970s Rogers shells to modern Gretsch maple. Then come deliberately mismatched or heavily muffled setups whose character partly reflects how their owners actually used them.
Several kits arrived with real record history
Kenny Aronoff supplied the Sunset kit, a 1990s Tama Starclassic Maple setup with a 24-inch kick and his Trackmaster signature snare. Toontrack says this same kit can be heard on Jon Bon Jovi's “Blaze of Glory.” That gives the samples a specific recording pedigree instead of a vague classic-rock association.Steve Jordan's Ebony kit has an even more recent trail. The black Gretsch USA Custom Round Badge set was used while recording The Rolling Stones' “Hackney Diamonds” and on the tour that followed. Its compact configuration pairs a 22-inch kick with one rack tom and one floor tom.
Anthony LoGerfo's Newspaper kit carries a different kind of history. The DW Collectors Series maple and spruce kit previously belonged to Neil Young and appears on many of his records, according to Toontrack. An alternate configuration adds a 26-inch kick and a Gretsch maple snare.
Russ Kunkel's Indigo kit is a DW Contemporary Classic made from poplar and mahogany. It uses five toms around an unusually deep 23-inch kick. Mixed Sabian and Zildjian cymbals widen the setup further.
The detailed instrument lists reveal another useful wrinkle. These are not sealed museum snapshots where every configuration stays fixed. Several kits include alternate kicks or snares, while some cymbal choices recur across different shell packs, making them practical session constructions too.
That matters if you are chasing a famous record rather than a generic artist association. Sunset and Ebony have explicit documented record links, while Indigo and Koa are described as long-serving session kits without one named title attached. The distinction keeps provenance useful without pretending every owner-supplied kit recreates a specific album sound.
Shells, sizes, and tuning push the kits apart
Denny Fongheiser's Koa kit is a 1970s Rogers Powertone built from maple and poplar, paired with a Ludwig Supraphonic snare. The snare carries a damping ring for a drier response. Its alternate version changes the 20-inch Rogers kick to a 22-inch 1950s WFL Club Date.Charley Drayton's Big Kick kit goes in the opposite direction. Its defining piece is a 26-inch Yamaha Maple Custom kick beside an 18-inch floor tom. The main setup adds a Gretsch maple snare and large cymbals for the open, ringy response Toontrack describes.
Stella Mozgawa's Bone Dry kit is deliberately less uniform. It combines a 1960s Slingerland 20-inch kick, an Astro steel snare, and shallow C&C concert toms. Vintage cymbals complete a tightly muffled mixed-shell drum palette instead of making one shell recipe responsible for the whole sound.
Jordan's second contribution, the Open kit, takes another route with a Sakae Trilogy maple shell pack and fully open tuning. Its smaller 18-inch kick sits with a 12-inch rack tom and a 14-inch floor tom. The setup suits lighter jazz and singer-songwriter work without the heavy damping that defines Mozgawa's kit.
That contrast is useful when choosing by behavior rather than by drummer name. Bone Dry starts with short, controlled drums, while Open preserves more resonance. Big Kick leans on oversized low-end hardware, and Koa combines an older shell recipe with deliberate snare damping before processing begins.
The percussion kit treats provenance differently
The Foundaround kit belongs to Gary “Shep” Lonsdale, Bolas's longtime friend and drum tech. It combines a Pearl kick, custom hand drum, doumbeks, tabla, klong yaw, djembe, djun djun, vintage cymbals, and other pieces. The result behaves like one playable setup rather than a conventional acoustic kit.The setup mixes hands and felt mallets according to each instrument's role. Toontrack says it was not sampled as an exhaustive recreation of every traditional technique. Instead, the pieces form one unified kit approached from a drum set player's perspective and organized for performance.
That choice gives Foundaround a different kind of provenance. Its identity comes from Lonsdale's assembled collection and the way Bolas shaped those pieces into one instrument. The ingredients include a 1960s Pearl President kick, vintage cymbals, Remo hand percussion, and traditional tabla.
