floor tom or rack tom? help!

[bohnamismygod]

hello

which one will you choose? taye studio maple 16/16 floor tom or 16/13 rack tom? looking for warm-sounding tom without overtones.

and does the fact that floor toms have more drills than rack toms is vital for the sound? I think the less drills the better sound, but...

[masonni]

Generaly the more holes in a drum the more you kill the tone. That's whay those snare drums you see with the big holes cut in the shell are super loud, but have no tone.
BUT, the more lugs you have on a kit, the more tuning range you have the the heads.

I would go with a 14" x 16" floor tom. I just got one with my new kit and it sounds better than any 16" x 16" I ever had!

[msj67]

It depends what sound you're looking for, but in my experience, a 16x16 is quite "boomy" and harder to control as far as tuning, than a 16x13 or 16x14 size tom (whether it's on legs or hangs on a mount).

[bohnamismygod]

yeah, the perfect one will be probably 16/14 floor tom with cradle instead of legs... but it's impossible, I can get only 16/16 floor or 16/13 rack tom.

on the other side, John Bonham's sound was sooo great and he was using 16/16. Buddy Rich also.

[tommapex]

I have both sizes in my setup, a 16" x 13" hanging tom (on my right) and a 16" x 16" floor tom (on my left). They are Mapex Pro Ms (maple). The 16" x 13" has an Aquarian Studio-X batter head and an Aquarian Classic Clear reso. The 16" x 16" has an Aquarian Super-2 coated batter head and a stock Remo UT reso. The 16" x 16" is deep and resonate with no overtones and I don't consider it boomy. The 16" x 13" is a little less deep and it's resonate with a very small amount of overtones. Both drums are tentioned the same way. 72 batter 74 reso on my Drum Dial.

BTW, I love the new Super-2 coated heads. They are very warm and focused sounding with no overtones. I think I'll be switching to these heads on all my toms.

[d.c.drummer]

Go floor tom. Because of the weight and size of the 16, it will tip over any sub-par stand you try to put it on. The sound difference really isn't that amazing either. GO with the floor, gain manuverability and need 1 less extra heavy duty stand.

[bohnamismygod]

one another thing - I decided to go 16/16 floor and 13/10 rack, and I'm going to have virgin bass druma and mount the rack one on the cymbal stand with I also know that Taye hardware isn't really great.

do you think that 13/10 tom will hold it's position on TC91 clamp by Taye? cause I don't want it to vibrate too much after hitting...

[Mendozart]

Go floor tom. Because of the weight and size of the 16, it will tip over any sub-par stand you try to put it on. The sound difference really isn't that amazing either. GO with the floor, gain manuverability and need 1 less extra heavy duty stand.

I just turned my Keller shelled DW 14x16 hanging tom into a floor tom. I ordered the kit (legs and mounts) and installed them yesterday. It looks totally factory and is way more sturdy than before. There's no resonance difference that I can tell, it sounds great.

[macmarkus]

i would go with mendozart ... then you have the best of both worlds.

@ mendozart
what system did you order? gauger?
i'm very interested because i want to do the same ...

[TopCat]

16 x 13 with legs is what i'd go for.

[Mendozart]

i would go with mendozart ... then you have the best of both worlds.

@ mendozart
what system did you order? gauger?
i'm very interested because i want to do the same ...

Actually, I ordered the DW kit that mounts on the drum. I drilled six holes total (2 holes per mount) I had been debating about the suspension systems, but as I researched further into this I decided I wanted a regular floor tom.

[mikeybbdrummin]

I think the 16in mounted tom is more versitle as far as set up goes. Higher or lower. For me depending on the surface I set up on the legged floor tom can some times move around. The mounted tom would solve that problem.

[Mendozart]

I think the 16in mounted tom is more versitle as far as set up goes. Higher or lower. For me depending on the surface I set up on the legged floor tom can some times move around. The mounted tom would solve that problem.

Wow, I've been playing for 30 years with a floor tom and not once have I had a floor tom move around on me. What I like about a floor tom is how easy it is to place it. With a hanging tom you have to deal with the mount and stand and angling and heighth. It's not as solid feeling either. Just my 2 cents.

[Exident]

Hey,

go for the 16x16 floortom. Floortom with legs is very comfortable to adjust. They have a warm and deep sound, but with the right heads you can get them to high sound with and real pitch.

So a 16x16 floortom has more "soundoptions". A 10" tom is high and can be just higher. A 16x16 floortom is deep and can be high too.

16x16 would be my choise.

MfG
Tobias

[macmarkus]

@ mendozart

thanks for answering me ... i don't want to drill; i'll take gauger.

[Mendozart]

Here's a pic of the floor tom with newly installed legs. The floor tom sounded great. I was using a 16x16 on my previous set and this thing was just as powerful.

[Jeremy]

there is a huge difference between a 16 x 13 rack and a 16 x 16 floor tom.

the 16 x 16 floor will have more low end, have way more overtones, and longer sustain. it will also be harder to tune. it will be much easier to place, tilt, move, and keep stable.

the 16 x 13 rack will have about equal sustain (less than floor because of less depth, more than floor because of less drilling), a much clearer tone, a little less low end, and be much easier to tune. it will make placement, moving, stabilizing, and dealing with hardware in general much harder though, because you'll either have to get a dedicated tom stand or put in on a cymbal stand and deal with balance.

i think the best solution would be to get a 16 x 14 floor tom. best of both worlds.