Virgin kick or not?

If you are gigging and setting up and packing down regularly, a bass drum mount saves time and makes the tom setup consistent every time.
If its for a recording studio - maybe get the floating toms for isolation from the bass drum’s vibrations.
 
With Out mount.....WOM. Professional drummers including session drummers have used bass drums with mounts forever. I think the sound engineers would have objected if it made that much difference. If you want WOM, then order it, but don't get too excited if you buy a set that has a mount. I drilled my Renown bass drum and cannot tell the difference.
Nice. I’ll just order WOM and if i decide i need a miunt, will buy the sonor mount and install thankx
 
I've played a WOM for years, finally got my dream kit which is mounted, and the only qualm I have is that I like my toms about 20 degrees from flat, and this means they hang over the front quite a bit. This brings the snare forward, so there is a greater distance between me and the kick. But as always, adapt and overcome :)
 
This discussion again, even though it’s been thoroughly settled?

No Tom mount for those who want freedom of placement. Tom mount for those who are lazy think it’s a faster setup.
 
OK...im setting up...my bass drum 18x22 premier signia sounds great befor I put the pole and toms on. After they are on I'm playing the bass drum..its still good but DIFFERENT....bad different?..no. Slightly less boom but solid none the less. I now have a gretsch renown kit as the last kit I'll own. At my age I'm tired of nitpicking which I was KING of and want my 12 on the bass drum rims mounted. I'm weird about the Charlie snarestand look..imagine that..me being weird. Plus I think a single 12 on the bass drum LOOKS cool. I can't get away from looking cool.
 
I don’t care. All of my current bass drums have mounts. I’ll use/remove the mount, stands, or rack as dictated by the situation.
 
A virgin kick is much lighter-but all that hardware on a big drum likely makes little difference in sound-despite added mass. It's just a personal thing-some folks like the ability to move their toms around with more freedom. It's like racks or stands-personal preference. I think people should play what they like and do what they like with their drum kit. Course people can still have their own personal opinions and preferences but that means little to me-I'm not them-they "ain't" me.
 
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When I bought my Saturn V kit in November 2018, there was no tom mount on the bass drum. I nearly always play one up, one down. So I mounted the rack tom with a clamp and tom arm from a cymbal stand. I did not like that too much. Then I bought a Gibraltar tom stand, That was better, but it is quite heavy. So I drilled holes and added a Gibraltar, Pearl-type tom mount on the bass drum. In the left hole, I put a tom arm, and in the right hole I put a cymbal boom, which also means one less cymbal stand. I much prefer the rack tom to be over the bass drum, so a snare stand does not work for me. My bass drum still sounds awesome. Peace and goodwill.
 
A virgin kick is much lighter-but all that hardware on a big drum likely makes little difference in sound-despite added mass. It's just a personal thing-some folks like the ability to move their toms around with more freedom. It's like racks or stands-personal preference. I think people should play what they like and do what they like with their drum kit. Course people can still have their own personal opinions and preferences but that means little to me-I'm not them-they "ain't" me.
I’m going to wager the same bass drum with a component mount weighs less than the same bass drum and a stand. I don’t think either of my mounts weigh more than 3 pounds anyhow, and there are several excellent more lightweight options for those that can be served by a single tom tree.
 
I’m going to wager the same bass drum with a component mount weighs less than the same bass drum and a stand.
True. However, I use a cymbal/tom combo stand and think its mass could weigh less than a tom tree + dedicated cymbal stand.

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True. However, I use a cymbal/tom combo stand and think its mass could weigh less than a tom tree + dedicated cymbal stand.

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Yeah, that's probably pretty close, and a negligible difference in either direction. I'd imagine, in particular, that the single post Tama mount and cymbal stand is really close to their cymbal stand/tom mount combo.

FWIW, I use Tama MTH909s or the MTH900s as necessary.
 
Here’s how you solve this dilemma: buy two bass drums with your kit. Then when you’re feelin virginy, take the one without a mount. And when you want a consistent set up all the time, take the one with the mount. This is, of course, dependent on whether or not your drums leave your house. If they don’t, then who cares?
 
The only true benefit of a virgin kick is you get to tell everyone you have a virgin kick.

I just don't want a tom mount I never use on my bass drum. I use either a stand or a rack. Just like I wouldn't place an empty cymbal stand in my kit.
 
I have both WM and WOM .. and it's pros and cons - WOM I can position the toms exactly where I want them.. downside is it takes longer to find that sweetspot every time! I gave up on cymbal mounted thing and reverted back to a simple stand with spike thing.
THe ONE thing that WOM kick has going for it.. at the end of the night when you are putting it in it's case - it slides in like greased butter falling through a goose in a power dive! Whoosh.. nothing to catch on!
 
What's virgin about a BD shell with a minimum of 20 holes drilled in it again?

There's nothing virgin about a bass drum with no tom mounts. IMO.

I motion the court to drop the word "virgin" when talking about bass drums. Instead, I suggest that the term should be updated to:

BDNTM...bass drum, no tom mount. Or mountless bass drum. Something more precise like that.

Not virgin.

I own a true virgin drum set. There are a total of zero holes penetrating the shells. Not that it matters, there's no discernable sonic difference IMO. Especially on a bass drum. Toms are where the focus is for me on a shell pack. It is cool to be able to honestly state that I own a true virgin drum kit, but that's it. I'd bet that blindfolded, I couldn't tell the difference between my Guru bass drum and any other bass drum out there of the same size.

I agree to a point. While lugs and screws do occupy a hole in the shell, I feel they don't stress the shell like a tom mount with toms do. I've seen a few videos where the sonic & resonance waves were examined between mount & no mount. The difference was negligible, but there nonetheless.

That being said...

I for one like the look of a virgin kick over one with a mount. It's just an aesthetic thing for me as I know the sound, once mic'd, is not my own.
 
Been an avid supporter of "virgin" bassdrums for a long time (I guess about 15-20 years, since they started becoming the norm), I guess mainly for the looks. I never thought about it sounding different, I do dampen a lot inside of the bassdrum so I never thought for a second about it other than it looked cleaner without a mount, especially when it is not in use. A tomholder on the bassdrum used by many to be considered more for the low-end kits, only high-end kits had the option of virgin bassdrums. But after seeing a lot of the practical upsides with having one, I switched over, and my latest kit purchase was also decided a lot because of just that, having a tom mount on the bassdrum (and in my opinion, Yamaha is the best/most practical with their mounting system, but that's just me...). I might not use it as intended all the time, might mount a cymbal or two off it instead of toms. If I were to get a second bassdrum, I will use a double tom stand for the toms in between, and use the tomholders for crash cymbals. It saves me from having to deal with more HW, stands, rack etc., which I feel I have gigged too much with over the years. Reduce setup time, etc.
 
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