What size bass drum do you prefer?

[fourstringdrums]

As a drummer myself I prefer a 20". Great response, and more versatile tuning wise than a 22".

 

[vroc38]

There are so many variables - tuning, woods, constuction, heads, beater, technique, etc. Not sure it's possible to make generalizations re: diameter that hold up.

 

[Mon Rominee]

There are so many variables - tuning, woods, constuction, heads, beater, technique, etc. Not sure it's possible to make generalizations re: diameter that hold up.

yes, but this isn't a "what IS the best bass drum", it's a what bass drum do you prefer

Tho I agree with what yer sayin

 

[anomalee]

22x18, wide open. good heads are a must...and i know a silver dollar trick that helps with the attack.

 

[Joey3313]

22. I use a 22x18, but to be honest, I wish I went for 22x16, simply because of the moving factor. I just use a wood beater for that attack, tune low for the deep sound, and have a pillow inside to muffle. Works for me.

But yeah, bigger than 22 is pointlessly boomy, and smaller tends to lack a whole lot of low end. And deep bass drums? I never understood that 20x20 stuff...Just trendy garbage, along with 12x7 toms.

 

[Munjibunga]

18X18.

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

I'm wondering whether anybody here has actually paid enough attention in the past to be able to tell the difference between bass drum sizes.

I also wonder if anybody here has been with enough drummers to actually have first hand experience of different bass drum sizes. 22x18 and 20x18 are pretty damn standard.

Asking "What size of bass drum do you prefer"? is like asking "do you prefer a four or five string bass?"

I also doubt whether anyone has actually talked to their drummer about his bass drum size! It's hardly something that matters.
I know plenty of drummers who can make the crappiest of kits sound killer because they know how to groove! As was said, the quality of the drummer is far more important.

Sorry about this rant. I am a drummer myself, and I believe groove and technique comes before sizes!
And just for the record, the amount of plies in a shell and type of wood/quality of construction is more likely to produce a different sound than the size of a bass drum.

Other factors may change the sound of the drum. The beater for example, can be made of wood, felt or rubber. The drummer can use a pad on the bass drum. He can muffle it using pillows etc. The amount of tension on the head will also change the sound.

You could take two drummers with identical kits, I guarantee they won't have the same sound: they will tune differently, play differently, hit differently...
The only two bass drums that will sound alike are the ones used on double bass drum kits.

Again, sorry for the rant.

 

[BassChuck]

I played a gig last week with a jazzer who had one of those lovely Gretsch maple sets... small. I love that sound. If the kick was bigger than 18" I'd be surprised. After years of R+B drumming with 22" kick I was thrilled to have control of the low end again.

You can't beat a clean, punchy sound miked and EQ'd for the room.

 

[Philbiker]

I know we're not drummers, but I do care about how the band sounds and how I sit in the mix.

I personally prefer a 20" kick drum. It's a snappy, quicker tone that's easier to control on stage. It also accents the way I play and the tone I create.

A 22" is a little too boomy, and for many stages it's overkill. Unfortunately for me, most drum kits seem to feature a 22". It

How about you?

My brother has a jazz kit with an 18" kick drum. I love the sound of that drum. IMO ANY kick drum needs to be miced even (especially) in rehearsal for me to get a good pocket/groove going.

Hey do any of you stare at the drummer's foot sometimes when you're playing?

 

[Philbiker]

My drummer has quite a few sets, mostly vintage. He uses a 22 most of the time, but he has a Rogers set from the early 60s, with an 18 inch bass drum, that he uses on gigs that require low volume or have tight set up spaces. That drum sounds STUPENDOUS miked up. It's probably his best sounding amplified bass drum.

The drummer in the acoustic trio I was in with my brother (till he moved away) had a '70 or '69 Rogers kit, that was the best sounding drumset I've ever heard.

 

[Philbiker]

22x18, wide open. good heads are a must...and i know a silver dollar trick that helps with the attack.

My friend Jeff, when he was first starting to do small-time studio work (now does major label work and has a large number of gold and platinum records on his walls) used to do the same thing with a quarter. He called it his "Instant RE-20". (referring to the Electro-Voice RE-20 microphone which was used for kick drum recording back in the day).

 

[Helstar]

funny story I know nothing about drums, but I always was drawn to a drum company called Sonar due to the tight fast snappy kick drum, well, I was actually talking to my drummer about it one day , and he started lauighing and he told me that Sonar kits usally have a smaller kick drum, and the small kick drum is what makes it fast tight and snappy. SO i guess I like a smaller kick drum

 

[velvetkevorkian]

My brother has a jazz kit with an 18" kick drum. I love the sound of that drum. IMO ANY kick drum needs to be miced even (especially) in rehearsal for me to get a good pocket/groove going.

Hey do any of you stare at the drummer's foot sometimes when you're playing?

I do this constantly, especially if he's playing something obscure and complicated.

 

[heath_the_great]

anything gretsch

but usually i totally dig 22x16 or 22x18, i did do a gig once with a gretsch usa custom kit that had a 24x18 kick and a 14x4 snare, i swear its the best sounding kit ive ever heard

 

[msquared]

I always was drawn to a drum company called Sonar due to the tight fast snappy kick drum, well, I was actually talking to my drummer about it one day , and he started lauighing and he told me that Sonar kits usally have a smaller kick drum, and the small kick drum is what makes it fast tight and snappy.

That's actually not true. Assuming you're talking about SONOR, they sell bigger kicks as well. They are tight and snappy due to the wood and construction that goes into them.

As a drummer, I find that diameter is nowhere near as important as the material and the heads, and that it really has to fit the style of music. I'd never take a 26" carbon fiber kick drum out on a jazz gig, for instance.

My all around "do anything" kick drum is a 22x18 eight ply maple drum that I built with a Keller shell. While I only sometimes get comments on my playing and never get comments on the ridiculously expensive snare drums I take out, I always get props for my kick drum. I use an Aquarian Superkick II batter head (with built in muffling) and an Aquarian Regulator with offset hole. I put nothing inside the drum itself and the shell isn't drilled for tom mounts.

I also really like 20" birch kick drums, but they're a totally different animal. These with coated single ply heads are fantastic. They don't generate a lot of stage noise, and when you mic them up it's almost impossible to get a bad kick sound through the board.

For jazz kicks, nothing beats old school Gretsch. I actually kind of dig 16" kick drums for a lot of that stuff, though 18 is the standard for a good reason.

This is quite an entertaining thread.

 

[Bard2dbone]

Well I hate hate hate admitting musical ignorance, but you got me with this thread. I did not have an opinion or preference either way with bass drum sizes. I had to actually call up the drummers I've worked with the most and discuss it.(Hey, it was an excuse to call my friends anyway, and I hadn't talked to Mark in a long time.) In the past 25 years, 98% or so of the time I've played in public with a drummer has been with one of three guys.

Mark mainly plays a '70 or so Slingerland 7-piece set with a 24" kick drum. He didn't have a tape measure handy but said it is typical for the time it was made and shallower than most modern drums, so I'm guessing 16". He has a huge boomy sound that frequently needs to be 'redamped' at a gig (Pull out the towel, put in a pillow, or something like that.) It gets lost in the mix with too many people playing, but it sounded great with a trio.

Ron had a Tama 5-piece set with a 18"x22" kick drum. That's what he used the whole time we were in a band together. He started out doing like Mark and varying the dampening inside the drum based on the place we were playing. Eventually he got a product that I don't know the name of. It's a pillow that is made to go in a bass drum. He would tip and shake the drum to have more or less pillow against the beater(batter?) head. But he doesn't have that kit anymore. Now he has Greg's old kit.

Greg was playing a 9-piece Pearl set when we first got together. He is a fairly major Peart worshipper, and I think he based his kit on one of Neil's so that he could get the same sounds with the same moves, therefore only needing to learn the actual parts Neil play the same way that Neil plays them to be able to sound just like Neil. Okay, if you're through laughing yet, I'll defend him by saying he figured out eventually that it's a lot more in the drummer than it is in the kit. So he sold the room sized kit, which I think had another 18"x22", to Ron. And bought a Roland electronic set so we could have a drummer with a volume knob. He added to the set so that now it is essentially a seven piece kit with five cymbals and two extra triggers. It's basically however big the maximum you can get on that controller is. But now the bass drum is "whatever the size of the one they sampled for this setting" sized.

 

[jive1]

I'm wondering whether anybody here has actually paid enough attention in the past to be able to tell the difference between bass drum sizes.

Enough to make comments on it. We are bassists, so we do pay attention to the drums. (at least I hope)

I also wonder if anybody here has been with enough drummers to actually have first hand experience of different bass drum sizes. 22x18 and 20x18 are pretty damn standard.

Some of us are pretty old and experienced, so yes. I know I pay attention to those types of things because I'm a stickler for the overall band sound. And personally, I like different sounding kits for different reasons.

Asking "What size of bass drum do you prefer"? is like asking "do you prefer a four or five string bass?"

Actually it's more like asking if we prefer a P or a J bass, or certain pickups and strings. It's the same instrument, just with different character. Some suit different styles or songs better.

I also doubt whether anyone has actually talked to their drummer about his bass drum size! It's hardly something that matters.

I know they say size doesn't matter, but yes I do talk to drummers about their gear. Much easier than carrying a conversation about geopolitics or metaphysics with a drummer.
But seriously, if I like how something sounds, I like to know how they did it.

And just for the record, the amount of plies in a shell and type of wood/quality of construction is more likely to produce a different sound than the size of a bass drum.

Other factors may change the sound of the drum. The beater for example, can be made of wood, felt or rubber. The drummer can use a pad on the bass drum. He can muffle it using pillows etc. The amount of tension on the head will also change the sound.

I'm sure we could discuss that, but if wanted to we'd go on the Pearl Drum forum or HC.

You could take two drummers with identical kits, I guarantee they won't have the same sound: they will tune differently, play differently, hit differently...
The only two bass drums that will sound alike are the ones used on double bass drum kits.

Again, sorry for the rant.

Well that's a given. At least I hope you feel better after the rant.

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Enough to make comments on it. We are bassists, so we do pay attention to the drums. (at least I hope)

All I'm saying is that the size really doesn't make enough difference for anyone to notice, thus for anyone to comment. If the question had been "which ply material do you prefer for a bass drum?", I think people would have had much more interesting things to say.

Some of us are pretty old and experienced, so yes. I know I pay attention to those types of things because I'm a stickler for the overall band sound. And personally, I like different sounding kits for different reasons.

Same here. Everybody likes different sounding kits, but IME the bass drum is the one drum for which size doesn't matter. There are simply too many factors that change the sound, compared to a tom. (Beaters, pads, pillows, heads, hole in reso side).

Actually it's more like asking if we prefer a P or a J bass, or certain pickups and strings. It's the same instrument, just with different character. Some suit different styles or songs better.

Yes, I suppose you are right.

I know they say size doesn't matter, but yes I do talk to drummers about their gear. Much easier than carrying a conversation about geopolitics or metaphysics with a drummer.
But seriously, if I like how something sounds, I like to know how they did it.

Like I said, I'm also a drummer, so I find it easy to talk to other drummers about gear. I may have been wrong in saying bassists don't talk to their drummers about their equipment, but if you look at it the other way: not many drummers come talk to me about my gear. IME, they just don't give a damn, no matter how great you sound.

I'm sure we could discuss that, but if wanted to we'd go on the Pearl Drum forum or HC.

You will find that the opinions on the PDF are much the same as mine...

Well that's a given. At least I hope you feel better after the rant.

Mmm, yes.

 

[dave_p]

i use a 22x18 stuffed with a blanket. i dont like too much rebound off the head. i would like to try a 20.

 

[BlacksHole]

While the larger bass drums look cooler on stage, what I prefer is a tight, non-boomy sound. I've heard that more often with the smaller bass drums, but I believe it is due to the tuning etc. as has already been mentioned. Drummers who have boomy bass drums tend to also have boomy toms and are therefore very difficult to mix.