I have a set of Mapex Pro M's with a 22x18 bass drum. I currently have a coated Ambassador on the batter head and the stock Mapex head (with hole) on the front head. I have also ordered Remo Powerstroke 3. Before I go ordering any more drum heads I thought maybe I should ask some people who know more than I do how I should go about getting a nice warm, round, fat, woody kick sound. I'm not looking for the thin thwap of prog rock, but a nice round tone that has some attack so you can hear the beater, but really looking for a great tone that will stand on it's own when the instrumentation gets really thin. Something that would sound good with acoustic guitar, bass and drums only for example. I'm having trouble getting there with the coated Ambassador - it's clear and sort of papery sounding right now and I'm working hard to tune it properly.

Head suggestions? Tuning/muffling suggestions?

First post, thanks!!!

jb

Part of your problem is that your bass drum is too deep. If you want a nice warm resonant bass drum sound you're better off with a 14" or 16" deep bass drum.








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Timekeep69 wrote:

Part of your problem is that your bass drum is too deep. If you want a nice warm resonant bass drum sound you're better off with a 14" or 16" deep bass drum.

Hmm. Ok, I just bought these drums, so I probably can't do much about that, short of getting out my jigsaw....

What would you recommend under the circumstances?

That's a tough one. Possibly using thin one ply heads on both reso and batter side and muffling with a pillow.








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Welcome to the forum.

I really like ps3's on my kick batter. To get a warmer sound, you will probably want to tighten it a little more than usually. Your playing style may need to be altered to deal with the rebound you'll get from this tuning method, but like medicineman said, a pillow resting against the head in some way shape or form will help.

You also may want to consider using an unported front head as well. I've gotten some great tones from a ps3 batter/fiberskyn 3 reso with a felt strip on the FS, horizontal or verticle, about 5" in. Now, I prefer this head combo on a smaller drum, but with proper internal muffling, you will probably be able to get pretty close to the sound you're looking for. Good luck.








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If I were ultimately going to get a different kick drum for my kit, would you recommend still going with a 22"? Just less deep?

johnnybregar wrote:

If I were ultimately going to get a different kick drum for my kit, would you recommend still going with a 22"? Just less deep?

Yeah, just go shallower. The physics behind this is that with a shallower shell the vibration from hitting the shell travels down the shell to the resonant head causing it vibrate giving the drum more resonance. With a deeper shell the vibration does not make it all the way to the reso head therefore it's a little choked which gives you more attack and less resonance, which is why you see alot of metal drummers with huge shells.

You can use head combos (like the one I suggested) to get close to what you're looking for so I wouldn't go buying a new bass drum at this point.








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Use Vater's Vintage Bomber Beater

http://www.vater.com/newproducts/product.cfm?M=281

stay away from Superkick or EMAD heads, because they're made for muffling and getting a punchy sound.
what my school did for our jazz band was use a coated Evans G1 and a coated Evans EQ1.








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Pearls, Zildjians, Vics, Evans.

Do what they did "back in the day" - single ply head with 1 piece of felt strip on both sides - you could even put a 2" x 2" square of moleskin in front of beater (felt or wood).

There's some great thick bass felt you can get called "Old School Felt" - a pack runs $10-$15 on Ebay - I use them on both my bass drums with no muffling inside the drum - drums sound big and warm.. Might also want to look at Aquarian's Modern vintage heads on front and back. As to depth of bass, that may play in your favor with felts and singly ply heads. Have fun!








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