Anyone fancy a Bumchum? I think I just might!

Andy

Andy

Honorary Member
I'm posting this here rather than the other gear section, because this device opens up a whole surrounding subject of disconnection from your bass drum sound on stage. I played a fairly big gig last night on a deep stage. Although I had monitoring, it wasn't suitable for kick, being a 12" wedge. As an old hand at playing rock gigs with a fairly loud stage sound, I'm pretty used to playing with that disconnected feeling. You guys know what I mean, you play the kick almost by beater feel. This makes kick dynamics a bit of a challenge.

Anyhow, I tried this device at the UK custom drum show today, & it blew me away. The rather unfortunately titled Bumchum system is just the dogs b%^cks! Superb for nailing those oh so critical placements & ghosts on doubles, etc. This kit is superbly built, & designed for the serious touring pro, so it's expensive at retail (circa $1,500US), but the company will do direct to artist prices way below that. Much more interesting, a new lower cost (about half the price) version comes out in September, without the bells & whistles such as phantom power, etc. I think KIS just might snag one of the new models. Truly, I'm not a gadget head. This thing really got my interest. http://www.porteranddavies.co.uk/BC2OverviewPage.html
 
Bermuda knows a lot about this product, the US version being called the Buttkicker.

The names seem to reflect the regions' TV sensibilities ... US TV is more violent and European TV is sexier :)

Lots of info on the product here: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=816444

Would have been great in a Funniest Videos program when Bermuda offered me to try out his kit before the show (having never heard of the product). The impact scared me so much that I couldn't play and got off pronto, which is pretty embarrassing when a world class drummer is watching lol

I thought it was the combination of high levels of bottom end (so to speak) and a very unstable drum riser :)
 
Pollyanna said:
Bermuda knows a lot about this product, the US version being called the Buttkicker.

The names seem to reflect the regions' TV sensibilities ... US TV is more violent and European TV is sexier :)

Lots of info on the product here: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=816444

Would have been great in a Funniest Videos program when Bermuda offered me to try out his kit before the show (having never heard of the product). The impact scared me so much that I couldn't play and got off pronto, which is pretty embarrassing when a world class drummer is watching lol

I thought it was the combination of high levels of bottom end (so to speak) and a very unstable drum riser :)
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Thanks for that link Pol. This unit follows the same thinking, but is a more integrated piece of kit. Super sensitive and complete with the seat. It's not an attachment. That said, I've not seen the Butt Kicker before, so the whole concept is new to me.
 
Got to say, I've now tried both the Buttkicker and the BumChum and there is miles between them!
In essence, the Buttkicker is a piston driven bolt on unit which I believe is aimed at the home theatre market. The BumChum is manufactured solely for drummers. I found the Buttkicker to have latency issues and when I played double bass drum, the unit could not handle it. Also, I blew up two on my last tour! The amp that comes with the Buttkicker is not powerful enough and I had to buy a 1200w amp to drive it. It did for half the tour and then burned them out.
I tried the BumChum last week and WOW!! It is so responsive and you actually SIT ON the transducer. It has no latency issues what so ever and it has tones of head room. It's neat, tidy, flight cased and works! Just saving now to get one. Some of their artists are ex Buttkicker users - I think that says a lot.
 
Wildturkey said:
Got to say, I've now tried both the Buttkicker and the BumChum and there is miles between them!
In essence, the Buttkicker is a piston driven bolt on unit which I believe is aimed at the home theatre market. The BumChum is manufactured solely for drummers. I found the Buttkicker to have latency issues and when I played double bass drum, the unit could not handle it. Also, I blew up two on my last tour! The amp that comes with the Buttkicker is not powerful enough and I had to buy a 1200w amp to drive it. It did for half the tour and then burned them out.
I tried the BumChum last week and WOW!! It is so responsive and you actually SIT ON the transducer. It has no latency issues what so ever and it has tones of head room. It's neat, tidy, flight cased and works! Just saving now to get one. Some of their artists are ex Buttkicker users - I think that says a lot.
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Hey, thanks WT. I was super impressed by the very high build quality of the Bumchum, but more than that, I was surprised at just how sensitive it was. We can all get by in a loud stage environment with poor monitoring when we're thumping the kick with purpose, but when we want to back off the power, that's when we're into guessing our place in the mix. That, to me, was the most valuable use of the device. Good to get feedback from someone who's used both products. There's clearly a gulf of difference in quality & performance. That noted, there's also a big difference in price. That's why I'm going to wait a few months for the less featured version to come out. Cool product, & would have really helped me out at Saturday's gig. Thanks for your input, & a big welcome to the forum!
 
Hi Keep it Simple,

I thought the same re cost of ButtKicker and BumChum, but when I did the sums, the BC came out cheaper.
Example. Buttkicker Concert $180, Mounting Bracket $30, EV Q1212 amp $1,049, SKB flight case $120, leads etc $20. ButtKicker Total $1,399.00. The BumChum works out at round $1,350
I factored in having to assemble the ButtKicker every time verses the easy of use and 'plug and play' of the BumChum. The BC has reliability, easy of set up plus it's got mic i/o, line in, phantom power and voltage switch and all flight cased at a cheaper price. For me, it's a no brainer!
 
Wildturkey said:
Got to say, I've now tried both the Buttkicker and the BumChum and there is miles between them!
In essence, the Buttkicker is a piston driven bolt on unit which I believe is aimed at the home theatre market. The BumChum is manufactured solely for drummers. I found the Buttkicker to have latency issues and when I played double bass drum, the unit could not handle it. Also, I blew up two on my last tour! The amp that comes with the Buttkicker is not powerful enough and I had to buy a 1200w amp to drive it. It did for half the tour and then burned them out.
I tried the BumChum last week and WOW!! It is so responsive and you actually SIT ON the transducer. It has no latency issues what so ever and it has tones of head room. It's neat, tidy, flight cased and works! Just saving now to get one. Some of their artists are ex Buttkicker users - I think that says a lot.
Click to expand...

I've got a Buttkicker rig and I haven't experienced any latency issues (yet).

I do have to have a short kick drum signal to get a precise thump as opposed to a rumble. Do you know how the BumChum deals with this?

Right now because I don't have a way to gate my kick mic signal, I am triggering my BD and running it through a drum module with a short kick sound. This has been working well for me.

I took Bermuda's advice and took off the mounting bracket and bolted the unit directly to my seat. The thump is a little better now.

I also wonder whether the BumChum throne gets hot.

What do you think?
 
Hi TTFN,

The BumChum takes a direct signal from the bass drum via a microphone and will reproduce exactly what you put in to it. I.E. if you have a big boomy 26" then you will get a big boomy felling in the drum throne. If you have a heavy dampned BD then you will get a short sharp feeling. I guess the better the bass drum heads and the better tuned, the more you'll gteout of it - I do.
The BC 2 does not get hot as they've got heat disapation bulbs built in to the amp section which draws heat away from the stool without affecting performance.

I'm following them on Facebook and ask them direct to find out the answers. Find them under Porter and Davies.

Hope this helps!
 
I had a look at the Bumcum unit & tried it at the drum show recently. Also spoke with the guy tat designed it. Without question I would buy one right away if I had a tour on & I will get one this year for my regular "noisy" gig.

Let's be clear about it: as soon as your bass drum disappears from the mix you are out on your own. Experience gets you through it without over-playing, but it is not a nice feeling. This unit puts the control back into your playing in a loud environment.

Superb. I am just hoping they'll let me have it at the right price!
 
richkenyon said:
I had a look at the Bumcum unit & tried it at the drum show recently. Also spoke with the guy tat designed it. Without question I would buy one right away if I had a tour on & I will get one this year for my regular "noisy" gig.

Let's be clear about it: as soon as your bass drum disappears from the mix you are out on your own. Experience gets you through it without over-playing, but it is not a nice feeling. This unit puts the control back into your playing in a loud environment.

Superb. I am just hoping they'll let me have it at the right price!
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They offered me a direct to artist price of £700. The light version comes out later this year. Expect that to be around 30% less. It won't be fully flight cased & will miss out on phantom power. Same amp, same seat & unit power, etc. I talked to the guy too. They're from Ross on Wye, about 30 miles from my house. Did you try it a Jobeky?
 
Wildturkey said:
I just found this video by Joe Crabtree (Wishbone Ash etc) Worth a watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-yK9l4NcEk&feature=mh_lolz&list=FL35uPHypojpI
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that. It was useful to be able to actually see the unit.

Their design is certainly more streamlined that my ButtKicker rig. I really want to try one out.

It's also very interesting to hear reviews and comments because it seems everyone agrees that once you play with a monitoring system like this, you don't want to play drums without one ever again.

I love all the benefits so much, I've been very tempted to get a second ButtKicker unit to either have a second single unit rig or to set up mine like Bermuda's and have two units mounted to my throne and switch between them as needed or in case one switches off due to heat build up.
 
I said in my OP that "I just might", well, "I am". The unit will be ordered next week. I've tried it out, & it's superb, as is the build quality. I especially like the fact that it precicely replicated the tuning, attack & sustain of my bass drum. Done deal, & I'll report back on my experience with the unit. Hopefully I'll have it in time for our headline at the UK Harley Davidson rally in a few weeks time. Now I KNOW that's going to be a loud stage volume gig!
 
Just picked up the BC2 today. Quality looks great. I chose the round seat over the bench style. I'm gigging with it this Friday, then 2 more gigs next week (one is a biggie, with around 25k foh & 6 back), then recording the week after, so I'll get plenty of opportunity to try it across a selection of applications. I'll report back in detail. Andy.
 
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