Bass drum muffling question

drummindan8484

Senior Member
Not sure if this is the right forum but I'll post it here anyway.

Recently I bought one of Remo's bass drum hole templates but kept procrastinating on putting it in. Then I heard Steve Smith mention the felt strip method on his DVD and decided I'd go with this instead. It sounded good, but it fell off and the procrastinator in me forgot to put it back in.

Then this idea just occured to me. Since I play both jazz and rock, would it make sense to use the hole and pillow method and just take the pillow out for jazz playing, or should I just use the felt strip method?
 
A bad taping job on my end. I should have rephrased it. It stayed on for a few weeks, than it became loose so I just took it off. So I just forgot to try it again.
 
I think you've installed it incorrectly. You don't tape it to the head. The felt strip sits across the shell and bearing edges, underneath the head and the hoops. Once the drum heads are tensioned and the lugs tightened, it ain't going anywhere.
 
Actually the correct way to install the felt strip is to use tape to tape it to the shell on both ends to hold it in place. Put the head over it, and put the hoop and the rods in. Then you can remove the tape holding the strip. What you're trying to avoid is the felt strip not being loose against the head.

It's been a long time since I explained this since I no longer use the felt strip and just use either a Remo PS3 or an Evans EQ3 head nowadays.
 
Well since my bass drum still has the stock head on it I'd be willing to check out one of those 2 heads. Do you use those for batter, resonant or both?
 
As soon as you start to tension the hoop, there will be enough tension on the felt strip to be able to pull it tight against the bass drum's head. I never used tape at all when mounting the strips. I just lay the strip across the head exactly where I want it and then put the head over the bearing edges. The strips I use are a couple inches longer than they have to be, so they're very easy to pull them tight when tensioning the head.

DSC_0333.jpg


DSC_0730.jpg


Dennis
 
I use either the Remo or Evans head as my batter head and I have the Tama logo head on front, which, I have discovered is like a PS3 - there's a muffle ring built into it. My Sonor Safari kit has the same kind of front head too! These manufacturer's are thinking of everything these days!
 
Not sure about the remo but the evans even comes with 2 different rings you can switch out so you can go from no muff to slight muff to even more muff..depending on need to muff...pretty muffing cool..
 
As soon as you start to tension the hoop, there will be enough tension on the felt strip to be able to pull it tight against the bass drum's head. I never used tape at all when mounting the strips. I just lay the strip across the head exactly where I want it and then put the head over the bearing edges. The strips I use are a couple inches longer than they have to be, so they're very easy to pull them tight when tensioning the head.

DSC_0333.jpg


DSC_0730.jpg


Dennis


Two great things about this thread, first the Bass Drum muffle discussion is very helpful, but the best is looking at the reel to reel's in the background. Nice gear....
 
Back
Top