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What's Your Kick Drum Size???


jokerjkny

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Hey all,

 

i'm looking to get a new kick and was wondering what's a good size for funk, hiphop, but with a healthy does of jazz.

 

18x14? or 20x16?

 

i'm thinking 20", but how does depth affect things? how much is too much? are there suggested sizes to start from?

 

btw, what's the size of your kick and for music are you using it?

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If I were you, I'd go for a 20". You can play Jazz and so on with a bigger kick as well, simply play softer, but for normal/louder music, an 18" will probably be too small.

 

 

I've go a 22" kick right now, I use it for all sorts of music. I'm considering a 22" or 24" kick for the next kit that I'll be buying. I'm planning to play a lot of rock/metal with the new band I'm forming.

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I have a 20x16 now and I've played everything from aqoustic jazz/latin stuff to black metal with it(just altered the tuning). I think a 20x18 would be even more versatile(for rock playing you get more bottom end which you can always tune out for a jazz gig). This is how I see it:

A 18 is great for jazz but it's kinda difficult to get decent rock sounds out of it. A 22 is good for rock but it's much more difficult to get it to sound jazzy. A 20 is right in the middle and you can use it pretty much for anything(many jazz drummers use 20 bass drums and lots of metal drummers use the 20x18 size too).

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Originally posted by jokerjkny

Hey all,


i'm looking to get a new kick and was wondering what's a good size for funk, hiphop, but with a healthy does of jazz.


i'm thinking 20", but how does depth affect things? how much is too much? are there suggested sizes to start from?

btw, what's the size of your kick and for music are you using it?

 

 

I guess most will have a 22" kick. I've got a 20" because I like to have to smallest high difference between toms + snare. I'm playing pop+metal+rock on it. And believe me, my 20" bass makes a damn boom. Around 60Hz. So it's really possible so play hardrock {censored} with it.

 

 

It's called a bass drum guys

Agree, why do people call it a kick drum? U call a crash a crash because of it's sound, so a bassdrum for it's lowfrequency sound.

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I generally use a 22" bassdrum for everything,, however.

 

I've been known to show up fo certain jazz/blues gigs with a TWO piece kit,, that includes a 28" bassdrum....and a 5x14 Black Beauty

 

this mess about SMALL bassdrums being for jazz is mostly bull{censored}.... there's so much more to life than jazz after the bop era...... :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by MoosBros


this mess about SMALL bassdrums being for jazz is mostly bull{censored}.... there's so much more to life than jazz after the bop era......
:rolleyes:

 

Sure there is but I'd still find it strange to use a 28" bd for an aqoustic jazz gig(today most of that music is pretty similiar to bop). Besides, I think a tight, higher pitched sound fits small group jazz better than the big band era drums that baically were big enough to live in.

Another thing to take into consideration is that it's hell of alot easier to carry a 18" or a 20" versus a 24" up to 28"(there starts to be a noticeable difference between a 18" and a 22" too).

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I have a 20" bass drum, and it suits me pretty well, seems to be the most versatile. I like it much better than my 22" bass drum. The main reason I like the smaller drum is that it makes the whole kit smaller in set up, and I am kind of short so I have to place things within my reach. After playing a kit set up closely around a 20" bass drum, I don't think that I could play on a 22" bass drum as well. It's also easier to tune and muffle a 20 bass drum, but maybe I think that because this kit is so much better than my old sunlite kit...Those were impossible. I play a mixture of music, from experimental noisy stuff to rock to some jazz. Kinda inbetween projects right now so mainly I am just tuning my drums the way I like them. Drum heads for smaller drums are cheaper, too!

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It's called a kick drum cause of the action used to play it. Also, it's easier to say "kick" rather than "bass" in a situation where you're with people other than drummers, cause they might think you mean "bass guitar."

 

Like, you might tell your sound guy to turn up the bass, when you mean bass drum, and he'll turn up the bass guitar. So it's easier to say "kick" in those situations. It doesn't matter that much anyway, it's like calling drumheads "skins."

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Originally posted by Sir Enrico Buttcock



Sure there is but I'd still find it strange to use a 28" bd for an aqoustic jazz gig(today most of that music is pretty similiar to bop). Besides, I think a tight, higher pitched sound fits small group jazz better than the big band era drums that baically were big enough to live in.

Another thing to take into consideration is that it's hell of alot easier to carry a 18" or a 20" versus a 24" up to 28"(there starts to be a noticeable difference between a 18" and a 22" too).

 

sure you'd say that... most of the younger guys around have no idea that the smaller bassdrums is a very very recent thing....most of the jazzers untill the 60's were still using 26" bass drums for the most part....you know,, folks like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa,who were playing jazz and big band from way back in the day...

 

ALL of the big bands used 26-28 or larger bass drums...mostly because that's what was always used,, from back in the days of Duke Ellington....when "kit" drums were made from converted marching bass drums...

 

the big drums sound fine in a acoustic jazz setting... and the low tone helps "fill" the bottom....you use a floor tom to do the accents that a little bitty bass drum would do...

 

I like the room filling sound,,, and when I "drop the bomb"... it always makes a "hit"..... :eek:

 

:D

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Originally posted by MoosBros



sure you'd say that... most of the younger guys around have no idea that the smaller bassdrums is a very very recent thing....most of the jazzers untill the 60's were still using 26" bass drums for the most part....you know,, folks like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa,who were playing jazz and big band from way back in the day...


ALL of the big bands used 26-28 or larger bass drums...mostly because that's what was always used,, from back in the days of Duke Ellington....when "kit" drums were made from converted marching bass drums...

 

 

Rich and Krupa were big band drummers(Art Blakey, Max Roach, Mel Lewis, Charli Persip and many others all used 18" to 20" bd's). Have you thought why exactly did the bop guys start using smaller bass drums? The smaller drums are more articulate and that's what was needed for bop because usually bop is pretty busy and you need that articualtion to get heared. Kinda like comparing a big 18" power tom to a 12" regular tom.

 

Anyhow, I've yet to see a drummer with a 28" bd in a piano trio.

Besides, those big bass drums tended to be pretty shallow and that brought up the pitch alot. A 20x18 bd has more bottom than a 22x16 one. Those drums sizes(according to Modern Drummer) were usually 28x14 and 14" is really quite shallow.

 

And then there's the taste factor; each has his/her own preferences.

Just my 0.02$

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Besides, those big bass drums tended to be pretty shallow and that brought up the pitch alot. A 20x18 bd has more bottom than a 22x16 one.

 

 

Sir, you really think 2 inches in depth makes much more difference than 2 inches in diameter?

 

Thats like saying a thicker A string will be lower than the E string on a bass. Your lowness comes from the diameter, the depth helps carry it. A 16x22 has more true low end than a 18x20, which has a higher and muddier range.

 

I am convinced the 16x22 is the magical size. It can do EVERYTHING well.

 

Darick

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Originally posted by Darick



Sir, you really think 2 inches in depth makes much more difference than 2 inches in diameter?


 

 

Well, I have to say, that it was a direct quote from Modern Drummer editor Rick Van Horn. I'll see if I can find the exact issue.

I think you can tune a 20x18 bd to sound lower than a 22x16 one. Try it out in a music store where they have both(same shell material and thickness and same heads too).

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Originally posted by Sir Enrico Buttcock



Well, I have to say, that it was a direct quote from Modern Drummer editor Rick Van Horn. I'll see if I can find the exact issue.

I think you can tune a 20x18 bd to sound lower than a 22x16 one. Try it out in a music store where they have both(same shell material and thickness and same heads too).

 

 

I use a 22"x16 with my all purpose kit...and it tunes pretty low,, but,,, the 28"x 14" I have will go MUCH lower, with much greater authority,,

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i use a 16x26 maple ludwig bass drum for rock and metal with lots of double kick action.

 

i think my 18 x 24 mahogony/maple pearl actually sounds better so i use it for recordings. its tighter and i think has better bottom end.

 

but the ludwig looks better and by the time it goes through a PA it all sounds the same.

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Originally posted by MoosBros



I use a 22"x16 with my all purpose kit...and it tunes pretty low,, but,,, the 28"x 14" I have will go MUCH lower, with much greater authority,,

 

 

Aha! There's a 6" difference in that 22" and the 28" one whereas between the 22" and 20" there's only 2". No wonder the bigger drum sounds lower but try comparing 22x16 vs. 24x14. It might be a close call.

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