Hole on Resonant head for a 18" bass drum?

[freehandstyle]

Hey guys, I just got myself an 18" bass drum.

I got an amazing deal off craigslist and it's basically a Stage Custom floor tom converted to Bass drum with woodhoops/clamps/bass drum legs.

Now it comes with an EMAD (quite worn) batter and a Black Ebony Ambassador as a reso.

Ideally I wanna bring the sound to be as low as possible with a small punch to it so to speak.
As of now i'm experiencing a more boingy/ringy sound from the bass drum.

Now, I'm wondering if I should make a tin can size hole on the reso. Would this give me the punch and lower end I'd want? thanks

[harryconway]

I had a Yamaha 20x14 marcher that I turned into a kick, and I ran a clear Powerstroke 3 batter, and an ebony Powerstroke 3 reso. It's probably the Ambassador reso. in your current combo. that's giving you some overtone/ring/open sound. If you know how to make a richie ring, DIY on the Ambassador (maybe use the worn out EMAD as the donor head), and replace just the batter, at first. (if money's tight). Since a Powerstroke 3 is basically an Ambassador with a built on richie ring, that will get you into the sound arena close. If you like that sound, you can always replace the reso. head later, with another P3, or just keep your DIY model. Another suggestion would be the old felt strip across the reso. head, to tame the Ambassador down.

[caddywumpus]

Hey guys, I just got myself an 18" bass drum.

I got an amazing deal off craigslist and it's basically a Stage Custom floor tom converted to Bass drum with woodhoops/clamps/bass drum legs.

Now it comes with an EMAD (quite worn) batter and a Black Ebony Ambassador as a reso.

Ideally I wanna bring the sound to be as low as possible with a small punch to it so to speak.
As of now i'm experiencing a more boingy/ringy sound from the bass drum.

Now, I'm wondering if I should make a tin can size hole on the reso. Would this give me the punch and lower end I'd want? thanks

If you plan on playing a bunch in situations where you will be miked and you want a more rock-type sound, then I might recommend burning the hole.

If you want your drum to sound punchy, I would try putting a felt strip across the resonant head, like people have done for years. It makes a smaller bass drum sound wonderful (I have an 18" and a 20" that I do this on). It will muffle your drum just enough to make it sound punchy at any volume. If you need any more dampening, try throwing a towel or small stuffed animal between the pedal and batter head, below the beater. Who needs EMADs anyways?!?!?

For my 18" kick, I have a couple sets of heads. For jazz or acoustic gigs, I have a pair of coated ambassadors, and I put a felt strip on the resonant head. Sounds dreamy. For miked gigs, I have an Aquarian Superkick (came with the drum...I dunno why I still use it) with a resonant head that I burned a small hole through. With the intact head, it will shake all of the windows in the entire house with its resonance. With the "holed" head, it puts out a thump, but it's not "punchy" enough to write home about. It does have a nice rock sound, though.

[Trip McNealy]

I have an 18x16 floor tom that was converted into a kick. I got it off eBay and put a Clear Evans EC2 on the batter and a Clear G2 on the resonant... basically the most focused heads one could obtain in the Evans spectrum..

Should I put a hole on the G2 side? I plan to use this kick for small cafes and open mic gigs. Right now, the drum rings almost like a floor tom does (well, it technically is! but I want to be a kick response).