Ludwig started with the Vistalite Acrylic in 1972, and the Smoke Acrylic debuted first in 1976 and was in production until 1984. In 2018, the Smoke Acrylic is back, featuring the classic Silver Dot drumheads, this time manufactured by Remo. Good to know is that Ludwig makes all their traditional configurations available for the Vistalite. The new pink acrylic finish that is also in the video below is on itself a real pleasure to watch.
In the video you see two FAB configurations in Smoke and Pink, which means it has a 9x13 tom, 14x22 bass drum and a 16x16 floor tom. Other features are the curved bass drum spurs, the Blue and Olive badges on all the drums and the vibramount.
The Silver Dot Ludwig teamed up with Remo to recreate these drumheads for heavy hitters. The silver dots have a throaty, thumping 70's sound that still is very popular. Although Mike Nieland says in the video the new silver dots are exactly the same as the old ones, that is not entirely true. Mainly because back in those days, Ludwig produced the drumheads for the kits their selves.
In that era, 'The Dot' became a popular feature on drumheads. In 1968, Remo started their Controlled Sound drumheads, and many variations have passed since then. Ludwig made the right decision to join forces with a true drumhead company this time.
Now, the silver dots have a 7mil single ply head with - yes, those old school (and still) rocking silver dots on the heads!
But we should mention the bass drums do have an addition with the Remo Powerstroke muffling ring inside. Just to give it that more steady sound than the earlier heads didn't have. And yes, on sound level that is a good feature.
The new Ludwig Smoke Acrylic with Silver Dot
The Vistalite Acrylic Colors At the launch of the Vistalite line in 1972, six colors were available:
Amber
Blue
Clear
Green
Red
Yellow
For 2018, Ludwig again has six colors for the Vistalites
Amber
Blue
Clear
Yellow
Smoke
Pink - a brand new finish for Vistalite
The standard configurations Besides the FAB, mentioned above and shown in the video, for Smoke and Pink, there are also a 3 piece Pro Beat and a 5 piece ZEP set available. It's not hard to guess what the ZEP refers to.
3 piece Pro Beat
9x13 tom
16x16 floor tom
14x24 bass drum
5 piece ZEP set
10x24 tom
16x16 floor tom
16x18 floor tom
14x26 bass drum
6.5x14 snare
3 piece FAB configurations (Smoke and Pink)
Again, all the drums are available in all the colors. Which means you can buy 18 different drum kits for 18 different shows.
