Need help and advice on drum triggers/modules

tsmitty87

Junior Member
Greetings to all! Not only content with my main kit, I recently built a small kit for myself out of some old donor drums. Currently the sizes are 16x16 bass, 12x12 and 13x13 floor, and a 5.5x14 snare. Ok...before everyone goes off about the tiny bass drum...one of my favorite drummers is Lester Estelle Jr from pillar and now neal mccoy. I know for a time, at least, he played a 16x16 kit and also has some other small bass drums and I kinda like the square sizes (16x16, 20x20, like to get my hands on an 18x18). So now for my question.

Is there a relatively inexpensive way to trigger only a bass drum or am I gonna have to wind up buying a big expensive module anyway, in which case, I'd probably just trigger them all for live performances to get a big sound out of a little kit. I was wondering if you experts had any advice in terms of getting a big bass drum sound from a little kit.

My idea was just to experiment with different heads and muffling/not muffling the bass but I was also thinking that, for live performances it'd be nice to have it triggered (the rest of drums I'm happy with the sound by just putting some mics on them) and get a deep, booming bass. Thanks for your help!
 
I love 16X16 bass drums, I use a dw riser and floor tom a lot for all my snobby jazz gigs. It's a lot of fun.
What's the effect you want to have on your bass drum? A bigger sound without triggers could be achieved with a Yamaha Kick port (they're AWESOME) or a KickPort (I use one with a 20in kick). If you want a relatively inexpensive way to trigger your drum, buy some pintech/simmons triggers. They're 20 bucks and work pretty well for a while, they just stick to the heads and plug them into computer if you have one. Other wise I would recommend a sound module like Yamaha DTXplorer for 300 bucks or less and is also awesome. I like that module a lot. You can probably find some cheaper brands like an Alesis. honestly I'd look for a sound module like that on ebay. Hope I helped! :)
 
well thanks! I've been looking a lot at the dtxplr module and perhaps some pulse or pintech triggers...I would have to have a module because I don't have the computer capability plus I'd like to just plug into a module then plug the module into an amp or mixer.

I do want to get a big sound out of the bass..that's my main concern. Perhaps I'll just buy a used module then experiment since I've never used triggers before.
 
Cool man, I honestly think you can't go wrong with the Dtxplorer, I have personally experimented with using it in that manner. If you want "better" triggers I'd recommend the Roland triggers that clamp on to the tension rods as oppsed to being glued to the heads, but they're more money.

And I meant Yamaha Sub Kick in my last post, not Kickport. Mea Culpa.
 
Well the more I think about it perhaps the more I want to just keep my kit entirely acoustic and just work on getting the deepest, punchy sound out of it I can. Any tips there?
 
Maybe, I use wood but plastic would work too, bass drum beater. A muffling strip across the head, probably resonant would help cut down on the resonance of the drum too. I would also use two ply heads. Remo Emps Coated or Evans G2 coated. If you really want it to be awesome you could buy a 16in bass drum hoop, NOT a 16in rim, hoop. that way you can use a real bass drum head on the drum such as the Aquarian Superkick II. I've done that, and it's amazing. That way you get punch without too much ring.

I don't have a kickpot on my 16in or felt. I did that on my 20in. However what I did do was cut 3, 2in resonant holes, to help cut down on sustain. It still rings a little more than I would like, I'm probably going to throw a larger pillow in it.
 
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