Filling the bass drum

[drumbandit]

hey i was wondering does anyone and what do you put in your bass drums?? iv got some old blankets and what not does anyone do the same type thing?

[SleightOfHand]

I have Remo Pintripes for all of my batters, except for my snare, which I use a CS.

That, plus my aquarian regulator reso head on my BD, I dont need much muffling at all, and still get a nice deep thud with no overtone or bad sounds. I do how ever use a small pillow that came with my set.

[Ufipman!]

I think with modern heads like Aquarian Superkick II or Remo Powerstrokes you might not need anything at all in the Bass drum.

[Chip]

Odd, I got a new PS3 22" after playing on the stock head for 2+ years. All I can say is....WOW!!! Crazy difference, only problem is it only came with one Falam Slam patch, I have a double pedal and can't find them anywhere. Does anybody know where to get them? I tried ebay, no luck. I just need another single, needs to ship to Australia. Thanks.

Anyway, I used to have it completely full of heavy blankets (when I first got my kit), then I went down to a pillow (it was in there until last night when I changed it). With the muffling ring it's all ok, no pillow, but the reso (still stock) sounds really ringy. I'm going to try just a medium blanket, as that's all that will fit through the port hole. Very good bass head, I would've preferred a SKII (no cracking in the glue, I HATE that, it feels like its going to break even though I now it won't), but it's great.

I think it's stupid to completely fill the drum with blankets. There has to be some tone. Edit: Without muffling, it has a great boom, but I just want a bit more definition and punch. Both sounds are great, though.

[rmedek]

I'm a big fan of small down pillows… I have one in particular I purchased from Target that seems to eventually make its way into whatever bass drum I'm playing. It's just large enough to touch both heads, but barely, and the down seems to absorb just enough air. It might be psychosomatic but I think it sounds a lot better than other, more dense, material of the same size, like standard pillows or blankets.

[SleightOfHand]

Get an aquarian regulator bass drum reso head.

That stuffs kinda money, ya smell me?

:P

[larrylover]

i dont wanna buy and nice heads for my drums because im looking into a new kit, so i dont wanna get 22inch heads and have to buy 20 inch ones in a month. but i have a bunch of blankets and stuff. 3/4 full lol. But for my schools marching bass drums, what we do for old crappy heads is we stretch a plain white sheet across the bear drum without a head or rim, then we just screw in the head like normal over the sheet and then we tune, and then cut the sheet out just outside the rim, and it sounds like nothing you've ever heard. makes me think heads should come with a sheet built in.

dunno if it works as well with kit BD's... i might give it a try this week and let u know.

[Maytridy]

I'd like to hear how well that works...sounds like a smart idea.

[atomicsoy]

Odd, I got a new PS3 22" after playing on the stock head for 2+ years. All I can say is....WOW!!! Crazy difference, only problem is it only came with one Falam Slam patch, I have a double pedal and can't find them anywhere. Does anybody know where to get them? I tried ebay, no luck. I just need another single, needs to ship to Australia. Thanks.




uh, i can see many music stores that sells the patch here in oz, i dont think its a big deal finding one.

[Chip]

i can see many music stores that sells the patch here in oz
I don't have a music store around for an hour. I meant on the net, so....... It doesn't matter now. Got it sorted, either way.

[themac5150]

Absolutely nothing.

Hey Chip, try stretching a felt strip under the reso, it'll cut down on the ringing.

[Chip]

Hey Chip, try stretching a felt strip under the reso, it'll cut down on the ringing.
It's cool, I've got a towel in there covering some reso and a little batter. Sounds amazing!!! Think Gavin Harrison's bass drum on the Futile video with a little more ring. And it's only a starter kit, it's not even a brand name kit!! Way better than I expected.

[dirtyharry]

I put wrinkled newspapers making paper balls. That's enough to remove the unwanted harmonics. I also think that many people that are muffling their 22x18 or 22x16 bass drums what they are doing is looking for a 22x14 sound without knowing. Just get a short BD.

[tmc]

hey i was wondering does anyone and what do you put in your bass drums?? iv got some old blankets and what not does anyone do the same type thing?

The only reason there's a blankey in my drum is to cradle the microphone...

-Michael

[neilpscuz]

I have a 24x14(2) and i use an Evans eq pad, very adjustable.

[photon]

Get an Evans EMAD batter head and say goodbye to pillows and blankets forever....

[d.c.drummer]

Aquarian Super Kick and especially thee Evans EMAD head and sytem have cured that problem for me personally.

Other wise i would but some studio foam. Light wieght and dampens just enough.

[Bruce M. Thomson]

Get an Evans EMAD batter head and say goodbye to pillows and blankets forever....

Make sure you buy the matching resonet head, it works much better.

[bighaibigdrums]

1 feather pillow
20 charctures

[Skitch]

hey i was wondering does anyone and what do you put in your bass drums?? iv got some old blankets and what not does anyone do the same type thing?
I use a product known as a "Punch Pad" with a Resonant front and a clear Remo PS3 batter. The EMAD is okay but is not appropriate for all situations.


Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

[The_Chaotic_One]

Odd, I got a new PS3 22" after playing on the stock head for 2+ years. All I can say is....WOW!!! Crazy difference, only problem is it only came with one Falam Slam patch, I have a double pedal and can't find them anywhere. Does anybody know where to get them? I tried ebay, no luck. I just need another single, needs to ship to Australia. Thanks.

Anyway, I used to have it completely full of heavy blankets (when I first got my kit), then I went down to a pillow (it was in there until last night when I changed it). With the muffling ring it's all ok, no pillow, but the reso (still stock) sounds really ringy. I'm going to try just a medium blanket, as that's all that will fit through the port hole. Very good bass head, I would've preferred a SKII (no cracking in the glue, I HATE that, it feels like its going to break even though I now it won't), but it's great.

I think it's stupid to completely fill the drum with blankets. There has to be some tone. Edit: Without muffling, it has a great boom, but I just want a bit more definition and punch. Both sounds are great, though.

Dude where in NSW are you?

[Jay.B.]

I used to have a pinstripe batter head with a remo mufl ring, still have a remo mufl ring on the reso head, and used to have a folded up pair of old curtains in my bass drum, then I got the evans EMAD and the curtains came out, got a bigger sound without much ring at all, got to see what it's like recorded yet though, but apparently it sounded huge through the PA at our last gig

[TitanSound]

Just a small blanket touching the reso head. Aquarian SKII on the batter and yes...big thump with not too much ring when put through the PA.

[Stu_Strib]

Get an Evans EMAD batter head and say goodbye to pillows and blankets forever....

I agree. I was running EQ2 with EQ3 reso head and needed a large pillow. Now I'm running coated Emad2 with coated EQ3 and the bass drum is empty. You get a much fuller tone that way, that isn't boomy or ringy. The only thing is the reso head has a bit of a boing sound to it so I put the evans pillow in there barely touching the head.

[lildrummerman03]

I have an Aquarian Superkick II head for my batter side, and and Evans eq3 reso on my Pearl Export Forum Series kit. I purchased tone-foam, and put that on the inside of my reso head, just enough to get rid of unwanted overtones. I used to use a pillow and a bed sheet inside of the drum, but with the new heads, and some dampening with tone-foam, I have taken the pillows and sheet out of the inside of the bass drum.

[MapleCustom2B]

Inside a 24" Oak Custom:
PowerStroke III Clear Batter Head with Falam Slam impact pad
Evans pillow inside
Coated Ambassador Front Head

Inside a 22" Maple Custom:
PowerStroke III Clear Batter Head with Falam Slam impact pad
small cushion from an old couch
smooth white Ambassador Front Head

Nothing too special and I typically get an extraordinary kick sound that people marvel over!

TwoBee

[jollymosher]

ive got a superkick 1 (for the record self muting drums... SUCK!) i also have a towle taped to up by the head... and then an emad front (also sucks) and then like 5 rags and felts and such up in there to... kick sounds pretty good... but it took to much Moding to get it there... screw self muting heads... powerstrokes and g2s and eq3+eq4black

[pdp 9091]

i HATE when people put blankets in bass drums.....a pillow is ok but come on...a blanket...that totaly kills the true sound of a shell. The most im going to use on my bass drum is felt strips

[deltadrummer1]

i HATE when people put blankets in bass drums.....a pillow is ok but come on...a blanket...that totaly kills the true sound of a shell. The most im going to use on my bass drum is felt strips

Not if you place it in there just right. You can still get that true rich sound of the shell with a blanket. It just dampens it a bit. But felt strips work nicely too...

[Salicete]

hey i was wondering does anyone and what do you put in your bass drums?? iv got some old blankets and what not does anyone do the same type thing?



What is it about the sound of your BD that you don't like and want to change? Often some tweaking to the tuning, or a head change can fix an issue.

If the answer is that you like the sound of the drum, then "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it."

Good luck either way!

[Timbali]

I use an Aquarian Super Kick 2 on the beater side and an Aquarian black resonant w/hole on the front. I use two Evans EQ pads--one facing front-one facing back--with the pillows just barely laying on the heads, so they bounce when I hit the drum. It kind of "pre-gates" the drum before the signal hits the PA gear.

I also use an Aquarian Kick Patch (I think that's what they're called) to add a bit of top end "click" to the kick drum sound--and to add a little longevity to the head.

[Miggle]

do you tape the pillows or something? should the pillows touch the heads?

my bass is very boomy, fortunaltely the batter has a ring so there's no ring at all. I want to give it a bit more focus

[Miggle]

OK, has a ring but no ring is confusing.
I mean theres a second ply at the 1.5" outer part of the head which dampens the potential ringing

[Stu_Strib]

Well I'm back to a pillow inside for that funky, flat sound.

[fourstringdrums]

Absolutely nothing. I just have the stock Gretsch reso head with plastic muffling ring and a hole cut in it and an Evans EQ4 for the batter.

[rhydianjlewis]

in my bottom of the range beginner kit's bass drum i hav a pillow like the sort u wud put ur hed on to sleep, upright along th side so that it just touches both heads, slightly more on the batter side.

[DrumBuster]

I have a 9" wide cylindrical pillow which is 22" long which fits perfect in my bass drum. Pushed against the reso it sounds brilliant.

[cjl71178]

No blankets & No pillows...I'm not a fan of "muffling" any drum. The only time I use muffling on my bass drum is when I use my front Ludwig reso head on (which has the old Buddy Rich style BR logo...except it's CL for my initials). I'll use either a felt strip or an Evans EQ kick pad to rest against the head.

[thumper]

Batter heads have evolved enough so that pillows, blankets and stuff like that are unecessary. I have used an Aquarian PS 1 on my old 18" Tama Stagestar , and now I'm using an Evans' EMAD on my Yamaha SC Nouveau 22", and either of these heads, when tuned correctly, eliminates the use of any additional muting.

[Deathmetalconga]

No blankets & No pillows...I'm not a fan of "muffling" any drum. The only time I use muffling on my bass drum is when I use my front Ludwig reso head on (which has the old Buddy Rich style BR logo...except it's CL for my initials). I'll use either a felt strip or an Evans EQ kick pad to rest against the head.


Agreed. I wouldn't muffle my bass drum for the same reason I wouldn't muffle my toms or snare: it kills the sound. You can accomplish control by selecting thicker heads.

[MRA Drummer]

I use a Powerstoke II, it's really nice, a nice deep thud. I don't know the head on my reso side, but its got a semi thick layer of paint on it and I think it's amazing, my friend did it before I bought the drumset from him. The bass is 24x16, its amazing sounding :)

[spartacus1989]

Pick the right drum head, you will need no muffling at all.

if you don't, fill the bass drum with 1/8th of polystirine S's

[Cymbalrider]

I have two Fiberskyn powerstroke heads on my bass with felt strips behind each one and this drum is just as controlled as a moderately sized pillow and A LOT lighter. I cannot emphasize how much the felt strip trick still works. Drummers have done this liitle trick for decades. It works I must say.

[byebyepanda]

I'm absolutely having trouble finding a good versatile bass batter head. I dont like filling my BD with anything. I play mostly rock and jazz. I have a 14x20 bass drum.

So I narrowed my choices down to a EMAD or a Superkick II.

Help?

[The Ploughman]

Get the EQ3 dry vented ..........ye will love it.

[crazyhorse]

I'm absolutely having trouble finding a good versatile bass batter head. I dont like filling my BD with anything. I play mostly rock and jazz. I have a 14x20 bass drum.

So I narrowed my choices down to a EMAD or a Superkick II.

Help?


Super Kick II. End of thread.

[byebyepanda]

Any reasons?

20202020

[crazyhorse]

panda: It's just the best head I've ever tried hands down. In fact, everyone that's played my bass drum has gone out and bought one themselves if that gives you any idea. Nice controlled sound without being completely dead and you don't need ANY muffling inside the drum at all.

[The Ploughman]

I think you could take the crappiest head you could find, glue cardboard to it, and wet it down, and you would have an excellent imitation of the SK.
I dont like them.

[crazyhorse]

lol I guess I should add that it's great for people that want a really punchy bass head.. if you prefer something with more ring, it's not for you =)

[rockinrider]

Years ago, before sound control heads, I put a small pillow in the drums to kill the ringing. Later, I read that Rikki Rocket put those Styrofoam packaging peanuts in his drum. I tried that and it sounded great. Except, the peanuts disintegrated and turned to pink dust. What a mess!

Now, I use a Powerstroke 3 and need little or no muffling. However, I will use plastic grocery bags on occasion.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w302/rockinrider_photos/Drums/DSC00802.jpg

Notice that I put only enough bags to touch both heads. The bags have little or no bulk and have little effect on the overall sound. They simply remove the ringing. The BOOM is still there.

Choose plastic over paper! lol
http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w302/rockinrider_photos/Drums/DSC00805.jpg

[Mikecore]

Evans EMAD.








You're welcome.

[byebyepanda]

Super Kick II is looking good right now against the EMAD. Any one care to convince me otherwise?

I NEED REASONS FOLKS :P

[fourstringdrums]

Super Kick II is looking good right now against the EMAD. Any one care to convince me otherwise?

I NEED REASONS FOLKS :P

I prefer the SKII over the EMAD any day, atleast from my experiences with using it on my 20's and 22's. It had too much attack, and with my technique and leg strength issues, I had a hard time getting clarity with multiple strokes. I've even tried the coated models and wasn't impressed. I may try it on the 18 though, that may possibly make a difference.

[joeysnare]

any suggestions for that really clicky deathmetal style bass sound?

[bighaibigdrums]

any suggestions for that really clicky deathmetal style bass sound?

Pillow, Metal Danmar pad, wooden beater.

[joeysnare]

lol ok just checking,oddly i pretty much have that,except it a gibraltar carbon graphite click pad.

[hook & lateral]

i dont wanna buy and nice heads for my drums because im looking into a new kit, so i dont wanna get 22inch heads and have to buy 20 inch ones in a month. but i have a bunch of blankets and stuff. 3/4 full lol. But for my schools marching bass drums, what we do for old crappy heads is we stretch a plain white sheet across the bear drum without a head or rim, then we just screw in the head like normal over the sheet and then we tune, and then cut the sheet out just outside the rim, and it sounds like nothing you've ever heard. makes me think heads should come with a sheet built in.

dunno if it works as well with kit BD's... i might give it a try this week and let u know.
If you don't want to buy new heads or spend the extra cash for an EMAD or something along those lines, then do this--buy a roll of self-sticking foam weatherstripping, the kind used to seal windows. There are different sizes for weatherstripping, so make sure you get something substantial, like 1/2" wide by 1/2" thick, and you'll need approx. 6 feet in length for a 22" diameter bass drum.

Apply it to the inside of the batter head along the edges (so that the side of weatherstripping makes contact with the inside of the bass drum shell--just make sure the adhesive side is applied to the drum head, not to the drum shell).

This should cost you no more than $5, and the bass drum will sound great. If the drum is still too boomy, try tuning the resonant head, and if that doesn't take care of it, you can apply a strip of felt on the inside of the resonant head, as already suggested.

[byebyepanda]

$15-20 for a Super Kick II. Yay or nay?