Felt beaters

One of the things that caught my attention...

People who pley a 20" kick can get much more appearent low end (and thump) than with other types of beaters.

Using modern beaters like the iron cobra, the 20x16" kick sounded physically smaller. Putting in old-style felt, that sucker would punch you in the chest. It almost sounded like going from 20-22" just by using the felt.

I think this is more of an issue of weight. I use Volkswagan plastic beaters, and get the low end and the treble, which , as a 14-year-old, I enjoy.
 
I think this is more of an issue of weight. I use Volkswagan plastic beaters, and get the low end and the treble, which , as a 14-year-old, I enjoy.

Volkswagan plastic beaters? Not sure what that refers to.

Age has nothing really to do with enjoyment of bass quality. My preference has been to distinctly have low end with no plasticky click at all. That being said, the only genre I have heard that seems to revel in it is metal.

I'd say 98% of the time, I want pure, deep thump with no high pitched artifacts. If I played metal more often, I always have the trick beaters for that effect.
 
I use two beaters:

- Traditional round felt beater.
- Bigfoot maple inner/lambs wool outer beater (after having less-than-stellar durability from the Vater Vintage Bomber beater).

I agree 100% - I think rubber and plastic add way too much slap and rob the drum of mid and low end fullness. You can get a pretty ridiculous click/slap through mic placement alone (if that's your cup of tea, it's not mine).
 
but...but...but Zambizzi said you were the hammer of the Gods kind of hitter...

I think I just said he had some serious power behind his stroke...don't remember the "hammer of the gods" thing...but I've said stranger things I guess. :)

I really *really* like the Tama Iron Cobra felt beater. I've got several different beaters at home but that's my favorite. It's small but heavy, so the note is focused and the control/feel is great.

I love that it adjusts to the angle of the head, too.
 
I think I just said he had some serious power behind his stroke...don't remember the "hammer of the gods" thing...but I've said stranger things I guess. :)

I really *really* like the Tama Iron Cobra felt beater. I've got several different beaters at home but that's my favorite. It's small but heavy, so the note is focused and the control/feel is great.

I love that it adjusts to the angle of the head, too.

I made up the "Hammer of The Gods" part. You just said "Hits really hard" or something like that. I just applied my "embozoification" embellishment.

The IC beaters are nice, I wish they made a heavier felt than that disc. Tama does have a cylindrical beater though, felt/plastic.
 
I made up the "Hammer of The Gods" part. You just said "Hits really hard" or something like that. I just applied my "embozoification" embellishment.

The IC beaters are nice, I wish they made a heavier felt than that disc. Tama does have a cylindrical beater though, felt/plastic.

I have the same beater but w/ a rubber pad...it's much heaver and punchier - that's always an option. I don't use it because of how heavy it is.
 
i have my bigdog beaters which are alright their felt so do the job
played an IC with felt IC beaters quite good

bbut i quite like the dw hardcore use the soft but push the hardcore back in get a good feel
 
I think felt beters fell out of favor with some, especially in the metal genre. They tend to go for the ultra-low mass beaters so that if they twitch, the beater moves more easily. Outside of the constant high-velocity double kick genre, I find those beaters completely inadequate. They slap the kick, and you *really* have to stomp them to get the resultant moderate thump.

The heavier felt really makes a kick sound much deeper.

Many things changed once they started miking up drums. Bass drum beaters is one of them.

I still play felt, and so does my kid, who plays much heavier music.
 
Many things changed once they started miking up drums. Bass drum beaters is one of them.

I still play felt, and so does my kid, who plays much heavier music.

I found that the felt just sounded much better and was easier to get a satisfying low end for recording. I could always play a light beater and later eq or fake the bass. But I like a mic to hear what I am hearing.

I also subscribe to Carmine Appice's logic. He has referred to metal drumming and described how many are light beaters, tippy-tapping 1" from the kick head. He prefers to play *almost* as fast, but with much more power. He still uses felt as well.
 
Well i use a twin pearl eliminator pedal and i've found using the plastic beaters very good to give a machine gun like sound. I add EQ and reverb later on , but i think it stands out very well.
 
On my kit i have 2 bass drums, on my right bass(tuned quite high), i have a double bass pedal with DW stock double sided felt beaters, which i use the felt side of. and on the left bass drum(tuned medium), next to the slave pedal of the double, i have a single bass pedal with a round felt beater, which gives the bass a really nice BOOOOOOM, and the right bass has a nice clicky sound :). felt kicks ass!!! WOOO!!! :D
 
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