Udrilled,virgin base drum pros&cons

The sound/feel difference is debatable. Some claim a drilled bass loses tonal purity. Maybe, maybe not. My official position: Who cares?

I love virgin basses for aesthetic reasons. I dislike tom mounts and racks and play my only "up tom" in a snare stand, so a virgin bass is ideal for me. I haven't owned a non-virgin bass in a very long time. I know, I know; all drums are drilled for tension rods and so on, but when I say "virgin bass," I mean no aperture for a tom mount. A virgin is the only type of bass I'll purchase at this point.
 
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I muffle my bass drums, so sound isn’t as much a factor for me as convenience and feel. I love the convenience of a bass drum mounted tom. It’s just easier for me as opposed to mounting the tom in a snare stand or off a cymbal stand. I also prefer the more solid feel of the additional weight on the shell. Feels very stout and secure when I play the bass drum.
 
I prefer bass mounted toms. It's an easy setup, and I clamp a ride to the bass drum mount, so I get to lose a stand. I've never encountered an issue where the sound was stifled by the mount, and that's from wide open bop tuning all the way down to a frog jumping on wet mud punch.
 
I like it when folks want to drill a virgin kick and post about it here. That's always a pro, makes for a fun thread. I also like it when someone takes a virgin drum, stuffs it full of laundry, cuts a hole in the reso, then tries to justify it sounding better because it has no mount.

I like it when someone takes a kick, removes the mount to make it "virgin", then puts a metal plate over the hole so we cant see it, like it didnt used to be there.

I like it when a virgin kick is unmuffled, tuned to perfection, to be surrounded by toms that sound like 30 year old wet cardboard.

Once you stic a mic in there all bets are off. Virgin, skank, your neighbors mom, they all scream like banshees if their mic'd up while you pound them.
 
I like it when folks want to drill a virgin kick and post about it here. That's always a pro, makes for a fun thread. I also like it when someone takes a virgin drum, stuffs it full of laundry, cuts a hole in the reso, then tries to justify it sounding better because it has no mount.

I like it when someone takes a kick, removes the mount to make it "virgin", then puts a metal plate over the hole so we cant see it, like it didnt used to be there.

I like it when a virgin kick is unmuffled, tuned to perfection, to be surrounded by toms that sound like 30 year old wet cardboard.

Once you stic a mic in there all bets are off. Virgin, skank, your neighbors mom, they all scream like banshees if their mic'd up while you pound them.

Which is exactly why it all comes down to looks and hardware preferences. The sound properties are negligible.
 
I like the kit drum mount. Easy to remove mounts and put in to my equipment bag. Toms that mount on other stands , I am always on tweaking to get the toms in the correct position. IMO quicker set up and tear down. But that's just me. :)
 
I like it when folks want to drill a virgin kick and post about it here. That's always a pro, makes for a fun thread. I also like it when someone takes a virgin drum, stuffs it full of laundry, cuts a hole in the reso, then tries to justify it sounding better because it has no mount.

I like it when someone takes a kick, removes the mount to make it "virgin", then puts a metal plate over the hole so we cant see it, like it didnt used to be there.

I like it when a virgin kick is unmuffled, tuned to perfection, to be surrounded by toms that sound like 30 year old wet cardboard.

Once you stic a mic in there all bets are off. Virgin, skank, your neighbors mom, they all scream like banshees if their mic'd up while you pound them.
You know, I started reading this thread, thinking about what I would type if I could be bothered to do so. Then I scrolled down and read this; this may very well be the greatest post I have yet read on a drum forum.

PS- Bass drums with Tom mounts resonate MORE than virgin kicks.
 
You know, I started reading this thread, thinking about what I would type if I could be bothered to do so. Then I scrolled down and read this; this may very well be the greatest post I have yet read on a drum forum.

PS- Bass drums with Tom mounts resonate MORE than virgin kicks.

I wish @MrInsanePolack had broken his post up into four posts so I could have given him 4 funnies - one for each post.


PS- Bass drums with Tom mounts resonate MORE than virgin kicks.

I've always felt like mounting a virgin was a no-brainer.
 
The biggest advantage: tom positioning is independent of where the bass drum is. My seated stance puts the bass drum over to my right, that puts any tom mounted up there about 8” to the right, and it’s non-negotiable. But with stand-mounted toms, they can go anywhere.

And if sound was a factor, I‘m pretty sure Simon Phillips would be using a rack or stands instead of bass-mounted toms.

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Wondering the difference in sound ? feel? setup ? etc. your thoughts, thanks

The short answer? I prefer virgin kicks because I like what I like.

The longer answer which answers the questions posed above:

Sound? No difference because I muffle.

Feel? No difference because I muffle and I cut a port in the front.

Setup? I could never get my rack tom in the perfect position (for me) using a kick drum mount. I play a one-up/one-down kit, and I like to have my rack tom sitting right in front of my snare.

Silly reason #1 why I prefer virgin kicks
I'm a weirdo, but I have a problem with having this big beautiful drum sitting right in front of me in a very nice sparkly finish and then having someone bore a hole or two in the top of it and then screw hardware to it that I may or may not use.

Silly reason #2 why I prefer virgin kicks
I cut my drumming teeth during the early 1990s. During that time, the only virgin kicks I saw were on higher-end kits, so I have this weird (unfair?) association that virgin kicks = higher end/nicer drum set. I know all bets are off nowadays, but back then, this is what I observed, and I guess a little part of me believes this.
 
My Mapex Saturn V drum set came with no tom mount on the bass drum. I played it for two years with my one mounted tom on a stand. Then I installed a Pear-type (actually a Gibraltar) tom mount on it. Now my 12" tom can be in the same place every time I set up. I also mount a cymbal boom in the second space, so that is one less cymbal stand to haul around. I am way glad that I did it. Peace and goodwill.
 
I like both personnaly. Virgin are nicer, and look more high-end - ported are more practical.
Soundwise, I'm surprised because we always speak of the bassdrum. To my ears, bass mounted toms benefit from the reso chamber of the bass drum underneath. I don't think I'm crazy, but when I put my 10 and 12 on a separate stand, they don't sound as good as when they're on the bass drum tom mount. I must say I like open sounding drums (almost nothing in the BD and G1 over G1 unmuffled on toms.)
I clearly ear a fuller sound, like they're resonating in the bass drum. The sound of the bass drum itself doesn't change much.
In term of practicality, balance and set up consistency, a tom post rules.
 
If you can get the tom mounted where you like it, the bass drum mount makes a quick and repeatable setup every time. If not, then go with the separate stand which can be placed almost anywhere.
I think the extra weight might stop the kick drum sliding away, but I can’t test this.
 
I have used stands for three toms, a rack, and then I decided to drill my bass drum for a twin tom holder to remove some of the clutter. Absolutely no change in sound but I don't own an oscilloscope so I'm not 100% sure, but about 99%.
 
There are not many true virgin drums in the world. A virgin kick drum has around 40 holes in it. And they call it undrilled.

There's really no sound difference between a truly undrilled bass drum and a BD with a tom mount. I can say this because I own a truly undrilled bass drum, Guru Origin. There are zero holes in that shell. It sounds like my bass drum with a tom tree, honest. So for sound? That's not a good enough reason. Which leaves convenience. A tom tree is more convenient, I think most would agree there. I don't get the fascination.
 
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