Deathmetalconga
Platinum Member
So many great options for running the cable...all comes down to preference, ease of doing, and a little bit of cost consideration as well as considerations of modifying the drum (drilling an XLR jack into the shell - which I will do eventually - I know, for shame, but convenience might outweigh current option, plus it's a 35 year old drum with holes drilled in for the tom mount, a .75" hole for an XLR jack isn't going to make a difference in the sound at this point).
I do wrap the XLR is a towel before I play and use a 2' cable so I don't have to worry about too much slack when I move. I used to use a 25' XLR cable, but that's a lot of cable to wrap up and tote around with a bass drum that is already fun to move around on its own!
Also, consider that if you go the quarter-inch cable route, you can use a right-angle plug, so you can hide the pluf on the bottom of the bass drum. It is much less vulnerable to getting struck or bent there and looks more compact.
Keep in mind this is a quarter-inch stereo cable, also called TRS (Tip-ring-sleeve), so it has two black bands on the plug instead of one. It carries signals, and is wired, just like XLR, so you can solder XLR at one end and TRS at the other. The advantage is that it takes up less room and is a bit easier to use than XLR. The disadvantage is that it doesn't typically conduct current, so must only be used with dynamic mics. Fortunately, every bass drum I've ever come across is dynamic.