Resonant bass head

MadJazz

Silver Member
I have a clear EMAD paired with a black P3 with hole and and want to dry the sustain out. Should I...

- Buy a resonant EMAD
- Buy a coated P3 or coated EQ3
- Muffle the resonant with remo mufflers or with a towel

Can you get the REMAD rings separately? That would save me the cost of getting a new head.
 
I have a clear EMAD paired with a black P3 with hole and and want to dry the sustain out. Should I...

- Buy a resonant EMAD
- Buy a coated P3 or coated EQ3
- Muffle the resonant with remo mufflers or with a towel

Can you get the REMAD rings separately? That would save me the cost of getting a new head.

Do you mean PS3?

Plenty of dead heads available. If you want to save money, use a towel, pillow, or futon in the bass drum, or felt strips under the head.

Play with the tuning. If it is a PS3, keep it at JAW--they don't open up with sustain unless they're higher than that.

This road will lead you to a bass drum that may sound good when miked. Be advised, though, that all these things make the drum softer. Unless you are playing with a very soft band in a very small venue, if you're unmiked the drum will be all but inaudible from the audience.
 
P3 = powerstroke3

Let me assure you that the kick is loud. The attack is allright but the sustain is a bit too wet.

Is the REMAD worth it? Quite expensive for just adding a foam ring to what I've already got.
 
I would recommend using felt strips if you want a warm, punchy sound, but with less sustain. They sound great, plus it's cheap (if you buy a yard of felt from the fabric store, it will last you for decades, as you cut off strips when you need them).

The REMAD has problems, just like the EMAD. I haven't used one myself, but I always hear about people playing them, and the foam ring either gets blown out or sucked into the hole while playing.

I know somebody who put a thick felt strip across their resonant head with a hole. The felt and head were black, and the felt was about 4" wide, and it "covered" the hole (at a glance, it looked like a solid head) but still allowed the air to move through it. I'm going to try this some time, 'cause it sounded good and looked pretty sharp, but all of my reso heads are white at the moment...
 
Fabric or a craft store.

Yes. It's much cheaper than buying "felt strips" from a music store! ($5 for a strip of felt? Are you kidding me?!?!?) Plus, you can decide how wide you want it.

Also, you can buy a lifetime's worth of "cymbal sleeves" at a hardware store for about $1.30...just look for the appropriate-sized diameter plastic tubing, buy a yard of it, and cut it off as you need it!
 
I'll give it a try but then, why did I invest in EMAD?! Could have used two felt strips on the default P3.
 
I'll give it a try but then, why did I invest in EMAD?! Could have used two felt strips on the default P3.


Yes and you won't have a problem with them wanting to pop off like the ring on the emad has a tendency to do.
 
Do those felt strips act the same way as the rubber ring and is the result equal?

Not quite; they're better, because you can vary the amount they muffle by varying how much of the head they cross, i.e., installed nearer the edge or nearer the center.

Given that you can experiment to your heart's content for a couple of bucks, why not try them for yourself?

You say your kick is loud--cool. But all kicks, whether set up for miked or unmiked playing, sound loud from the driver's seat. The true test is to have someone else play your kit while you listen to it from 30' away in a venue-sized room. Most bass drums set up for miking are too soft when unmiked. If yours is not, I want one!
 
And what's all that about the strip interfering with the bearing edge?


Someone standing a few feet in front of it told me it was loud. I compared it to my friend's sonor which was deeper (same diameter) and mine was louder and livier. Kick and snare are the loudest pieces on the kit.

The trick imo is getting the front off the ground, keeping the top unencumbered, keeping the inside empty and letting the beater rebound. And of course, having a large enough shell which isn't too thin (mine is 22x16 beech).
Another trick is to make everything else that is too loud, softer. Most notably by picking lighter cymbals or lighter sticks.

If the shell is empty, you'll have to use premuffled heads. That's why I asked what resonant to get.
 
I want a coated P3 as a front head like you see on high-end sonor drums. It's thicker than EQ series and will sound less thin.

Looking in the remo catalogue, the coated P3 has double black rings. P3's without those rings only come in smooth white, suede and renaissance. So where do get the head that you see on the picture?
 

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And what's all that about the strip interfering with the bearing edge?

Of course it interferes. Didn't seem to be a problem for Buddy Rich or all the other jazz greats, didn't seem to be a problem for Bonham, didn't seem to be a problem for thousands of drummers who used them before stuffing futons in the drum became popular. Some drummers even tamed floor toms with it.

Not a problem for lowly ol' me, either. ;-)

Since you can pick up felt so cheaply, why not experiment for yourself?

Someone standing a few feet in front of it told me it was loud. I compared it to my friend's sonor which was deeper (same diameter) and mine was louder and livier. Kick and snare are the loudest pieces on the kit.

Cool. I hadn't realized that you were using minimal muffling.

The trick imo is getting the front off the ground,

I bet you know this, but for others: make the bass drum level off the ground, not aimed up. Tilted-up bass drums (that you see in ads) result in bending of the batter hoop, raising the pitch of the batter head and making the pitch unequal between the top and bottom of the head. This is not ideal for good bass drum sound. The easiest way to make the drum level is to install your pedal on the front hoop and extend the spurs to meet the floor. Then reinstall the pedal on the batter hoop and you have a level bass drum, off the floor but with no bending of the batter hoop.

I want a coated P3 as a front head like you see on high-end sonor drums. It's thicker than EQ series and will sound less thin.

Looking in the remo catalogue, the coated P3 has double black rings. P3's without those rings only come in smooth white, suede and renaissance. So where do get the head that you see on the picture?

The PS3 is my favorite BD head. From what I can gather they only make coated PS3s without the stripe as logo heads for drum companies--Pearl uses them, too, on their higher-end kits.

The smooth white version is very good indeed.

BTW, a PS3 plus felt may be overkill. It is for me. I don't use felt with them. Most guys who use felt today use it on a plain single-ply head.
 
I want a coated P3 as a front head like you see on high-end sonor drums. It's thicker than EQ series and will sound less thin.

Looking in the remo catalogue, the coated P3 has double black rings. P3's without those rings only come in smooth white, suede and renaissance. So where do get the head that you see on the picture?

I recently put a coated white EC1 reso on my sonor and purchased the sonor logo from drums on sale.com

http://www.drumsonsale.com/logo-shop-c-151.html
 
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The smooth white version is very good indeed.

Cool. Isn't smooth white as glossy as ebony? If that's so, I might just get an ebony head. Too bad because the raw surface of coated heads dries the drum out. That was the point of getting a coated head.
 
How does the smooth white compare to the coated white as a resonant head? I was thinking about getting a smooth white PS3 because the coated sounds too thin for my taste.
 
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