Some quick background:
1) I play a 22". I know it can do everything I need a bass drum to do. I know I can change heads and tunings to get a very broad swath of sounds from it for all different styles and music settings. I acknowledge I do NOT need a bass drum size other than the 22"...other than maybe a 20", but that's another discussion for another time.
2) I've owned 24" bass drums and kinda miss the inherent bigness of those.
3) I REALLY like the look of 26"x14" bass drums. There's a local group whose drummer uses one and every time I see them perform I catch myself saying, "Man, that's a great looking bass drum." And mic'd up, it sounds great (I haven't heard it unmic'd). Having played 26's before, I know they're limited in sound and tuning, especially compared to a 22". BUT, I
really want one.
So my two questions are these:
1) Do I get a 24" bass drum, which I would likely use much more than the 26" or do I get the 26" which I would use only for outdoor gigs or larger venues and satisfy my deep desire to have that size?
2) Those of you who added or went w/ a 26" (that wasn't deeper than 16"), did you end up regretting it or not using it as much as you thought you would?
Ideally, I'd have a bank of 20-26 bass drums, but I can't go toooooo overboard.