6 peice sets- 3 up/1 down vs 2 up/2 down tom setups.

I'm looking for opinions on 3 up/1 down vs 2 up/2 down, what would you rather play? why?

I like the two down set up better. You can place your hats and ride better.

3 up/1 down definitely. It's ridiculous to have to twist your torso to have to reach that second floor tom. That is, unless it's on your left side, next to your hats. With 3 up/1 down, you can position everything in front of you so you don't have to shift your weight/rotation/balance or stretch to reach anything.

For me it would depend on the size drums that you're talking about and their positioning above your bass drum. Three of my kits are configured like this and although I'm a pretty big guy, 200 pounds, I have no problem getting comfortably to the two floors. The 16" is about at the 2:30 position in relation to where I sit. Everything is compact and well within my reach. With the compliment of cymbals I use, there really are not too many options.





Dennis

Depends on how big you like your toms.

If the setup is a standard 8/10/12/14, I would do 3 up, 1 down. Shift everything up a size, like 10/12/14/16 and I'd go 2 up, 2 down.

My setup is usually a 1 up, 2 down 13/15/18 (or occasionally a 2 up, 2 down 12/13/15/18). I love all that power down low.

razorx said:

I like the two down set up better. You can place your hats and ride better.

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I agree. I usually use a 4 piece config so my ride is in the 1 o'clock position and then to go two up and two down I add one rack to the left and one floor to the right. This way I keep the same 4 piece feel.

I tried the 3 up, 1 down set up before but I don't like my ride higher and to the right so much. I also find that I overplay a bit with too many rack toms. My tendency is that if the drums are there, then I lack the self discipline to not use them. Lame, I know but I think my playing is better with fewer drums.

MikeM said:

Depends on how big you like your toms.

If the setup is a standard 8/10/12/14, I would do 3 up, 1 down. Shift everything up a size, like 10/12/14/16 and I'd go 2 up, 2 down.

My setup is usually a 1 up, 2 down 13/15/18 (or occasionally a 2 up, 2 down 12/13/15/18). I love all that power down low.

Click to expand...

This is my preferred set up for when I want a bigger bottom end sound. I've gradually raised my floor toms up over the years and positioned them so that my 18" floor tom is less to my right at 3 o'clock and more to the right at the 2 o'clock. I love playing fills where I skip the rack tom altogether and go straight to the floors.

Check out some video on YouTube of Greg Bissonette and you'll see how well he does with the 3 up 1 down configuration. It's cool but not my thing.

I also go 3 up 2 down. If I had to lose one (which is often), I go with 3 up 1 down. I also use a left side tom, for 6 total if there is space.

Not only is drum size a factor, but maybe the style of music and your drumming style. If your style is melodic, I would go with smaller drums in 3 up. If you are into heavier playing, bigger drums with 2 up.

Totally depends on the size of the toms.

8-10-12-14 would certainly be 3 up, 1 down.

10-12-14-16 could go either way depending on the depth of the drums, and how you prefer to mount your ride.

12-14-16-18 would almost have to be two down.

But really, it comes down to personnel preference. Years ago I played 10, 12 14 power toms, with a 16" floor. I can't imagine doing that today.

I guess I would technically play a 5 up 2 down (octobans) hehe

Thats the nice thing about octobans, they are only 6" diameter, so I just through them over the Hihats with out them getting in the way!

And personally I love having 7 toms (/octobans) surrounding me, and would like to eventually get a Gong Bass Drum as well, just to have a super low sounding tom.

The hihat placement isn't an issue for me, because I use the x hats on my right as my main hats, and the A custom hats on my left are used mainly for open handed stuff.

pics of my warlords below giving some examples.

-Jonathan

**NOTE** the hihats on my left have moved several inches to the right, and the don't look so goofy with alllll that space inbetween them and the hats....

I used to play three across, one down. I added a 16" floor tom, making it two down. Then I shifted all three toms (actually four now) to the left to put my ride at 2 o'clock. It's become very comfortable, to the point where if I sit in on a five piece, I'll take the right rack tom off to fly the ride cymbal in over the bass drum.

3 up, 1 down for me too. Agree with Caddy about the twisting to reach the second floor thing. Get the point on the ride position too. Look at my kit picture and you can see the ride at 2 o clock & real low (about 2" over the 14" hanging floor tom). My sizes are so compact, I can set it up in almost the same space as a 5 piece.

absolutely 3 up and 1 down for me. The fact that the smallest 8" tom is on a seperate stand means i can get it, and my hi-hats exactly where i want them anyway. I would like to add a 16x16 floor tom for the extra power, giving my kit more versatility, but waiting till i can find a matching m birch tom.

Going back to caddys point about the twist. I really like Steve Smiths way of having , in his case 3 up 2 down, with the floor tom more 'flat'

like here

http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/stevesmithrattletrap.html

to me this makes more sense and if i had all these toms I would go with that.

Cheers

Dave