How many of you use a 20" kick. Not just for jazz but everything you play?

dpk204

Senior Member
I have a 22" kick. It's fine. I'm not that tall and I like playing on a 20" kick because it brings the toms down a little. I heard an awesome BLX 20" kick the other day and I was wondering how many of you use a 20" kick and what are it's major limitations.

Thanks
 
I play a 20". You can see it on the videos I've posted. It has no limitations. Actually, there's not much difference between a 20" and a 22". Now, if you were talking a 16" jungle bass compared to a 22", then yeah, there's limits to the 16".

Let the discussion begin!
 
I use a 20" Yamaha Stage Custom as my general purpose kit. I'm in a rock band, fusion band, and a jazz trio and it works for all of them.

I recently bought a jungle kit for playing smaller rooms, but up until then the 20" reigned supreme!

Jonathan
 
I have a 22" kick. It's fine. I'm not that tall and I like playing on a 20" kick because it brings the toms down a little. I heard an awesome BLX 20" kick the other day and I was wondering how many of you use a 20" kick and what are it's major limitations.

Thanks
I use a 20" kick for everything. I play high energy rock. Punchy, so perfect for PA FOH reproduction, and with enough bottom end for acoustic work. Limitations = non
 
I play a 20" and i love it! Soundwise, i can't find much of anything i can get with a 22" that i can't get with my 20". For me, being a little on the short side at 5'8", i find that the extra 2 inches of clearance i get for my tom height helps me a lot ergonomically.
 
i played a 20" some years ago at my local music store - to this day i've never heard another kick tuned as well as this one! it was an old gretsch 16 x 20". miked and live, it freaking rocked with tone!
 
i use a ddrum that was a 20x20 and had it cut down to a 14x20. i change heads depending on the style of music i'm playing. for jazz i use an aquarian modern vintage front and back, for r&b the original ddrum head with a kick port and an evans emad on the batter side.
 
My 22" kick drum now seems unnecassarily big...

...and how are 18" kicks? I have heard that they can have a decent amount of lower-end.

...a kick drum that allows my toms to be placed lower and be seen better is great while still having plenty of punch, depth and lower-end is great.

Something like this: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.musicworks.co.nz/images/ProductImages/630.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wellington.musicworks.co.nz/Page.php%3Fresultpage%3D46%26page%3D18%26SelectGroup%3D%26SelectBrand%3D%26search%3D%26&usg=__8M7LkOyqHmWNM8H9dttwl_LZiFs=&h=156&w=200&sz=6&hl=en&start=267&zoom=1&tbnid=EmKI1YS5xwXYCM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=155&prev=/images%3Fq%3Domni-tune%2B18%2Bx%2B16%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D567%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C8156&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=160&vpy=364&dur=4367&hovh=124&hovw=160&tx=117&ty=83&ei=mZ5vTPLVL4XyuAP7561C&oei=v51vTN_bH4y4uQO194BC&esq=38&page=19&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:267&biw=1003&bih=567

...it is always that last inch of adjustment that does it for rack toms, the rim of my med-tom falling on one of the kick drum lugs would really frustrate me...until I moved it to the side into a more ambidextrous position.
 
wow, this is great to hear. For some reason, I always used to think that 20" = jazzy kit. But to add to this discussion, does a smaller setup mean small cymbal selection? In my Church we use an older Yamaha Stage Custom with a 20" kick but our drummer uses 15" + 16" crashes. Can you still use a 16 + 18" crash setup even with the smaller kick?
 
why not? at the end its all about a sound and harmonic, there is no limitation for you to put anything to your setup.

my self using yamaha Stage custom 20" with 4 tom 8,10,12, and 14 - sometimes i change to 16" and with crash 16 left 18 right, 20 ride, 12 and 13 Hihat, 6 and 10 splash, 16 & 21 China all using K custom hybrid, except the 6" and the china's
 
When I tried an 18" kick, although I liked the thump of it, I felt with that size, now you're in the realm of having to mic it most of the time. The 20" has enough oomph to handle in a small to medium-sized room without having to be mic'd up. But an 18", if you're a dynamic player (not always slamming it), it'll need a mic to be able to be heard. That's just what I experienced.

Sometimes I wish the Gretsch Catalina Club jazz kit would be perfect if they sold it with a 20" instead of an 18"!
 
I've used a 20" kick for the last 13 years in all sorts of applications, from loud rock clubs to small cafes, and I love its versatility. I'm also a small guy, so having stuff set low is a fringe benefit.
 
I have a 22" kick. It's fine. I'm not that tall and I like playing on a 20" kick because it brings the toms down a little. I heard an awesome BLX 20" kick the other day and I was wondering how many of you use a 20" kick and what are it's major limitations.

Thanks
I've had from 18" to 26" bass drums so far. I do not think of any kit as being for a particular kind of music. You can play anything in any context. So what drumset I'm using has never been dictated by the genre.

However, the set I'm using has sometimes been dictated by the space I'm playing in, and if I'm working for someone I don't know very well, or if I do know them well and know them to be "conservative"/"traditional", then I'll take a kit that fits in with the norms, that caters to the common myths and won't seem odd. However, I do not agree with those beliefs at all. I'll cater to them for a paycheck without a hassle and with a good chance of getting called back, but I really believe that they're nonsense. Once I get to know someone better, and I know they like my playing, I'll start stretching the envelope.

At the moment, however, for acoustic bass drums, I only have a 22" and a 24". I'm going to be getting either an 18" or 16" soon, too. Aside from the comments above, I wouldn't hesitate to use any of them for any style of music. Keep in mind, however, that left to my own devices, I'm also never trying to do stereotypical things that fit into a genre. I actually loathe that approach.
 
When I tried an 18" kick, although I liked the thump of it, I felt with that size, now you're in the realm of having to mic it most of the time.
What about something like a 12" tom, though? That's a smaller drum, and you should be able to match the dynamics you can play with your sticks on the tom with the dynamics you can play with your foot on the bass drum.
 
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