drum dial review

4

412drummer

Senior Member
Finally got one after years on just tuning by ear cause I wanted to see how much it helped.

Quality- well built product, pretty hefty, Im pleased with it

Performace- Reads the tension well, seems to work best on toms and pretty good on snare. I could not use it on my kick cause of the emad head. My way of tuning was to get the rods finger tight and then keep bringing each rod up a little at equal tensions following standard tuning pattern until it was at the desires tension. Overall I think it is quicker and pretty precise vs convential tuning. I read my by ear tuning off before using the dial and they were usually pretty close to equal from eachother but I also would spend a whole day getting that tuning cause I was a perfectionist about it. I did make some very small adjustments after using the dial. Maybe its the heads having slight marks or my ear being used to being slightly off or something but I just always seem to find a rod or two thats needs a hair of a turn more.

Value- I ordered mine used, but I think the new price is around $50-$60 for the non digital one. Its a fair price, I feel like $50 is the most I would pay even though it works well. Its worth it for anyone who isnt great at tuning or want quicker tuning.
 
I like the drumdial too. Sounds like you are good at tuning without it, but they do work as a nice quick reference. If a lug is a couple segments off the drumdial will pick that up and its easy to give the lug a quick little turn up or down.
 
yeah Im pretty good without it but yes Il agree its deifnatly nice for fine tuning. The biggest turn on to me is how much less time it takes to get that "perfect" sound.
 
I borrowed a drum dial from a friend and outfitted a Tour Custom with new Studio-X heads. This was about 2 years ago. I sat in my living room and began watching "Rocky Balboa" and the movie was over before I could get 3 of my 5 toms sounding decent. Every time I rigorously tuned with the drum dial. I had my laptop near by to see what I was doing wrong. I tried every method with it and my toms always sounded like total crap. I tuned both reso and batter. I considered taking the resos off, that's how bad it was. I finally gave up and detuned all of the heads. Took a half an hour to bring them all up to desired pitch and I was flying away.

I hope the Tune Bot I'm getting isn't going to give me the same headaches!
 
I'm glad yours is working out for you. I bought a Drum Dial about three years ago and kept it for only a week before returning it.

Dennis
 
Any particular reason you do not like the drum dial? I by no means think is perfect but I find it to be a good tool for making tuning quicker and somewhat preciser depending on how well you can tune by ear.
 
412drummer said:
Any particular reason you do not like the drum dial? I by no means think is perfect but I find it to be a good tool for making tuning quicker and somewhat preciser depending on how well you can tune by ear.
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I can tune by ear very well and been doing it for more than fifty years. After getting the kits I have and the total amount of drums that I have to keep in tune, I thought I would try the Drum Dial, because just maybe someone invented the better mouse trap. I was wrong. It took both me and my girlfriend much longer using the device and the results were not even close to the accuracy that we obtain by just using our ears. The Drum Dial, in my opinion is very slow because of the way it has to be used and when getting each head in tune with itself, is dramatically not accurate enough. The Drum Dial has no ears and cannot hear the subtle differences in pitches that humans can with just a little training.

I've always said that it would be much more beneficial for someone learning how to tune drums to learn one on one from a competent drum instructor. They can walk you through every step in the process teaching you what to listen for and how exactly to achieve the sound that you're looking for. Everyone who plays drums Should know how to tune and maintain their instruments. In my mind, it's a package deal. In most cases, Drum Dials and other so called tuners, really do not teach the drummer anything but a false perception that their drums are finally in tune.

Dennis
 
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audiotech said:
I can tune by ear very well and been doing it for more than fifty years. After getting the kits I have and the total amount of drums that I have to keep in tune, I thought I would try the Drum Dial, because just maybe someone invented the better mouse trap. I was wrong. It took both me and my girlfriend much longer using the device and the results were not even close to the accuracy that we obtain by just using our ears. The Drum Dial, in my opinion is very slow because of the way it has to be used and when getting each head in tune with itself, is dramatically not accurate enough. The Drum Dial has no ears and cannot hear the subtle differences in pitches that humans can with just a little training.

I've always said that it would be much more beneficial for someone learning how to tune drums to learn one on one from a competent drum instructor. They can walk you through every step in the process teaching you what to listen for and how exactly to achieve the sound that you're looking for. Everyone who plays drums Should know how to tune and maintain their instruments. In my mind, it's a package deal. In most cases, Drum Dials and other so called tuners, really do not teach the drummer anything but a false perception that their drums are finally in tune.

Dennis
Click to expand...


Yeah. What he said...
 
I agree its not the same as a set of ears. I am saying its good for quicker tuning if you know what tension is around what you want you can bring it to there and then adjust.
 
412drummer said:
I agree its not the same as a set of ears. I am saying its good for quicker tuning if you know what tension is around what you want you can bring it to there and then adjust.
Click to expand...

I have a similar take to yours 412. The dial can get you there quicker and more consistently. I also use the torque key from Evans to maintain the heads. I can make nearly any kit I play sound better by ear, but the tools are great to have and understand their place in the process.
 
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