Adjustable bass drum beaters

I'm totally with you on this idea Larry. MAD himself even proposed this idea to me initially, that the way our hands and sticks work, could be transferred to our feet. And ideally, the stick would hit a drum head at a 90 degree angle for the most natural rebound, likewise should the bassdrum beater hit the head at a 90 degree angle! By the way MAD, if you remember our conversation regarding not burying the beater, it's getting easier and easier ;)

I do recall our discussion Sjogras, and while it's true that you can transfer some of the principle of your hands to your feet as far as emulating the movements, with your hands you do not hit a drum head on a snare or a tom at 90° angle, it's impossible, you'll hit the rim before you'll hit the head, you apply a small angle to the stick, at best you'll produce a rimshot, but the stick is still hitting at an angle.

The discussion on this thread made me check my beater, and it hits the head just a fraction after the 12:00 position, it's almost negligible, about a 1/4 of an inch, not something that would make a lot of difference if was hitting at the 12:00 position, I'd say it wouldn't make no difference whatsoever.

However, it is possible to hit the bass drum head at a 90° angle by fitting the Sonic hammer on the pedal.

Furthermore there's a lot you can do to make the current setting of your pedal, adjusting both the beater angle, the footboard angle and the spring tension can easily make your pedal more efficient without any expenses Larry, do not forget, simply fitting a lighter beater without changing your current setting will affect the feel and the response of the pedal as a whole, and you might not like the end results, it could affect the control and the accuracy of your strokes.

You've played with your current setting for years, perhaps just a bit of tweaking with the adjustments will achieve what your aiming for, if the ultimate goal is to feel less fatigue while playing with a smoother feel, your current pedal and beater is perfectly capable of achieving it, just a little patience and experiment and you'll be there, completely free of charge.

Right, now I'm done with the "trying to convince Larry" comments, lol, it's entirely up to you Uncle Larry :)

Cool to hear that your improving on the rebound technique Sjogras, keep it up :)
 
Why does it matter that the beater shaft be at 12-o'clock when it hits the head? If you just want to "close the gap" why not adjust the beater angle forward so the travel from rest to head is the same as it is from rest to 12-o'clock.

You can, of course, take any old beater and bend the bottom of the shaft forward so that it hits the head as you wish, as well as bend the top of the shaft back so that beater head hits square.

I've used the Sonic Hammer beater before, no complaints. If it does what you need, don't overthink things, and just buy one to try out.
 
Why does it matter that the beater shaft be at 12-o'clock when it hits the head?


It's just an ideal I have in my mind. I have no proof, but in my mind, this should be the most ideal scenario. I get what you guys are saying, just adjust the beater starting position, but I have this thing where I want all factors to be ideal, according to me. I don't know for sure if a beater shaft at 12:00 would feel better than a beater shaft at 1:00, it's just an educated guess. I like precision. Going past 12:00 isn't precision in my mind. It's the German in me that always strives for the most logical, most precise way of doing something.
 
So I got a pair of the Axis Sonic Hammers today. My favorite beater of all time used to be a cork beater that I had sanded flat. That got lost to time somewhere. I was pleased to see that one of the pads that Axis supplied was cork. The other one was felt. They are both totally flat discs, no radius on the striking surface. I like that as to get maximum contact area with the flat head.

So I peeled the paper backing off the cork pad and stuck it on the hammer, nothing to it. Put the beater on the pedal, and tightened it down. Then I got the beater shaft to 12:00 and tightened the hammer adjustment shaft down with a drum key operated stud located right on the top, nice and easy. The new hammer edge was a full inch and a quarter forward of where my DW hammer edge was at 12:00. That's the part that I got fatigued on, stretching the spring more than I had to. Heel down that makes a difference.

The hammer itself is universal because it swivels on a ball, and it's that detail, coupled with the adjustable hammer shaft, that makes this an ideal design for a beater IMO. It can change the feel of any pedal. Needless to say, I immediately felt like it was easier, lighter actually, more natural feeling, and best of all, I liked the tone better. There's more contact area than with my bigger DW beater. So I felt right off the bat that it was a definite improvement.

Interestingly enough, I weighed both the DW beater and the Axis Sonic Hammer. The DW weighed in at 106 grams. The Sonic Hammer? 128.

The difference is that on the Axis beater, the shaft is where most of the weight is, and on the DW, the hammer is where most of the weight is. So the Axis, while heavier, feels lighter to play because it isn't nearly as top heavy as the DW.

The plastic wingnut I read the bad review on...it's actually a metal thread with a plastic wing on it. They should have used a metal wing too. But it could easily be replaced with something else, if it even becomes an issue. I don't think it's a 10/24 thread though, it looks coarser. At any rate, I haven't gigged with it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be a nice improvement indeed, as long as the wingnut thing holds.

And Henri, just for the record, with the beater shaft at say 1:00, as long as the hammer is hitting perfect...I probably couldn't tell the diff...it's more of nit pick thing that I obsess about. Plus it's easier to adjust the hammer shaft than the whole beater angle, especially for those times when you are using your pedal on a different kit with different width hoops.

I give this thing an A+. I will be getting some for every pedal now, I like the non top heavy feel. Any wingnut issue can be easily addressed.
 
Cool, nice that you had good results. Sounds like you found a way to lighten up your pedal feel quite a good bit. Lighter is quicker with less effort. Any difference in tone or volume with the different beater? And I bet that thumbscrew won't matter at all; with everything at nice square angles. I can imagine the beater slipping loose.
 
Yea Soupy, I noticed a more authoritative thump with the new beater. I'd say the volume is about the same, but the tone is more satisfying. I like the cork sound. It's the little things that make the difference. No one else would probably notice. I do though, as the player.
 
And Henri, just for the record, with the beater shaft at say 1:00, as long as the hammer is hitting perfect...I probably couldn't tell the diff...it's more of nit pick thing that I obsess about....

I thought so TBH Larry, I'm very nit picking and a perfectionist myself when it comes to the adjustments of my pedal(s).

Yea Soupy, I noticed a more authoritative thump with the new beater. I'd say the volume is about the same, but the tone is more satisfying. I like the cork sound. It's the little things that make the difference. No one else would probably notice. I do though, as the player.

I was wondering about how it would affect the sound, I'm please to hear the new beater gives more thump (providing that's what you want, of course) as the weight of beaters can dramatically change the perceived sound, projection and feel, so good stuff all round Uncle Larry, yes, little thing can make a huge difference sometimes :)
 
A little late to this thread, but this guy has solved your problem.

He has married an Axis Sonic Hammer to a Tama Iron Cobra beater by replacing the top part of the Sonic Hammer (the rod with the head) with the Tama Iron Cobra beater (which has a replaceable head that rotates like 270 degrees--and stays in place).

 
A little late to this thread, but this guy has solved your problem.

He has married an Axis Sonic Hammer to a Tama Iron Cobra beater by replacing the top part of the Sonic Hammer (the rod with the head) with the Tama Iron Cobra beater (which has a replaceable head that rotates like 270 degrees--and stays in place).


This was my first thought as well. Sonic hammers combined with shortened iron cobra beaters.
The new (2016) Tama beaters also extend forward a bit, without any forward adjustment. I'd prefer they were wood though.


tama-cb900ps-1.jpg
 
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