I Followed Bo's Advice...

Stroman

Diamond Member
... and took off the reso heads!

What's more, I'm diggin' it.

I haven't played concert toms for, ohhh, 35 or 40 years. I got a hankering to try them again, so I took the resos off my Classic Maples. They sound really good - I'm loving the punchy bite and the deep tone, and the shorter note is bringing out something a little different in my playing. I wish I had a decent recording setup - my phone really doesn't do them justice. :)

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I think that was a tongue in cheek comment lol. But hey if you like it, even Bo's snark is valuable.

Apologies to you Bo if I'm off in my assessment.
 
I think that was a tongue in cheek comment lol. But hey if you like it, even Bo's snark is valuable.

Apologies to you Bo if I'm off in my assessment.

Oh no, I think you're right on, Larry. I always figured it was snarky, but it still gave me the impetus to try 'em again, lol.
 
I was 100% sincere! If it gives you what you want, then I appreciate the shout out! Of course, the nice thing is that you have a choice. And it’s music, so there’s no real rules. Enjoy the journey!
 
I was 100% sincere! If it gives you what you want, then I appreciate the shout out! Of course, the nice thing is that you have a choice. And it’s music, so there’s no real rules. Enjoy the journey!
You're welcome for the shout out. Your comments really did give me the impetus to experiment.

I don't know how long I'll use them this way, but it really is nice to have options, and I had forgotten some of the positive aspects of concert toms. These days, we're usually reminded of the negatives.
 
Hey, most of the time I play with loud guitar players. I think I'm gonna try it too. I've never played with concert toms.
But for me, I like to see the bottom hoops installed. So I'm going to simply cut a huge hole in the reso head.
 
Hey, most of the time I play with loud guitar players. I think I'm gonna try it too. I've never played with concert toms.
But for me, I like to see the bottom hoops installed. So I'm going to simply cut a huge hole in the reso head.

The last time I went with "concert toms" was with my regular kit (35 years ago, yikes) and I kept the hoops on, cutting out almost all of the head. It worked well.
 
I really never understood the concert tom hate lol ! IMO it’s a jump on the band wagon kinda thing . My pair of late 70’s 10” and 12” Ludwig , non riveted wrap chrome o wood concert toms with reso bearing edge protection rings are two of the best sounding toms I’ve ever played ! With good heads and tuning they have a rich deep full sounding thud . Wish I could find the 6 , 8 and 13. When I do find them , they’re the riveted wrap, in poor shape, and way over priced .
 
Hey, most of the time I play with loud guitar players. I think I'm gonna try it too. I've never played with concert toms.
But for me, I like to see the bottom hoops installed. So I'm going to simply cut a huge hole in the reso head.
Which is what John Pannozzo did when he played with Styx back in 1982. He didn’t want to mess up his shells when his sound engineer asked if they could try it on tour. And he said it made everybody’s job easier and sounded bigger on the tour.
 
Hey, most of the time I play with loud guitar players. I think I'm gonna try it too. I've never played with concert toms.
But for me, I like to see the bottom hoops installed. So I'm going to simply cut a huge hole in the reso head.

Roger Taylor did that, too.
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If I decide to play these out sans reso, I'll cut out some heads and put the hoops back on.
 
Pretty interesting man. I experiment A LOT, but I must admit, I don't know if I'd go that far. I've always been a sucker for a big round tone, but I can see the advantages of mic'ing up a kit like that, among other things. Protect those bottom bearing edges whatever you do!!
 
I love my babies! Nothing like bongo-ish crack of an 8” or 10” CT to tease or start a fill.
View attachment 89642


View attachment 89643

Nice ?? ^^^^

My late 70’s chromo o wood 10 and 12 concert toms non riveted seam wrap with bottom bearing edge protection rings . 10 was cleaned and buffed and came out great . The 12 is pre clean up and buff. I’d love to find a 6, 8, and 13 ...............4892E5FB-8ACF-4BF8-9DFB-99805CB51818.jpeg

Both cleaned and buffed but could use another once over . Not sure why pic posted sideways ??‍♂️
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Hey headless tom lovers.
Last night at my open jam I tried removing the reso head on one of my toms. I removed the reso on my 12" tom and left the reso on my 13" tom. The 12" had a slight boing' sound. Some weird overtone. It was not louder than it was with the reso head. And it did not sound as full and resonant as it did with the reso head. My conclusion is, if the tom heads are tuned correctly the tom will be louder and sound better with both heads.

.
 
Thanks for the information Jim, way to get out in the much appreciated field of research-did you leave the 12 tuned as if it had the reso? Did you use/place mics in the same manner on toms?

A CT was/is proposed to eliminate overtone problem. Also, I don’t think just any CTs are generally louder, than a resonated tom, per se. I know the acrylics are front runners for being loud material, an acrylic CT should cut through mix pretty well :)
 
Hey headless tom lovers.
Last night at my open jam I tried removing the reso head on one of my toms. I removed the reso on my 12" tom and left the reso on my 13" tom. The 12" had a slight boing' sound. Some weird overtone. It was not louder than it was with the reso head. And it did not sound as full and resonant as it did with the reso head. My conclusion is, if the tom heads are tuned correctly the tom will be louder and sound better with both heads.

.
I believe the advantage of the reso-less tom is the fact that you can stick a microphone up into it, which makes it easier to mic and like a bass drum, easier to isolate from the rest of the kit, so I believe you could probably run the mics a bit hotter.
 
Concert toms have more "attack" which can probably be perceived as being louder out front.
I'm not a concert tom hater--I have two kits that are entirely single-headed--but I'm not going to pretend that they sound great. If use heads other than hydraulics, they tend to be rather boingy. I exclusively used a concert tom kit for a little over a year, then went back to double-headed when I bought a set of Stage Customs and the difference was astounding.
 
Unmiced, concert toms sound bad to me. Anytime you mic something, it completely changes how that drum can sound. A Spongebob set miced up would probably sound fine as do concert toms. But unmiced, I prefer the sound of 2 heads everyday. It's a nice, balanced round tone.

Hydraulics I would agree with Mustion sounds the best on them. Did I just say hydraulics sound best? Yikes.

*shudders*
 
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