24" or 22" kick?

JimmyM said:
That’s my big concern with 24 as well, along with the toms being either too high or too angled.
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The 13" definitely feels high having played a 22" with 8/10/12 toms for so long but I am experimenting with some ideas. The problems have more to do with toms getting into the hi hat as the stands spread out for the bigger bass drum than it is the vertical challenges. Being over 6' tall makes the vertical issues less of an issue
 
Just get both and be done with it; make sure to get 14-inch depth though.

My advice would be to look at places like Nelson, Badges, Hawthorne, etc., and buy a few 3-ply orphan kicks. Old, 3-ply kicks are so cool because they all sound so different from one another, and over time, you'll learn to play to their strengths and you'll be able to change sounds depending on the project you're working on.

Specific 3-ply kicks to look for:

1960's Ludwig 22x14 Club Date
1970's 3-ply Slingerland 24x14
1940's Radio King 26x14

Honorable mention goes to any script-badge Rogers with re-rings. Fullertons are cheap and sound great.

Oh yeah, Kenny Arnoff drags around his old WFL 24x14 to a lot of his studio gigs. He swears by it.
 
PorkPieGuy said:
Just get both and be done with it; make sure to get 14-inch depth though.

My advice would be to look at places like Nelson, Badges, Hawthorne, etc., and buy a few 3-ply orphan kicks. Old, 3-ply kicks are so cool because they all sound so different from one another, and over time, you'll learn to play to their strengths and you'll be able to change sounds depending on the project you're working on.

Specific 3-ply kicks to look for:

1960's Ludwig 22x14 Club Date
1970's 3-ply Slingerland 24x14
1940's Radio King 26x14

Honorable mention goes to any script-badge Rogers with re-rings. Fullertons are cheap and sound great.

Oh yeah, Kenny Arnoff drags around his old WFL 24x14 to a lot of his studio gigs. He swears by it.
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I have both. Just deciding what direction tion I want to go
 
I would definitely go with a 22. It's a great versatile size IMO. I played on 24's for years and now play on a 22 and I agree with others who have said that once you get to a certain point with the kicks (24's or 26's etc) it becomes really muddy sounding if you ever play anything intricate (unless you pad it/muffle it a lot - which kind of defeats the purpose of having a 24 or larger to begin with).

I think 16x22 is the best size for a bass drum. For the life of me I can't figure out why more shell packs don't come with that pre-configured size.
 
AudioWonderland said:
The 13" definitely feels high having played a 22" with 8/10/12 toms for so long but I am experimenting with some ideas. The problems have more to do with toms getting into the hi hat as the stands spread out for the bigger bass drum than it is the vertical challenges. Being over 6' tall makes the vertical issues less of an issue
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I just missed hitting 6 ft but one thing I never miss is the rack tom shell if the batter is more than about 3 inches over the snare ;). I’m lucky I haven’t poked a hole in the wrap.
 
I setup the 8/10/12 over the 24" kick. Its playable and the hardware just reaches high enough to get them in place. The 24" is unported with a coated response 2 batter and texture coated 1 play on the reso. I don't hate it but I am not used to that tone yet and have not mic'd it up for recording yet. Now that I know that the hardware can reach over the big drum, there are some options. 2 up / 2 down with the 10/12" and 1 up 1 down are very minor changes. A 12/13" over the big drum may be a bit too tall. I seem to like the smaller drums so that is not a combo likely to happen often.

Its coming together how I had hoped.. I can just swap the kick drums without changing hardware. I can change the tom setups by just swapping triple trees and tom mounts. The cymbals are a little more chaotic but the ride positions will be locked in so that should be manageable as well.
 
I have nothing against 24 in Bass drums but personally i would prefere the 22 its just right for tom placment and to me they give more punch and attack even with lesser Dampening and great when using Double pedal:)(y).
 
AudioWonderland said:
I setup the 8/10/12 over the 24" kick. Its playable and the hardware just reaches high enough to get them in place. The 24" is unported with a coated response 2 batter and texture coated 1 play on the reso. I don't hate it but I am not used to that tone yet and have not mic'd it up for recording yet. Now that I know that the hardware can reach over the big drum, there are some options. 2 up / 2 down with the 10/12" and 1 up 1 down are very minor changes. A 12/13" over the big drum may be a bit too tall. I seem to like the smaller drums so that is not a combo likely to happen often.

Its coming together how I had hoped.. I can just swap the kick drums without changing hardware. I can change the tom setups by just swapping triple trees and tom mounts. The cymbals are a little more chaotic but the ride positions will be locked in so that should be manageable as well.
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Great choices! Love my 2 up 2 down. Here's my 10/12 over the 24"

thumbnail_IMG_6318.jpg
 
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Even a 20" can sound great in a studio environment. I think a smaller drum will be easier to tune, have a more defined attack, and leave more room in the mix for other instruments (that depends on the music).
 
24 x 14 is my favourite bass drum size, ported head with minimal muffling and tuned quite high to get decent rebound from the pedal. They push a lot of air so shallower depths are easier to manage.
24, 13, 16, 18 is my preferred set up BTW.
 
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