Felt vs plastic

drummingman

Gold Member
Bass drum beaters that is. in the overall scheme of things does a felt beater really sound all that different than a plastic beater? Speaking of both live playing and in the studio. I could even include this to the feel of the beater on the drum. Is it even really that big of a difference in feel?
I played primarily with felt beaters years ago. But for the last probably 10 to 15 years I've played primarily with plastic beaters. I've just been thinking about changing it up and going back to felt beaters.
Beng that I play in a metal band and I don't trigger or plan to trigger I just want to make sure that the felt beaters would cut through if thats what I want to do. I like definition in my bass drum sound. But I by no means go for the typical metal bass drum sound.
 
In the overall scheme of things does a felt beater really sound all that different than a plastic beater?


I can only hear a difference between soft and hard at the moment. Felt/Cloth versus plastic/wood. To my ears, the difference sounds exactly the same as using a felt versus plastic mallet on a tom. You can even hit the bass drum with the mallets to see what I mean.
 
In my experience,

does a felt beater really sound all that different than a plastic beater?

Yes. I've never gotten that sharp attack from a felt beater, and plastic ones always sound annoying at lower volume music. And

Is it even really that big of a difference in feel?

No. Maybe noticeable, but that's it.

I use stock dw beaters, and I turn them around every once in a while. Metal band always gets the plastic, since the felts never cut it at practice. I've never got to hear my own kit miced up at a gig from out front, though, so I haven't had the chance to A/B them for that. I guess the felts might make it harder for the sound guy to get the boom-click he wants, if you're after a softer sound. Mastodon comes to mind.
 
Beng that I play in a metal band and I don't trigger or plan to trigger I just want to make sure that the felt beaters would cut through if thats what I want to do. I like definition in my bass drum sound. But I by no means go for the typical metal bass drum sound.

To me, there can be a huge difference between felt and plastic beaters. It all depends on how soft/hard, shape and the tension of the bass drum head. If your using really soft felt beaters it's going to feel as if there's a delay in the stroke. Response is going to feel slow if you know what I mean. While hard beaters are going to feel instant. This means that resting your beater (if you do that) will be significantly different between hard and soft beaters. Also shape is a big factor, Tama Projector beaters (felt) sound in between hard and soft, but they feel horrible because of the shape (imo).

Hard beaters are definitely what you want. Whether it's wood or plastic, your sound is going to have a lot more attack and sound more defined. The overall sound will be determined how you tune/mute your head though, so don't worry about only getting a "typical" metal sound (I assume you mean a clicky trigger kind of sound). I use plastic beaters on a detuned 22" with decent muting as well as a beater impact pad. It's insanely clean and almost sounds triggered, but even with that set up you can real it back to a more traditional sound. That being said, hard beaters won't limit your sound, I've never seen heard a bass drum that was "too defined" because of hard beaters. We all wish, but no lol. I think you should pick some up and take some time getting used to them; adjusting head tension/muting.
 
. There's a HUGE difference between felt and wood beaters.

Both in feel, and sound, recorded or in a live situation.

Wood/plastic will have more attack, more bounce, and cut threw much more.. felt will have a softer feel, a warmer tone and a boom as apposed to a punch when it hits the drum.

I use a tighter head so that might increase the effect of this
 
The more I listen to my kick with a mic running the sound through my headphones using a hard plastic beater the less I like the sound. Its very slappy sounding and to my ear sounds somewhat unrefined. Also, I find that any fluttering of the beater on the head, which is very hard not to get any of even when not burrying the beaters, sounds really awful with plastic beaters. I really go out of my way not to bury the beaters and to not get any flutter but I think its impossible not to have beater flutter at times.

I used to only use felt beaters years ago. After thinking about it for a bit now I see myself going back to them.
 
I wish PureSound hadn't discontinued their beaters. I've had the felt come off of mine and had to glue it back on. So far so good. But I'd like to have a spare or two. The shape of the surface and how it hits the head has plenty of attack without having that slappy plasticy sound. The shape is kind of like the plastic side of a DW beater, only angled so it hits the head squarely. They did make one without the felt which would probably be awesome for metal but I can't find either of them anymore.
 
Major difference between felt/plastic beaters, for all the reasons already mentioned here. I do notice a slight difference in feel between them as well though; the felt is a bit softer feeling to my foot than the plastic.

Now the difference between wood and plastic is a bit more minimal... IMO, I find wood to be a bit more full sounding than a plastic beater. Or I'm crazy, but whatever!
 
I've always used felt. I like the feeling of felt on the drum head. These days I play low volume so there's obviously no need to change. If I played metal I'd definitely use plastic or wood beaters, actually I'd use triggers for extra power.
 
I grew up on felt beaters. Then I found myself using the plastic side of the DW beater, but I was putting moleskin on the head. Now I use the felt side of the DW beaters and use the supplied little plastic patch Remo and Evans give you for the beater spot.

Crazy, huh?
 
You should try the wood Vickicks from Vic Firth, they have enough attack up front for metal but the rounded shape of them gives a softer, fuller sound.
 
Back
Top