what bass heads do you play

[drumdoctor]

I was just messing around with bass drum
tones trying to figure out what suits my
style best after trying various head combonations I have found a sound that I
think is killer for my 20" kick. I use a evans emad on the batter side and a power stroke 3 clear with two offset 1.5 inch holes at the bottom of the head and also
have a akg d1-12 mounted internally for
louder situations. I use no muffling in- side the drum at all and it just sounds really
deep with just the right amount of punch not
to mention feels great. Please post the combonations you are using just to see what ideas we all use and how we all differ. Thanks.

[ladanny]

For my 22" kick I use the Evans EMAD on the batter and a black Remo with one 6" off set hole for the res. with no muffling. On the Remo res. I also put a deadringer type foam ring on the inside. This kick is tuned low and open

For my 18" kick I use a Remo PowerStroke 3 on the batter and a white amb. res side with no hole, no muffling. This kick is tuned medium/low and open

For my 16" kick I have an Acquarian on the batter. I don't remember the model, but it's a 2 ply clear with a black ring around the edges. On the front I use a coated Remo Emp. and I have a LITTLE cotton stuffing taped to the bottom on the drum resting just a little on the fron and back heads. This kick is tuned traditional jazz high by tuning the batter head "normal" and cranking up the front head.

Hope this helps!

Danny

[Randy walker]

Up until recently I used Evans EQ3's, a DW pillow inside and a solid single ply front head with a D112 MAY system.
My 16" Hip gig has an Aquarian superkic on the batter, mic inside and a solid front, nothing inside. Now I am switching theothers Aquarian and just trying to find the balance, I don't use anything inside most of my drums, My Ayotte kit 1 kic drums has no muffling and the second kic just has a towel, same for my Gretsch and Bearing Edge kit.

[wolfgang.at]

I use a Pinstripe batter with a towel (Simon Phillips-method) and a closed black Ambassador fronthead for practice and rehearsal purposes (22" kick).

In live (mic?ing) situations I use a Powerstroke 3 batter and a Sonor Medium fronthead with hole and a small towel-roll on the fronthead (22" kick).

[XNavyDrummer]

I was thinking of this thread this weekend when I was listening to a band in San Diego. They used a great PA system with Function One speakers with about 8 massive bass cabinets.

The kick sound was beautiful. That punchy low end sound, no high end crack, but still a really nice sound that sounded perfect for the music. I went up to check out the guys rig and found a Yamaha Maple Custom 14X20" kick with the Evans EMAD batter head and the Evans ebony head with the hole for the resonant side. He also had two massive down pillows in there and without the mic, the kick sounded really dead, no resonance of course and not a great sound by any stretch of the imagination. They used a Shure Beta 52 mic in the kick and the FOH soundman said they boosted the EQ at 80 Hz.

So, basically they took a nice little drum and choked all of the resonance out of it and then replaced the resonance with the choice of mic and EQ.

Obviously the drummer had to hear the kick in the monitor or he'd never hear it. So, if you could get a great sound like that with a good PA system with a 20"kick, it's not really necessary to use a 22 or 24" kick on a loud rock gig. I have NEVER heard a 20" drum sound that BIG in a loud setting.

[woodshed]

I use Aquarian Super Kick I heads on my 22x16 Maple Custom Absolute Kick and also on my 24x16 Recording Custom Kick. These both have Aquarian Regulator Resonant Heads with 4-inch hole off center. The 24? can get loud and boomy. [img]eek.gif[/img]

On my 20x16 Birch Custom Absolute Kick, I use the Aquarian Force I Batter and the Aquarian Regulator for the resonant side (with 4 inch offset hole). This is the best head setup that I have heard or used on the 20? kick. I have a variety of tuning possibilities and the lows are as good as my 22? kick. I really like the Aquarian Quality and performance for the Kick. [img]wink.gif[/img]

Cheers.

[FuseU1]

I went to see a friend of mine play at a smaller club here locally, & he had THE BEST soundg live kick i'd ever heard... asked him about it, & his reply was Evans EQ3 system... then i naturally asked him what mic he was using & board EQ - he then proceeded to tell me that it wasn't even mic'd [img]eek.gif[/img] [& i thought it was - & b4 u go thinkin it, i wasn't born yesterday either! [img]wink.gif[/img] [well, OK, maybe "it WAS in the dark, but it WASN'T LAST night"....]

[sashal3]

Interestingly enough,I use a an 18x20 kick with the EMAD system with the thinner ring,an EVANS RESONANT clear front with two 1 1/2 holes cut at 4 and 8 o'clock not far from the edge and nothing inside the drum at all. Usually our FOH uses a D112 placed around one of the holes. When I was touring a lot I had the old SM91 mounted on the bottom of the shell and that was quite possibly the best sounding kick I had ever heard(to me). I used a 16x22 Recording Custom (yes it's cherrywood,sorry Steve.. I'm not getting rid of it!)for years and it never had the attack and punch that my 20 has. It works for every situation including straight ahead...I highly recommend checking out some 20 kicks for those of you who may have not.....

[sashal3]

I'm always amazed when I see kick drums with pillows and blankets and whatever else can be stuffed in them. I played a festival and Carl Allen was one of the other musicians playing and he absolutely lost his f'ing mind because there were pillows stuffed in this kick. What he said really made sense though; The kick is a DRUM first and foremost and it shouldn't be stifled by what you rest your noggin' on. I just thought of that from Andy's description of the stuffed drum being mic'd and EQ'd all to hell. It's all a personal preference,but I really like the feel of a greatly tuned "open" kick. It seems like the beauty of learning how to tune to a different room gets lost sometimes with the use of technology ie.compressors,gates,etc..I would think that most would agree that there is nothing to replace a greatly tuned drum (or any instrument for that matter!) Just my opinion...

[matricks]

Hey, Randy mentioned heads for his hip gig set... who makes 16" BD heads besides Aquarian. I am using a 16" once in a while for fun but just using a G2 on it. Never really looked into actual BD heads for it.