Yamaha Stage Custom Bebop

Ramblerboy

Junior Member
I recently bought a Yamaha Stage Custom Bebop kit with the 15 x 18 bass - Sounds kinda flat with the stock heads - any ideas on a head combo for a deeper more open sound ? Prefer soild resonant head
 
I've got two of those kits.
One bass drum has the stock heads, and the other has an Evans Emad batter on it. They both sound equally good to me - just different.
They do have a bit of a tuning range, but you aren't going to get a real deep sound out of an 18" bass drum.
As far as an 'open' sound with a bit of resonance, the stock heads can provide that.

Really though, I'd say before you buy any heads for it, get a riser first. Lift up the batter side a bit with the riser, so your beater is hitting more in the middle of the head, and drop the front legs to level it out and get the whole thing off the ground a bit.
I've got risers on both of those 18" bass drums.
One has this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/mapex-ac909-multi-purpose-clamp?src=3WWRWXGP
The other has this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/gibraltar-bass-drum-platform

Get that set up first, then play with the tuning, and if you're still not happy with it, then get some different heads.

If you're still not happy with it after that, they're probably not the right drums for you - LOL.
 
A couple more quick comments on these drums. IMO, the toms really sing with the stock coated heads, when tuned a little on the high side.
This was a surprise to me, because I thought I'd have to change the heads on them right away. Maybe it's the inch shorter depth, and the coated heads on them as compared to the standard Stage Customs - I don't know. The standard SC's sound better tuned a bit lower.

The bass drum sounds just fine to me with the stock heads too. It's got punch galore, and while you'll never get window rattling lows from it, it does what it's supposed to do just fine.

Ramblerboy: if you work with the stock heads a little and can't get what you're looking for, you could try the head changes you're considering.
If new heads still don't do it for you, there's another option besides dumping them for something else.
With the Stage Custom series, you can get individual drums. So if you find that you can only get the sound you want with a larger bass drum, you could order one separately, or try to find one used that matches what you have. Best of both worlds that way.
 
They do have a bit of a tuning range, but you aren't going to get a real deep sound out of an 18" bass drum.
You should hear my Mapex Horizon 18" which almost sounds like an 808 if i play a long tone.
 
You should hear my Mapex Horizon 18" which almost sounds like an 808 if i play a long tone.

I had a Mapex Venus Voyager with an 18" kick fitted with an Evans Hydraulic.
It had a massive amount of punch. You could feel it in your chest. And the tone was fairly low, considering.

But when I went over to my 22", the difference in pitch was immediately apparent.
The 22" had a fair amount of punch because it was cut down really shallow, but still - not as much as that 18" - ha ha.

18"s are really fun to play though.
 
I had a Mapex Venus Voyager with an 18" kick fitted with an Evans Hydraulic.

It had a massive amount of punch. You could feel it in your chest. And the tone was fairly low, considering.
But when I went over to my 22", the difference in pitch was immediately apparent.
Naturally, but i mean in comparison with other 18" kicks the Mapex has a lot of low. At least that is my experience.
 
Heads and tuning absolutely + the deepness of the shell matters too. I've put the same heads on a Catalina Club Jazz which is slightly less deep than a Mapex Horizon and i could not get the same low tone out of it.
 
Quick question, are these the same quality as the normal Stage Custom but in smaller sizes?

Good question. I'd like to know too. Same number of plies? Regular size Stage Customs seem like they have more.. Both are birch I'm pretty sure. Yamaha's web page should have the answer somewhere. Yamaha's quality is good top to bottom but with moving the operations to China to save $$ time will tell.
 
Quick question, are these the same quality as the normal Stage Custom but in smaller sizes?


You can compare them here:

http://ca.yamaha.com/en/products/mu...s/scb_bop/?mode=model#list=within&mode=paging

http://ca.yamaha.com/en/products/musical-instruments/drums/drumsets/stage_custom/?mode=model

Both are 6 ply. I have both kits, and besides the sizes and heads, they seem the same. Except for one thing. The Bop kit has a darker color on the natural wood than the regular kit. Might just be because they came off the line at different times, and changed the procedure or something.

Another thing that's a bit strange, is that the Canada site shows the Bop kit as discontinued, while the USA site doesn't. Maybe they're just discontinued in Canada - I don't know.

And for Ramblerboy - since your first post, I also tried an Aquarian Superkick head on the 18". It sounds real good, and might be another option for you if you still have the kit.

.
 
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Good question. I'd like to know too. Same number of plies? Regular size Stage Customs seem like they have more.. Both are birch I'm pretty sure. Yamaha's web page should have the answer somewhere. Yamaha's quality is good top to bottom but with moving the operations to China to save $$ time will tell.

Hoop Model : Triple Flange Hoop
Material : Steel
Thickness: 1.6mm
Lugs Type: Separate Lug
Shells Thickness: 6ply
Material: Birch

All these specs are the same on both models, so they would appear to be the same in quality on paper.
 
You can compare them here:

http://ca.yamaha.com/en/products/mu...s/scb_bop/?mode=model#list=within&mode=paging

http://ca.yamaha.com/en/products/musical-instruments/drums/drumsets/stage_custom/?mode=model

Both are 6 ply. I have both kits, and besides the sizes and heads, they seem the same. Except for one thing. The Bop kit has a darker color on the natural wood than the regular kit. Might just be because they came off the line at different times, and changed the procedure or something.

Another thing that's a bit strange, is that the Canada site shows the Bop kit as discontinued, while the USA site doesn't. Maybe they're just discontinued in Canada - I don't know.

And for Ramblerboy - since your first post, I also tried an Aquarian Superkick head on the 18". It sounds real good, and might be another option for you if you still have the kit.

.

Thanks for your post. I had to go to the UK website to find the specs for the Bebop kit. Couldn't find it on the USA site.
 
Thanks for your post. I had to go to the UK website to find the specs for the Bebop kit. Couldn't find it on the USA site.


Now that you mention it, someone had to direct me to it on the USA site - it's not listed. But it's in a pdf download. The USA site is not always up to snuff.
 
I own this same kit as well and I'm finally starting to love how it is sounding.

The birch shells were great for jazz but I wasn't getting enough beefy sound for fusion/ funk rock stuff. So I installed:

Bass drum: Emad clear // remo ambassador coated w/ a felt strip running down the inside of the redo side - I finally like the sound!! Great for my hip-hop/ fusion gigs. I use a remo fiberskyn FA w/ a port cut port hole for festival stuff that needs quick mic setup.

Toms: both have Evans level 360 G2 Coated// Genera clear - I simply just tune up for jazz/ brush stuff but the important thing is that they work for my heavier gigs.

I only bought the shells so I don't play on a Yamaha snare currently.
I never used a riser but I'm going to pick one up and try it out.

Important thing here is that this kit has some room to sound bigger than it is marketed for (be-bop) and is great for the versatile - gigging drummer. I contemplated trading it in for something bigger - but try some new heads before you do!! It's a beautiful kit.
 
I play a Tour Custom Maple in those same sizes. I left the stock resonant head on the kick, but changed the batter head to the thinner clear EMAD. Without either foam dampener, the drum sings beautifully. I can tune the response of the drum easily by trading in and out those dampeners. It's a good solution.
 
I own this same kit as well and I'm finally starting to love how it is sounding.

The birch shells were great for jazz but I wasn't getting enough beefy sound for fusion/ funk rock stuff. So I installed:

Bass drum: Emad clear // remo ambassador coated w/ a felt strip running down the inside of the redo side - I finally like the sound!! Great for my hip-hop/ fusion gigs. I use a remo fiberskyn FA w/ a port cut port hole for festival stuff that needs quick mic setup.

Toms: both have Evans level 360 G2 Coated// Genera clear - I simply just tune up for jazz/ brush stuff but the important thing is that they work for my heavier gigs.

I only bought the shells so I don't play on a Yamaha snare currently.
I never used a riser but I'm going to pick one up and try it out.

Important thing here is that this kit has some room to sound bigger than it is marketed for (be-bop) and is great for the versatile - gigging drummer. I contemplated trading it in for something bigger - but try some new heads before you do!! It's a beautiful kit.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to educate myself about drum heads, I don't know nearly enough about them.
 
Is there any kit better than this at this pricerange (I'm not seeing any) or for slightly more money?

Not sure what they cost across the pond, but there's the Tama Silverstar series as well. Their 18" and 16" bass kits come with a bass drum lift.
 
Not sure what they cost across the pond, but there's the Tama Silverstar series as well. Their 18" and 16" bass kits come with a bass drum lift.

Does the lift make a difference to the sound and is it necessary? There's also the Mapex Meridian jazz kit. Do you know anything about them?
 
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