Loud, Kaboom!!

[Fredzs]

I Currently have a ELX 22x16 Bass Drum.. I Find It Too Quiet.. Any Ideas How To Make It Louder? I Mean Louder Without Losing The Punch In It? How About Putting A Port On the Reso HEad... Will It Make It Louder?

[Vinny Ozborne,]

Try the following, it MIGHT help!

Use a Remo Power Stroke 3 Batter Head, a remo muffel ring & a Front head with NO whole.

[JonathanAKAgod]

If you want louder, stay away from 2 ply heads. The powerstroke 3, or evans EMAD are single ply heads. I myself use EMADs on my 18" deep and a powerstroke 3 on my 14" deep, not for any particular reason, just cause they both sound great. I mean, my 22x14 is really big. But yeah, you don't want to go cutting up your head and put a whole in it, because its going to provide the opposite sound that you want. . . its just goin to become "deader" sounding. But, i feel like i've written this a million times in other threads, tune your resonant head a bunch higher than your batter head. You'll get a giant punch. Just make sure you muffle the reso head when you do it. Just fool around with the tuning. here's exactly what i use to get a very loud punch

22x14:
Powerstroke 3 tuned low
Evans eq1 black resonant with pencil sized vents tuned medium high.

22x18
Evans EMAD with 2 af patches for double beater tuned low.
Evans EQ2 resonant with razor vents tuned medium high.

I get a real "carter beauford" like sound out of my bass. If you want an idea, check out the song "#41" by dave matthews band of of the CD "Crash". Thats one of my favorite drum songs by far, and it'll give you an idea of the bass sound immediately.

Hope i could help
Jonathan

[JonathanAKAgod]

Or better yet "Lazy Eye" by the goo goo dolls. I don't play much of that kind of music anymore, but the bass sound is very nice, and its a 22x16. Mike Malinin's drum tech has done the same thing on that song that i do with tuning. Its very big and boomy.

[BonhamIsBetter]

Originally posted by JonathanAKAgod
Or better yet "Lazy Eye" by the goo goo dolls. I don't play much of that kind of music anymore, but the bass sound is very nice, and its a 22x16. Mike Malinin's drum tech has done the same thing on that song that i do with tuning. Its very big and boomy.

explain, please

and if you muffled too much, that could be the problem i use minimal muffling, only a small folded up bedsheet, and my 16x22's great

[Fredzs]

my dealer has no powerstroke available, they only have.. ambassadors, control-sound black dot, pinstripes... and no evans.. i guess il be getting ambassadors with remo muffls' would that work fine??

[JonathanAKAgod]

Well, to explain, the way i tune mine. . .in a low pressure sound environment, i want people to hear the boom and punch at the same time, but i want people to hear the boomyness most of all in my 18" deep bass. When sound levels rise, the 22x18, i'll just refer to it as my 18, it becomes very punchy so you don't much hear a ton of boom in the mix. Its tuned just right so when i play in quieter sound levels, you'll hear extra oomph. Thats what i meant by big and boomy. But with a full band playing fairly loud, you can't hear that boominess. You hear more of a nice round deep punch. Much like every one using pinstripes. If they used emperors or G2's, the drums might sound louder live, but not ringy because the sound level environment with other guitars and basses. . .and in my case a sax and keyboards, you just dont hear all of the overtones some of the time. I don't play loud music, but there are just some things that any gigging drummer might wanna take into account before muffling your drums to death.

[mperry29]

try using a powerstroke 3 batter head with the equipped pearl resonant head and no muffling. this works great for me as far as volume is concerned. the powerstroke 3 should be all the muffling you need if you tune correctly. remember also that with an export (an even an srx like i have) you're not going to get a huge huge sound out of the bass drum. at least that's my experience. i've found that the better quality the drum, the bigger and fuller the bass drum sound...

[JonathanAKAgod]

mperry
how do you tune your drum, cause i get really big sounds out of my basses.

[Fredzs]

I dont care how i tune mine.. i just turn the tension rods, and get a sound.. then just adjust it up and down.. i have blanketSSS and a pillow inside my bass drum, gets around 30% of the whole bass.. i get a good punch but it wont cut through the guitar.. we have no bass, just guitar and still wont cut through.. thats only practice.. and the guitar amp is only 80W

[mperry29]

actually jonathon, today i took your advice. i've always tuned both sides of my bass drum loose, but after reading your threads i pretty much cranked up the res. side and am much happier with the punch and overall sound of the drum. thanks for the tip. do you think the res. head that's supplied with the srx with the muffling ring is enough muffling, or would i get an even bigger punchier sound if i threw a small pillow in there?

[mperry29]

i'm no expert but it sounds like the reason your drum wont cut through the guitars is because there's way too much muffling in there --a blanket and pillows?? i use a powerstroke 3 on batter side and the equipped pearl logo res. head (i believe it's powerstroke also or some equivalent with a muffling ring with no pillows or other muffling), and upon taking jonathons advice cranked the res. head up while leaving the batter side almost floppy (no wrinkles) and am impressed with the results big time. big punch, much bigger volume, still boomy enough for my tastes. in my opinion, with todays heads and quality of drum construction, there's just no need for that much muffling.

[JonathanAKAgod]

The Srx resonant head should be just fine. Infact, its probably one of your best bets sticking with that or something exactly like it. glad i could help.

[kimboy]

yea, place a port hole about 4 - 6, inch off center!

and a small pillow inside!

- thanks :)

[AntiConformist]

Originally posted by Fredzs
I dont care how i tune mine.. i just turn the tension rods, and get a sound.. then just adjust it up and down.. i have blanketSSS and a pillow inside my bass drum, gets around 30% of the whole bass.. i get a good punch but it wont cut through the guitar.. we have no bass, just guitar and still wont cut through.. thats only practice.. and the guitar amp is only 80W

You can't just "turn the tension rods and get a sound", and expect good results. There's a reason for all the discussion about tuning. In this case, you have to use mass amounts of muffling to deaden the sound to a point where you can't hear the poor tuning of the drum. On my export, I have the reso head cranked pretty tight, with the batter pretty loose, and very minimal muffling. There's no way you're going to get the sound and volume you want out of a drum half full of muffling and the tension rods randomly turned to "get a sound".

[doc_on_drums]

I get a nice punchy boom with both heads tuned the same and very close to the shell tone. On my bass that's one turn past finger tight on all tuning rods. I use minimum muffling with foam rubber (egg crate type) inside touching both heads. If you want good punch and boom as well as volume you need as much open air space inside the drum as possible. when I mic my bass it sounds a lot bigger than a 22X16.

[JMaxey79]

All This Info!!!

I just got my mmx 24x18 bd. I tried pinstripes on the batter, that was a huge mistake!!! The powerstroke3 that comes with the masters is a great drum head. I have my batter tuned just enuf to take the wrinkle out. The reso head is farely loose also. I havent had a lot of time to experiment yet..... I have a small pillow in the drum right now...... How is the best way to tune this size of drum without sacrificing the desired boom and thump? and... i hate having a pillow in such an expensive drum.... there has to be a way to tune without using a pillow or anything else. What exact roles does the reso and batter play on their own, and how do they work together? what happens if i crank the reso and leave the batter loose? what should i expect? I previously had an export kit.... tuning for that kit was so different than tuning these masters..........I basicly have to relearn how to tune my drums... they are so different...... Thank you all....

[fred]

Originally posted by Fredzs
my dealer has no powerstroke available, they only have.. ambassadors, control-sound black dot, pinstripes... and no evans.. i guess il be getting ambassadors with remo muffls' would that work fine??
Find a different dealer? or online dealer