Kit Size Problem

[Barefoot_Drummer]

Hi,

I have a problem with the size of my Tama Rockstar Kit. The kit has a 22" kick, 10", 12" and 14" toms, and a 14" snare (Rim sizes).

I have recently become aware that the size of the kit has a detrimental effect on my playing. This is caused by the fact that I am forced to sit on the stool at a height where the top part legs before my knees are sloped downwards. This means I don't get a full amount of power to my feet and so my bass drum technique is suffering. If I lower the height of my stool I find I am unable to reach the bass drum mounted toms properly, and no amount of tweaking them seems to make it any easier to play.

I am 16 years old and have found that I can play much better on other people's kits and on kits in drum stores, which is what made me question why I wasn't getting such good results at home.

Any suggestions to help me improve my set-up or style would be greatly appreciated!!

[audiotech]

You're really the person that has to explore the possibilities of what's going on here. Why can you play the kits in the drum stores and not yours? Do the kits in the drums stores have a smaller diameter bass drum permitting the rack tom placement to be lower? What would happen if you lowered your seat a bit, would it be impractical for you to reach the rack toms? At the present time, so you have your rack toms basically flat? If you do, lower your seat and slightly angle your rack toms toward you. Unless you are short for a sixteen year old, there really shouldn't be a problem concerning a 22" bass drum unless your rack toms are very deep such as 10" x 9" or 12" x 10 or 11".

Try to give us some more details.

Dennis

[GRUNTERSDAD]

The most comfortable and less tiring way to sit in my opinion is with the thighs higher than the knees. You can get the same power and will tire less easily than if your knees are higher than the hips. You should be OK unless it is extreme. I am 5'8" and play 8, 10, 12, 14 toms and have no problem.

[Barefoot_Drummer]

Yes I do think the issue is that the size of the bass drum is causing the toms to be impractically high, and angling them actually makes them higher, as it means the rims need to be raised slightly further away from the bass drum to stop them rubbing against it.

[Moldy]

Invest in a $20 Tama multiclamp and trade up for a sturdy cymbal stand (if you dont have one that's extremely stable). Mount both the toms to the cymbal stand with the clamp. That way, you can lower and raise them as you please without worrying about the bass drum being in the way.

The downside is that the floor tom is farther away, so you have to twist a little bit to hit it, and it's harder to do rolls into it.

Also, for your next kit, if the problem persists, you might want to get a 20x20 bass drum, depending on your musical tastes of course :)

[Barefoot_Drummer]

The idea of putting my bass-drum mounted toms on a separate stand has just occurred to me. The only drawback I can see right now is that this amy cause problems of limited space.

The kit would be set up like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdDTd0kiMtI

Is this a good solution to my problem?

[GRUNTERSDAD]

Thats a great solution. It also lets you put your ride cymbal where the rack tom was on the right side and makes it more comfortable. You can also put it lower which leaves room for other cymbals to be in more comfortable reach. You may want to invest in a rack at some point and give yourself more possibilities.

[Moldy]

Yeah, definitely a good idea. It'll feel more natural playing the toms too, as they're right in front of you. I had a Tama Rockstar kit just like you and it helped me. As for taking up more space, not really, it just shifts everything around a bit. As long as you think in terms of 3D and remember you can move cymbals to different heights and contort things a bit, it shouldn't take up much more room at all, if any more.

[stabmasterarson]

I have a tama rockstar kit with the 8,10,12 rack toms and I ended up getting a rack to mount the toms closer to me than where I could place them using the kick drum mounts. I sit with the tops of my legs angling down a bit, and a bit back from the kit so I can play better double bass, my legs sit at an obtuse angle with my snare between my crotch and belly button in height. I'm 5'7" tall.

I don't think the kit is the problem you just need to play around with your setup. Maybe get a stand to hang your toms off of if you can't afford a rack, but I would highly recommend one.

[Mikecore]

I see the problem right away looking at your video....deep toms plus enormous bass drum. I would say that short-stack (or Hyperdrive) toms plus a rack will probably put those toms in just the right place without worrying where the bass drum is or what size it is.

[dairyairman]

as soon as i saw this thread i knew what your problem is. your problem is that tama rockstar kits have especially deep toms. i had a tama rockstar kit and i'm familiar with the issue. if you mount them on your bass drum and flatten them out, they end up being quite a bit higher than your snare. i'm fairly tall so it wasn't such a humongous issue for me, but for someone shorter i can see where it'd be a problem. i got a new mapex kit recently and the toms are an inch shorter all around. it's definitely easier to get them down lower and into a more playable position. those kits you played in the store are probably more like my mapex kit and that's why they're easier to play.

[nicotine25]

One thing that I did when I ran into the same problem is that I set up the drums with one rack tom and two floor toms. So in essence put the 10 where your 12 is at and then use 12 and 14 as floor toms. this allows you to place the 10 even lower and closer to your snare

[cnw60]

in addition to mounting both small toms on a stand as has been suggested, you can also reverse the toms, mounting the 10 on the right and the 12 on the left. This puts the shallower tom over the bass drum which lets you set both of these toms an inch or two lower than if they were mounted 'normally'.

Of course this also means you'll have to adjust to your toms being arranged differently and it can be a little odd playing descending fills and not being able to just sweep around the toms like you're used to. But then again you might like the new setup.

I also found the Tama double tom mounting bracket that fits a bass drum mount will also fit directly into the base of an LP bongo stand. That way, you don't need a multi-clamp and a new tom mounting bracket. The LP stand is heavy duty (heavier than my Tama RoadPro stands), and it's compatible with the memory lock collar of the tom bracket too.