Hoping to get a 26-28 kick soon

zodiac666thrasher

zodiac666thrasher

Member
I'm looking to get either a 26 or a 28 inch kick drum, wondering if there was anything i should know about moving up the kick size and the best ways to make it sound good
 
One of my standard "it'll always sound good" combo's, is a Powerstroke 3 batter, and an Ambassador reso.​
Big drums are meant to resonate. That's what they do .... they go BOOOOOM ! Before the P3, the standard old school trick was to run a felt strip across the head. Heads were usually Ambassador (single ply) or Emperor (double ply). The Powerstroke 3 is an Ambassador head with a built on richie ring. The richie ring is another old school trick. Now, you can buy them, factory made. Years gone back, guys made them, out of old drum heads.​
 
harryconway said:
One of my standard "it'll always sound good" combo's, is a Powerstroke 3 batter, and an Ambassador reso.​
Big drums are meant to resonate. That's what they do .... they go BOOOOOM ! Before the P3, the standard old school trick was to run a felt strip across the head. Heads were usually Ambassador (single ply) or Emperor (double ply). The Powerstroke 3 is an Ambassador head with a built on richie ring. The richie ring is another old school trick. Now, you can buy them, factory made. Years gone back, guys made them, out of old drum heads.​
Click to expand...

...and you can always add another felt strip or two if that's still too boomy.

One thing I'll say about 26" and 28" bass drums: Don't port the reso head. It cheapens the whole experience of the larger bass drum. It's like saying, "I'm gonna buy a racecar but only drive it 50 mph."
 
one thing I would say about 26 or 28 bass drums is they won't fit in your car easily....but ya I'm sure it will sound the bomb.
 
thanx for the suggestions, i use powestroke 3s on my 22 right now and that hasnt failed me in the 4 years i been using them. i dont need to worry about fitting it in my car we have a trailer that we transport our gear in
 
Then you know what the P3 is all about. It's certainly one of my "most" favorite drum heads. Works great, batter, on both kick and toms.​
 
I've got a friend in Texas that plays two 26ers in a DB set-up............thunderous.
AND............they are beautiful Ludwig Classic Maples.
+ 1 on the PS3 heads.
 
I have a 26x16 and a 28x16. They rule.

If you have never played a big kick don't jump from a 22 to a 28. I'd opt for the 26 first. If you like that and want a 28 do it.

Cons on the 28-heads are expensive and usually not in stock anywhere. Cases for anything deeper than a 28x14 don't exist unless custom. And if you like a lot of toms there not really going to fit well even if they are shallow above the kick. it's pretty much a 1 up kit and that 1 tom is going to be offset far to the left.

+1 on the ps3 batter head on any big kick unported.
 
Tune a 28" higher than you think you should. If you tune it like you would a 22, the fundamentals are going to be very low and the drum will actually sound thin and flappy. (Pay close attention when you're dealing with any mics as well)

Hit hard. That shell is huge and you want to get it as excited as possible.

Try to go low-mass on heads. Felt strips work wonders versus a bunch of junk in the drum as well.

I've had a 28" for a couple of years and once I got the "tune higher" thing in my head, the sounds that drum started producing was ridiculous. Just bear in mind you've gotta smack it to get everything moving.

Be careful of your depth as mentioned above. a 28" is only going to want to go through a lot of doors on the short side (e.g. 14" through vs 28") so you could be in a sorry state if you went with something ridiculous like a 20x28 and found out you didn't have double doors to load in through. ;)
 
I am currently learning how to drive my 26 and the tuning is like a full turn over wrinkle (Catalina Rock) which is much higher than expected but its the spot. Reso is loose as can be and still resonating (JAW). Tune it up about 1/8 turn at a time and it just comes alive around a full turn. I have also found that setting the beaters up high to the center of this huge kick requires lots of work to get my foot back up to speed (playing fast as I could on the smaller kick) so I have lowered them to hit offcenter and it sounds fine.

Lots of pedal bounce though. Working on eliminating that....
 
I can do that but dont always- only been at it a year and a half or so.. I hear you- simple advice but very good if I were to focus on it. I will give it a try. Drum booms so nice too.

Love that huge drum.
 
I love my 26' kick. I use a Remo PS3 on the batter. I did try a Evans EQ 1 and EQ 4 neither of them produced a quality kick sound like the Remo PS3. I also use a DW muffling pillow which doesn't kill the fatness of the large drum but helps thicken the punch. My kick actually sounds similar to what one sounds like coming out of a PA system. I tune both sides just above wrinkle just til the drum breathes.
 
caddywumpus said:
One thing I'll say about 26" and 28" bass drums: Don't port the reso head. It cheapens the whole experience of the larger bass drum. It's like saying, "I'm gonna buy a racecar but only drive it 50 mph."
Click to expand...

To each his own, I can't stand having any bass drum not ported. I like the response of a ported drum over it not being ported. Also if your going to mic it, use a port you'll get a much fuller sound. The results of micing the res head are weak and would be pointless having that big drum.
 
caddywumpus said:
One thing I'll say about 26" and 28" bass drums: Don't port the reso head. It cheapens the whole experience of the larger bass drum. It's like saying, "I'm gonna buy a racecar but only drive it 50 mph."
Click to expand...

I don't think that's true--anymore.

I didn't port my 16x26 or my 18x26 for a fair amount of time, but did so after listening back to a few (high quality) things. I decided to at least "just try it".

I put a 4" port in (wouldn't go any bigger).
It didn't diminish anything in the way of sound or feel on my end, and I gained a more overall full sound through the PA's we go through.
Un-mic'd, it sounds just as cool as it does with no port.

It all depends on someone's head selection and tuning (as usual), but I didn't have any adverse effects on putting the 4" port in my front head(s).
 
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