Did we move to shorter toms for practical reasons only?

S

SnickSound

Member
Just curious here. Power toms were popular at some point, and now short toms are in. Short toms are of course easier to get in the right spot.

See I have this 12x10 on my main kit, and I'm not a big fan of the look. Layout wise not an issue for me as I'm quite tall. I've already shortened the kick from 22x18 to 22x14 on this kit and I like it better now. But as it pertain to the tom... I'm on the fence about cutting it down. I've noticed that every time I've had a tom shorter than 9", I can't hear the damn thing, it gets lost in the mix. This 12x10 might look a bit odd (personal preference), but at least it's acoustically just as loud as my floor tom.

So that made me wonder... did we move back to shorter toms because we liked how they sounded better than power toms, or was it simply because they are more practical and don't have that 80's aura to them?
 
Chris Whitten’s Noble and Cooley Star series kit that he used with Paul McCartney always intrigued me . It was such a great sounding kit , so when I was working with Gary Posey of Summit drums on the purchase of a steambent flame maple kit , I immediately asked for short toms . I made this decision on sound and portability . The positioning was a nice bonus .
The short Toms have excellent attack and resonance . They still have plenty of bottom end and Fred Beato at Beato Bags made me a combo bag to put the two Toms in .A96260D6-A903-4654-ADA3-0E5F7FA4C73E.jpegA88D69EF-E181-4119-8A99-97A2A60736E1.jpeg1193E8A1-978C-4591-8E39-2D888A629F2A.jpeg
 
When I got my drums, I got power toms, because they were what I found in my price range. I quickly realized the sizes involved didn't work well for me on the 22" bass drum. That's when I switched to a 20" bass drum, and offset the toms. Now it all fits for me, and I get that bigger tom sound.

Sizes are 10x10, 12x10, with a 16x14 low tom, bd is 16x20. I also have a 13x11 tom that I don't use.
 
MrInsanePolack said:
Turn it into a floor tom. I have a 13x12 floor that is just fantastic. It pairs very well with a 16" floor.
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Interesting. I have been considering another low tom, and I guess I may as well have one that matches. ;) Now I just need to buy a stand.
 
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Fashions come and go. Drum companies invent things to persuade people there is something shiny and new they should invest in.
When I turned pro all the sizes were classic (8 x 12", 14 x 14" etc). As the 80's rolled on, you had drummers in very big stadium bands playing deeper toms. It was part of the look, along with padded shoulders and big hair. I had a Pearl kit with slightly deeper toms. I don't remember anything much changed about the sound. Maybe if you were an obsessive with a great ear like Bozzio or Peart you might notice the difference?
In the 90's they invented 'fusion' kits, with 10, 12, 14" toms and 20" bass drums.
As for N&C, they were steam bending the shells with very old equipment, so I think 8" was as deep as they could go on the toms.
I went back to standard sizes when I took their Horizon Series on the road with Dire Straits.
I recently had a bass drum depth cut down from 16" to 14", but that was because it didn't sound great and the tech advised it would sound better with a shallower shell. I wouldn't cut anything down for fashion, or perhaps even for ergonomics, only if it would improve the sound.
 
Chris Whitten said:
Fashions come and go. Drum companies invent things to persuade people there is something shiny and new they should invest in.
When I turned pro all the sizes were classic (8 x 12", 14 x 14" etc). As the 80's rolled on, you had drummers in very big stadium bands playing deeper toms. It was part of the look, along with padded shoulders and big hair. I had a Pearl kit with slightly deeper toms. I don't remember anything much changed about the sound. Maybe if you were an obsessive with a great ear like Bozzio or Peart you might notice the difference?
In the 90's they invented 'fusion' kits, with 10, 12, 14" toms and 20" bass drums.
As for N&C, they were steam bending the shells with very old equipment, so I think 8" was as deep as they could go on the toms.
I went back to standard sizes when I took their Horizon Series on the road with Dire Straits.
I recently had a bass drum depth cut down from 16" to 14", but that was because it didn't sound great and the tech advised it would sound better with a shallower shell. I wouldn't cut anything down for fashion, or perhaps even for ergonomics, only if it would improve the sound.
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In some ways it reminds me of bicycle (and bicycle parts) companies- releasing new versions just to call the older ones obsolete and outdated, and then do it again in a season or two.
 
SnickSound said:
So that made me wonder... did we move back to shorter toms because we liked how they sounded better than power toms, or was it simply because they are more practical and don't have that 80's aura to them?
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I think "power toms" are/was as much a fashion/image thing as anything. I always prefered the "traditional" sizes. 12x8, 13x9, 14x10, 15x12, 14x14, 16x16, 18x16. Most all the high end lines always offered traditional sizes thru the 80's and 90's. Arena rock bands certainly didn't need xtra projection ...... not with 800,000 watts of PA.

I'm sure most drum manufacturers were/are driven by sales numbers. If the buyers of entry level/intermediate level kits want power toms (and your traditional sizes aren't selling) ...... give them power toms.

I just recently got a power tom kit. "Mega" to be exact. Slingerland. 10x10, 12x12, 13x13, 16x16, 18x16, 24x14. And yeah, what a logistical nightmare, for a guy like me, who likes my toms low. But ..... I tried 'em. My solution was to get a lefty double bass pedal, shift the bass drum to the left ...... so it's outta the way of the toms. The wonders of modern hardware.


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Here's a theory...the end of the power tom era was just slightly behind the end of the concert tom era, because the return of bottom heads made up for the shell size.

Discuss.
 
Play whatever makes you comfortable ultimately!

Personally I prefer standard sizes because I can get them exactly where I want them. Also the gap between the batter and resonant head is shorter so there's less air to shift and I get a better sound, same theory with bass drums!

If you're in a cock rock tribute band you'll look silly without power toms. Power toms didn't annoy me as much as the hanging floor tom craze which was peaking when I came onto the scene in the early 2000s. Every kit in every practice room was an export with power toms so you learnt to adapt and overcome!
 
As mentioned earlier I think of a lot of it is marketing. The drum companies are always looking looking for something that will make us want to buy a new drum set. In the eighties I was just dying to get a drum set that had power toms and I played them proudly even though it was uncomfortable. Now I'm old and I like shallow toms because they are more comfortable to play. Both the drums sound good shallow or deep but I'm going for comfort.
 
wraub said:
Interesting. I have been considering another low tom, and I guess I may as well have one that matches. ;) Now I just need to buy a stand.
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.......and, I just got a stand. Now I have to decide which side of the kit for placement.
 
I bought a used kit with a 12x7 tom that I could never grow to like. Then I picked up an orphan 13x10 and just instantly liked it better. I use it as a left side "floor tom," so height is not an issue for me.
 
Push pull stroke said:
Power toms have the same resonance (roughly speaking) with regular shell mounts that short toms do with suspension mounts.
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To that point, as suspension mounts increased in popularity, power tom appeared to go down. The thin maple shell 90s showed you could get plenty of low end and cut off a standard size drum with a suspension mouth. Of the that era, I think Matt Cameron got the jazz size back into rock IMO. Also, rocking lower tunings on a standard size sounds way better than jazzing high tunings on power toms, generally.
 
mikyok said:
Also the gap between the batter and resonant head is shorter so there's less air to shift and I get a better sound, same theory with bass drums!
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So this works perfectly for toms and kicks..... but how do the mostly square floor tom size that so many still demand... how does this drum escape the shorter distance between heads being the ideal ??
 
I keep thinking, that the power tom 12x10 / 13x11 werent that easy to tune well, they can be muddy.
Standard depth suits much better on those diameter. 12x8 13x9.

BUT : in a 10 12 16 configuration, deeper is better. I play 10x9 12x10 16x16 and it’s a dream to play and to tune. Nice range and sustain. I think that shallow 10 (10x7) don’t have enough guts, they sound how they look like : short. And don’t get me started about hyperdrive!
 
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