Is it possible to make an unported kick feel like ported?

dkerwood

dkerwood

Silver Member
I'm doing an extended gig over the next few months and the house kick has an unported reso. My kits have always been ported, so my right leg is really fighting the drum. Is there anything I can do to give me more of a feel that I'm used to? Will tuning the batter down get me in the ballpark? I'm getting ready for gig #2 of about 15 tonight.
 
I feel your pain, as I struggle with unported bass drums as well. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. You can try loosening the batter head to JAW, but I'm not sure how much that will help.

Any chance the kit's owner will just let you port the head? Tell him (or her) you'll do it yourself the right way (and be sure that you do it right using some sort of hole protector), and talk up the benefits of a ported head—mic positioning, better feel, punchier sound, etc.
 
TK-421 said:
I feel your pain, as I struggle with unported bass drums as well. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. You can try loosening the batter head to JAW, but I'm not sure how much that will help.

Any chance the kit's owner will just let you port the head? Tell him (or her) you'll do it yourself the right way (and be sure that you do it right using some sort of hole protector), and talk up the benefits of a ported head—mic positioning, better feel, punchier sound, etc.
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Heads are expensive. Don’t ask that. Bring your own ported head and swap it if it’s that important. Or, learn how to play well on it in addition to playing what you play.
 
As stated above, bring your own ported head. Tune them both really low.
 
Related question/thought experiment:

What would people think was the smallest port you could get away with if the goal was purely to get some ported feel, whilst keeping as much of the non ported tone as possible? Assume mic placement is a non issue.

So, for instance, would a 1 inch port change the feel of the drum, or would it not do anything perceivable?
 
Put an unpoted head on your kit at home and make friends with the action? That's what I have been doing for the past few months, and it does get easier and the sound is getting more dynamic. (Beater rebound and sticking the beater, very cool difference with unported reso.) Unported heads are a thing we come across, just like the guys who like unported having to play ported sometimes.
I keep the batter loose and tighten the resonant some till the sound gets some body. Just have to get used to giving the pedal a tad bit more space to clear the head's larger rebounding vibration
 
I was struggling going from unported to single head so the opposite of your problem. Tightening up the pedal spring a little helped a bit, so perhaps loosen the pedal spring

Or

Drill a one inch hole in the underside of the BD shell when no one is looking. This could cause some conflict with the house
 
Am I weird in that I prefer unported?
 
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Just go with the unported for
the sake of Barrett Deems
I reckon ya
Think of the Cozy Cole.
The Clap Schaplin ...
the Mine Minersofor....
the Krept Kreptevin.
 
After a few months of having the port in my bass drum sealed up, I took off the dot that I had sealed it up with and opened it up again. I could tighten up my resonant so it is in the midrange pitches and fine tune the pillow muffler. A bit of getting used to soft notes being so quiet- yay! I'm thinking I'm camp bring your own ported reso, let the bass (guitar) boom away
 
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