No dampening - Virgin vs Drilled

JaQ

Member
Apparently there is no difference in sound between the bass drum drilled, and the "virgin" .... but a lot of people use a pillow or other dampening. Such a suppressed sound similar, the hole has little effect on the sound.

I do not like to use pillows, I like empty, sounding from inside the kick.

In such a situation, where we do not use any damping, there is a difference between drilled and "virgin" bass drums?
It may be so that the hole for toms in the drum can flee excess air, which was not able to exit through the air vent and ultimately kick sounds better?
How do you think that bass drums will sound better without anything inside?
 
If you drill a hole in a drum, its value will automatically drop to ten percent of what it was formerly. I pick up a lot of great drums that way. Just don't blow my cover, because I've got a great racket going here.
 
Drilled or not drilled... it makes no difference in the value of the drum itself to me. It's all "perceived value" IMO.
Maybe because when I was young, 98% of bass drums still had a mount for toms.
You could get them ordered for no mount, but most had them.

Yamaha has just recently (comparatively) offered bass drums with no mount.
I can't recall seeing a Pearl bass drum without that 2 pipe behemoth until not that long ago either. Tama always had them too until the StarClassic came out if I recall correctly. Sonor always had a gigundo, super heavy mount.
It's never hurt any of their sales to have a mount.

People mainly (I think anyway) these days, since custom builders became more common, have a preference to how it looks one way or another, and place the "value" on that.

Completely un-muffled, I think the main difference would be a bit of pedal feel between the action of the heads. The size of the bass drum is going to have more effect than a 1" hole at the top of a drum.
There'd be more difference between a full front head, and one that has a 4" hole for a mic than a mount also.

One cool thing would be that it's possible to stick a mic at or a little in the mount hole (like a 57) and have a full front head.
Less attack that way, but it would still be a good solid sound. More of a "total drum" sound.
 
I think that if you're going for "ultimate resonance", and it's such a big deal to you that you specifically search out a virgin bass drum, that you shouldn't dampen it with pillows, felt, "treated" heads, etc. If you like the look of a virgin bass drum, that's another thing.

As for virgin vs. drilled and whether it's treated or not, I don't see too much difference. Some people have a virgin bass drum, but then port the reso head...??? If you have a tom mount up top, and air is escaping through there, it will reduce the resonance a bit, but not quite as much as a port hole, and definitely not as much as a pillow. There isn't too much difference between putting a pillow in a virgin vs. a drilled bass drum...you have a muffled bass drum at that point.
 
If you drill a hole in a drum, its value will automatically drop to ten percent of what it was formerly. I pick up a lot of great drums that way. Just don't blow my cover, because I've got a great racket going here.

Respectfully...If the drum in question was drilled at the factory that way to accept that companys hardware,then it would not drop in value.If however it was drilled by some nut with a drill and modified to other that factory specs,then it in almost all cases,would drop in value between 35 and 50 %.

Most bass drums are drilled by the factory for mounting hardware,and are not virgin.

Steve B
 
As a radial pro owner I can say without a doubt that on a thin shelled bass drum there is a difference in tone between a virgin one and one that is drilled and its not the air escaping out the extra hole its the metal attached to the shell and the weight of the toms changing the way the shell vibrates. On a regular drum with hardware I dont know if you can tell the difference as you already have a bunch of lugs and 2 spurs already attached to the shell so I guess the extra bracket may not make that big a difference but I have heard a 22" radial pro 501 with tom mount next to a 22" radial pro virgin with the same heads and the virgin is warmer and more resonant with less odd harmonic overtones. Some of you guys with a drilled bass drum try taking the toms and mounting arm out of the bracket and see if the change in weight on the bass drum shell changes the sound. Id almost bet that on intermediate and pro level kits it will especially if they are thinner made shells.
 
Respectfully...If the drum in question was drilled at the factory that way to accept that companys hardware,then it would not drop in value.If however it was drilled by some nut with a drill and modified to other that factory specs,then it in almost all cases,would drop in value between 35 and 50 %.

Most bass drums are drilled by the factory for mounting hardware,and are not virgin.

Steve B

I agree, and, in my opinion, this is a good way for a person to get a drum, or a drum set, for, as you yourself say, up to one-half off. Furthermore, drums can, of course, be brought back to specification before they are resold, though this might not always be possible, or economical, which is another matter for consideration.

For example, let's consider a drum set which was wrapped at the factory, and with shells that were painted on the inside. Then someone comes along and drills holes in the shells, thereby reducing the kit's value. Such a kit could be got at a good price. Let's say it's an entry-level kit, which is bought by a beginner.

Okay, so now the beginner is ready to move up to a mid-level kit, and so what does he do? He removes the wrap, plugs the holes, applies some new wrap to the outside, and some touch-up paint to the inside, and then he sells the set at a profit.

This seems like a good way to get a good deal.
 
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