18" bass drum for rock!

blinky

blinky

Senior Member
Hi all,
I had a Ludwig maple kit with 22" bd but sold it for a Gretsch New Classic with 18" bd since I wanted my toms to sit lower. Now I had to use a riser to get the beater somewhat in center so the end result was not that much lower, but OK. And I liked the sound of the small bd. Now I have a new band that I'm really happy with, and we play 70:s rock. I asked our bass player about the bd sound and he thought it wasn't enough volume and lower end to it. So now I'm thinking of either sell my kit for a bigger sized kit, or to buy a internal mic, maybe a May system with an AKG D112 or something, but I don't know if it's possible to EQ the bd to get some more lower end. And on the other hand I guess it would be fun to buy a new kit, but that might take some time and hassle. And money is somewhat scarce nowadays so I must sell before I buy and I don't want to be without a kit for a long time. So, any suggestions?
 
You'll probably get suggestions here to go with a bigger bass drum.

But, in my opinion, you can get as much low end as you need out of a mic'd 18.

I played for several years with a mic'd 16, and I had a ton of feedback from people approaching me during breaks and saying they couldn't believe what they saw when they noticed the size of the kit. A good bass drum mic and some proper EQ can create as much low end as your band wants.

Then the other part of this - how much air do they want your bass drum to really move? I don't know the age of the people listening to your music, or the venues, but generally people respond more to a slighter thinner, tighter sounding bass drum that people can clearly hear, rather than a lower, fatter bass tone moving tons of air - that actually hurts people's ears.
 
Thanks Frank,
sounds like you're voting for the 18" drum by experience. And we are not playing out yet but when that time comes it will be smaller clubs. So mayby my little drum will do with a good mic.
 
I frequently use an 18" bass drum for Rock in small clubs. Sometimes I mic it and sometimes I don't.
Perhaps you could find a 20" or 22" New Classic BD used so that you could have a more versatile kit.
 
If you have your own mics, mixer, amp, and cables you can indeed get an acceptable thump out of a small drum---much easier to just get a 22", and get the real sound (Just my opinion)
 
I use my Tama kit with 18 bass drum when I host open jams, which are typically rock/country/blues affairs. I also use it for the occasional gig. I, and other musicians I play with, have been pleasantly surprised at how good the little 18 DOES sound. I tune it such that the batter head resonates with a clear tone, and then crank the reso head WAY up. PS3-type heads. It has an unbelievable thump, and actually gives the impression of having more low end than larger drums when unmiced. I think this is because it is in a frequency range that doesn't get lost or compete with the bass guitar.

In any case, I really like the 18 and feel like you could make it work. That said, if you want a lower pitch, you know what to do! lol
 
Well, I actually have been looking for a bigger New Classic bass drum but it's hard to find a used one, and a new one is too expensive. It's easier to sell the whole kit and buy another one. So that is one option and the other is to buy a mic.
 
I've been using an 18" kick for rock for the last few years.
With an Emad 2, it makes a deep, clicky, rock sound, but quieter than bigger drums. Still loud enough for small gigs.

I have an EV PL33 mic living inside the drum, on a home-made suspension mount made of 8 elastic bands and a 2" radiator hose clamp. My tom holder has two holes, and I only use one tom, so an xlr socket lives in the right hand hole. No need to set up a mic and stand, just plug a mic lead in when we need more kick. The sound is consistent and takes no set up time. The drum is light and easy to transport.

Yes you can do rock gigs with an 18" kick.
 
If you're miced, you can use anything you want. If you're not miced, an 18 IMO is just way too wimpy. You'll be working too hard.
 
I've seen lots of bands backed by an un-miced 18" in bars. With the right heads and beater it's all you need. For added bottom end, a port hole of just the right size in the rez head will add a lot more than you'd think.

To enhance the 80Hz range on a 18" X 14" bass drum the port hole should be 4.8" in diameter.

See this article for more on this.
http://compactdrums.com/porting-small-bass-drums/
 
blinky said:
Well, I actually have been looking for a bigger New Classic bass drum but it's hard to find a used one, and a new one is too expensive. It's easier to sell the whole kit and buy another one. So that is one option and the other is to buy a mic.
Click to expand...

I think you could make the 18 work.

Just curious though, if you did sell the set and get another, what size bass drum would you get?
 
Mr Wild Bill,
I probably would go for a 20" if I would continue with 2 up & 2 down, or if I where to go on with 1 up 2 down I could have an even bigger BD since I then could have the small tom on a snare stand and thus get it in a lower position. Actually I like the sound of big bass drums too. But the grass is always greener...
If I could I would keep my small kit and buy another kit. One bop kit and one rock'n'roll kit, but that would be hard to sneak into the house!
 
CompactDrums said:
I've seen lots of bands backed by an un-miced 18" in bars. With the right heads and beater it's all you need. For added bottom end, a port hole of just the right size in the rez head will add a lot more than you'd think.

To enhance the 80Hz range on a 18" X 14" bass drum the port hole should be 4.8" in diameter.

See this article for more on this.
http://compactdrums.com/porting-small-bass-drums/
Click to expand...
Great article. I personally found that I like a 4" port on my 18" BD for Rock. That seems to provide the balance of tone that suits my ear for my tuning and head choice.
I tried several different size ports including a 5" and a 3".
 
If the BD is going through a PA, you can also grab one of those sub-harmonic EFX units for bass guitar. We used to use one of these to give the band a little more dynamic range (some thump).
 
I don't have any EQ or mic advice, but I did use an 18(x16 deep) floor tom with hoops and claws, sitting on a riser as a kick drum for rock with quite good results. I got several amazed compliments from sound guys and other drummers as it always sounded killer when mic'ed up on stage and in the studio. I used a coated PS3 on batter side (tuned low, but not flappy) and 3" ported coated Ambassador on reso side (tuned significantly tighter) with no muffling. The riser improves the throw of the drum and turns it into a suspended cannon kind of thing. It's a surprisingly powerful drum, but it needs that mic.

I can also vouch for a 20(x16 deep) BD for rock. It allows you sit up over your rack toms while giving you some more bottom end and increased stage volume as compared to the 18". The 20" is my suggestion if you decide to shop for a different kit.
 
14x20 is a versatile size if you opt to sell the New Classics. I saw a drummer recently playing a Gretsch Catalina club set with a 14x20 that sounded really good un mic'd.
 
Don't ask for anyone's opinion!

My little 18x16 acrylic is a weapon, it also helps if you lay into it though. Not sure how your gretsch sounds but I would just keep it, the rock band shouldn't be so loud as to drown it out anyway.
 
I used a Gretsch Catalina 18 inch kick for a year. The little kick was awesome, but it needed miced. Now the only problem with that is do you have a sufficient PA to handle micing it. Going through a 15 inch vocal speaker driven by a couple hundred watts isn't going to cut it. I believe you would be better off buying a used 20 inch kick and wrapping it to match your existing kit. Believe me a 20 inch kick is a much better all around drum.
 
Trying to make an 18" sound like a 22" is is like a guitar player trying to make an ES-335 hollow body sound like a Les Paul.
 
Lets talk about heads for the 18" BD.
I have found that the Remo PS3 is really great as both batter and resonant.
The Evans EQ3 and EQ3 Reso is also an excellent combination.
Tune your batter just tight enough to produce a warm tone. Slightly tighter than Just Above Wrinkle. Slightly tighter than you would tune a 22" BD batter.
Use the tuning of the resonant head to get the fullest sound. You will find that you will actually have to crank the reso up a bit to bend the note. It is a narrow margin of resonate tension range that makes the best sound.
I stated earlier that I like a 4" port. Others like a larger port. Experiment for yourself and see what you like.

You are not trying to make the 18" sound exactly like a 22" bass drum. You are going for the best possible low end tone that the drum can produce. You will find that it has more punch and focus than a 22".
 
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