Your favorite drum sizes?

After getting lazy years ago and going with a 4 pc I realized I kind of needed a 5 pc configuration for a lot of what I was playing. I ended up using a 10, 13, 16, 22 in traditional sizes and have been there for a while now.
These INDe’s, btw, are really the sleeper in the industry. Excellent quality, price, service, really light and Josh is extremely easy to work with.
 

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Yet another member of the 20/12/14 club. Add a 5x14 snare and I’m good. Same sizes as my first kit back in the mid-80s.

Nothing against bigger sizes. I like the sound of bigger kicks and toms but those are overkill for my needs. I don’t have a lot of extra space in my home so the smaller sizes make more sense.

I like the way a 20” kick fits into the mix. Doesn’t seem to fight with bass & keys for low end.
 
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A J said:
Criteria:
- Tom, kick and snare
- Gigging kits
- You are the roadie
- All drums have to fit in your car
- Make and manufacturer are unimportant


My choices:
16x20 bass drum
9x10 tom
14x14 floor tom
5.5x14 snare
Click to expand...
Oh man, my faves seem to change with the day, but of late, the main idea has been....

Jazz kit
18x12 bass
12x8 tom
14x14 tom
14x5 snare

Rock Kit
24x16 (or possibly 22") bass
12x8 tom
14x14 tom
14x5 snare

The idea here is that its both are actually the same kit, the only thing that changes is the bass drum. Why 18 and 24? Because I've found those are the sizes where certain sonic properties become apparent. In fact, 18x12 and 24x16 are essentially the same drum, scaled up (or down). Does that make a difference? I don't know, but I thought it was a cool coincidence.

...however...

Through most of the 90's I owned a 20-12-16-14x4 kit that thoroughly impressed me. It was compact, easy to move and worked for pretty much any situation. Most of all, though, I've been a bit nostalgic for it lately. I'm thinking a Gretsch Catalina in those sizes (snare would have to be different) would be pretty cool.

...lastly...

When I was a kid, they showed the Grand Ole Opry on tv on Sunday afternoons and I remember the drums for the house band was a yellow kit that sat behind a short wall. It had two HUGE mounted toms, so in my brain, a "country music drumkit" would be that. The other day, I was thinking about tom combo's and realized that a Big Beat kit can be thought of as 3 toms featuring a 16" floor tom with two mounted toms, with the bigger 3" smaller than the floor tom and the smaller 1" smaller than the larger mounted tom. Given that, I wondered what if that relationship were based on an 18" floor instead. Voila! the "Country Music Drumkit" is finalized...

22x16 bass
14x10 mounted tom
15x11 mounted tom
18x16 floor tom
14x8 snare

I would build this kit from Keller and Eames shells using Naturaltone shells for the bass and Finetone shells for the toms. The snare would be a 10 ply Keller with a 42 strand wires. Roundover edges and finished in Honey Walnut.

I realize the OP asked for "favourite sizes", but for me, it depends on what I'm doing with that kit, so these are all my favourite sizes.....for right now....
 
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My wife won't let me bring another kick drum in the house smaller than a 22", so no more 20"s for me.
 
PorkPieGuy said:
My wife won't let me bring another kick drum in the house smaller than a 22", so no more 20"s for me.
Click to expand...

all I have to do is put a triple layer chocolate cake on the table, and I can get anything past my wife!!!!

try it.... ;)
 
22/12/16. Never really "not" been able to do something with those sizes.

That being said, I would really like 22/13/14/16 for hard rock gigs if I was interested in going back to playing live......

I have another kit (Tama SC Birch) 22/8/10/12/14.........love it but wish I had a 16 for a true floor tom with that kit just because.
 
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drumr386 said:
After getting lazy years ago and going with a 4 pc I realized I kind of needed a 5 pc configuration for a lot of what I was playing. I ended up using a 10, 13, 16, 22 in traditional sizes and have been there for a while now.
These INDe’s, btw, are really the sleeper in the industry. Excellent quality, price, service, really light and Josh is extremely easy to work with.
Click to expand...

Very interesting that you went with a 10-13 tom combination. Nobody does that. You should be ashamed! Seriously... It's actually a very cool sound with excellent spacing between toms. I'm still doing 4-piece (and love it) but if I ever went 5-piece, I think I'd try this.
 
Elvis said:
Oh man, my faves seem to change with the day, but of late, the main idea has been....

Jazz kit
18x12 bass
12x8 tom
14x14 tom
14x5 snare

Rock Kit
24x16 (or possibly 22") bass
12x8 tom
14x14 tom
14x5 snare

The idea here is that its both are actually the same kit, the only thing that changes is the bass drum. Why 18 and 24? Because I've found those are the sizes where certain sonic properties become apparent. In fact, 18x12 and 24x16 are essentially the same drum, scaled up (or down). Does that make a difference? I don't know, but I thought it was a cool

...however...

Through most of the 90's I owned a 20-12-16-14x4 kit that thoroughly impressed me. It was compact, easy to move and worked for pretty much any situation. Most of all, though, I've been a bit nostalgic for it lately. I'm thinking a Gretsch Catalina in those sizes (snare would have to be different) would be pretty cool.

...lastly...

When I was a kid, they showed the Grand Ole Opry on tv on Sunday afternoons and I remember the drums for the house band was a yellow kit that sat behind a short wall. It had two HUGE mounted toms, so in my brain, a "country music drumkit" would be that. The other day, I was thinking about tom combo's and realized that a Big Beat kit can be thought of as 3 toms featuring a 16" floor tom with two mounted toms, with the bigger 3" smaller than the floor tom and the smaller 1" smaller than the larger mounted tom. Given that, I wondered what if that relationship were based on an 18" floor instead. Voila! the "Country Music Drumkit" is finalized...

22x16 bass
14x10 mounted tom
15x11 mounted tom
18x16 floor tom
14x5.5 snare (I couldn't make up my mind between 5 and 6 inches, so I just split the difference)

I would build this kit from Eames shells using Naturaltone shells for the bass and snare, with Finetone shells for the toms. Roundover edges and finished in Honey Walnut.

I realize the OP asked for "favourite sizes", but for me, it depends on what I'm doing with that kit, so these are all my favourite sizes.....for right now....
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed explanation of your favorite drum sizes. Very well though-out.

Question: As a "non-Jazz" guy (that is, a guy who couldn't play decent Jazz if his life depended on it), would you ever consider bringing your Jazz kit to a rock gig? Could you make it work?

The reason I'm asking is that I've successfully been playing "rock" gigs with "tiny" drums: 16x20, 9x10, 14x14 and a 5x14 snare. Nobody seems to notice. What's your take on this? Thanks in advance.
 
I lean towards the bigger sizes. My first kit was a Pearl Export and had 10x10, 12x10, 13x11 toms and a 16x16 floor tom. Bass was 22x16, but the (compared to these days) bigger tom sizes are still hardwired in my brain. Played with 8/10/12/14/16 for many years, but never really satisfied with the low end i got. Which is not surprising since you can tune an 8" tom only so low. Did get a 13" tom for my kit (special order from Pearl), but never got around to using it since my kit went into storage when we left our previous rehearsal space. Did play with the idea to go back to 10/12/13/16 with that kit.

If i should get a new kit now, I'm pretty sure I'd go for big sizes: 24x14 bass drum (x2), 10x8, 12x9 and 14x10 toms, 16x14 and 18x16 floor toms (or even a 20x14 gong drum instead of the 18 floor).
 
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A J said:
Thanks for the detailed explanation of your favorite drum sizes. Very well though-out.

Question: As a "non-Jazz" guy (that is, a guy who couldn't play decent Jazz if his life depended on it), would you ever consider bringing your Jazz kit to a rock gig? Could you make it work?
Click to expand...
Thank you. I do think about this stuff....WAY too often! 😁
As for your question, I haven't played out in quite a while, so maybe my experiences are a bit long-in-the-tooth, but I've always gotten a lot of backlash at the idea of using an 18/121/4 kit in a rock band. Band members wanna see that big bass drum (probably because it features so prominently, visually, in the average drumkit).
I've made a 20" bass work, in the past, as well, but there's been plenty of times when I setup a small bass drum and I'll get that look.
...same goes for doing that the other way around. ALWAYS have to explain why I showed up with the "Monster Rock" kit.
That being said, there's also actual sonic properties that seem to become apparent with those two sizes.
You never realize a truely gutteral "thud" until you hit 24". You never realize that nice high "bump" until you reach 18".
You can argue against the point if you want, but I implore you to listen. Really listen. Either you'll agree, or you're just being an @$$hole.

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A J said:
Very interesting that you went with a 10-13 tom combination. Nobody does that. You should be ashamed! Seriously... It's actually a very cool sound with excellent spacing between toms. I'm still doing 4-piece (and love it) but if I ever went 5-piece, I think I'd try this.
Click to expand...
I would've done that same tom combo 24 years ago, but Ludwig didn't make a 13x13 tom in the Classic Maple series back then.
That's why that kit ended up with a 14x14 floor tom.

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A.J. said:
I've successfully been playing "rock" gigs with "tiny" drums: 16x20, 9x10, 14x14 and a 5x14 snare.
Click to expand...
My question to you...If the point is to play Rock gigs only, why did you choose those particular sizes?
 
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Elvis said:
Thank you. I do think about this stuff....WAY too often! 😁
As for your question, I haven't played out in quite a while, so maybe my experiences are a bit long-in-the-tooth, but I've always gotten a lot of backlash at the idea of using an 18/121/4 kit in a rock band. Band members wanna see that big bass drum (probably because it features so prominently, visually, in the average drumkit).
I've made a 20" bass work, in the past, as well, but there's been plenty of times when I setup a small bass drum and I'll get that look.
...same goes for doing that the other way around. ALWAYS have to explain why I showed up with the "Monster Rock" kit.
That being said, there's also actual sonic properties that seem to become apparent with those two sizes.
You never realize a truely gutteral "thud" until you hit 24". You never realize that nice high "bump" until you reach 18".
You can argue against the point if you want, but I implore you to listen. Really listen. Either you'll agree, or you're just being an @$$hole.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I would've done that same tom combo 24 years ago, but Ludwig didn't make a 13x13 tom in the Classic Maple series back then.
That's why that kit ended up with a 14x14 floor tom.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


My question to you...If the point is to play Rock gigs only, why did you choose those particular sizes?
Click to expand...

To answer you question about MY size choices. (I like the 16x20, 14x14, 9x10 and 5x14 sizes.) Because:

1. They are easy to fit in my car, small studios and on a small stage. I just turned 59 and am in good health. My plan is to continue playing and gigging well into my 90's! In order to do this I need to keep things kinda small.

2. Deeper toms sound better to me. They seem to offer a longer "note". The bass drum is plenty deep, boomy and punchy, especially when mic'ed. Now that I own a 18x20 kick, I actually prefer that sound slightly better than the 16x20 but... am willing to sacrifice a bit of sound for ease of movement.

3. Another reason... Kind of a stupid reason.... Over 25 years ago I befriended a semi-pro drummer. He played those very same sizes. I saw him play and his playing blew me away.

4. As for the snare, I rotate 6 snares ranging from 6.5x14 to 7x13.
 
I'm super-conventional in my drum kit sizes for the most part.

My Absolute Hybrid Maples are sorta two kits:
9x13, 15x16, 14x22 is my standard backbeat kit. Usually set up in my studio
(8x10) 8x12, 13x14, 14x18 is my standard jazz kit.

Recording Customs are usually in cases, ready to go:
8x12, (9x13) ,14x14, 14x20 is my go-to gigging kit

But then I've got this Manu Katche Hip Gig Jr:
7x10, 13x13, 16x16 is my mini kit.
 
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A J said:
Criteria:
- Tom, kick and snare
- Gigging kits
- You are the roadie
- All drums have to fit in your car
- Make and manufacturer are unimportant


My choices:
16x20 bass drum
9x10 tom
14x14 floor tom
5.5x14 snare
Click to expand...
24X14 OR 16 Bass
10x9 and 13x9 Toms
16x16 Floor
Whichever Snare I fancy..
I have all the above sizes Sakae Trilogy, very light !
 
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