add a 10'' tom or a 14'' floor ?

Right now I have a 12'' tom and a 16'' floor tom, which addition do you think would be the best, add a 10'' or another floor? I can't decide. Do you guys with 2 down use both floor toms a lot?
 
Get the 14" floor. You will find it to be a more versatile addition to your kit. That 14 will make a perfect transition from the 12 to 16, and i will bet that after adding it you will find the 14 to be the floor tom you use the most.

In the end, as with everything, its all about personal preference. But I suspect most people here will tell you one up, two down is the way to go.
 
For me my 14" PDP X7 floor tom is currently sitting in the corner unused. I may set it up if I feel like setting up the full configuration again to have a bit of fun but I just find no use for it. Maybe because it's not a normal configuration for me and I don't know how to utilize it but I find the mix of hitting the 12 and 16 together plenty enough for me.

To me, one of the major and awesome benefits of choosing to have a fairly cheap 7 piece was it would allow me to try pretty much every setup or configuration possible to see what I like in a setup and with that said I do not like having two floor toms to my right. I find I don't like having to twist to go all the way down to the 16", I love the low rumble of the 16" more than the 14", it makes it hard to place my one and only 18" Sabian B8 in a place on my rack that's easy to get to and allows me to get to it fast enough and tbh in general don't find myself wanting that middle note between the 12 and 16.

With a 2 up 1 down I can tune a 1/3 above going from the 16 to the 10 and the gap between the 12 and 16 isn't that noticeable. It's a perfect transition imo. Even when I add my 8" I can tune so that they all transition nicely down to the 16".

Which brings me to my next comment. What do YOU like out of a setup? Do find you're more of a pocket player or rock player and just want a 1 up 2 down config? Or do you like to be creative and have a more melodic sounding set? Or maybe both as the 10, 12, 16 will work for rock as well.
 
It depends on YOUR musical style and what YOU want.

I personally favor the 10". My basic set up has been 10" 12 and 16' since 1997.
I own 14" toms too, I just rarely use them.

Others will personally favor the 14" and never use a 10".

Neither is wrong or right, it's just about preference, and the music we play.
 
To me, one of the major and awesome benefits of choosing to have a fairly cheap 7 piece was it would allow me to try pretty much every setup or configuration possible to see what I like in a setup and with that said I do not like having two floor toms to my right. I find I don't like having to twist to go all the way down to the 16", I love the low rumble of the 16" more than the 14", it makes it hard to place my one and only 18" Sabian B8 in a place on my rack that's easy to get to and allows me to get to it fast enough and tbh in general don't find myself wanting that middle note between the 12 and 16.

Have you tried putting the 14" to the left of your hi-hats? I use that often and love it.

It really comes down to preference, as neither drum is more versatile than the other. Ryan Van Poederooyen (a very heavy drummer) uses a 10-12-16 setup. The 10" will go higher than the 12" (and personally i find the difference between one and two rack toms to be much more affecting than one/two floor toms), but you might have to have the rack toms a bit low or the floor tom a bit high to get the sound you want. The 14" will go lower than the 12" but you might not like a second floor tom to either side of you.

Consider this: you can (probably- IDK your hardware setup) do a 1-up, 2-down setup with a 10-12-16 (put the 12's tom clamp on a stand and get it in a floor tom location) but you can't get a 2-up, 1-down setup with a 12-14-16. Food for thought.
 
Actually porter I did try that at one time. It was Chris Coleman that inspired me to try it and actually it was quite cool to play like that. A bit hard at first but it's fun being creative with it next to me. Only thing is my room is short in width, not length so I'm not able to use that kind of a setup currently. Also I found I would rather have the 16 to my left rather than the 14. So because I'm a righty I lead with my right and doing a triplet fill or flam feel more natural to end with my left on the bigger drum.

Honestly it was fun but probably not a config I would stick with. I feel the only time I would ever use two floor toms next to me is if i decided to go simple for a while with the X7 and use my 12 up top and then the 14, 16 on the floor. Really it's all in what I feel like having set up at the time and don't get me wrong it's not THAT bad to have two floor toms next to me but I just don't find the urge to have a 14 next to me for the time being lol.
 
it comes down to the preference of 2 up vs. 1 down or vice versa, but i had a 12'' and 16'' like yourself, and just got a matching 14'' floor tom. it's the best sounding drum on my kit by far, and i will probably end up selling the 16''.
 
I would go with the 14" for a couple of reasons. It will be better tonal steps to have a 2" difference between each tom. I love 10" toms, but I think the 14" will suit you better.

I also have found that I prefer the sound of a 14" floor tom over a 16". They just sound more lively to me, and they're MUCH easier to tune. I definitely don't miss tuning my old 16" Tama Rockstar floor tom. That thing was harder to get a good sound out of than a First Act kit.
 
Like others have said, it depends on what you want. I'd go 10 inch Tom. I think that nothing tunes up so pretty and easily as they do. I also dislike 14 inch floor toms. They're just to small for what I like to hear in a floor Tom. For me, anything on the floor begins at 16.
 
I would definitely go for the 14" floor tom if I had to make that decision. As with all my 12, 14 and 16" combinations, they tune beautifully together. If I didn't have the 16" floor tom, which would never be the case, I would opt for a 10, 12 and 14.



Dennis
 
Thanks for all the feedback ! I ended up ordering the 14'' floor tom, the kit is a 2013 Saturn IV MH in granite sparkle. The drums are fantastic and I'm anxious to get the 14 on board and worked in to the line up. I may add the 10'' down the road but I should be good with the 12,14, and 16 for now. I will post some pics as soon as I get it all together.
 
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