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Trixon ‘Speedfire’ 0/700-3 Drum Set

DRUMS
18.75 x 26” Bass drum – 0/701
14 x 5” Snare Drum - 1/440
13 x 8.25” Large Tom
9.25 x 7" Medium Tom
8 x 6.5" Small Tom

FINISH
TX 9 – Red Stripes / Red Stripe (UK)

HARDWARE
Trixon Tom Rail
Trixon Snare stand - 11/071

If you have any questions or information about the drum set, please contact me.

BACKGROUND – Purchased October 10th, 2017
The most recent addition to my Quite Frankly Drums vintage collection is this stunning circa 1959-1962 German Trixon ‘Speedfire’* drum set (catalog # 0/700-3) in a beautiful and rare vertical finish simply called ‘Red Stripes’, (catalog # code TX9). In the UK, Ivor Arbiter made the adjustment to simply 'Red Stripe'.

*This was also known as the Trixon 'Thunderbeat' drum set in America in the 1960's.

With its now legendary unique elliptical / ellipsoid shaped bass drum, designed for two pedals and dual tones, it is firmly established as one of the most iconic drum sets ever built!

Sadly it is also one of the most divisive, perhaps the ‘marmite’ set of the drum world - You either love it or hate it. I stand firmly in the love love love it corner!

This undated ‘Speedfire’ 0/700-3 set (the 3 in the catalog code stands for the number of concert toms) appears to be from 1959 or the period 1960-1962 due to the smaller 10 lug bass drum size, the original ‘Tear Drop’ lugs that Trixon used and it fitted with ‘pre-international’ metric size drum heads.

The shells were constructed of Beech or Birchwood as was commonly used in that era.

To my current knowledge, it is one of only two ‘Speedfire’ sets left in the world in this ‘Red Stripes’ / 'Red Stripe' TX9 finish, with the other being a major restoration project the last time I saw it.

This set came to light in Groningen in the Netherlands in 2016, when the owner moved from a house to an apartment and did not want to move the drum set up and down the stairs to the third floor, nor take the set apart for transporting.

He had been in possession of it for a number of decades, although he was not the original person who bought the set from new.

'Indo-Rock' was the in fashion music in the Netherlands in the early 1960's and the Trixon 'Speedfire' was a popular choice of drum set for this genre of music, so this set could have started its life there!

It was obtained in 2016 by Wigo van der Schoot (also in the Netherlands) who brought it for his own large private drum collection.

The ‘Speedfire’ set was just a little dirty and with a few split heads, but otherwise, seemed almost original and was soon brought back to life by Wigo.

In March of 2017, he decided to part with it and I had seen this and a number of other Trixon sets for sale at that time, but due to my own impending major house / location move, I stepped away from buying a ‘Speedfire’.

To my surprise, 8 months later when I was simply dipping a toe in the water for a later purchase, it was still available and having been supplied with a huge amount of helpful information from Wigo, including images, background and even an audio recording, the deal was done!

It is in remarkable condition for a set of drums that is almost 60 years old with very few marks or damage and with the only major modification of note being that the bass drum legs had been reversed at some stage with extra leg holes cut into the batter side of the drums, I assume due to a broken batter head that might have been hard to source? (The legs have been put back to their original placing.)

The snare’s bass drum attachment was also missing, but a quick release sprung loaded leg Trixon 11/071 snare stand is with the set.

Some smaller parts are also missing, for example the plastic Trixon logos badge from the snare throw (does any Trixon snare have these on now?!) and the muffler tension knobs may have been replaced.

The Trixon branded front skin and also the rear bass drum head are calf / goat skin and are from the period, so they could possibly be the original ones that came with the set given the rarity of original heads. The smallest 8” tom also has a ‘period’ skin head, so these all could be from when it was built (or not!)

The two larger toms have the more modern plastic heads (as does the snare.)

The snare itself is a Trixon model 1/440 with parallel action and featuring both a lever damper as well as the more traditional control knob tensioned damper options, both of which are in place.

As you can see above, like almost every Trixon snare, the fine detail of the inserts on the bracket have long since been lost.

Very kindly, Ingo Winterberg who is behind the ultimate Trixon website www.trixondrums.de and the book 'Trix On Trixon The Story Of The German Drum Company', very kindly sent me new inserts for the snare drum! These are made from actual TX9 'Red Stripe' / Red Stripe (UK) off cuts! Very kind of Ingo indeed, thank you Sir! 

The set features the ‘Ship-Form’ brackets and teardrop lugs.

The set has many 'art-deco' features from that period that are sadly lacking from today's modern drum sets. Some due to practicality, others due to cost cutting. As an example, I love the bass drum's tension bolt detail.

HISTORY
Trixon drums were formed September 18th, 1947 by Karl-Heinz Weimer in Hamburg, Germany and the company were to go on to be responsible for many innovative ideas that pushed the boundaries of modern drum building, some of which remain used to this day.

Bill Haley & The Comets drummer Dave Holly was a fan of the Trixon 'Speedfire' drum set and Trixon used Bill and Dave in a host of marketing opportunities, including in the catalogs.

By the late 1950's, Ivor Arbiter had opened the now legendary 'Drum City' store on Shaftesbury Avenue right in the heart of London's music scene. Ivor set up a dealership to import Trixon drums from Germany (and later Ludwig drums from the America, cue lengthy Ringo Starr & The Beatles story!….) as well as being behind the Rogers tie in with the British Ajax drums.

Ivor pushed the Trixon brand hard and pulled in a lot of big name drummers during the 1960’s and the ‘Red Stripe’ (UK) TX9 finish seemed a popular choice in the early 1960’s with Bernie Dwyer of Freddie And The Dreamers and Dave Memmott from Joe Cocker’s band among others, both playing Trixon 'Luxus' sets in this finish.

Much like another of my favourite drum companies Ajax, by the 1970's, Trixon were sadly in decline due to the strength in the UK’s own of Premier Drums, Ludwig, Slingerland and also the first wave of Japanese drums such as Pearl.

Sadly, I cannot recall the first time I saw a Trixon ‘Speedfire’, but a number of images have been there for many many years, however, it was whilst I was working on a project with Nick Mason from Pink Floyd and at his offices that I saw his two Trixon sets, which included a ‘Speedfire’.

They sat alongside his own sister kit to my ex Pink Floyd 1994 World Tour DW set, so naturally we stood for a while just discussing these vintage sets before loading some of his drums for a session we were doing.

That was when I can say that the penny fully dropped and I fell in love with the Trixon ‘Speedfire’ drum set.

Naturally, had Ringo bought a Trixon drum set from Ivor Arbiter in 1963 and taken instead a delivery of a ‘Speedfire’ or another Trixon set instead on May 12, 1963, what might we all be playing today? Ironically, this shot was apparently taken six months AFTER Ringo had made Ludwig famous…. Makes you think!

Either way, today I am still now playing a stunning Trixon ‘Speedfire’ from that very era and I could not be happier!

NB: Since obtaining the 'Speedfire' set, remarkably I have managed to acquire a matching Trixon 'Luxus' set from the same period of the early 1960's and in the same Red Stripe TX9 finish. You can read about the Trixon 'Luxus' set here.

The two sets combine to make perhaps a unique Trixon twin set and you can view further images of the two sets together, here.

If you would like to read the full history of Trixon Drums, Ingo Winterberg in Germany has published the 'Bible' of everything you could wish to know and more about the Trixon company, drums and drummers.

'Trix On Trixon - The Story Of The German Drum Company' is published by Ingo himself and can be purchased from this link. http://www.trixondrums.de/trixon/trixon9book.htm#1.Buch

My sincere thanks to Wigo van der Schoot, Ingo Winterberg and Dave Prince for their knowledge, advice and help.

If you have any questions or information about the drum set, please contact me.