Same sized rack toms

[Wick]

I saw this ad on craigslist for a vintage Ludwig, and it comes with two rack toms of the same size and model. So I was wondering what it would be like to have your toms like this, and just tune one lower pitched than the other one, or something like that.

Anyone have experience with this?

Originally Posted by Wick

I saw this ad on craigslist for a vintage Ludwig, and it comes with two rack toms of the same size and model. So I was wondering what it would be like to have your toms like this, and just tune one lower pitched than the other one, or something like that.

Anyone have experience with this?

I have three 8" toms, but each one is different by an inch. 8 x 6, 8 x 7, 8 x 8. The 8 x 8 is tuned normally for its size, and the 8 x 7 is tighter, and the 8 x 6 is tighter still. They work better than rocket toms or other long single headed toms in my opinion because they look and sound like the rest of the kit.

[Cameo]

Keith Moon had three or four 14" rack toms. If I remember it right, they were the same size.

[TTNW]

Trey Gray with Brooks and Dunn is on a 3 rack tom kit now as opposed to his normal 4 piece rig and they're all the same size. He did it only at B&D's request to play a bigger showier kit.

You can tune them up and down for intervals. Also people have done it often with floor toms. Of course Buddy Rich is the obvious example with two 16" floors. Matt Abts with Gov't Mule plays two 16 inch floors sometimes, mostly using his second 16 as a towel rack/beer and cell phone platform.

Moonie did it I think because after he realized he could tune them a little differently, it looked cool and set him apart. He also probably didn't care all that much anyway whether they sounded so different from each other. He could have had one them as a card board box and he would have made it fun.

Some of this is style choice. They're drums not precise electronic instruments.

If you can play, you can put almost anything up there and make it sound good.

[harryconway]

Indeed, "back in the day", some kits came with two 12x8 racks, rather than a 12x8 and a 13x9. It was up to the player ... to tune one lower than the other ... rather than the manufacture dictating "this drum gets tuned higher than that drum".