Just installed my Kelly Shu

larryace said:
On paper, the less holes thing makes sense, but really...it's inconsequential. Your shell has a bunch of holes in it already. I never understood the virgin kick thing either. Your shell has holes for lugs and feet so it's not virgin anyway. Besides, there's no sonic difference. You won't install an XLR jack in your shell because you'd have to drill it. Do you really think it's going to affect the sound? Because it won't. I understand not wanting to alter things, but I get the feeling that you think it would mess your sound up, which is a crock.
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Its gotta have some effect. The virgin bass I mean, not XLR. Maybe not the hole and the base of the tom mount itself, but all the hardware, toms, and any other stands/cymbals you have clamped to it? That's a lot of weight bearing down on the drum... That's like a toddler sitting on the drum while you play it. Just the angle a tom is mounted at has a noticable effect on it's sound (as noted in many other "tom sound good until I mount it" threads).

Now... whether its a good or bad effect? I don't know... Most people muffle their kicks at least a little (built-in PS3-like muffling included) so it probably doesn't matter THAT much.
 
I'd have no problems drilling my drums but my drums are poplar and only cost me $500

Stick's - your kelly shu looks cool man, what mic are you using with it and have you
used it live or recorded yet?
 
Spectron said:
I'd have no problems drilling my drums but my drums are poplar and only cost me $500

Stick's - your kelly shu looks cool man, what mic are you using with it and have you
used it live or recorded yet?
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I have a Sennheiser 902e mounted in there. Sounds great through the board and headphones so far. Trying right now to reinstall my cubase on my new iMac, so I can start recording again.
 
what's with the instruction book laying there?.... everybody knows real men don't use instructions.....

double bass yes, instructions no.....
 
Fuo said:
Its gotta have some effect. The virgin bass I mean, not XLR. Maybe not the hole and the base of the tom mount itself, but all the hardware, toms, and any other stands/cymbals you have clamped to it? That's a lot of weight bearing down on the drum... That's like a toddler sitting on the drum while you play it. Just the angle a tom is mounted at has a noticable effect on it's sound (as noted in many other "tom sound good until I mount it" threads).

Now... whether its a good or bad effect? I don't know... Most people muffle their kicks at least a little (built-in PS3-like muffling included) so it probably doesn't matter THAT much.
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Totally agree that toms mounted on top of the kick seriously limits the kick's resonance. A virgin kick drum without toms on top is much more resonant. Now if you muffle your virgin kick, then you are back to the "toms mounted on the kick sound", and there is no sonic reason for the virgin kick.
OK, let's just say that drilling holes robs tone. Whatever is attached to the hole will vibrate along with the shell. Plus, if a hole represents 1/500th of the total shell mass, (just a guess, it could be even less) do you really think your ear is going to be able to detect 1/500th less resonance? And don't say yes Glen or I'll drive up there and install the XLR when you are working lol.

Virgin kicks are only effective unported and with no muffling. (JMO) What a great sound too. Not my sound but I do love hearing when someone else has the guts to run a BD with 2 full heads wide open. Virgin kicks still have probably 40 holes in them. 40! Would you consider your GF a virgin if she was drilled 40 times? Lol, virgin kicks, what a crock. You have to stand in awe at the magnitude of BS that passes for truth. Andy's Guru prototype kit I think is a true virgin kick, (zero holes in the shell) or a set of Sleishmans. But if a drum has lugs, the term virgin kick make me laugh.

Glen, do you plug your ventholes? No you say? Why not? Your losing resonance!
 
I don't care what you say, I still like the sound of having virgins in my basement. :)
 
Do you muffle and/or port your virgins Glen?
 
larryace said:
Do you muffle and/or port your virgins Glen?
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I use a PS3 with no port. If I had a sleezy bass drum I would still have a PS3 with no port, so I figure I am still farther ahead. Bass mounts are way too restrictive in setting up tom positions for me. No matter how you slice it, less holes is good holes. :) Just look what happens when you put holes in a cymbal.
 
sticks4drums said:
Thanks for the tip on the insulation wear.
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Forget the insulation wear. More importantly, contact with the reso head results in vibration noise and dampening. Here's what I do:

Take a piece of coathanger, and from the reso side, sitick in thru one of the Shu's mounting holes. The coathanger will fit into a hole, even if the hole as a bungee hook in it. Bend the coathanger at a right angle, then bend again to stick into another hole. Either gaffer tape or velcro wrap the coathanger to the Shu.

At the end coming toward the reso, bend a hook in the end. You can then tape your mic cable to the coathanger. I made my port at a position near 4:00 close to a lug. When the cable comes out of the port, I simply drape the cable over that claw. Then, I thread the cable between the lug and the shell. This all serves to keep the cable suspended and away from the reso head. I actually velcro wrapped the cable to the lug, so it doesn't even move during transport. ;-)
 
sticks4drums said:
OK. I love that you have Saturn's, but as a union member of 353 of the electrical union I have to object to the way you run your mic cords. What a mess. :) Look at all that lovely walnut.
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I know! It was much less of an issue with my old natural wood kit- the blue cables didn't look so out of place. Having said that, the cables are taped together as a wiring harness with the plugs marked so that it's quick and easy to set up. I may look at using cable ties to attach the chords to the rack at the back/ drummer side so that they can't be seen. Having said that, this is the only venue we play in where you can even see the drums, the others have me behind parts of the bar, a banister/ hand rail thing etc, where you can barely see the drums, never mind the cables! If it never moved like your monster kit, I might be bothered by it...

By the way, only the blue cables are mine- the yellow and orange ones belong to the rhythm guitarist, and they're much worse than mine!!
 
bigiainw said:
I know! It was much less of an issue with my old natural wood kit- the blue cables didn't look so out of place. Having said that, the cables are taped together as a wiring harness with the plugs marked so that it's quick and easy to set up. I may look at using cable ties to attach the chords to the rack at the back/ drummer side so that they can't be seen. Having said that, this is the only venue we play in where you can even see the drums, the others have me behind parts of the bar, a banister/ hand rail thing etc, where you can barely see the drums, never mind the cables! If it never moved like your monster kit, I might be bothered by it...
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I moved my Roland TD 10 kit every weekend to church with all the cables attached to the rack with Velcro ties. You could barely see the wires. It can be done neatly. :)
 
larryace said:
Glen, do you plug your ventholes? No you say? Why not? Your losing resonance!
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You could splice your XLR cable and run it through the venthole, tying it to one of the tension rods (so you don't ruin that flawless finish...).

Before being worried about losing any resonance/sound of the bass drum from drilling for an XLR jack, I'd worry about replacing that batter head with something a little less muffling. It would remove what's choking the tone of that beautiful shell and allow it to sing like Mapex intended it to...
 
caddywumpus said:
You could splice your XLR cable and run it through the venthole, tying it to one of the tension rods (so you don't ruin that flawless finish...).

Before being worried about losing any resonance/sound of the bass drum from drilling for an XLR jack, I'd worry about replacing that batter head with something a little less muffling. It would remove what's choking the tone of that beautiful shell and allow it to sing like Mapex intended it to...
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Well buddy they sent it that way to me and I figure they know more about drums than both of us, and it sounds great, so I think I will leave it that way. :)
 
sticks4drums said:
Well buddy they sent it that way to me and I figure they know more about drums than both of us, and it sounds great, so I think I will leave it that way. :)
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If it sounds great, that's all that matters. I think you should seriously consider putting the XLR through the vent hole, though, if you're not going to drill for an XLR plug in the shell. That cable through the port hole thing is cute, but it will cause you problems in the long run.

Waiting for the sound file. :)
 
caddywumpus said:
That cable through the port hole thing is cute, but it will cause you problems in the long run.
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What are you talking about? I've been running my cable through the port holes of two gigging kits for nearly two years, and nothing has ever gone wrong. In fact, I don't see what could possibly go wrong.
 
Just wanted to show off how I have my Shu setup.

Of course, this is easier for me since I have an 70s Ludwig kit with a tom mount that I do not use on the bass drum.

I use a 2" Whirlwind XLR cable and leave it permanately connected inside the drum. You can easily diassemble and reassemble one end of these great cables to have a permanent setup, whether that's through a tiny hole in a head or the shell (or even figure a way to run it through a spur?).

I've been loving the Shu since I bought it 18 months ago. Jeff Kelly is a class act guy as well.
 

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I used to do the same thing with my Tama kit, but used a 5' cable instead, so that the connector on the outside was down at the bottom, near the floor, which was better than it being up high bumping into the shell. ;-)
 
Neat setup! You can also make it so the mic connects to a quarter inch plug, so that you plug in your bass drum much like a guitarist would plug in. No permanent modification of the drum or heads. It does take a bit of soldering and you use the bottom vent hole.

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So many great options for running the cable...all comes down to preference, ease of doing, and a little bit of cost consideration as well as considerations of modifying the drum (drilling an XLR jack into the shell - which I will do eventually - I know, for shame, but convenience might outweigh current option, plus it's a 35 year old drum with holes drilled in for the tom mount, a .75" hole for an XLR jack isn't going to make a difference in the sound at this point).

I do wrap the XLR is a towel before I play and use a 2' cable so I don't have to worry about too much slack when I move. I used to use a 25' XLR cable, but that's a lot of cable to wrap up and tote around with a bass drum that is already fun to move around on its own!
 
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