Powersonic Bass Drum Head

Jim Cartwright

Junior Member
Hi
Has anyone any experience of using a Powersonic as batter head?
I have just bought a Sonor 3007 and put a Powerstroke 3 on batter and used the Sonor dampened head as reso. This is a very good sound but most of the gigs we play, the drums are not miced and I want the most powerful, punchy, resonant live sound possible.

I was thinking Powersonic on batter and use the Powerstroke 3 as resonant head, without a port. They are expensive of course, so I don't want to waste my time and money ( I've done that often enough in the past!)

So, will this combination do the business for a live, unmiced sound?

Any thoughts please.
Cheers
Jimbo
 
the Remo PowerSonic is my favorite bass drum batter head of all time! it gives you bass drum a deep, punchy sound right out of the box, and even comes with a free Falam impact patch!

get it, you won't be disappointed. it's well worth the money.

in fact, I should get one for my new kit... I had one on my old kit and I loved it.
 
I picked up a powersonic for my sons 3007’s. We installed it, hit it a few times… retuned hit it a few times. Tuned again played a bit more and pulled it off!

The next day I picked up a SK1 and SK2 and never looked back. Home vs gig kit.

We found the powersonic to be dead and lifeless. I suspect that Live and unmiced you want a thin and open head to get more volume.

We put a SK2 on the gig kit strictly for durability concerns (it’s always miced) as his kit if often the kit for the night @ a 3 or 4 band show.
 
^ I have to agree with this. IMO Remo are WAY behind when it comes to kick drum heads and to me it felt they only released the Powersonic as a half rate attempt at contributing to a style that Evans and Aquarian have mastered.

I too own a Force 3007 kit, and after trying all three major brands, have settled permanently on the Aquarian Superkick 1 head. The Powersonics were terrible on the 3007 kick, and also tried them on Tama Starclassics and Mapex Saturns with no joy.
 
NO. If you want resonance, don't buy this head. If you've seen the amount of padding and muffling on this head you'll understand why you shouldn't get it. If anything I'd suggest getting an Evans EMAD. At least there you can choose between a more open sound and a more muffled sound.

If you want a completely dead bass drum, buy this head.
 
Don't. Just don't. You're going in precisely the opposite direction from what will work.

You need to learn something it took me forever to learn: a bass drum that's muffled suitable for miking will not be heard through the band unmiked.

For unmiked playing you need a fat, resonant sound with some sustain. Quite the opposite of what you hear on recordings and nothing like that nice, short "thud" we so often strive for.

Use only slightly pre-muffled heads. PS3 and EQ4 are great, an Emad at the very most. No port. Take everything out of the drum.

Next: you must tune above JAW. ("Just above wrinkle.") JAW is a fine place to tune miked bass drums. Start with the reso at JAW. Very gradually increase tension, no more than 1/8-1/4 turn at a time, using two keys at opposite sides of the head. Stop and strike the drum in the center of the head after each increase. Eventually the head will start to make a real tone with some bottom end and sustain. Stop there. Now do the batter the same way, except bring it very slightly higher. As you add tension to the batter you'll get more attack and less sustain, and the higher you go the softer the drum will become. Sustain is what you want, so don't overdo it. This tuning is higher than JAW, but not by much, so increase tension gradually so you don't miss the sweet spot.

The proof of all of this is when you have someone else play your drums while you go out in the audience and listen. With that powersonic crap or a drum full of futons you simply won't hear it. More open heads with the tuning above and yer cookin'.

Anecdote for those bored enough to still be reading: At one of my kid's gigs last week in a club-sized venue, the sound guy told us he didn't have enough inputs to mike the kit, but he would put a mike on the bass drum "because you'll need it." I told him we had a ported reso in the car if he wanted it, he said he'd try miking the unported reso just for grins and see how that worked out. So the drum is set up exactly as above, for unmiked.

Five minutes into sound check, sound guy walks up and takes the mike away. It was unnecessary. Looks at me as if to say, "WTF?"
 
Re: Powersonic Bass Drum Head + beater position

Hi
And thanks very VERY much for the replies, this has stopped me from wasting a lot of time and effort ( and money.)
My next question fits in with the theme of the original and is not really a new thread - drum tech dad can probably answer this one as he obviously has a lot of experience with the acoustic sound of drums heard through a band.
- Is the middle of the bass drum really the 'sweet spot' ? This position feels very low on my pedal and I would prefer the beater in a higher spot. I play heel up and bury the beater ( solid felt) into the head, I also use a falam slam pad, which I think adds extra focus to the sound. I've not seen this query before on the forums, so I would be interested if the 'strike' position on the bass drum head alters the sound quality.

Thanks for any contributions

Jimbo
 
Hi Jimbo,

Some guys like the sound better with the beater a little off-center, i.e., above or below the center. Why not try it?

It comes down to whether you like the sound and whether you like the feel of the longer beater stroke.
 
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