Tom Tone.....

Whats the sound dfference between a 16x16, 16x18 or 18x16 floor tom?

And is the first # the depth or the diameter?

usually the diamiter of a drum will be put first, but some companys put the depth first

If you're looking at the tom on a website or something, it's pretty easy to tell which measure is first- just see if it's taller or wider, but as previously stated the diameter usually comes first.

the simple answer to the sound difference is that the larger drum will have a lower tone.

it's my experience that any tom larger than a 16 (or a fairly tightly tuned 18) will have a bassy tone as you'd expect from a drum of it's size, but won't respond to a stick well. if anyone who has an 18 would like to argue with me, and i'm lacking experience or technique here, i'm all ears, but i've found that anything that large sounds worlds better with a mallet.

there are mic techniques to get around this, but remember that in an 18 inch tom you're entering the realm of which bass drums are often produced. think about the sound quality you'd get with a stick versus your pedal beater, and you'll see what i mean.

I played a 18" diam x 16" deep floor tom for about 20 years. I think that a 18" FT is indespensible for H Metal, H Rock, Progressive Rock and Rock in general.

To me the correct way to tune it is to have it sound like its growling back at you, deep and fat with a huge amount of slap to the stick tone. Classic Queen type sounds. Sounds you just can't get out of any other FT combination.

You can basically just go 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 diam's and cover most every "cover" song written in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's.

A 16" drum regardless of depth just can't get you that deep, deep low end.

So (in your terminology of depth x Diam )

16x16 - loose fat resonant low end that can also tune up and compete with a 14" drum.

18x16 - Not a big change from the above - just heavier and harder to pack up.

16x18 - Big assed fat thick low end. A decent notch below the 16 diam. essential for all types of rock IMHO. It deserves to be tuned low.

In my experience usually the first number is the diameter of the drum........as for the difference in floor tom sounds? obviously the deeper(length)the tom the deeper the sound,depending,of course on the make,wood or fibre,the tom-heads and the tuning of the drum.

20 years ago everything but Premier was listed as Depth X Diameter.

I think Ludwig still lists their sizes as Depth x Diameter, but most of the other companies are listing them as Diameter x Depth these days.

I prefer an 18" Tom that is 14" deep. The sound "escapes" faster (because there is less shell for the sound to continue to bounce around in) and it gives the drum a more defined sound. When I built the kit that I've had for the last 5 years, I decided to try this size because I was always wanting my 18" tom to sound more defined.

I had read an article/review in MD about DW's "F.A.S.T." (Fundamentally Accurate Sized Toms) drums, and they were designed around a 14"x18" Floor Tom.

The sound difference between the 16" and 14" deep toms is quite amazing. I can tune the 18" by hand (without even using a key) and the "note" it produces is loud and clear....instead of just rumbling low end....it sounds more like a Tympani, which is exactly what I was after.

Tim

Unless that 18"x 16" is a Sonor drum, it's probably an 18" Diameter drum - they just listed it that way.

Sonor made 16" Floor toms that were 18" and 19" Deep, depending upon the series of drums you bought.

Tim