My drum sounds like a basketball!!!

Rjmdrums

Junior Member
I recently scored a used set of ludwig classic maples; they are about six months old and they are gorgeous. The only problem is that they sound like I am hitting a basketball when I hit them hard.

The floor toms have one air hole while the rack toms have two. The shells are very thin - thinner than I have ever had. They sound great when I hit them softly, but again, like a basketball when hit hard (If you take a stick and hit a basketball - there is a ringing sound).

Right now they have coated Evans G2s on top and G1s on bottom. (I have experimented with various tunings, ex. really loose, really tight, medium, etc)

Has anyone ever experienced this? Any solutions? I was thinking of adding an air hole to the floor toms - Anyone think this is a good idea?

Thanks!!

Ron
 
How old are the heads? Sounds like a tuning issue to me.
 
When you say it sounds like hitting a basketball with a stick,are you talking about the really hi pitch ringing sound that occurs inside the ball? Or are you talking about the normal ring from toms like Homeularis is reffering too?
 
Please try some new heads before you go coring a new hole in any drums. That's a great head combo just sounds like you need new heads batter and resos. Start at lowest tuning, past the wrinkles and tighten up from there.
 
I've had the same issue with a kit as well, a real "Boingy" sound... like an overinflated basketball.

I've tried different heads, coated and clear, different resonant heads, and haven't found a solution either. It could be that not enough air is getting out of the drum. Also, the interior of the drum is quite glossy, I had a random thought that it could be too reflective in there??

Frustrating though!!
 
my bass drum sounded like what you describe when I first got it ( catalina jazz with a 18 x 16 bass drum) I didn't have a bass drum riser at first and was just sitting it on a phone book. I de tuned the heads, then tuned them back up...but tuned as low as I could get it, and built a riser out of sheet metal, to get it up off the ground, and now it sounds really really good, so hopefully there is a solution to yours also.
 
That is definitely a head/tuning issue. You absolutely DO NOT need to drill another hole in those drums for this purpose. I've got a set of the classic maples with one vent hole and they sound gorgeous played softly or pounded viciously.

In fact, probably 90+ percent of drums made have only one vent hole...

Heads. Tuning. Definitely.
 
I don't know what ludwig coats the inside of their shells with,but if the int was sanded as smooth as a babys butt and coated with to much sealer and was buffed smooth as glass,the air moves to quickly and causes that sound,I would try a head change on one drum,and check the interior while I was at it,tap the wood with your fingernail,and if that is real bright sounding that could be your problem.I found out the hard way when I sanded and treated the inside of a maple interior 3 ply ludwig kit with satin poly,made that kit sound like a basket ball for sure.
 
Modern Classic Maples are coated with a satin clear finish inside. That is not the cause of the basketball sound. There are literally thousands of people using these drums without this issue - the drum isn't the problem.

Heads. Tuning.
 
Yeah, no holes please. You can go as extreme as you want on the damping (muffling) on the drumheads to kill some or all of the ringing.
Maybe you should go with some Evans EC2"s over your G1's.

If that doesnt kill the ring to your liking, you could put some Evans EC Resonant heads on, or use Moongels or damping rings.
 
In my experience, the tuning interval between the batter and resonant heads is usually the culprit when something like this is happening. Each shell has its own particular tuning "sweet spots" as well as "dead zones." I would definitely recommend exhausting tuning variations first. It's hard to know without hearing it or examining the drums first hand, though.

I own a set of Classic Maples and they sound great at all dynamic levels with the air vents as-is. They do have the capacity to really sing if tuned accordingly. Many of us covet that in a drum. I wouldn't dream of messing with drilling extra holes in the shells!
 
Thank you to everyone for the responses. I will try address all of the issues raised in the posts: the heads are brand new - the previous owner put them on as part of the sale. I retuned them from completely loose to what the drum sounds like it wants to be. I had not heard of the issues related to the interior coating (type of finish) - I will have to check on that tonight.
The sound I am getting is, one person put it, the ringy, boingy, sound inside of a basketball. This is not the normal "drum ring" sound. I have a set of chrome wrapped maple Ludwigs (3 ply) and they don't have this problem.

I am going to try some emperors on top and ambassadors on bottom.

Thanks again to everyone - hopefully I can get this figured out!! I am going to start with looking at the interior of the drum.

Ron
 
Interesting... Please keep us posted. I have not experienced that sort of ringing your speaking of. Does it ring like that on both heads? If you mute the bottom head with your hand does the top still ring like that? How about the bottom head if you mute the top?
 
In my experience, the tuning interval between the batter and resonant heads is usually the culprit when something like this is happening.

This has been my experience as well. I could tune a drum for boingy if I wanted to.

Listen to what IDDrummer says, as modified by 8 mile.
 
That makes sense.....
 
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