The answer to your bass drum woes

I play in a blues band. We practice on Fridays and sometiems Sundays. The guy who owns the rehearsal space has a decent Pearl drum kit that I use when we practice. The bass drums sounds OK. Last week he put a mic in the bass drum and ran it through an amp. We turned it up just a little and it sounded awesome. It had some serious presence. It sustained very nice and made the whole kit sound better. I have a mic. I think I'm gonna buy a cheap amp and when I play out or even rehearse or jam with other bands, I'm gonna bring it and give me that good bass drum sound I've always been looking for.

Does anyone else do this? If not, you should try it.

I have used a mic through an amp and I know what you mean. I used an old keyboard amp that had a lot of bottom end and it always sounded huge. I don't use it live though, I have no need.

If you can afford it, get a Yamaha subkick.

A well-built, properly tuned, skillfully-played bass drum has no such woes.

I have mic'ed up the kick at rehearsal before, but usually i'm loud enough as it is. I like a good loud monitor onstage though, there is nothing better than drums in a quality monitor with subs under the stage!!

I get that effect by taking all the laundry out of my bass drum, using a solid front head, and tuning very carefully.

Of course it messes with the beater rebound. People are generally used to playing a completely dead batter head. It took me a while to learn to play one that vibrates a lot.

The PA would definitely give you some resonance (you're getting it from the mic and speaker cone) while still giving you the feel of no resonance.

That's the way I tune my bass drum too. I have a Power Stroke III and one of those stick on beater pads (not the one with the plastic disk). I have a front head. There's nothing inside the bass drum. No muffling whatsoever. It is definitely boomy. I like that. It's also loud. The feel is also different, but I'm used to it. Just let the beater bounce back a little bit. It's hard to bury it. I think burying it muffles the sound though, so thats another good reason not to do it.

The drum I was describing in my previous post was the bass players kit at the practice place. He has one of those muffling rings around the outside of the batter head and a hole in the front head. It sounds OK.

Still, I'm going to try using a mic and amp next time I play in a little bit louder situation that dosen't call for full miking of the entire kit.

Just another option ...

My kick: 24x18" maple shell, Powerstroke batter, stock reso (no hole), well tuned, no muffling. Sounds crazy good at high and low volume playing. Burying or playing with rebound. Perfect balance between boom and thud. Beyond great projection. Loud as all hell if needs be.

It sounds totally pretentious to say it, but i get the beeheebees from every other post about bass drum sound issues. The drum wasn't designed to sound bad without additional muffling or other trickery.

Right size and heads for the sound you're after + proper tuning. If the drum's in good condition and of reasonable quality, that's all it takes.

I allways feel like an ass posting this {censored}, but it's the truth. Or atleast what i believe to be true. Proper tuning takes time, but it's worth every minute of it. I spend an entire afternoon tuning a four piece kit if i need to replace all heads.

Once tuned it requires little effort to keep it well tuned.

God i'm an asshole.

Amen.

I love the sound of my bass drum. I'm very happy with the tuning and the rebound, the presence... I just really dig it.

That being said, yeah, when I plug it through the PA, I can hear it better (that's a given - it's amplified) and I can throw a little extra low end on it. That doesn't mean it doesn't sound good. And before someone tells me it's not necessary, I never said it was, and I don't believe BoomBoom ever said it was either.

It does, however, sound totally kick ass.

Sorry, I just get a little PO'd here on occasion when someone says "you know what sounds good?" and gives an opinion, and they get three responses of "it's not necessary." Well no crap, Sherlock. Is it necessary to put sizzles in your ride? No. Does it sound cool? Yes.

I spend an entire afternoon tuning a four piece kit if i need to replace all heads.

I totally agree, however if you think about it, it's totally a shame it takes that long to tune a drum kit. Someone somewhere should come up with a better design so that tuning is easier and everyone could do it. Like a electric guitar, you plug into the tuner, hit a string and make your adjustments and you're ready to go in a couple of minutes.

By the way, in the last two Modern Drummers I've noticed a new product for tuning called the DTS system. Anyone out there have any experience with it?

electric guitar tuner = drum dial

I have to agree with FitchFY. I've got a 22" Pearl birch bass drum outfitted with an Evans emad batter (small foam) that sounds killer when unmiked.

However, throw in a couple of 30th Anniversary 100watt Marshall heads, a huge bass SWR whatever and a couple of thousand watts of PA blasting through some killer 18's & black widows and even the best bass drums in the world ain't gonna do it. (sorry for getting technical )

I've found that leaving the the snare unmiked for rehearsals isn't a problem, but I just gotta have a touch of some db's on the Bass Drum. Before anyone chimes in that we should be practicing at lower volumes, let me add that we prescribe to the "practice like you perform" theory of band rehearsals. You play loud live, practice loud.

-bruce

I have to agree with FitchFY. I've got a 22" Pearl birch bass drum outfitted with an Evans emad batter (small foam) that sounds killer when unmiked. However, throw in a couple of 30th Anniversary 100watt Marshall heads, a huge bass SWR whatever and a couple of thousand watts of PA blasting through some killer 18's & black widows and even the best bass drums in the world ain't gonna do it. (sorry for getting technical ) I've found that leaving the the snare unmiked for rehearsals isn't a problem, but I just gotta have a touch of some db's on the Bass Drum. Before anyone chimes in that we should be practicing at lower volumes, let me add that we prescribe to the "practice like you perform" theory of band rehearsals. You play loud live, practice loud. -bruce

What you're saying isn't lost on me, Bruce. I'm so sick of seeing bands...cover bands, national acts, and everything in between...with no kick drum presence through the mains. Biggest weakness a band's sound can have, IMO.

Argh! Ofcourse i can see why you would amplifie your kick and give it some extra presence! My response was more aimed toward the title. "The answer to your bass drum woes". So i said something about tuning. What's off topic about that?

I'm having trouble the other way round though. My kit is too loud for rehearsals.

Booze, i shure hope you wear earplugs during rehearsals!