Before Kill Em All:
Ludwig kit with Yamaha hardware (stands, pedals etc). Before he got sponsorship with Tama. May have recorded Kill Em All using it.

Kill Em All gigs:
-Tama Imperialstar (mahogany shells)
6 toms, probably 12,13,14,16,18,18 sizes. Sometimes seen with 'rototoms' (special one headed drums that are tuned by turning an outer ring), which can be heard on Kill Em All. They were probably 8" and 10" versions. Colour seems to be a cherry red. Very little known otherwise.

Ride The Lightning & the Master Of Muppets
-Tama Superstar (Birch)
Used throughout the tours, same setup as before. Seems to be same colour also. Drums appear to be same diameter sizes, but deeper. Apparently he used a metal Ludwig snare for recordings. Tended not to have any resonant heads on toms, as Metallica played tended only to play large venues, and drums were therefore always miked up. (Can be seen in photograph)

Used Remo pinstripe batter heads on all drums except snare drum, which was a Remo coated CS.

Master Of Muppets & Garage Days
-Tama Imperialstar (Mahogany)
24"x16 bass drums, 12,13,14,16,18,18 toms and a 14x5.5 or 14x6.5 metal snare. Drums were in a mirror chrome finish. Tama Titan hardware used all round. This kit was used till about 1986.

�And Justice For All. Used till 1991
-Tama Granstar II (birch)
This was the famous black and white Tama kit that Lars used throughout justice, and the black album. This was a signature kit (Lars Ulrich is the only Tama endorsee to ever have a signature kit!) and was actually sold as part of the Tama line as a complete set for a limited time. This was white, with black hardware.

Drums:
-14x6.5" Bell Brass/14x8" Birch Snare Drum
-Two 24x16" bass drums
-10x10",12x11",14x13",16x15", toms and two 18x16" floor toms

Towards the end of the 80's, this setup changed slightly:
-14x8" birch snare drum
-Two 24x16" bass drums
-12x11",13x12",14x13",16x15" toms and two 18x16" floor toms

Cymbals: (All Zildjian)
-Two 14" Z Custom 'Dyno Beat' Hi Hats
-17" and 18" A Medium crashes
-16",17" and 18" A Rock crashes
-20" Z Custom China
All cymbals were in 'brilliant' finish

Hardware (all Tama):
- 6x Titan HC104TB Cymbal Boom Stands
- 2x HP45 Pro Beat Pedals
- Titan HS90 Snare Stand
- Titan HT90 Throne
- Lever-Glide HH95NL Hi-Hat
- HH95XH X-Hat
- 2x 65 Multi Clamp

Heads:
Remo clear Pinstripe batter heads on toms and bass drums. Remo 'Ebony' (black) Ambassadors as resonant heads. Snare head was a Remo coated CS with reverse dot and ambassador snare side resonant.

Sticks:
Regal Tip 5B - Lars Ulrich model. Also used grip tape when playing.

Lars also had the same kit in "gun smoke blue" (picture 7)

Early 90's tours
-Tama Granstar II (Birch)
Lars scaled down his signature kit to 4 toms coming up to the Load album and made other changes.

Drums:
14x6.5" Bell brass snare
-Two 24x16" bass drums
-12x11, 13x12 toms and two 18x16" floor toms

Cymbals: (All Zildjian)
-Two 14" Z Custom 'Dyno Beat' Hi Hats (main set on left and a second set on his right)
-Two 17", two 18", one 19" A medium crashes
-18" Oriental China Trash
-20" Z Custom China Boy
-20" A Custom Swish or 19" A China Boy
All cymbals were in 'brilliant' finish

Hardware (all tama):
-8x Titan HC104TB Cymbal Boom Stands
-Titan HW 99N Double Tom Stand
-2x HP45 Pro Beat Pedals
-Titan HS90 Snare Stand
-Titan HT90 Throne,
-Lever-Glide HH95NL Hi-Hat
-HH95XH X-Hat
-2x 65 Multi Clamp

Heads: As before, all Remo clear Pinstripe batter heads on toms and bass drums. Remo 'Ebony' (black) Ambassadors as resonant heads. Snare head was a Remo coated CS with reverse dot and ambassador snare side resonant.

Load/Reload/S&M
Tama Starclassic Maple. In "sparkle silver" colour(NB:used a different kit for recording load and garage)

Drums:
-14x6.5" Bell Brass Snare Drum
-10x9" and 12x10" toms. 16x16" and 18x16" floor toms
-Two 22x16" bass drums

Cymbals: (All Zildjian)
-14'' Z Custom 'Dyno Beat' hi-hats
-Two 17", one 18", one 19" A medium Crashes
-20'' A Rock ride/20" A Custom Ping Ride
-18'' Oriental Trash china
-12'' Z Custom splash
-20'' Z Custom china

Hardware:
Tama:
-7x Titan HC104TB Boom stand
-2x CA45 Cymbal Holders
-HTW99 or HW99N Tom Stand,
-2x HP45 Pro Beat Pedals
-Titan HS90 Snare stand
-Titan HT90 throne,
-Titan Lever-Glide HH95NL Hi-Hat Stand
-3x 66 Multi Clamps,

DW:
-505 Hi-Hat Clutch
-6323 Hi-Hat Attachment
-2x 6348 Bass Drum Anchor

Heads:
All Remo clear Pinstripe batter heads on toms and bass drums. Remo coated Ambassador resonant heads. Snare head is a Remo coated CS with reverse dot and ambassador snare side resonant.

Sticks:
Ahead Lars Ulrich Model

St. Anger to present day
Tama Starclassic Maple in 'Green Sparkle'

Drums:
14x6.5" Bell Brass Lars Ulrich Signature Snare (LU1465BB)/14x6.5" Diamond Plate Steel Lars Ulrich Signature Snare (LU1465)

10x9" and 12x10" toms. Either 16x14" and 16x16", or 16x16" and 18x16" floor toms used

Two 22x16" bass drums

Cymbals: (Zildjian)
-14'' Z Custom 'Dyno Beat' hi-hats
-17", two 18" and 19" A Medium crashes
-20'' Oriental Trash china
-20'' Z Custom china

-Sometimes also uses 18" Z custom china
-Used a 22" K Custom 'Dark' ride for recording St. Anger album
-Also used an LP red jam block (makes a sound like a wood block, heard on "dirty window" on St. Anger)

Hardware: (Tama)
-5x Titan HC104TB Boom stand
-CA45 Cymbal Holder
-Titan HTW99 Tom Stand
-2x HP900P Iron Cobra Power Glide pedals with traditional felt beaters
-Titan HS90 Snare stand
-Titan HH905 Iron Cobra Hi-Hat Stand
-Titan HT310 throne
-MC62 Multi Clamp
-MHA623 Hi-Hat Attachment
-DW 505 Hi-Hat Clutch

Heads:
Remo coated Emperor batter heads on toms with clear ambassador resonant heads. Clear Powerstroke 3 bass batter heads with ebony ambassador resonant heads. Remo coated CS with reverse dot and ambassador snare side resonant on snare drum

Sticks:
Ahead Lars Ulrich Model

Other Kits and Details: Tama kit used for acoustic sets. Was also seen in 'Whiskey in the jar' video, where it was destroyed at the end! (picture 11)

Lars Recording Kit for Load, Reload & Garage Inc

Tama Starclassic maple toms and snare. Gretsch bass drums and floor toms. (picture 12)

Seen on the 'I Disappear' Video. 3 piece black Tama Artstar Custom drum. (picture 13)

For the recording of the Black album, Lars used Sabian 15" 'rock' hi hats.

Lars Bell Brass signature snare (LU1465BB) is worth $1500

Lars used the steel signature snare in recording St anger to get that 'ringy' snare sound heard throughout.

Lars used 15" and 17" K chinas in the recordings for "�And Justice For All"

Sometimes, mainly in acoustic concerts, Lars uses an A custom 10" splash

Lars uses wood sticks (probably pro mark) when recording, he says himself that he prefers the sound of the cymbals when hit by wood sticks. He always uses his Ahead signature model when performing.

Written by Jonathan Millar, thank to Jamie Stuck