TomPort

Cmdr. Ross

Cmdr. Ross

Platinum Member
I got one of these for Christmas and I really don’t know what to do with it. Some say to put it on the batter head (the logic of that escapes me), but I use the Evans Hydraulics.

That would be a bad, oily idea.

Others have said put it on the reso, and it’ll enhance the sustain and resonance like on the kick.
But then others have said porting a tom like that will just kill the sustain all together and make it sound like a single headed concert tom of the 70’s.

Any thoughts or experiences?
 
I don't know how that thing is supposed to work. But just thinking about it, if it were a good thing there would be a lot of people doing it. I have seen a video of it and if my memory serves me right they were on the batter side
 
Andy said:
Can you obtain the receipt? ?
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Yes, and as I watch these, there’s really no good point. I love how the KickPort works for the bass drum, but tom usage seems useless.
 
I experimented with the Tom Ports on a lark. They suck. Don't waste your time or money. They absolutely kill the resonance. I couldn't find any use for them. (I bought them for a bass drum experiment. Another story all together.)

GeeDeeEmm
 
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gdmoore28 said:
I bought them for a bass drum experiment. Another story all together.
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I used one on an 18 inch "foot tom" and it worked really well. A floor tom though? Nah.
 
I had them on a 12" and 16", basically they dried up the resonance [as you'd expect] and increased the attack on each drum. Installed them out of curiosity and took them out last year.
 
Do you mic your kit? You will lose resonance if you put it on the batter, I have never tried one on a reso though. Think of a vent hole in a snare.. If you have a non vented snare it will have more overtones, A snare with a large vent is louder, and has more of a CRACK, and is more dry. I actually tried a few of those kickport for snare drums back in the day and it did sound pretty neat.

Do you mic your kit? this is where those tom ports shine. When you point a mic near the hole, that is when you can get some really good sounds and hear more of the bottom head now. When I had the port in the snare batter I was REALLY able to hear the snares and bottom head more.

At the end of the day they are not the most common thing, but in the right setting, with mics I think they have a use.

Drumming is all about experimenting. However, do not put it in the hydrolic head.
 
beyondbetrayal said:
Drumming is all about experimenting. However, do not put it in the hydraulic head.
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Oh, that would be a very, oily mess.

I do in fact mic it when gigging, so I was thinking of putting this on the reso head on my lowest floor tom just to see what happens. It's in need of a new reso head anyway, so why not. If it sounds like crap, then it's not like I'm out any money.
 
CommanderRoss said:
Oh, that would be a very, oily mess.

I do in fact mic it when gigging, so I was thinking of putting this on the reso head on my lowest floor tom just to see what happens. It's in need of a new reso head anyway, so why not. If it sounds like crap, then it's not like I'm out any money.
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Do it... Especially if it's a floor tom that has a ton of sustain. I have had a few that needed a gel or 2 to stop them from keeping a gate open during recording / gigs. This would be a great opportunity.


Same with a snare head on it's last legs. why not try putting one in the batter, put it back on just to see what it does?

Everyone is so quick to judge here but it's often the innovative guys who get really great new sounds. I wonder if the first guy to put his wallet on a snare drum got chewed out by a room full of people. No, because they heard it and probibly thought it sounded great. It wasn't a group of people on the internet READING about it throwing their arms up in the air.
 
beyondbetrayal said:
Everyone is so quick to judge here but it's often the innovative guys who get really great new sounds. I wonder if the first guy to put his wallet on a snare drum got chewed out by a room full of people. No, because they heard it and probibly thought it sounded great. It wasn't a group of people on the internet READING about it throwing their arms up in the air.
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So true! It's like when someone thinks outside the box, you get that raised eyebrow right away.

I'm a fan of the YouTube channel Sounds Like A Drum where those guys do nothing but come up with weird, experiments that may or may not affect the tone or sound of your kit.
They'd use one of these TomPorts on a drum just to see what it would do. If it worked, great! If not, they'd tell us why they thought it didn't.

I'll run an experiment (with sound clips) this weekend and see what happens. I use the Evans Hydraulic batter heads, so it'll be the driest drum EVER! :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 
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