Please Share Drum Dial Settings Bonham Sized Kit

If its so easy then explain it to him. Clearly he hasn't figured it out yet.

I felt that since another poster already provided that info in a video link, doing so again would be redundant. Don't you agree?
 
Ok Tank.....as to the specifics of this question, it certainly appears as if no-one has an answer. Perhaps it may be worth following the link in post 4, try tuning them up by ear and once you get close, lay the DD on the head and take note of the readings. Your answer won't have come through from the source you were hoping for, but you'll get your readings nonetheless.
 
Ok Tank.....as to the specifics of this question, it certainly appears as if no-one has an answer. Perhaps it may be worth following the link in post 4, try tuning them up by ear and once you get close, lay the DD on the head and take note of the readings. Your answer won't have come through from the source you were hoping for, but you'll get your readings nonetheless.
If you go back to my post #3 you will see that I suggested pretty much what you have just stated.

Here is a copy of the post.
"Bonham tuned his kit tight. There are vids both here on DW, and also the net that describe how to tune this size kit.
I would suggest researching the information and experimenting with your kit until you find the tuning that you like. Use your Drum Dial to note these settings.
That is what I did with my kits when I got my Drum Dial.

Be patient, It takes time and experimentation to learn how to use the Drum Dial to your advantage.
Once you master it, you will become fluent in tuning your kit with your dial.

John also used thick felt strips on both of the bass drum heads to get his sound. A classic approach to muffling a large drum like that. Buddy and Jean also did this on their large bass drums."



Like you said, There is no correct answer for tank's question.
In the long run tank has to work this out for himself.
Every kit that I obtain presents a tuning challenge to me and I have been playing since 1970.
All drum kits are different, There are so many variables.
There is no pat answer to tuning for a drummer and his kit.
It is a personal thing that has to be worked out in private.
 
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Greetings,

Thanks to all who have taken the time to respond. Thank you especially to bobdadruma for providing some specific Drum Dial numbers. I am like most drummers of mid level talent in that I am constantly seeking to learn more about percussion, my instruments, music in general and also refine and improve on my technique.

I have an awareness of tuning that I am constantly refining. There are a many variables to tuning a drum kit. It can not be overstated just how important tuning is. A well tuned drum kit tuned to favorably to the environment just sounds flat out awesome and is the moment in time we all seek.

I have found the Drum Dial to be a very helpful tool especially when I change tunings from one end of the spectrum to the other. It provides me with a method to connect measured tension in a drum head to a specific sound. I have become somewhat familiar with the technique and it has proved very helpful.

I hope to one day be a tuning guru and pass on my experiences.

From prior reading I know a lot of you use a Drum Dial.

I am still seeking what you may be willing to share from your experiences with the Drum Dial. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Dan
 
I have noticed that it is important to press down with your finger in the center of the head after adjusting a rod with the Dial to let the head slide over the bearing edge and seat itself again.

I have also noticed that going around the drum with the dial several times and making adjustments is important.
After going around a few times the readings will equalize.

I always make sure that I press on the center of the head every time that I place the Dial by a lug to get a true reading.

If you come across a drum that has a tension rod that always seems loose even though the dial says that the head is at tension it usually means that the bearing edge is untrue or the hoop is untrue.
Take the head off of the drum and change the clock position of the hoop and the head on the drum.
Tension the head again. If the same thing happens at the same lug then the bearing edge is probably the reason.
If the problem moves to a different lug than the head or the hoop is the problem.

You have probably also figured these things out by now.
 
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If you come across a drum that has a tension rod that always seems loose even though the dial says that the head is at tension it usually means that the bearing edge is untrue or the hoop is untrue.
Take the head off of the drum and change the clock position of the hoop and the head on the drum.
Tension the head again. If the same thing happens at the same lug then the bearing edge is probably the reason.
If the problem moves to a different lug than the head or the hoop is the problem.

Actually, I have found that it is often excessive tension on the tension rod opposite the loose one that's the culprit when this happens. First thing to check. When tuning by ear I use Gatzen's method of tapping at opposing tension rods rather than going around the drum. I find it's usually opposing pairs of tension rods that need adjustment, not just the one.

But great trouble shooting advice if that turns out not to be the case, thanks.
 
Actually, I have found that it is often excessive tension on the tension rod opposite the loose one that's the culprit when this happens. First thing to check. When tuning by ear I use Gatzen's method of tapping at opposing tension rods rather than going around the drum. I find it's usually opposing pairs of tension rods that need adjustment, not just the one.

But great trouble shooting advice if that turns out not to be the case, thanks.
I was speaking of a drum that you have already loosened and re tuned several times.
I own two drums that have had this problem. The dial shows that the same lug is at tension when it is loose consistently
I had the edge recut on one of the drums and it fixed the problem.
The other one I haven't dealt with yet.
 
Bonham never tuned his drums exactly the same, like us, its was always different.

So what's 'tight', or even "What's Bonaham tight"?

Well a good tool to get in the ball park would be the DRUM DIAL, if the Bonham green sparkle kit could be drum-dialed, you'd be as close as you can get to the holly grail.

What you 'can' do is find an era/kit of Bonham playing on YouTube or any recording, isolate a drum only portion and put a chromatic tuner to your speaker(s), you can pull notes that are pretty accurate (or at least as accurate as you can get) to the note his drum was tuned to.

Early Zepp recordings (first, second albums) have higher tunings than later stuff. The last studio recording was even done without a front head on the bass drum.

If you had taken the Vistalite set from 75' Madison Sq Garden Song Remains The Same concert home with you after the show, set it up in your space and played it, you'd most likely hate how it sounded.

Big drums (any drums actually) that are tuned tight sound different in different spaces.

The SRTSame Vista set had single ply dotted heads on it (most likely LUDWIG SILVER DOTS), other Bonham sets had different heads. Ocheltree admits "Most of the time" Bonham used coated Emperors, but not always, and Jeff was only Bonhams Tech for 2 years at the end of line, where its somewhat debatable the drums were heading the direction of a more controlled/muffled sound.

Its all subjective... if you had Bonhams sound, you'd probably 'not like it' for your playing situation(s).

Since tuning/sound 'is' subjective, the DRUM DIAL as a tool can put it into perspective. If someone was willing to do the work, they could catalog drum sets/snares with different head combinations and the drumming world would have a reference point:

i.e. a LUDWIG 400 with coated Amb top and clear Amb bottom tuned to DRUM DIAL setting X would be pretty consistent to what a group of people could achieve in different places and still hear the same sound, which is actually a cool thing. Using terms like"useful" or "relevant" are a waste of time. The DRUM DIAL is currently being used to 'create' a whole new sub-category to drum tuning.

It that respect the DRUM DIAL is a great tool, and that's one of the applications its either consciously or unconsciously being used for. Bob can tell Jim how he gets the sound he gets on the same drum w/o being in the same space at the same time and its just a matter of time b/f stuff gets cataloged. The DRUM DIAL 'is' a tuning language and its slowly 'creating' a dictionary.
 
Actually, I have found that it is often excessive tension on the tension rod opposite the loose one that's the culprit when this happens. First thing to check. When tuning by ear I use Gatzen's method of tapping at opposing tension rods rather than going around the drum. I find it's usually opposing pairs of tension rods that need adjustment, not just the one.

This is exactly the way I tuned drums from the very start. I always bounce to the opposite side of the drumhead to make sure that the opposite tension rods aren't causing a problem with the tuning sequence.

This just happened to me yesterday. I saw a new four piece set of Pearl MCX in Vintage Wine at one of the drum centers in Central PA. I told the salesperson that I was interested in them and I would like to check them out and tune them to the approximate pitches where I usually play my kits. He gave me some sticks, I asked for some 7A's or 5 A's and asked if I needed a drum key. I said no that I carried my own, lol. I started on the 10" taking the heads down to finger tightness and then tuning up, keeping the batter and resonant heads about the same pitch and also keeping the heads in tune with themselves. From there I went with the 12", 16" and lastly the 22" bass drum. The drums tuned very easily and sounded incredible with great resonace and delivered a very nice round tone without any annoying pitch bending. While I was tuning these drums one of the salespeople from the department was standing close by and mentioned that he was watching because he really hadn't had any formal instruction on tuning drums. A few minutes latter another person was also watching what was going on. After I had all the drums tuned and on their mounts, about 20 minutes latter, the first person said that he was unable to do that, even using his DrumDial and thought it was odd to be able to tune drums without any reference numbers telling him what numbers the rods where at. This is a true account, my girlfriend had to chuckle. I just smiled and continued trying out the kit.

This is definitely not the only time this has happened to us.

Dennis
 
This is exactly the way I tuned drums from the very start. I always bounce to the opposite side of the drumhead to make sure that the opposite tension rods aren't causing a problem with the tuning sequence.

This just happened to me yesterday. I saw a new four piece set of Pearl MCX in Vintage Wine at one of the drum centers in Central PA. I told the salesperson that I was interested in them and I would like to check them out and tune them to the approximate pitches where I usually play my kits. He gave me some sticks, I asked for some 7A's or 5 A's and asked if I needed a drum key. I said no that I carried my own, lol. I started on the 10" taking the heads down to finger tightness and then tuning up, keeping the batter and resonant heads about the same pitch and also keeping the heads in tune with themselves. From there I went with the 12", 16" and lastly the 22" bass drum. The drums tuned very easily and sounded incredible with great resonace and delivered a very nice round tone without any annoying pitch bending. While I was tuning these drums one of the salespeople from the department was standing close by and mentioned that he was watching because he really hadn't had any formal instruction on tuning drums. A few minutes latter another person was also watching what was going on. After I had all the drums tuned and on their mounts, about 20 minutes latter, the first person said that he was unable to do that, even using his DrumDial and thought it was odd to be able to tune drums without any reference numbers telling him what numbers the rods where at. This is a true account, my girlfriend had to chuckle. I just smiled and continued trying out the kit.

This is definitely not the only time this has happened to us.

Dennis

Nice narrative there. That pretty much sums up how people treat these things as a crutch; not willing to do something the right way. These kids today... ;-)

It should be treated as the tool that it is, as bobda explained.
 
This is exactly the way I tuned drums from the very start. I always bounce to the opposite side of the drumhead to make sure that the opposite tension rods aren't causing a problem with the tuning sequence.

I do wish I had learned this sooner than I did!
 
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