Floor Tom for a Rack Tom

K

kevdrummer28

Senior Member
Has anyone ever seen a kit with a floor tom, of any size, in place of the rack tom? If so, have any pics of it?

As much as I dig the look of an actual rack tom there, something tells me the sound of a floor tom in place of a rack tom would be incredibly rad.
 
Try getting a deeper drum, it will bring you more of that warmer floor tom sound. Another great option is tuning your drum heads low. I have these Remo Weather King Ambassadors and they tune very-low without breaking
 
JakePlaysDrums said:
Try getting a deeper drum, it will bring you more of that warmer floor tom sound. Another great option is tuning your drum heads low. I have these Remo Weather King Ambassadors and they tune very-low without breaking
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips, but I mean I'm fine with my current rack tom. I've found a nice low tuning that gives me the sound & feel I'm looking for. I was just wondering if anyone's seen a kit with a floor as a rack tom, or played one.
 
Try looking up the Romantics video of "Talking in your sleep" (The guys that did "What I like about you"). If I recall correctly, he used a floor tom for his rack tom, but it was on legs, I think.
 
JakePlaysDrums said:
Try getting a deeper drum, it will bring you more of that warmer floor tom sound. Another great option is tuning your drum heads low. I have these Remo Weather King Ambassadors and they tune very-low without breaking
Click to expand...

Bo Eder said:
Try looking up the Romantics video of "Talking in your sleep" (The guys that did "What I like about you"). If I recall correctly, he used a floor tom for his rack tom, but it was on legs, I think.
Click to expand...

AWESOME! Thanks so much. Before I die, I'm pretty sure I'll try it.
 
I did it once for a short while with my 14x12" but there wasn't enough separation between that and my 16" Floor Tom so I abandoned it fairly quickly.

I'm pretty sure Tommy Lee's new acrylic kit has a floor tom up front instead of a traditional rack.

-Jonathan
 
Pete Boot, drummer for Budgie 1974 had what looked like a 14x14 floor tom mounted as a rack .... and then Alex Van Halen followed ... probably influenced by Pete Boot, because Van Halen did a few Budgie songs as covers.​
 

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Seven Antonopolous (?) uses a 14x14 as a rack tom.

John Fred Young (?) of Black Stone Cherry uses a 14x14 as a rack tom

Tommy Lee's rack on his second to last tour was a 16x16 rack (silver sparkle kit)

Sorry about name spellings, I'm just going from memory. All three of these set ups should be easy to find video and pictures of (Google & YouTube)
 
Just look at pics from the 80's. All the rock drummers had floor toms all over their kits. :) My buddy just had his square shelled Superstars from the 80's cut and new bearing edges done last year. I know a site where all the guys still play drums like this. They have 24, and 26" inch kicks, with square toms on top. Can you say step ladder. At least they won't have to buy new kits when it comes back in style again. :)
 
sticks4drums said:
Just look at pics from the 80's. All the rock drummers had floor toms all over their kits. :) My buddy just had his square shelled Superstars from the 80's cut and new bearing edges done last year. I know a site where all the guys still play drums like this. They have 24, and 26" inch kicks, with square toms on top. Can you say step ladder. At least they won't have to buy new kits when it comes back in style again. :)
Click to expand...

Yep, I use to have 24" bass drums with 13"x12" and 14"x13" toms on top, that's a pretty high place to reach...
 
kevdrummer28 said:
Thanks for the tips, but I mean I'm fine with my current rack tom. I've found a nice low tuning that gives me the sound & feel I'm looking for. I was just wondering if anyone's seen a kit with a floor as a rack tom, or played one.
Click to expand...

How about in 1969 Carmine Appice,and then John Bonham,Carmine had 14x26 double bass a 12x15,tom,and Bonham a 12x14,and occasionally a 12x15.Even before them ..Louis Bellson had 16x20 tom,he used with 20x20 double bass drums,Gretsch I think in the late 30's early 40's with Duke Ellington.

Steve B
 
Dave Grohl played a 13"x15" rack tom when he was in Nirvana. Drew Peters used a 16"x16" silver sparkle floor tom in the rack position in the band whirlingRoad. I used a 16" floor tom with a rims mount back in the 90's. I found that it didn't give enough tonal separation from the 18" floor tom, so I used the 14" rack and 18" floor for a while. Now I'm converting a 14" rack to a floor with a smaller 12" rack tom in the up position. So my progression as I age is Bonham-Grohl-Ringo...
 
I play a 15" diameter by 14" deep rack Thomas on my kit. Check out the size of this thing!

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Its complemented with an 18" floor Thomas.
 
Also check out Dale Crover of The Melvins. I recall him playing something like an 18" rack tom over a 26" kick with a 20" floor tom. #crazy
 
Technically, Igor Cavalera uses rack toms, along with most other guys mentioned here. A big rack tom is still just a rack tom. Floor toms have legs.

I've tried putting my 14" floor tom in the rack tom position, but I just couldn't get comfortable at all. Because it has to go completely to the side of the kick, it just gets pushed too far to the left, which makes the gap between the "rack tom" and floor tom way too large. In addition to that, the hihat gets pushed further away as well.

Here are two guys who pull it off though:

Tommy Lee:
(his tom is actually hanging off the rack on the audience side, but it's supported by legs on the side facing him)

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Seven Antonopoulos:
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw4_4gWJ03M

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Seven-3.jpg
 
Bonestorm said:
Not according to Pearl:

MMP Masters Series

20x16 bass drum x 2
10x9 tom
16x16 floor tom (mounted)
18x16 floor tom (mounted)
14x6.5 snare drum
6x15 rocket tom
22x18 gong drum
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems that Pearl refers to any tom from 14" and up as a floor tom, regardless of how it's mounted. The other common terms for large "rack" toms are mounted toms or hanging floor toms.

Personally, I've always heard and seen the definition of a floor tom as being a tom with legs.
 
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